Brandon Seabrook

Except for Dixieland combinations the banjo decidedly fell out of favor in jazz about 1934 when bands like Duke Ellington’s replaced the banjo with a rhythm guitar. Recently though some plectrumists are striving to adapt the distinctive banjo clangs and finger picking to contemporary sounds. One of these is Brandon Seabrook, a guitarist known for his work with, among others, Anthony Btraxton and Mike Pride. Besides his fretted instruments Seabrook’s associates here are Austrian keyboardist Elias Stemeseder, with whom he plays in groups Stemeseder leads with Christan Lillinger. The keyboardist returns the favor adding his piano and synthesizers to the seven compositions played by the Seabrook String Society already filled out by violinist Erica Dicker, who also works with Braxton and bassist Henry Fraser, who has played with John Zorn.

In truth the distinctive banjo attributes are used sparingly as in features like “Bespattered Bygones” and “The Arkansas Tattler”. Although initially on both Seabrook’s twangs, Dicker’s fiddle squeaks and Fraser’s paced thump suggest Bluegrass musicians’ clawhammer strums and string slides, they eventually pinpoint spots in which their old timey breakdowns can be slotted  comfortably alongside splashy synthesizer shudders.

Hellbent Daydream isn’t just a jazz/improv banjo primer however. Seabrook’s other tracks lean into his guitar expertise. With strings and electronic blends added the results suggest a variety of sources. The title track for instance could be a concerto where guitar frails and flanges are cushioned by dense programed tone washes despite additional harsh discordant interludes. The multi sectioned “I’m a Nightmare and You Know It” is different again. Following Stemeseder’s careful acoustic piano exposition that is harmonized with spiccato violin squeezes and chiming guitar textures, the groove is quickly fractured with tandem pointed guitar riffs and staccato violin swipes. Seabrook’s swift string crunches and Dicker’s string sprays ratchet up the tension sustained by substantial electrified whooshes until a new sequence is stablished encompassing Impressionistic inserts from the violin’s string set and positioned guitar frails.

Banjo clanks aren’t oppressive in a session like this that express its timbral assimilation within creative music. Plus the guitarist’s skill as well as the coordination of all the players’ tone construction show how innovation can be linked to sophisticated invention.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing:  1. Name Dropping is the Lowest Form of Conversation 2. Bespattered Bygones 3. Hellbent Daydream 4. I’m a Nightmare and You Know It 5. Existential Banger Infinite Ceiling 6. The Arkansas Tattler 7. Autopsied Cloudburst

Personnel: Brandon Seabrook (guitars and banjo); Elias Stemeseder (piano and synthesizers); Erica Dicker (violin) and Henry Fraser (bass)