Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber

Whether you like your jazz uncomplicated or densely layered, whether you know what a free-form, Butch Morris-inspired confab of musicians sounds like, whether you've ever made a life-saving escape over the hills or not, whether you like your music writers to spontaneously morph into dreamweaving conductors using laptops to create words one minute and funked-out space jazz the next, the newest offering from Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber has something for you. Accessible discomfort seems to be the aim, and after a five-year absence from the studio, it's no wonder Village Voice writer Greg Tate's supergroup of jazz and R&B talent cuts loose on its return, Making Love to the Dark Ages, a deceptively fluid set of improvised and stylized grooves featuring guest spots from Vernon Reid on guitar and Vijay Iyer on piano.

The 3-part "Chains and Water" is a jazz-inflected, contemporary spiritual at once hip and haunting. Featured-all-too-rarely vocalist Lisala's powerful soul astounds even as it melts into an echo in the recesses of the 13-minute second section, while the more traditional third section closes out with a smooth little swing number as if all that freaky stuff never happened. The juxtapositions present throughout Dark Ages are a welcome ramp up from whatever mellowness was just created or a nice cool down from the unbound jams unleashed from the Chamber. After the sweet "Thorazine/81" roars in "Love to Tical," as appropriately raucous as anything sharing a Method Man reference, with a piercing solo from Reid that forces its way into the already discordant fray.

From the vibrant party of "Tical" to the enchanting melancholy of "Dominata (the gabri ballad)" and the syrupy pulse of the album's closing title track, Tate keeps his players, and by extension, the listener, on their toes with surprises that satisfy at every turn. Never have the Dark Ages sounded so good.

- Candace L.