Tom Rainey’s OBBLIGATO

Intrepid percussionist Tom Rainey is at the helm of this stellar line up of the finest players that the New York jazz scene has to offer, featuring trumpeter Ralph Alessi, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Drew Gress and Canadian pianist Kris Davis. Greater than the sum of its parts, the group’s democratic interplay and intuitive listening results in a irresistible rapport.

The album ‘Obbligato’ was released last year on Switzerland's Intakt label, which has a reputation for challenging, free form music. However this project sees a deconstruction of Great American Songbook standards, intriguingly reinterpreted as impressionistic sketches by a multi-generational group of acclaimed artists, and played to the very highest standard with energetic group interplay.

Tom Rainey has been a fixture in New York's Downtown scene since the early ‘90s, his experiments in form and structure with peers such as Tim Berne, Andy Laster and Tom Varner an integral part of the development of the scene. The stalwart drummer's current efforts have found him collaborating with a new generation of creative improvisers like Ingrid Laubrock and Mary Halvorson.

This fearless project will appeal to straight-jazz fans and the improv hardcore alike.