Anatomy by Billy Mohler

Original pieces brimming with spontaneity, featuring Chris Speed (tenor saxophone), Shane Endsley (trumpet), and Nate Wood (drums)

The paths all converge in Mohler’s quartet on Anatomy, providing an ideal vehicle for the leader’s flexible, rough-hewn and insistently rhythmic compositions. “We never even discussed an arrangement,” Mohler recalls of the session. “The rehearsal take was the take. I don’t know how Shane and Chris figured out when they were going to play, and with Nate we never even discussed a beat to the song.” A similar open-endedness permeates the three “Abstract” solo bass interludes, the first of which entails a rare overdub. “These were improvised pieces, not worked on. I felt it was a good time to do them. I turned on the microphones and started tuning and hit ‘record.’” The contrasting use of motion and space stands out, as does the body and resonance of Mohler’s tone. Working with the sparsest of materials, Mohler finds a way — as both a bassist and a bandleader — to forge something complete, in a category of its own.