Paul Bryan - Cri$el Gems (2020)

Los Angeles-based Paul Bryan is not a household name but he’s worked with a whole host of them such as Me’shell Ndegeocello, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams and Allen Toussaint. He’s also a Grammy award-winning producer whose helmed lauded recordings by Aimee Mann, Tanita Tikaram and the last two by Jeff Parker. But this multi-instrumentalist and composer — whose primary instrument is bass — hadn’t led any dates for so long, even Bryan himself probably couldn’t tell you when he last done so. He’s about to end that drought: Cri$el Gems is a fresh set of original instrumentals from a respected behind-the-scenes guy taking a rare chance to reveal his own artistic identity.

Bryan put together a small combo that’s electric but also organic, and pretty much stuck with this combination throughout the record, making this a very consistently satisfying set of tracks. It also has a feel akin to the retro-fusion heard on drummer Matt Mayhall’s well-received Tropes LP, which (not so) coincidentally, Bryan produced, and Mayhall is present here, too. Also present is Parker, whose applauded Suite For Max Brown is one of Bryan’s latest production credits. Lee Pardini from the LA folk rock band Dawes plays electric piano, Davey Chegwidden from the hip-hop orchestra Breakestra plays congas and Jay Bellerose (Aimee Mann, Elton John, Robert Plant/Allison Krauss) also helps out on percussion.

The first thing evident about Cri$el Gems is that the producer does not over-produce; everything is straightforward and you won’t struggle to figure out how well Bryan put together these songs and how well they are carried out by the band. “Phife” is a wonderful Afro-Cuban groove massed around Bryan’s springy bass pattern, and Parker single-line guitar works in close empathy with Pardini’s fuzzy keyboard to flesh out the theme. The binding of Parker’s guitar with Pardini’s electric piano is a central feature of many of the songs they create a chiming out of Bryan’s main melodic themes while Bryan’s no-nonsense approach to the bass keeps the harmony well defined. These things are what makes other tracks like “Tilt Shift”, “Witness Mark” and especially the Latin-tinged “The Bodhi Grind” sound highly melodic but their improvisational and avant instincts assure that the edges are a little frayed.

There’s more going on than just those tactics, however. The three-strong percussion unit drive “Lucky Thirteen” without overpowering it and the jazz-trained Pardini leaves behind snazzy licks preceded by Bryan’s own, lyrical bass turn. Bryan establishes “Pyramid Scheme” with another insistent repeating bass figure, around which the whole band is improvising. “It’s hard to miss Mayhall’s marvelous drumming on “Witness Mark.”

In the middle of this record is a gorgeous folk country ballad called “It’s So Easy To Die,” and the pulsing tones of both Parker and Pardini set a satisfying mood. Unexpectedly, the band briefly goes off leash and plays ‘free’ but stay within the parameters of the melody.