Dan McCarthy - A Place Where We Once Lived (2021)

This New York musical rendezvous between Canadian vibraphonist Dan McCarthy and the rhythm team of Bill Frisell Trio - bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston - deserves more than just a digital release. The set of music presented here - 11 McCarthy originals and one cover - was recorded one day before the vibraphonist has left New York, his home for 15 years, to permanently return to his country of origin and base himself in Toronto.

Perhaps representing McCarthy’s best writing on the album, the first two tracks also provide evidence of the drawing power of his instrumental artistry. Whereas “Sonder” unfolds from an assertive bass intro and lands on a magical, asymmetric groove whose dreamlike musings are increased by the warm melodicism and sustained harmonic envelope provided by the bandleader, “Trail Maker” has that emotional strength that I always look for in a song of this nature. Both tunes benefit from Royston’s subtle textures and attractive colors.

The swinging escapism found in “Cloud Hopping” breezes in with a fluidity of language and a modal finesse that recalls the vibist Bobby Hutcherson. Yet, if the latter influence is implicit, then Gary Burton, another masterful vibraphonist, comes explicitly referred on the title “Desert Roads (For Gary Burton)”. On this one, we have pop and folk elements rubbing off on the post-bop enrapturement to create a strong crossover appeal.

Steve Swallow’s “I’m Your Pal”, which is also intimately connected to Gary Burton, shares balladic qualities with numbers that allow our souls to soar. I'm referring here to “Sombre Sleep”, a rubato exertion, and “Goodnight Sweet Cat”, a slow earworm that made me want to play it again. In absolute contrast to these cuts, the super dynamic “Go Berserk” flows with McCarthy’s mallet work racing against a vigorous rhythmic grid.

With the superlative interplay creating several moments of beauty, A Place Where We Once Lived is very much worthy of your time.