Tenor Sax Pushing Against Quiet Piano
Donny McCaslin's trio-driven Alternate Reality keeps the horn front and center while the rhythm section stays alert and restless.
Alternate Reality opens with McCaslin's tenor sax sitting out front in a clean, close recording, the piano and bass moving underneath with a steady, unfussy pulse. The mood is focused and a little brooding rather than showy. The drums push the tempo forward without ever crowding the horn, and the overall texture feels spare, like a working trio that has played together long enough to stop worrying about space.
Most of the record stays in the lane of a piano-trio-plus-saxophone session: melodies stated plainly, then stretched into long improvisations where McCaslin sounds at ease finding his way from one idea to the next. Mike Holstein on double bass holds the center, and Pavel Wlosok's piano comes and goes with a sense of commentary rather than dominance. Marián Ševčík keeps the drums lively enough that the faster passages have real momentum.
McCaslin is better known for his work with David Bowie on Blackstar (2016), and this 2014 date is a useful counterpoint to that higher-profile moment. It is not a reinvention. It is a straightforward, well-played jazz session that shows his tone and phrasing in a more conventional setting. If you want to hear him in a stripped-down band context before the Bowie project, this is a solid place to start, though it is more of a good record than an essential one.
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