2007 · Album
Expensive Habit
Recorded 2007 · Criss Cross · Produced by Gerry Teekens
Four Voices Trading in Real Time
McCaslin strips the setup down to essentials: four players, one room, no overdubs, pure conversation.
Expensive Habit arrived in 2007 as a straightforward statement — a working quartet album on a small label, released without fanfare or expectation of immediate recognition. It did not generate headlines. Critics did not pile on. But the album built slowly among listeners who valued specificity over hype, and it remains one of McCaslin's strongest records precisely because nothing here is polished or apologetic.
The core of the record is restraint. McCaslin and Will Vinson share saxophone duties, trading lines and trading oxygen, while Luca Benedetti on guitar and Matt Penman on bass anchor the sound with serious listening. No one overplays. No one fills silence out of nervousness. Tracks like "Twelve" move through changes without drama — the conversation just happens, the way it does when musicians have played together long enough that eye contact replaces counting. Benedetti's guitar voice is particularly valuable here; he colors without cluttering, and his comping has real personality.
What makes this album worth seeking out is its refusal to be anything other than what it is: four people playing acoustically, in real time, without the safety net of editing or the distraction of a concept. McCaslin had already released earlier work, but this quartet captures him listening hard and playing with clarity. If you want to hear what McCaslin actually sounds like when the microphones are running and there's nowhere to hide, this is the place to start.
Who's playing
