DINOSAUR
To The Earth
(2020 - Edition Records - EU)

https://dinosaurband.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-earth

Each Dinosaur album (this 'To The Earth' being their third) has been a major evolution in a four piece jazz/fusion/outer limits experience. Their trumpet led outfit went through a Ferris wheel of classic ECM brilliance on their debut ('Together As One' - 2016), then on their sophomore ('Wonder Trail' - 2018) they blew the stars out of the sky with added electronics, new music organics, celestial exploration, dub, and futuristic shades all over the map. This continues the elegance and exiles of anything away from the norm. In fact Dinosaur refuse to sit idol or get comfortable for too long in their already extremely inventive format. Each recording has been a discovery of new ideas, sounds, and unique combinations. While the members may feel empathy for the prehistorical life form that their band name denotes, they also seem to be saying "here is how we would have survived and here we are in your presence for proof".

Interestingly, the band notates a hypothesis/theory as to the demise of the dinosaur, being a too large for its brain creature and not being able to think quickly enough and rise to the challenge, opposed to the smaller population who could run around them, steal and eat their eggs, and make the huge beast extinct. Perhaps I am correct in the feeling this band is taking risks, making unpopular moves, and carrying on as if to stand in for the said giant, conquering in at least a most inventive musical world, all that is good and great.

Leader, trumpeter and composer Laura Jurd (also tenor horn, flugelhorn) has made marvelous music with Elliot Galvin (piano, synthesizers), Corrie Dick (drums) and Conor Chaplin (double bass) for nearly a decade. For fans, they can find more of her music on her solo work. The supporting artists are clearly on the same page and are able to take the ball and run far, tumble in fantastic methods, and give new life to all notes penned. While not quite as far into the ether as their second, 'To The Earth' still grabs exotic bebop, abstract free jazz, collective fusions of multiple sources, and those supreme twists that give the listener what they crave. The music is like a traveling circus of jazz that makes stops at a dozen countries all on one recording. A no holds barred jazz blend to please the adventurous spirit who loves something composed and well thought out. GIANT RECOMMENDATION.

  ©Reviewed by Lee Henderson 6 - 28 - 2020