Echolocation is the debut from New York quartet
Mendoza Hoff Revels. Co-led by guitarist
Ava Mendoza and bassist
Devin Hoff, who split composing duties evenly, the quartet is completed by saxophonist
James Brandon Lewis and multifaceted drummer
Ches Smith.
Mendoza, a Brooklyn-based guitarist, leads the vanguard rock outfit
Unnatural Ways, and has worked with many musicians, including
Fred Frith and
Matana Roberts, and played in the power trio (with
William Parker and
Gerald Cleaver) that issued the acclaimed
Mayan Space Station (2021). Her chief collaborator, bassist/composer
Hoff, is also widely experienced and has worked with many artists including
Nels Cline,
Ben Goldberg,
Yoko Ono,
Xiu Xiu, and
Joshua Redman. While all of these musicians are firmly associated with the jazz vanguard, new music, and free improv scenes,
Echolocation offers a wealth of musical directions these players anticipate, follow, and embellish with taste, inspiration, and confidence.
Hoff's "Dyscalculia" opens with massively distorted bass and guitar vamps that recall
Tony Iommi before moving into terrain that reflects the influence of guitarist
Sonny Sharrock's classic
Ask the Ages (1991),
Last Exit, and vintage Detroit power trio
Death. Furthermore, the interlocking melody lines exchanged by
Mendoza and
Lewis directly channel
Ornette Coleman & Prime Time and
Curlew. The title track, composed by
Mendoza, offers a near-ambient series of guitar washes before
Lewis enters. The harmonic progression evolves, then opens. He solos first, evoking open spiritual space atop rumbling tom-toms and a droning bassline.
Mendoza begins threading tense power chords between
Lewis' horn lines, then wanders into a break that travels through metal, blues, post-bop, and spiritual jazz. Her "Interwhining" is a set highlight. Commencing with a massively funky vamp played by the entire band,
Mendoza adds dissonant chords and shard-like leads, as
Smith and
Hoff impose a rhythmic cadence. Soon the guitarist and saxophonist are channeling avant-prog a la early
King Crimson and
Henry Cow.
Mendoza's "New Ghosts" deliberately places precise, dissonant guitar phrases embellished by
Smith and
Hoff as
Lewis answers in kind. The quartet then approaches improvisation from several directions yet stays focused and balanced. Her careening "Diablada" is based on a Bolivian folk dance but moves into squalling 21st century jazz-metal fusion with volcanic saxophone eruptions and tripped-out, monstrously fine grooves from the rhythm section. While "The Stumble" (not the
Freddie King tune) begins with a more economical musical context, the players begin a hoary journey into raging jazz-rock improv. In
Hoff's closer, "Ten Forward," different melodies from
Mendoza and
Lewis wind around one another amid
Smith's incessant snare, cymbal, and kick-drum activity, delivering a polyrhythmic attack supported by a droning bassline that anchors the soloists in this ever-spiraling jam.
Echolocation offers heaviness, kinetic interaction, harmonic exploration, and next-level improvisational communication. This is a wonderful and wondrous debut. ~ Thom Jurek
