Saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matt Stevens are taking their successful 2018 project In Common to another round, this time surrounding themselves with three different players on In Common 2. It’s the same process with Smith III and Stevens writing the compositions and then seeking out like-minded musicians to join them. As in the first project, Smith and Stevens picked a selection of their favorite rhythm section players of mutual acquaintance: Linda Oh on bass and Nate Smith on drums – plus a player from a different generation, rising piano star Micah Thomas who takes the place of Joel Ross’ vibes.
The first edition of the group played last year’s Newport Jazz Festival to a great reception, buoyed in part by Ross who had become a Fest favorite at that point, his third gig. Regarding the first studio recording, and we suppose in one sense the Newport performance, Smith says, “We loved the way it turned out, …we had the opportunity to do something different together: what I like to call ‘One Page Songs’ – simple forms, so that we can just show up and get to the music quicker.” The material was specially written to suit the character of the resulting band, favoring short, concise statements of melody – “We’re trying to do something different from what we’d do on our own. We’re going off what we imagine the band will sound like, and continuing to focus on being direct, melodic and interactive,” says Smith.
The opening “Roy Allen,” the only non-original, was included as a homage to its composer, the late lamented Roy Hargrove, and it is performed as a brief heartfelt duet between Smith III and Stevens. “Lotto” is a collective improvisation based on a theme by Stevens featuring a thrilling dialogue between he and Smith that ends in ensemble fashion. “Cowboy” was humorously explained by Stevens to Nate Smith as an ‘open, cowboy feel’ and the name stuck. A loping bass groove provides a trance-like backing for textured and expressive playing. Smith’s composition “Clem” derives its central imagery from his love of super-immersive, character-driven video games: Clem herself is an orphan child who grows up into a fearless zombie-killing adult over the course of the game Walking Dead, and the song maps the arc of her journey from innocence to kick-ass.
Video games also provided the inspiration for “Van De Linde,” written by Smith for a character from the Red Dead Redemption game – “a nefarious guy who works on many levels. It’s written in 5/4 with 5/8 cycles hidden within it – kinda like the character’s secret agenda!” while ‘Little Lamplight’ is inspired by the post-apocalyptic game scenario of Fallout 3 – starting with a simple, muted statement and building into a towering climax.
”General George Washington” was constructed by Smith around a nagging two-note riff that suggests a playground taunt, reflecting his ambivalence towards the slave-owning first President. Stevens wrote “Provinces” to evoke his childhood in Canada through its carefully paced melody, exploring both remembered and imagined landscapes from his past. By contrast, he wrote “Opera” while on a recent tour with Esperanza Spaulding.” Smith drew his inspiration for “Type Rider” from Brad Meldhau’s video for ‘Highway Rider’ – a vision of driving down a California highway into a limitless freedom.
As you’ve gleaned, Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens perform in a variety of projects and configurations: touring and recording with Esperanza Spalding, Ambrose Akinmusire, Christian Scott, Terence Blanchard, Dave Douglas, Terri Lyne Carrington, Bill Stewart and Roy Haynes as well as their own respective groups.
Like its predecessor, In Common 2 manages to be at once free and highly structured, melodically accessible yet thoroughly contemporary, mostly pensive in tone and textured rather simply and beautifully. With many of the songs recorded in a single take, the album highlights the inventiveness and immediacy that these kindred spirts have in common (couldn’t resist the term).
