Vancouver’s Malleus Trio have just released On/Off, their third album. The group, which formed in 2017, is back with a somewhat heavy and funky jazz, coloured with shades of blues and rock. The melodies, simple enough so I’d rather call them riffs, are developed without too much harmonic deviation and remain constantly riveted to the rhythmic fulcrum, generally motoric and deliberate (with the exception of a few ballads beautifully elaborated by Dominic Conway on tenor). It sounds like badass jazz inspired by the BadBadNotGood school, but it’s much more polished. Americans will probably say it’s typically Canadian. We don’t like these clichés, but what the hell, sometimes we give them a freebie. It also claims to be Medeski, Martin & Wood inspired, but it is much less exploratory. The urban wiggle is more proletarian than Bobo chic, let’s say. In the end, though, you spend a good 45 of the album’s 70 minutes nodding your head, because it really does groove! And pretty effectively. What’s more, they’ve managed to make a respectable ‘’big sound’’ without electric support! Hats off to them. But perhaps they should have pressed Off earlier and tightened up the final choice of programme. Here and there, it ends up lacking fresh ideas. Just sayin’, even though I liked it.
Ben Brown – Drums
Dominic Conway – Tenor sax
Geordie Hart – Double bass
