Gatewalk

Label:
2000 – AssembledSound - asi-999

Personnel:
Dave Fox, keyboard; Michael Collings, guitar; David Menestres, bass; Ian Davis, percussion.

Tracks:

Patios
Mayday
Only the Sill Remains
Gatewalk
Branflakes
I Hear a Trellis
Berserker
Incommodious Escape #4
Terraces
Life as a Flower Pot
Melody for Play
Reculuer Pour Mieuz Satuer

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JazzImprov magazine
By Joshua Musselwhite

The Dave Fox Group is based in Greensboro, North Carolina where Fox currently teaches. An alumnus of UNCG (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), he also is full-time coordinator of their fine arts division. In addition to his busy schedule as an active performer and educator, he is also working on his doctorate.

The group's style choice is often free jazz or avant-garde, but this is also contrasted with precontrived sections, which “sit in the compositional tradition worked out by the Dave Holland groups over the years” as can be heard on the title track, “Gatewalk.” The tune features a 15/8 time signature with a repeated melodic pattern yielding syncopated accents, giving the illusion of a very complex time signature. The melody is in the guitar and is based on long spacious notes. The drums are performing in a loose feel, but perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the tune is the beautiful exotic harmonies. Besides the harmonic implications of the repeated motif, the chords in the guitar add a level of depth and fascination.

The other tunes on the album that are not quite á la Dave Holland are often quite free. These sections really open up a great opportunity for the group to communicate well and interact, a task they seem to have no problem with. All members of the group draw upon every ounce of musicianship they have to pull off some remarkable stuff. The variety of sounds that can come from one instrument is amazing. This is a lesson in itself as Sidney Bechet used to make his students practice in a similar fashion: to shape a note in every possible way imaginable.

The Dave Fox Group is an imaginative and inventive ensemble. Their combination of free and traditional jazz yields a unique and highly satisfying experience for the listener. Their debut album Gatewalk is an excellent beginning to what I hope is a long and prosperous recording career.

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JazzReview.com, August 2004
By Glenn Astarita

Here is an East Coast based quartet that navigates a wide spectrum of sound and ideas, without becoming indulgent or bombastic. There are some ethereal dreamscapes, yet the band also incorporates an avant, slant on jazz-fusion tinted with cool hooks and other pleasantries.

Drummer Ian Davis turns up the heat when necessary. However, Davis’ lightly swarming attack, coupled with bassist David Menestres’ limber lines provide a fluent bottom end. Guitarist Michael Collings frequently complements keyboardist Dave Fox’s thoughtful musings awash with breezy swing grooves, elements of noise music and intermittent injections of progressive rock vamps. Think of taking a spin on a roller coaster, running at half-speed! Essentially, the group’s well thought out game plan translates into a focused engagement, consisting of climactically oriented deviations from previously rendered themes. As they navigate a multihued array of sound amid quiet vistas, haunting lyricism and sporadic jaunts into the red zone! (Recommended…)

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Cadence, August 2004
By Frank Rubolino

Guitar and Keyboards form an interlocked bond on [Dave Fox Group, Gatewalk], where the Dave Fox Group skips unencumbered through a program of original material. Fox lays down a freelanced foundation on keyboards, and Collings spins off rounds of improvised commentary while bassist Menestres and percussionist Davis develop an impressive unstructured backdrop. Although keyboard/guitar bands typically lean in the Fusion direction, that is certainly not the case here. This group plays wide open, aggressive, and highly innovative Jazz rarely heard with this instrumentation. Fox’s approach on keyboards places the music squarely in the creative improvised sector and is anything but a compromise to popularity. He produces a plethora of diverse keyboard sounds; his attack is fully liberated, and his solos are well-designed, spontaneous outpourings.

Fox does introduce some discipline into the equation, typically as initial road markers for the band’s undefined journeys. “Gatewalk,” for example, begins with a specified theme but immediately curves off the road onto unpaved, open terrain. Conversely, “Bran Flakes” takes a fully unstructured developmental route to unpredictable destinations without ever looking at a road map. Menestres and Davis go off on tangents with regularity, spicing the action with irregular drumbeats and divergent bass patterns. They keep the sessionin an unbalanced mode, permitting Collings and Fox to become explorers of their newfound territory. Collings is particularly innovative on guitar; he sings out with ringing improvisations to mesh precisely with Fox’s probing articulation. This cooks on all burners; the artists individually take risks yet their collective voices come together as a unified yet abstract equation. This is the quartet’s first release, but these guys are poised for a leap into the big-time.

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Winston-Salem Journal
By Ed Bumgardner

Dave Fox is a jazz keyboard player based in Greensboro who has released an album that presents free jazz within a foundation that novices can comprehend.

On Gatewalk, Fox nods at Frank Zappa's abstract musical works - no satire here. Fox and his accompanists take care to lead the listener into what often sounds like a tangled morass of sound, introduce the melodic theme (even if it is often hinted at rather than flaunted), then illuminate the musical conversation at the heart of improvisational jazz. There are examples of chaos as expression; Fox just never pretends that it is anything other than what it is - a musical journey through uncharted territory.

There is no pretense, no trumped-up philosophical whimsy, no cosmic musicology afoot. And to be fair, despite the often-exceptional playing of Fox and his cohorts, there will be tough moments for listeners unaccustomed to wading into music that vaults boundaries.
With Gatewalk, what you hear is, more or less, what you get. It's all about freedom.