Downbeat Magazine

June 2005

Ned Goold
The Flows

Four stars (****)

A much more vertical player [compared to Ned Otter in preceding review -- LMK], Goold navigates his trio through a maze of customized tonal structure on The Flows. His sense of extended harmony -- which constantly reminds of the melody to Thelonious Monk's Epistrophy -- emerges from the get-go on the short solo intro to the opening track. Rather than use the customary in/out/in approach to advanced soloing, Goold constantly keeps the listener on his toes with an out/in/out approach that sounds downright upside-down.

With Goold ever super-imposing his ideas over standard progressions (as well as his own originals), an underlying bitonality results, giving each cut a distinct, off-center slant that screams originality. Bassist Ben Wolfe follows the leader closely, showing a firm grasp of Goold's concept as he walks the pocket and solos aggressively. Check out how Goold and Wolfe switch roles on "Edsol," with the saxophonist holding down the tune's three-beat signature to accompany the bassist extended hemiola in four.

Quality of material, expert performance, and sheer inventiveness help Goold and his trio rise above such unfavorable recording conditions as loud audience chatter, cable/tape noise and varying degress of poor bass clarity. The Flows represents Goold's finest trio work to date; too bad the sound has to suffer.

-- Ed Enright