Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Andrew Cyrille are jazz veterans with careers rooted in landmark albums and legendary gigs. They began working together a decade ago, and the sensuous textures and spacious sense of time captured on their recordings are recognised highlights of left-field jazz.Breaking the Shell, an equal-partners trio album, finds them joined by the British musician Kit Downes on pipe organ, an instrument rarely used in jazz, but here sounding a perfect fit. He impressively adapts the organ’s power to match the resonant aesthetics of Frisell’s guitar and conjures an assortment of wheezes, rumbles and ghostly churchlike tones — the session was recorded in New York’s Greenwich Village Episcopal church, St Luke’s in the Field. Cyrille’s brush strokes, pings and fiery climaxes have their customary sensitivity. But it is the way that Downes manipulates the pipe organ’s controls and infuses the music with a sense of unease that makes the album stand out.Six compositions are originals written with this session in mind. The opener, “May 4th”, one of three pieces co-written by Downes and Frisell, shape-shifts from a scattering of guitar harmonics woven into a throb of pipe organ to pulsating beats and slabs of chordal sound. Later, their “Kasei Valles”, named after a giant system of canyons on Mars, delivers industrial grind and the textured abstraction “Cypher” has a light touch.In contrast, the clean lines and elliptical beats of Downes’ “Untitled 23” have a Monkish air and Frisell’s floaty “July 2nd” resonates with church-bell sonics while pushing harmony to the edge. Cyrille’s lovely ballad “Proximity”, the title track of a Sunnyside release from 2016, is lovingly recreated, its warm melody and swirly pulse intact.Two gentle abstractions are free-improvised and there are two covers of folk songs. “Sjung Herte Sjung” (Sing Heart Sing) from Norway has the energy of a village dance. The Hungarian “Este a Székelyeknél” (“Evening in Transylvania) imbues a sunset vibe with a sense of mystery to finish a captivating set.★★★★☆‘Breaking the Shell’ is released by Red Hook
