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Bassist-composer Chris Lightcap has long had a good thing in Bigmouth, a smart, rollicking band with keyboardist Craig Taborn, drummer Gerald Cleaver and two tenor saxophonists, Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby. (Their album Epicenter was on my Top 10 of 2015.) Now Lightcap has expanded the roster for a group he’s named SuperBigmouth, adding two electric guitarists, Jonathan Goldberger and Curtis Hasselbring, and a second drummer, Dan Rieser; an album, also titled SuperBigmouth, will be released on Pyroclastic Records on Oct. 4.
“Deep River” is the first single from the album, featured here in an exclusive premiere. As the title implies, this is a tune that harnesses rhythm in layered currents, with a melody that wafts and a rhythmic undertow that churns. “I love listening to Gerald and Dan’s playing on this,” says Lightcap, “particularly the way they evolve over the course of the track and how they feed and play off of each other.” The solos are by Cheek and Taborn, each commanding and right at home, before the tune imperceptibly shifts into an Afrobeat zone.