Not long after the release of Blackstar, saxophonist Donny McCaslin’s jazz group became internationally famous as the collective that had helped David Bowie create his last triumph in the studio. The flexibility of McCaslin’s playing—as well as that of bassist Tim Lefebvre, drummer Mark Guiliana, and keyboardist Jason Lindner—allowed tracks like “Lazarus” to juggle a variety of moods and textures, without ever straying too far from the underlying motifs.
In the aftermath of Bowie’s death, the band gave interviews about Bowie’s working methods, and also bade him farewell with a set at New York’s fabled Village Vanguard club. That same feeling of tribute anchors this band’s latest studio recording. Aside from playing two Bowie tunes, the set also includes a pair of covers of other electronic acts. Appropriately, the overall sound of Beyond Now leans more heavily into pop sonics than McCaslin’s previous recording with these same players.
It’s an understandable move, though not always a successful one. The first Bowie cover, “A Small Plot of Land,” takes a jazz-tinged track from Bowie’s underrated album Outside, and updates it via the fusion sound found on Blackstar. It’s an able retrofitting of the tune. And guest-vocalist Jeff Taylor does yeoman’s work with the thankless task of standing in for Bowie. Still, not much new is discovered during this approach, and the rendition never moves beyond sounding like the work of a highly skilled cover band. Likewise, interpretations of Deadmau5’s “Coelacanth 1” and Mutemath’s “Remain” sound less like full-throated performances than atmospheric reminders that this is a group with pop crossover potential.
This band’s range is better demonstrated during investigations of McCaslin’s own compositions. His “Bright Abyss” inspires the ensemble’s best collective performance on the album. As the piece moves from a low-key, druggy opening to McCaslin’s bracing tenor saxophone solo, Guiliana’s beat-division skills gradually raise the level of intensity. “Faceplant” has a barnstorming, punk-like energy that shows off several of Lindner’s most imaginative keyboard effects. And the bandleader has lots of room to roam during “Shake Loose” and the title track—moving with dexterity between fluid, fast figures and slurred-sounding passages that contain the occasional bit of multiphonic harshness.
Overall, the half of Beyond Now that focuses on McCaslin’s original material fares far better, and should be sought out by anyone who wants another experience of the invention heard on Blackstar. Together with an effective, emotional reimagining of “Warszawa,” this portion of the album works as a welcome reminder of what they brought to Bowie’s final studio album: Not a facility for impersonating pop formats that were already well established, but rather the ability to create memorable, fresh forms.
