Drummer, composer, and all-around sonic muckraker Weasel Walter boasts an impressive résumé: mastermind behind the Flying Luttenbachers, key member of Lake of Dracula, XRBRX, and To Live and Shave in L.A. 2, renowned post-punk scholar. So it's easy to forget that his roots lie in improvised jazz. He started curating free-jazz shows before he was 20, and early versions of the Luttenbachers included jazz legend Hal Russell and current superstar Ken Vandermark. Walter hasn't played much straight-up free-jazz recently; his main concern, the Luttenbachers, has grown into a punk/prog/metal behemoth playing complex songs about mythical robots and futuristic chaos. But he still has searing jazz chops, as this debut from his eponymous quartet handily proves.
There's nothing very complicated on Revolt Music, just full-speed jazz with energy and muscle. Each track hits the ground running and rarely slows down, charging through furious horn runs, frantic bass sprints, and Walter's ever-busy drum rushes. Early Luttenbachers sessions garnered a "punk-jazz" tag, but this Quartet is more classical, relying on time-tested free-jazz tools to relay its hectic message. Still, the spirit of punk courses through the group's relentlessly direct attack (and humorously simple song titles, all of which use the word "revolt" and not much else).
The core of the Quartet is Walter and bassists Damon Smith and Randy Hunt. Together they create a manic rhythmic canvas on which alternating horn players paint colorful sounds. The most frequent fourth wheel is tenor saxophonist Josh Allen. On four tracks, his tireless growls weave deftly through the surrounding maelstrom. Particularly stirring is his mix of clipped melodies and heavy whines on "Revolt and Revolt Again", as he meshes with Hunt and Allen's strident bowing like sparks shooting from a fire.
Throughout the album, the Quartet's knack for filling the sonic space without sounding oppressive or claustrophobic is striking. Each element carves its own notch in the mix, bending and turning to fit with the others. When alto saxophonists John Gruntfest and Aram Shelton replace Allen, they turn similar tricks, wedging their horns inside the basses and drums like snug puzzle pieces.
As exhilarating as that mix is, Revolt Music works best when it breaks the drum/bass/sax mold. On the bluntly-titled "Drum Solo", Walter unfurls a bottomless bag of percussive tricks, melting rapid-fire beats into pounding, stop-start rhythms. Later, on "The Need to Revolt", Walter, Smith, and Allen are joined by guitar legend Henry Kaiser for a giddy stretch of hyperactivity. Kaiser begins with Theremin-like whirring, generates heavy chords in response to Allen's gutsy growls, and finally meshes Beefheart-like angles into Walter's slapping syncopations. The track highlights Walter's ability to mash genres until they blur, but Revolt Music is no fusion exercise. It's strictly a free-jazz album, and one of the highest order.
