What kind of a group is called "Basher"? To me, it sounds like a hardcore band, probably of the youth crew and/or straight-edge variety, whose music is suitable for diving into the pit like you're entering a '90s WWE cage match. Or, maybe they're more like a Canadian speed metal band, dudes who you could mistake for professional surfers if they weren't entirely clad in spikes and leather, and whose songs all sound like B-Sides from Painkiller. We'll, neither of these are correct, and now you know why I am terrible when it comes to job interviews- I'm shit when it comes to pulling things out of my ass. The truth is that Basher is a NOLA-based jazz ensemble, named after their principal player, Byron Asher. It was perceived as a kind of exuberant, free jazz party music- and that's is what they genuinely deliver on their latest LP, Doubles. Free jazz has a not entirely unearned reputation for being unapproachable by the uninitiated. However, if I had to pick a non-Albert Ayler record to help someone get initiated into the possibilities for the genre, it would have to be Doubles (or maybe its singular equivalent). Many of these tracks have a kind of momentous updraft to them that is reminiscent of big band swing of an impossibly distant era, but with the intimacy and articulation of a solo recital. The group has the fantastic ability to play to a room while capturing the attention of individual constituents and pitching each in turn into a state of rapture. Byron's saxophone melodies have a potent physicality to them that makes them feel present like a dance partner; when the music turns, you turn with it; when it dives, you leap; when it tosses you over its shoulder, you land on your feet like a cat dropped from a balcony onto a big, soft wedge of cheese. Dueling drum kits collide in their percussive prowess as grappling wrestlers spar to lend each other the benefit of honing their strengths by tempering them against the skilled resistance of another, and cosmic synth trails bind the bones of the mix like the oral history of the constellations. It's the soundtrack to a wild jubilation, one that won't leave you with a heady hangover or a quantum of regret. I have no qualms about my recommendation of Doubles to you for some easy, yet exciting experience in contemporary jazz. Heck, I'll as far as to say that I double down on it!
