Bobby Avey – Inhuman Wilderness album review: fearless, exhilarating, multilayered

New York pianist Bobby Avey is a musician on several missions. As an improviser, he is fearless, prepared to face the unknown (and even sometimes the downright ugly) in search of his own sound.

As a composer, he creates dramatic, multilayered tunes which twist and turn rhythmically, inspired by Haitian Vodou drumming. And as a leader now on his fifth solo release, he has an astute ear for other musicians, notably here rising saxophonist John Gallagher.

But if the music is fresh and unexpected, the force and commitment of the pianist’s worldview is similarly impressive: titles such as Rent the Sky (about the US drone campaign) or Countless Voices of Unknown People (a Howard Zinn quote) add meaningful, unsettling layers to already challenging, exhilarating music. State-of-the-jazz art.