In celebration of the ensemble’s 20th anniversary, Third Coast Percussion’s Standard Stoppages (Cedille Records) reflects on the passage of time in both a musical and a literal sense. Featuring works by Jlin, Tigran Hamasyan, Jessie Montgomery, Musekiwa Chingodza, and the late Zakir Hussain, the album nods to the role of the percussionist as ‘timekeeper’ while showcasing dream collaborations and long-time friends.

Jlin’s Please Be Still opens the album with waves of familiarity as it winks to J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor with tiny pointed phrases, delicate lifts, and dovetailing cascades. But the overarching aesthetic of this collaborative composition is a twinkling of industrial sounds, scratches, rattles, and shakers that dust the surface of melodic fragments seamlessly traded by marimba and vibraphone. Jlin’s electronic music influences are apparent, and her balancing of drum kit with pitched percussion is glorious – there is something so magical about the frenetic collection of sounds she packs into such a short timespan.

Tigran Hamasyan plays on the fast – slow – fast sonata form in his Sonata for Percussion, with the first movement, “Memories from Childhood,” evoking a sense of nostalgia. The lilting, repeated marimba lines are nearly predictable but not quite, creating a dream-like haze with jolts of sonic surprises. “Hymn” transports us to something more ethereal, with the beauty and sonority of each chord feeling heavy in our ears while slowly making sense of displaced time through emphatic downbeats that land with precision in unexpected places.

The rhythmic cycles become more complex as we follow the shape of the line; the more accented beats, the more the engine gently chugs forward. The mesmerizing third movement, “23 for TCP,” is instantly catchy as it floats between soft jazz ballads, firm and jagged contemporary classical shapes, and persistent rock beats.The addition of drum kit makes each additive layer of the 23/8 groove more alluring than the last, a radiance of joy flowing through the high and low pitches slowly melting and pulling apart.

Murmurs in Time is the only work for classical percussion written by tabla player Zakir Hussain, and the quartet’s deep, wispy voices begin the first movement by reciting “bols,” vocalizations of drum sounds integral to Hindustani classical music that Zakir’s father would have him sing and repeat back to him. Pitched percussion and slices of bowed vibraphone interject over time as the speaking slows, quickens, and oscillates with the drones in the background. The second movement balances languid marimba themes that span the instrument’s range with electric, rattling drum fills and shimmering cymbals. Zakir’s deep sense of collaboration is present throughout the piece, dancing between more joyful and tender moments, which feel even more significant in the wake of his passing late last year.

Jessie Montgomery’s Study No 1 erupts cautiously, with tom tom rolls moving in slow gradations  and instruments coming in and out of focus before individual ricochets and beating patterns are revealed. An electric precision rings from TCP’s striking of the drum rims, balancing persistent, unforgiving rhythmic complexity with melty twinges created by crotales sliding across drumheads toward the end.

While workshopping Study No 1, Montgomery brought excerpts from her existing works to the quartet in an effort to experiment with the timbral possibilities of percussion. Appearing here in an arrangement by Third Coast Percussion member Sean Conners, her In Color Suite (originally for tuba and string quartet) combines melodica with bowed marimba to create an unearthly atmosphere of thick, twangy sound that later transforms into the rattle of a wooden rasp drawn across the end of the vibraphone.

Translating to “come back home” in the composer’s native Shona, Musekiwa Chingodza’s Dzoka Kumba was written as an invitation to his daughter to return home. Chingodza sings over marimbas, vibraphones, sun drum, and hosho (small shakers made of dried gourds), reminding us of our roots through the joyous music and passionate performances that draw this triumph of an album to a close.

« Previous post: WBEZ Chicago: Twenty years in, classical stars Third Coast Percussion keep upping the ante

Next post: Chicago Sun-Times: Twyla Tharp’s ‘Diabelli’ glistens as legendary choreographer celebrates her diamond jubilee »