David Torn

If you’re looking for a middle ground between Tool and John Coltrane, this is it. NYC-based guitarist David Torn has always been a master of texture and color, but he’s never sounded as raw as he does on “Bulbs,” which builds energy and momentum until it climaxes in a clubbing with a sonic baseball bat. His latest rig also allows him to sample and manipulate his own sound, so Torn plays cut-and-paste with his lines even as he’s spinning them, whipping backwards phrases into melodies and shuffling chords like a deck of ripped cards. It helps that drummer Tom Rainey is an energy player who can perform like a mock Elvin Jones and then pound out a fiendish rock beat for the squalling, staccato “Sink.” And Tim Berne’s alto-sax lines provide most of the album’s sweetening, in particular adding grace to the mysterious “Ak” — at least until Torn begins firing metallic junkyard meteors into the mix. It’s tempting to say that Torn is reinventing his style on these 11 songs. Even the Middle Eastern–influenced “Miss Place, The Mist . . . ” has a dark and angry edge — a subtly threatening quality generated by a minor key, strings, and gnawing, scraping, metallic percussion sounds that seem guitar-generated — that’s been absent from his earlier music. But he’s always been a refreshingly unpredictable composer and improviser.

DAVID TORN, PREZENS

John Coltrane

Abbey Lincoln

Miles Davis

Paul Motian

Les Savy Fav

Leo Genovese

Tom Rainey

The Mekons

Kanye West

Latest Articles

Destination out

Leo Genovese tries to play what he doesn’t know; plus David Torn’s Prezens
In a town bursting with young musical talent, Leo Genovese might be the most explosive.
By JON GARELICK | March 24, 2008

David Torn: Prezens

ECM
Guitarist Torn has quietly labored in the jazz and prog-rock trenches for more than 20 years.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | March 12, 2008

Listen up

Providence national pop + jazz picks: 2007 in review
It’s the first year a long time where I truly felt like I didn’t listen to enough music.
By JIM MACNIE | December 18, 2007

David Torn

Prezens | ECM
If you’re looking for a middle ground between Tool and John Coltrane, this is it.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | June 19, 2007

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