Small Places is double-bassist/composer Michael Formanek's follow-up to The Rub and Spare Change, his widely lauded ECM debut as a leader. The new album features the same powerhouse band of long-time confreres, with Formanek in telepathic league with saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. <p>If anything, Small Places is a step beyond this quartet's first release, with the compositions and improvisation blending so seamlessly that a listener is scarcely able to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Earthy yet atmospheric, this is very 21st-century American jazz, the music brimming with piquant riffs and muscular ostinatos, rich in melodic possibility and the sound of surprise.</p> <p>Unlike The Rub and Spare Change, which was recorded after only a few initial live performances by Formanek and company, the new album represents a group honed by touring both Europe and the U.S. together. Moreover, the quartet performed the full repertoire of Small Places in a New York club just before heading into Avatar Studios in autumn 2011 with producer Manfred Eicher. Small Places is the sound of a working band in peak form, challenged by the material and challenging each other in its expression.</p> <p>Formanek's 2010 The Rub and Spare Change garnered a rare five-star review in DownBeat magazine, while The New York Times described the disc as being "graceful in its subversions, often even sumptuous". The review in Progression perhaps puts it best: "This type of listening experience, dense yet luminiferous, treads the tightrope between cerebral and streetwise in a damn cool way."</p> <p>Personnel: Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Craig Taborn (piano), Michael Formanek (double-bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums, shruti box)</p>