Earprint, a four-member chordless creative collective with an ear for the underground, makes music that’s at least nominally listenable. They don’t aim to save jazz or the world but they do hope to make a difference with their aggressively melodic and shamelessly youthful approach. A chordless quartet, which is free from the constraints of guitar or piano, has a unique, stripped-down sound that’s often associated with Ornette Coleman or the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Bak group of the early 1950s. Earprint is influenced by many of these influences, but they also draw a lot from other chordless music, including Happy Apple, Steve Coleman, and Dave Holland. Earprint was born in Boston’s New England Conservatory. But their roots are all over the world: Tree Palmedo, the trumpeter, hails from the Pacific Northwest, and Kevin Sun, the saxophonist, is a native of Garden State. Simon Willson, the bassist, moved across hemispheres in order to join the band. He is from Santiago Chile and Dor Herskovits, the Israeli drummer, crossed an ocean. Four wildly divergent visions merged to create a unique kind of kitchen sink minimalism, combining burning swing, knotty grooves and anthemic themes. After playing a few intimate gigs at places like Shapeshifter Lab (Brooklyn NY), Harvard Advocate (Cambridge MA) and Lilypad (Cambridge MA), Earprint entered the studio to record their debut album, Earprint. The band’s ethos is demonstrated in the 11 original pieces that were released in October 2016. They are both historically inspired and familiar but also bizarre enough to blow your minds. From www.endectomorph.com
