Leaps of Faith

Trumpeter Cuong Vu's 4-tet appears to be bottom-heavy too, what with two electric bassists. And Takeishi and Bergman are really playing electric too; not the kind of bass work that tries to sound wooden through the amp. But Leaps of Faith is not the funk affair that it might make it seem. there are lost of electronics used on this live recording, on all four instruments, and every bit of it is remarkably musical and tasteful. There is never noise here, bit there is lost of atmosphere and all of these musicians understand the potency of silence in their music. The title track is a short group improvisation, and there are two strong originals from Vu. Bit the other fie tracks are standards that range from Rodgers & Hart to George Harrison, and they are all wonderful. The sidewise way that wafts of familiar melody rinse through the abstraction, often in one of the bass voices, makes Leaps of Faith a real delight. It reaffirms that Cuong Vu is an artist of the first rank.