Tropos

Tropos is an avant-jazz quintet whose sound and original music are grounded in detailed listening and a collectively held adventurous spirit. The identifying characteristics of Tropos' sound are found in the egalitarian spirit of humor, high energy, extreme dynamics, and an abundance of textural contrast, combined with sudden radical shifts in time and mode, as they bridge the voices of the soloist with the collective's.

The members of Tropos -- vocalist Laila Smith, saxophonist Raef Sengupta, pianist Phillip Golub, bassist Zachary Lavine, and drummer/percussionist Mario Layne Fabrizio -- came together in 2018; all five were studying at Boston's New England Conservatory. They were part of what began as a larger ensemble under the guidance of guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:6DLquZA1fNLT5aw9o1xPV7">Joe Morris</a>. Their shared commitment was born of a common fascination with the ground-breaking music of New Thing composers such as <a href="spotify:artist:2wn2nqzITvJ1vcMRO8Wzv6">Albert Ayler</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:47odibUtrN3lnWx0p0pk2P">Ornette Coleman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5jtGuhEEDh07yaFfm8qHg7">Cecil Taylor</a> and, in particular, <a href="spotify:artist:3UXq4fckDmcPmleixlrl6i">Anthony Braxton</a>. Golub and Smith have known each other since high school. The pianist and Fabrizio met earlier, while studying at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music under <a href="spotify:artist:27DeRe5LjIt9ZPXUjF90h6">Vijay Iyer</a>. The pair also worked together with Lavine in various early jazz ensembles, performing music from an earlier era.

Tropos issued its debut album in the spring of 2020 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Biophilia%22">Biophilia</a>. Entitled Axioms // 75 AB, it juxtaposed original compositions inspired by <a href="spotify:artist:3UXq4fckDmcPmleixlrl6i">Braxton</a> with half a dozen of his own tunes (rarely explored outside his recordings). Tropos chose pieces culled from his influential recordings of the early to mid-'70s. Axioms // AB was issued a week before <a href="spotify:artist:3UXq4fckDmcPmleixlrl6i">Braxton</a>'s 75th birthday. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi