The album opens with “Kemet,” a long, slow-building piece that eventually grows into a stately Nubian melody. The first interlude features Hulett, and his melancholy, reverberating solo sets the tone for the remainder of the interludes, as it segues perfectly from the end of “Kemet” as well as into the opening of “Isis.” “Isis,” the melody of which was originally written by Lomax for his wedding, is a dramatic tune with open-ended improvisations from all of the players. After a drum interlude, Bayard’s melody “Osiris” swings with a natural confidence over a rolling beat, aided by the warm, broad tones of Hulett’s bass. The full band tunes on the second half of the album are shorter, as the heroic characters have been introduced and are now drawn into active roles in the triumph of love over evil. The rousing finale “Resurrection” celebrates this triumph with the most traditionally swinging tune on the album, and the band transitions quite well. The tunes on Isis & Osiris ride the line between conventional bop and more open, free jazz, but the spirituality and raw emotion of the individual and group performances smooths over subgenre descriptions and crafts a body of work that manages to be both accessible and challenging for the average jazz listener.
Isis & Osiris is now available in either digital or CD form here. As Hulett recently moved to San Diego, and Lomax and Bayard maintain busy out-of-town schedules with their other projects, there is no local release party planned as of yet. The trio does aim to go on tour in 2015, so hopefully a local display of this majestic music will work out sometime soon. - Andrew Patton
http://www.jazzcolumbus.com/the-mark-lomax-trio-isis-osiris/