Can you believe it's time for another CD review?

Like you care... The disk is Vu-Tet, by Cuong Vu, a trumpet player from the Seattle area. This is a quartet outing with electric bass, drums, and sax/clarinet--plus a heavy dose of electronic manipulation. It seems that Mr. Vu, like a lot of musicians these days, is looking for a way to make and sell recordings without the big record labels. This disk was made with some arts funding and the support of a group called Artist Share, so the related web site has an extensive list of interactive goodies that come with the disk. As for me, I don't see a reason to care about the extras--please just give me the recording and leave out the story of how it was made.

While all but one of the tracks was "composed" by Mr. Vu, they seem like fairly bare-bones harmonic structures for improvising and I promise you there's no memorable melody here. A couple of the melodies are expressed in unison between the trumpet and clarinet, reminding me a great deal of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew as they have a mournful quality that seems to hang in space over vague harmonies. Other melodies are more like Mr. Vu's improvising: repeating very few notes in intricate rhythms, weaving up and down and relying more on changes in velocity than dynamics or the shape of the phrase to carry matters forward. And underpinning the affair are studio echoes and reverb exaggerated to the point of playing a fifth part in this quartet.

Interestingly, Mr. Vu's solos don't substantially grab my attention, but bassist Stomu Takeishi dominates extensive sections of other people's solos with his big sound and strong power lines. Like Bill Frisell, sometimes he gets in the way of the people he accompanies. I complain about these two musicians, but truthfully, both are strong soloists--but the real find is Chris Speed and his clarinet work. His wide-ranging solos are artful constructions that pull you along in the drama that can even overcome Mr. Takeishi's occasional interference. The group plays together with great clarity of purpose, but several of the tunes have an aimless feel that sabotages them, making this a good, but not great, album.

7 out of 10

CDs listened today:

• Paula Diehl: Right Of Way
• John Phillip Sousa: Marches
• Test Icicles: For Screening Purposes Only
• Charles Wuorinen: Five
• Bill Watrous: Manhattan Wildlife Refuge
• Various Artists: Pop Ambient 2007