On his first two albums as a leader— Waking Dreams (self-produced) and The Subliminal and the Sublime (Inner Arts Initiative)—vibraphonist Chris Dingman worked within ambient, classical, and jazz idioms to turn out meditative, inner-directed soundscapes for sextet. With his latest release, Embrace (Inner Arts), though, he raises the compositional stakes a few notches: The new album centers on vibes, backed only by bass (Linda May Han Oh) and drums (Tim Keiper). The challenge, Dingman holds, was to deliver the same melodic and harmonic richness as on his previous releases, but with half the players.
This pared-down ensemble actually suits the thematic thrust of the album’s nine originals, each one a facet of Dingman’s ever-evolving creative vision. At the heart of the album is his desire to understand relationships—whether personal or musical—at their most elemental level; this desire gave rise to some highly intimate tracks. The opener, “Inner Child,” for instance, a softly lilting air that flirts briefly with harmonic distortions, written soon after the death of Dingman’s idol, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson (1941-2016), and the deeper-toned, persistently rhythmic “Find A Way,” which served as a palliative in the face of his father’s passing.
Dingman also seeks to express his deepening fascination with non-Euro-derived musical traditions on tunes like “Forgive/Embrace,” a reflection of the harp-like sounds of the kora, inspired by Mali musician Toumani Diabaté; “The Opening + Mudita,” an allusion to the Buddhist concept of sympathetic joy in the Indian language of Pali; and “Steps On The Path,” a hypnotic meditation that borrows from the work of Brazilian composer Milton Nascimento.
In stepping away from chordal instruments and horn soloists, Dingman willingly foregoes some of the lushness found on his earlier albums. But in these simpler compositions he speaks to deeper complexities—those that arise when one follows the heart.
Embrace: Inner Child, Find A Way, Ali, The Opening + Mudita, Goddess, Forgive/Embrace, Hijinks and Wizardry, Steps On The Path, Folly Of Progress (52:54)
Personnel: Chris Dingman, vibes; Linda May Han Oh, bass; Tim Keiper, drums.
(Reprinted from the May 2020 issue of Downbeat magazine)