Peripheral Vision

Canadian jazz quartet Peripheral Vision is known for breaking off into modern sound-shapes and bringing influences from a variety of genres, with predominance of jazz and rock. Co-led by guitarist Don Scott and bassist Michael Herring, who often have art, literature, and standup comedy inspiring their compositions, the band is rounded out with saxophonist Trevor Hogg and drummer Nick Fraser. Their fourth outing, More Songs About Error and Shame, comprises seven well-worked compositions (Herring penned four and Scott three) dressed in shimmering textural hues to attain a uniform balance between written score and improv.
Kicking off with resolute unisons, “The Blunder” builds a sturdy rock-based foundation after Fraser’s crisp diction of hi-hat and snare drum gets hooked to Herring’s insouciant bass drives. Without wasting time, Scott whips up playful phrases packed with hot patterns, having supportive sax-bass fills in the flank. All that jim-jam ends up in a bass soliloquy turned into odd-metered groove, which serves as a lush pavement for Hogg’s explorations. …show more content…
The improvisers are Scott and Hogg, who build interesting crescendos over circular harmonic progressions.
On “And the Metaphysical Concept of Shame”, the quartet dives into a leisurely brushed pop jazz, whose freeing bass movements keep asking for a brawnier accompaniment. Instead, Scott remained immersed in glossy voicings, incurring in a tri-line parallelism with Hogg and Herring for a finale that coincides with the song’s