Bone Machine

Robin Eubanks takes the trombone further.

"Your blasts, burbles,/ and bellowing, those upward leaps, those staccato descensions,/ Your smears, blurs, coughs, your tone veering from muted to/stentorian, your confidences, your insults,/ All made in music, musically."

The lines are by Hayden Carruth, from a recent poem called "What a Wonder Among the Instruments Is the Walloping Trombone!" Although dedicated to the late Vic Dickenson, Carruth’s words could effectively serve as a homage to the slide trombone itself. The instrument once represented a realm of possibilities, a catalog of unconventional sounds. All that changed with the advent of bebop and the rise of virtuoso ‘bone man J.J. Johnson; for the past 50 years, most jazz trombonists have struggled to emulate Johnson’s trumpet-like precision. In doing so, Carruth might argue, they have forsaken the very qualities that make their instrument unique.

Philly-raised trombonist Robin Eubanks studied his J.J., and it shows; he has inherited Johnson’s clear tone, tonal mobility and flawless articulation. He contributed (as composer, arranger, and soloist) to Johnson’s penultimate album, Brass Orchestra (1996), and gave props to his precursors on the 1998 album 4:JJ/Slide/Curtis & Al. Yet Eubanks has never been confined to the parameters of Johnson’s (or Slide Hampton’s, or Curtis Fuller’s, or Al Grey’s) style. As a featured voice in the Dave Holland Quintet, his trombone can hover sweetly in the upper register or blurt gutbucket low tones (on Holland’s forthcoming ECM disc Not for Nothing, you can hear both extremes in the course of a few measures). And even a cursory spin of Eubanks’ own discography reveals echoes not only of J.J. and Curtis, but also Bartók, P-Funk, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the music of Africa and Brazil.

These various influences flow one into the other on Get 2 It (REM), Eubanks’ new album. "Metamorphos," the disc’s invocation, is a prime example. Debuted a few years ago by Dave Holland’s band, the tune oscillates between tight funk in 10/8 time, a straight-ahead fragment in 4/4 and a rolling Afro-Cuban groove in 12/8 — without losing its center of gravity in the process. Halfway through his solo, Eubanks unveils another signature innovation: an "electric trombone," amplified through a processor and racked with wobbly distortion. This effect, which appears throughout the album (most prominently on the barrelhouse-acid "Blues for Jimi") signals a further development in his lexicon. While Eubanks has experimented with electronics with the trombone, now the technology has caught up with him. Eubanks has effectively reclaimed wah-wahs and hiccups from the exclusive domain of rock guitar, bridging the gap between Vic Dickenson and Steve Vai. Even a purist like Hayden Carruth would have to acknowledge the "blasts, bursts, and bellowing," the "smears, blurs, [and] coughs."

Get 2 It holds a number of other revelations, including an unscripted duet with drummer Billy Kilson, an impromptu trio with percussionist Mino Cinelu and brother Kevin Eubanks on acoustic guitar and a rollicking "Cross Currents" featuring Dave Holland on bass. For the most part, though, the album features Eubanks’ superb working ensemble Mental Images, which consists of drummer Gene Jackson, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, keyboardist George Colligan and brother Duane on trumpet. Together they tackle the elder Eubanks’ shifting terrain with flexibility and collective assurance, and no shortage of soul.

Robin Eubanks’ Mental Images plays Fri.-Sat., July 27-28, 9 and 11 p.m., Zanzibar Blue, Broad and Walnut Sts., 215-732-4500.