David Lord releases “Forest Standards Vol. 4” via Big Ego Records on Friday, Dec. 6.
The album sees the guitarist and composer close the door on a concept he began with 2018’s “Forest Standards Vol. 1,” featuring compositions inspired by the wonders of the natural world and finding Lord reimagining/reinventing/rewriting a number of jazz standards via his singular compositional style.
Influenced by jazz but far from traditional jazz -- and yet not at the blurriest corners of the avant garde -- Lord and various players assembled for each record have created four albums that provide beautifully realized compositions with each collection demonstrating remarkable growth.
Noted writer Bill Milkowski offered in the first volume’s liner notes that Lord had joined the pantheon of guitar renegades such as Derek Bailey, Joe Morris, James “Blood” Ulmer and Ben Monder, while also noting that none were direct influences nor even necessarily artists Lord had listened to.
One fellow guitarist he certainly had listened to was Jeff Parker, who appeared extensively on the second Forest Standards LP in 2020, culminating in yet another high water mark in Lord’s extensive discography.
For this fourth and final volume, Lord once again recorded in Los Angeles with producer Chris Schlarb, employing legendary drummer Chad Taylor, double bassist Billy Mohler, alto saxophonist Alex Sadnik and bass clarinetist Brian Walsh.
Primarily tracked at Schlarb’s Big Ego facility in the summer of 2022, Lord added some additional touches at his temporary home in Montreal as well as at his Air House facility in Wichita.
Lord recently spoke with KMUW about the new LP and the end of a concept.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
This is the conclusion of the Forest Standards series. Did you know from the start that there would be four volumes?
No, I kind of left it open-ended. For a little while I thought about three, then we did this record. With all of these albums, there’s a core team of myself, Chris Schlarb, Chad Taylor and Devin O’Brien, the engineer. It’s been the four of us for all these records. That’s sort of the formula and then we build it around that. With this album … it just sort of feels like [this is] the competition. I didn’t know until we got to that point, but once I finished this album, I felt, like, “OK, this is it.” I’m definitely going to be working with Chris some more; hopefully I get a chance to work with Chad again. But I feel like this concept is complete.
The last album was a kind of reimagining of John Coltrane’s “Ballads” album. Did you have a similar concept or approach with this one?
This one doesn’t have anything like that. There are some standards, as with all of these records, songs based on standards. “Star Jelly” is [Clifford Brown’s] “Joy Spring.” “Earthball” is [Brooks Bowman’s] “East of the Sun (And West of the Moon).” There’s some stuff like that but it’s buried really deep this time. It would be impossible for anybody to hear those references. So, no, nothing like it being based off a whole album.
I always start with the instrumentation as far as composition. I kind of know what the band will be and then compose with those people in mind. I knew I was going to have bass clarinet and alto saxophone, so that led to a whole different kind of energy than the other records, I think. But this record does have a concept: a lot of the songs are mushroom songs that have something to do with space as well. There are all these earth star songs, “Star Spored Entoloma,” so it’s pretty complex and math-y in a way, but then it has this cosmic, space sort of vibe as well. That’s what I was going for: a mix of the forest and then the larger perspective.
I love the use of bass clarinet in these compositions. I’ve mostly encountered it in classical works or avant garde music, avant garde jazz. Not in ensembles like this.
I’m a big fan of Eric Dolphy. Actually, getting into jazz early on, I think Eric Dolphy, randomly, was one of my first huge influences. I think I checked out a CD from the library when I was in high school, and I got really into Eric Dolphy early on, so I’ve always loved bass clarinet in a jazz/avant garde sort of context. It’s one of my favorite instruments. So, getting the opportunity to compose for bass clarinet was awesome. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
It's such a nice touch.
I love the combination of bass clarinet and alto sax. They are very complimentary, especially with Brian Walsh [bass clarinet] and Alex Sadnik [alto sax]. The way they worked together was unbelievable.
I’ve been listening to your music for a long time now, over 20 years, and I feel like this is probably the most rock oriented your guitar playing has been.
Yeah, that was sort of the concept as well. It turned out more like that actually than I had anticipated based on what Chad played. Chad came in playing almost more from a rock approach with set beats and patterns and so forth than I was anticipating with a lot of these pieces. He commented, I think to Chris, that he had listened to some of the demos, and they were so complex, there was so much happening, he felt like it needed to be grounded in a way. He came in with a lot more driving, sort of rock rhythms and beats than I was anticipating, which I think gave it that life. I love the direction that it went. Even Chris’ mixing [reflects that]. He mixed a little more aggressively and used effects a little more aggressively and it turned into more of a rock album. That’s sort of how I thought of it as well, “This is my rock album.”
Yeah, I heard the first real hot guitar sound and said, “OK, Hendrix!”
[Laughs.] Right!
