Part experimental klezmer-love, part edgy jazz stylings, Knitting on the Roof is a stunning and profound take on Stein, Harnick and Bock's classic musical about Jewish life in Czarist Russia.
Some tracks are virtually unrecognizable in their dissonance and level of experimentation.
Pavone's bass slaps and tickles the sonic swirl along. Jazz Passenger Brad Jones' Uncivilized Poise, with its smorgasbord of downtown sound, rocks as hard but gets off at an entirely different stop. Jones and Co. throw in the kitchen sink for good measure. Sax man Bob Debellis has the angular alto squonk of Steve Coleman, and guitarist David Gilmore has Vernon Reid's sting. Jazz Passenger trombonist Curtis Fowlkes sits in for one cut, and I found myself wanting him to stick around for the whole shooting match.