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Reviews

Barend Tromp — Juvenile Fish Tales
(Bandcamp Subcontinental Records SCR059, 2022, DL)

Barend Tromp — Odd Time Concepts
(7d Media no#, 2025, DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-12-01

Juvenile Fish Tales Cover artOdd Time Concepts Cover art

There is no shortage of amazing bassists in the world these days, and when you make your list that includes Mohini Dey, Antoine Fafard, Udo Pannekeet, Michael Pipoquinha, and the rest, make sure that Barend Tromp is included. Odd Time Concepts may be an album title that is either a bit silly or simply descriptive, but the music on it is top-notch jazz-rock fusion with some very interesting additional flavors in the mix. First among those is the fact that in addition to bass, guitar, and keyboards, Tromp plays sitar on several tracks. He does this on the opening track, “Sitharsis,” and the track probably inevitably brings to mind Jason Everett’s Deep Energy Orchestra (speaking of outstanding bassists). Tromp’s bass here includes some beautiful melodic fretless work as well and hyperactive slapping funky parts. His guitar leads bring to mind Allan Holdsworth in tone and the way he bends notes, and then adding in the sitar takes it to another level. It’s an outstanding way to start an album. “Gamelan Sepuluh” brings in another flavor courtesy of some keyboards that take a tonal cue from Indonesian gamelan. This is combined with some slinky Mick Karn style fretless bass playing. A good reference for this (and several other tracks) would be the great Polytown album and Karn’s solo albums. A few of the tracks delve into some gnarly riffs that add a bit of gritty edge to the proceedings. Odd Time Concepts is inventive and enjoyable from front to back, and certainly one of the best releases by a bassist this year. It’s no surprise he’s able to attract guests like Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto. The other drummers featured are Ron van Stratum, Nathan van de Wouw, and Eugene Vugts, and there are a few tracks where Tromp programmed the parts.

I liked Odd Time Concepts so much that I sought out Tromp’s 2022 release, Juvenile Fish Tales, which was released on Subcontinental Records. Only one special guest here, but given that it’s Michael Manring no one should complain. In addition to van de Wouw, Vugts, Patrick Eijdems, and Kim Weemhoff contributing drums, he has Peter Arts van der Zanden (flute) and Brenda Nijsen (vocals) on one track each. One thing that really makes Tromp’s music work is that he balances his prodigious technical skill with innate musicality so it never slides into sounding like exercises or egotistical showing off. When investigating Tromp’s music, by all means start with the most recent one, but you may well find yourself doing as I did and checking out the Fish as well.

Filed under: New releases, 2022 releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Michael Manring, Pat Mastelotto, Trey Gunn, Barend Tromp

More info
http://subcontinentalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/juvenile-fish-tales
http://barendtromp7d.bandcamp.com/album/odd-time-concepts

 

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