SQUINT
“Going into this album,” Lage recalls, “my first tactic was just to make positive, beautiful music – a beam of light from three cats who love each other. After the recording didn't happen, I started reflecting on the music’s intent. It was clearer than ever that art and music are platforms to influence and heal and facilitate conversations. It became really important to me to capture a certain sense of emotional complexity to the music, a little fuzziness. This record sits comfortably in the unknown.”

Finding comfort in that tenuous space was also aided by the presence in the studio of two of Lage’s closest compatriots, who served as co-producers: guitarist and longtime collaborator Armand Hirsch and singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy, Lage’s partner in life as well as music. “On one level, the combination of Margaret and Armand is just abundant support,” Lage says. “But I also have such deep respect for what they both bring to the music. They helped make sure that the essential experience was always there, that Squint never became a pursuit to make a good jazz guitar record, but to create music with a clear spiritual pulse.”

That goal has also become more intuitive with the evolution of the trio with Roeder and King. The bassist has been a key member of Lage’s musical family throughout the guitarist’s career, beginning with his 2009 debut, Sounding Point. King, best known as drummer for the irreverent trio The Bad Plus, is a more recent hook-up. The group made its debut with 2019’s Love Hurts, a collection of mostly cover tunes spanning the members’ diverse interests, from Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett to Roy Orbison and Peter Ivers.

Crafted after two years of touring together, Squint reflects the trio’s loose but deeply attuned chemistry while tracing the threads of those wide-ranging influences into new original pieces.