For those unaware, PAKT, a true super group of master musicians merging and colliding new music in the realms of progressive rock, electric jazz, experimental, ambient, psychedelic and beyond, is an experience as much as a musical project.

An IMAX film for the ears, PAKT takes its listeners on an improvised sonic voyage with no preconceived destination, minimal pre-planning and little use for forms and conventions. Rare is the musician who can thrive in such a spontaneous environment, but Percy Jones (fretless bass guitar), Alex Skolnick (guitar), Kenny Grohowski (drums) and Tim Motzer (guitar and electronics) are all up to the task.

Armed with enough tastefully used effects to stock a small music store, Motzer and Skolnick create sounds so atmospheric and ethereal that one might not guess their source is a guitar. Meanwhile, Grohowski and Jones approach their instruments in textural manners that seamlessly intertwine with each other and the quartet as a whole.

Ergo, the music here on their brand new live album No Steps Left To Trace runs the gamut from highly sensitive to intense, with all four musicians’ listening skills so strong that their collective playing is as cohesive as it is unpredictable.

Welsh bassist Jones (now a New York resident) is known for his tenure in the legendary jazz fusion group Brand X (whose classic lineup included drummer Phil Collins, yes that one) and extensive studio work (especially with Brian Eno). Skolnick is a diverse improviser whose jazz and world playing and instrumental associations (including bass virtuosos Stuart Hamm and Michael Manring) forms a Jeckyll & Hyde dynamic with his high profile as lead guitarist of the metal band Testament.

Grohowski’s many recent associations include John Zorn, a reincarnated version of Brand X and masked avant-metal outfit, Imperial Triumphant. Motzer has a long background in free improvisation, including the bands Bandit65 (with fellow guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel) and Orion Tango, plus many other recorded collaborations for his 1k Recordings label.

Before this album, all of PAKT’s releases had been taken from live performances. This studio session took place during the band’s East Coast tour in December, 2021. Primed from several successful shows in Upstate New York (including musician Daryl Hall’s thriving venue in Pawling, NY, Daryl’s House), the band took the day off in the Catskills Mountains, where they tracked live at NRS Studios.

NRS is located in the home of musician/recording engineer Scott Petito, whose studio has hosted such luminaries John Scofield, Chick Corea and James Taylor. The PAKT musicians set up in a circle, all in the same room and performed, just as they would at a live concert. This began in the late morning and continued past dusk. By day’s end, they had accumulated a bunch of material — quite a nice document of where the band was musically back in 2021.

Live, of course, they have an audience that takes the ride with them. It is a real shared experience in that regard. Motzer curated five such journeys for the Live CD, one from Buffalo, three from NYC (Nublu), and one from Philadelphia.

Adding the live album to the double release shows the growth and evolving chemistry in PAKT from the 2021 studio recording to the newer live recordings in 2023. It’s a nice contrast with a lot of great interplay and listening happening from all the players. It also makes the album an excellent introduction to the band’s music for anyone new to it, as well as a fine addition to their discography.

1. No Steps Left To Trace, Part 1 (21:11)
2. No Steps Left To Trace, Part 2 (15:34)
3. On The Other Side, Part 1 (11:12)
4. Wormhole (1:44)
5. On The Other Side, Part 2 (9:29)
6. Spontaneous Combustion (9:58)
7. The Ghost Mills (9:21)
8. NYC III (18:06)
9. NYC IV (11:14)
10. NYC V (7:32)
11. Solar Myth (22:34)

This wonderfully musical abstract new live recording opens on No Steps Left To Trace, the fluidly rhythmic Part 1 and the more jaggedly industrial Part 2 along with On The Other Side, and the frenetically flirtatious Part 1, and they are backed by the digital hubbub of the short, but sweet Wormhole, Part 2 of the melodically-structured, yet playfully avant-garde On The Other Side, the free-flowing Spontaneous Combustion, and they are then followed seamlessly by the, at first, hauntingly ethereal, latterly frantically sculpted The Ghost Mills, the gentle rhythms that drive NYC III, the all-embracing stillness of pulse that drives NYC IV, the propulsive blues/prog that is NYC V, the recording coming to a close on the spatially aware guitar jam that is the 22 minute Solar Myth.

Musicians:
PERCY JONES - bass guitar
ALEX SKOLNICK - guitars
KENNY GROHOWSKI drums
TIM MOTZER - guitars, electronics

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