Timeout Chicago Review
JASON STEIN'S LOCKSMITH ISIDORE A Calculus of Loss
Clean Feed Records 2008

Eric Dolphy can be a hard predecessor to shake. Before his death in the early ’60s, the master reedist left such an identifiable stamp on the bass clarinet’s identity—wild, colorful and free—that few have managed to wrench the instrument in a new direction. Local bass clarinetist Jason Stein enters into this daunting void wisely; Stein isn’t seeking to out-Dolphy Dolphy, but rather to explore the subtler majesties of the instrument.

A native of Long Island, Stein first came to the Midwest via grad school at Ann Arbor’s University of Michigan. Since his move here several years ago, he has been an idiosyncratic sideman, dropping squeals in Ken Vandermark’s Bridge 61, neoclassical flights in Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack and rough hard bop in Keefe Jackson’s Project Project. With Loss, Stein’s first recording as a leader, it’s clear another side—mystical composer—is beginning to emerge as well.

Recording for the revered Portuguese label Clean Feed, Stein’s trio—featuring New York drummer Mike Pride and local cellist Kevin Davis—can still speak in Dolphy’s bebop logorrheaas easily as a more meditative breath-speak. On the Americana strains of “Caroline and Sam,” Stein sounds like he’s plumbing the cavernous depths of a 50-foot PVC pipe. But on the bluesy classical swing of “That’s Not a Closet,” he plays a melody that sounds like Paul Desmond run through a washing machine. The bass clarinet, finally, has a new master to follow.

-Matthew Lurie, Timeout Chicago, May 2008