The jazz community in Kansas City is a victim of negligence. Although it was released in February, Plastic Sax only recently stumbled upon Pliable Consciousness, the latest missive from Peter Schlamb. The excellence of the 22-minute recording compounds the oversight.
The vibraphonist, composer and bandleader has perfected the distinctive approach first documented on Tinks in 2014. The production of Pliable Consciousness is crisper and the guest artists- Hermon Mehari, Mike Moreno and Logan Richardson- are even more inspiring.
Schlamb has long been indifferent to self-promotion. Even so, managing to keep the superlative Pliable Consciousness a secret is a feat. The fact that Pliable Consciousness hasn’t received a smidgen of notice elsewhere doesn’t excuse Plastic Sax’s failure to keep tabs on one of Kansas City’s preeminent artists. I apologize.