Tri-Cycle

Paulsen’s background includes a solid grounding in classical music, which comes as no surprise. His arco solo on the extended rubato intro to Hochmiller’s “Motion” might feel more at home in a classical recital. But Paulsen’s improvisational acumen on this initially brooding piece belies a more spontaneous mindset. When the piece transitions into an elastic, yet delicately swinging middle section, where pianist Wells Hanley tills turf blending the economy of Evans with the more outward reaching harmonic ideas of Paul Bley, there’s a palpable emotional shift, before Paulsen brings his bow back and gradually returns the by-now optimistic ambience to its more sombre conclusion.

Paulsen’s own writing ranges from the more abstract and free-style impressionism of the slowly unfolding “Tre Formaggi —where drummer Joe Mullen’s colorations suggest a pulses in a less direct, Motian-like fashion—to the greater insistence of “What If, with its staggered theme, and a schizophrenic title track that shifts from Nordic cool to thematic ellipsis and occasional swing in a very ECM-like way. In fact, a very European aesthetic informs Paulsen’s music, and… with Tri-Cycle, Paulsen proves himself to be every bit as capable as a leader… with Hanley and Mullen, Paulsen reveals a stylistic specificity that’s evolving on the Philly scene which can rival that in any other major center.