GHOST TREES
Ghost Trees is the new vehicle of local hornman Brent Bagwell and his Eastern Seaboard bandmate, drummer Seth Nanaa. The two played during Great Architect's Snug Harbor residency recently sans Seaboard bassist Jordan Schranz, and really clicked duo-style. The combination of saxophone and drums feels primal and immediate, an energy never captured better (or likely to be improved upon) than when John Coltrane and Rashied Ali did it on the seminal sax/drums statement, Interstellar Space. Still, it's great to hear Bagwell, the city's most adventurous reedsman, in a setting where he's playing against/around/through a mostly rhythmic entity, as he does on the duo's gorgeous self-titled 10-inch picture disc whose release they'll be celebrating at Snug Harbor. On "Serpico's Dream," for instance, Bagwell and Nanaa joust and parry in ever-tightening circles before wrestling a surprisingly tight melody into submission. It's not quite as free as, say, peer collabs like those between drummer Frank Rosaly and saxophonist Dave Rempis, but their years together in Eastern Seaboard serve Bagwell and Nanaa well in establishing the trust level necessary to create some truly intriguing and adventurous moments. With Bo White, Great Architect and Blossoms. $5. Nov. 23, 10 p.m. Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. 704-333-9799. .