By Gary Chapin
Marilyn Crispell has been, for me, for a long time, the most mystic of our beloved piano-playing chaos magicians. Sometimes it’s obvious. For example, when, in the past, she has played Coltrane’s “Dear Lord,” for example, or Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear,” beginning at the deconstruction, bringing it slowly back to coherence, you are almost involuntarily transported into the music.
Even the most raucous playing—the stabbity-stab, stochastic melodies, and the thoom thoom thooming—invites me to altered consciousness in a way no one else’s playing does. I’ve had less experience of Harvey Sorgen, who has a strong list of collaborations, including with Joe Fonda, Karl Berger, and Michael Bisio, but I had no real doubts about what he brings to the table. Crispell has a great track record finding duet partners.
The two come together beautifully. “Forest,” sets the tone and demonstrates the dynamic of conversation, which starts civilly, but becomes deeply impassioned. “Overtones” is ruminative and leans heavily on the snare, and refuses to grow in tempo or dynamic, while absolutely growing in intensity and perseverance. “Dulcimer” left me thinking, “Why dulcimer?” But after a few moments I did recognize a hammer dulcimer-ish vibe—hammers hitting strings—and it made sense. Not that making sense is a criteria for greatness. Maybe I’m reading too much into titles. I don’t know if “Woolf Moon,” is a Virginia Woolf reference, but I want it to be. Either way, it’s a great piece of music. For “Seascape,” Sorgen takes a solo turn with bells and brushes, as beautiful as the landscape it purports to represent. We close with “Green,” a gentle, three-minute experience, inviting you to stop thinking, for just a bit.
The free jazz duet is on my short list of favorite things in the world. It feels like the purest and truest form of musical conversation one can imagine. Both Crispell and Sorgen have each made the duet a significant part of their respective oeuvres, with brilliant examples going back decades. The consistency of excellence in their outputs sometimes make it seem like a new release is no big deal. Forest is a big deal. A wonderful listen. Five stars.
1 comments:
Sounds excellent. Thanks for sharing Gary!
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