And then, out of the blue, in the heart of a boiling summer, drops from the sky a record with Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Tomeka Reid and Chad Taylor playing together: Christmas in July. The gathering of this outstanding patrol is due to the Swedish Silkheart Records, whose mission statement says all: “We are dedicated to recording the sublime heights of creativity in improvised music. Our continuity policy is to maintain a focus on evolving changes in vernacular improvised music, on the look-out for musicians with that ultimate sparkle”. Among others, staying on Gustafsson’s orbit, it's worth remembering that Silkheart released the highly appreciated Sustain by Aaly Trio last year. Joining the dots with such top notch aces means discovering a large scope of the music we love: Gustafsson and Vandermark have been partners in crime for more than 30 years, starting in the seminal Brotzmann Tentet; Reid and Taylor played together in “Hear in now expanded” and in several Rob Mazurek’s bands; Vandermark and Reid in a quartet along with Hamid Drake and Lemuel Marc; Taylor and Vandermark in the trio Side A with pianist Havard Wiik; Gustafsson and Reid in a studio session dating back in 2017 that hasn't been unearthed yet.
For this project the four headed to Chicago, where Pivot was recorded at the legendary Electric Audio, the Taj Mahal of the late, unforgotten Steve Albini, in November 2024. For the sheer pleasure of our ears, the session delivered a 14 song outcome: four composed by Mats, four by Ken, plus six duos put in place by several matches among the four musicians. The tasks are unsurprisingly shared between Gustafsson on baritone and tenor sax, flutes; Vandermark on tenor sax, Bb and bass clarinet; Reid on cello and Taylor on drums for a final result that, predictably, given the caliber of the actors, exceeds the sum of the parts. Furious free form, pedal to metal attacks (“The Sensation of Sliding”, “Popular Music Theory”) combined with textures rolling on more structured trails (“Unmeasured mile”); a tribute to Vandermark’s home turf (“Blowing out from Chicago”); echoes of ancient, gospel flavored, chants (“I am aware. Standing in Snow”); a tribute to Danish poet and novelist Inger Christensen (“Drops of Sorrow. Accelerating”).
Reverse gear is not provided by the guys’ engine (and this is a blessing) but the rear view mirror allows them to have an ongoing, respectful look, if and when needed or felt, to the Founding Fathers Routes. As writes Christensen, quoted by John Corbett in his (priceless, as usual) liner notes: “We need to find a way through the landscape in order to draw the map and at the same time we need to draw the map in order to find our way through the landscape”. A place in our 2025 top ten is 100% granted.
0 comments:
Post a Comment