Max Johnson - Sunday Interview

Max Johnson. Photo by Aidan Grant

1. What is your greatest joy in improvised music?
   
   I think there’s something magical about great improvised music, and I come to appreciate it more and more as I go through more musical experiences. As someone who composes non-improvising music, plays songs, straight ahead jazz, and studies different traditions, there’s something mysterious and beautiful about freely improvised or spontaneously created music. The ability to build something from no pre-established forms communally with others is one of the most truly democratic and collaborative things I’ve ever experienced, and it stands in opposition to the top-down capitalist model of making music to sell. People come together to create something as a community, and there’s no room for ego or pre-conceived ideas of what has to happen to succeed, because if there is, the music can’t move forward. And every combination of musicians and instruments creates different results, like ingredients in a meal. As a listener (whether on stage or off), getting to experience all sorts of combinations of musicians and see how those voices change each other and create something greater is a beautiful thing.
   
   
2. What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?
   
   While I try to be open minded and enjoy the diversity of different musical styles and voices of the people I play with, when it comes to improvisors, I like to surround myself with musicians who see the big picture and can look forward and backward in the music thinking formally. Improvisors who are composers often can see the big picture, and it’s really clear when you’re listening to Roscoe Mitchell or Anthony Braxton that they’re constantly looking ahead in the music while also keeping track of where it’s been. Patience is really important to me as well, and it can show itself in many different ways in the music.
   
   
3. Which historical musician/improviser do you admire most?
   
   The first person that comes to mind is Mingus. There’s something so tenacious about everything he did. He was composing this incredibly complex concert music as a teenager, and then became the most virtuosic bassist of the 40’s and 50’s, then started an artist run label with Max Roach, and that’s not even talking about his bandleading which was an art in itself, putting together these very different distinct voices within compositions that let them all be individuals. It's incredible the amount of reinventing and creating that he did; he mastered five or six complete things in one reasonably short lifetime. It’s insane!
   
   
4. If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?
   
   As far as a resurrected musician I could perform with, there’s too many to name, as it’d be incredible just to feel what it was like to interact with any of these folks. Off the top of my head Coltrane certainly comes first, but Eric Dolphy, Steve Lacy, Elvin Jones, Andrew Hill, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, and John Gilmore, but there’s so many living people it’d be a dream to play with too! The world is just full of heroes!
   
   
5. What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?
   
   I’d love to tour more; it’s always a pleasure to present my music to new people. I’d love to compose something for a large ensemble of some kind as well. And I would love to be able to figure out a way to sustainably keep making recordings of my own and releasing recordings by other people I can support with my label Unbroken Sounds. With the recording industry in shambles and streaming corporations taking everything they can from artists, it’s becoming harder and harder to produce music, so I’d love to achieve a way to just keep making new things and trying to push myself to new places!
   
   
6. Are you interested in popular music and – if yes, what music/artist do you particularly like?
   
   There’s certainly popular music from different eras I enjoy, but I don’t really like music that is created in the focus-group corporate pop model that currently rules so much of that scene. All the modern hip hop or song-based music I enjoy tends to be by independent artists who have more say in the music rather than ones produced by big companies where artists are a product. But if you like it you like it! I try not to judge people for liking things I don’t and find so many artists to be hyper judgmental about popular music fans. We all get to like different stuff!
   
   
7. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
   
   As someone who struggles with a psychological handicap, it would be great if I didn’t have to deal with the constant pushing up against mental difficulties. I’m a very driven and always working person, and especially since I’ve had some of these issues exacerbated by long covid symptoms, I just don’t have as much mental energy to spend, and I wish I didn’t have those issues impeding my productivity. But honestly if I could change anything, especially these days, even in jazz, it would be to have a bunch of money. More and more publicity is becoming the only way that artists break through, and as a low-income person, I just can’t afford to compete with the people who have money. Practically every name jazz artist today has a PR campaign behind them, often costing more than the records themselves to make, and also often costing more than your income from playing music, so the only people who can afford it are those with some extra-monetary source. I see so many great artists who also don’t have money go unnoticed or aren’t working because they don’t have the resources that others have. You’re expected to have records, professionally shot videos for every project, press photos, and on top of that, there are a number of press outlets (thank goodness not FreeJazzBlog, thanks guys!) who will only accept reviews from PR agents, and festivals that will only book people with PR. So it’s a constant frustration I see folks like myself dealing with, not just in music but in America in everyday life.
   
   
8. Which of your albums are you most proud of?
   
   If I have to pick one, I’ll say “Orbit of Sound” by my trio with Anna Webber & Michael Sarin. There’s a real care and patience with that record that comes from the fact that we’d been playing and touring that music before we recorded it, and the musical trust I have in those two individuals really allows the music to go anywhere we want without judgement. We’ll be recording a new one this winter after our tour on the east coast of the US, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia this fall, and I think we’ll be able to build on some of those ideas.
   
   Another record that means something to me but for a different reason is a duo album I am releasing (or have released, depending on when this is printed) with Henry Grimes, recorded live at the Stone in 2010. Henry was my teacher, mentor, and friend and this is the only recording I have of us performing together publicly. He is the reason I play the bass, and I found this recording of us and wanted to share it because he meant so much to me. I think his post-return playing is incredibly underrated and often misunderstood, and I just wanted there to be some more documentation of his brilliant and patient work out there.
   
   
9. Once an album of yours is released do you still listen to it? And how often?
   
   I listen to my albums a lot after recording them because I edit, mix, and (recently) master them myself. I usually mix over the course of a few months, tinkering very slowly, so once it’s out I usually don’t listen too much, but I do sometimes get curious when I’m trying to remember what something sounded like and go back. It’s nice to remind myself on my most depressed days that A. I do know how to play the bass, and B. I’ve put out a lot of music, and I can keep going.
   
   
10. Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?
    
    I don’t really have a single album that’s my go to, and my tastes have changed over the years, but I always go back to “Changes One” by Charles Mingus, “Fun House” by the Stooges, “Escalator Over the Hill” by Carla Bley, “Live at the Village Vanguard” by John Coltrane, the recording of “Derive 2” by Pierre Boulez, a box set of Bill Monroe recordings from the 1950s, “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath, and plenty of stuff I can’t remember right now.
    
    
11. What are you listening to at the moment?
    
    I’ve been listening to a lot of Andrew Hill lately. Richard Davis was the first upright bass player I really listened to, and I’ve been really enjoying his absolutely fearless playing on those records, and also now appreciating Andrew so much more as a composer (now that I have better ears than when I was 20). Also Bill Dixon, whose work I always enjoyed but never immersed myself in. Also also I’m composing a solo piano piece for the incredible new music pianist Steven Beck, so I’m listening to a lot of modernist piano music by Don Martino, Elliott Carter, and Charles Wuorinen. Also also also I’ve been really enjoying those 1950s Duke Ellington recordings of his long concert arrangements, and Norman Blake is a go-to when I’m around my house as well. 

Learn more about Max Johnson at: https://www.maxjohnsonmusic.com/

Max Johnson reviewed on the Free Jazz Blog:

• Max Johnson - Hermit Music (Unbroken Sounds, 2022)
• Thomas Heberer's Garden, Max Johnson, Lou Grassi – Push Play (CIMP, 2022)
• Max Johnson – In the West (Clean Feed, 2017)
• Yoni Kretzmer Five (Out Now, 2016)
•  Thomas Borgmann Trio - One for Cisco (NoBusiness, 2016) 
• Max Johnson Trio - Something Familiar (Fresh Sound New Talent/Bandcamp, 2015)
• Chris Pitsiokos Trio – Gordian Twine (New Atlantis, 2015) 
• Ross Martin, Max Johnson & Jeff Davis - Big Eyed Rabbit (Not Two, 2014)
• Max Johnson – The Prisoner (NoBusiness, 2014) review 1, review 2
• Max Johnson Trio - The Invisible Trio (Fresh Sound Records, 2014)
• Max Johnson Trio - Elevated Vegetation (FMR Records, 2012)
• Max Johnson Quartet (Not Two, 2012) review 1, review 2

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Max Johnson – In the West (Clean Feed, 2017) ****½

By Troy Dostert

After a string of fine recordings in recent years, including a concept album in 2014 devoted to the classic 1960s television series The Prisoner http://www.freejazzblog.org/2014/10/max-johnson-prisoner-nobusiness-2014_19.html, Max Johnson’s latest record, In the West, sees him approaching the legacy of one of the musical legends of cinema, Ennio Morricone.  Of course, it’s not the first time Morricone’s been paid homage by adventurous jazz musicians; most readers of this blog will think instantly of John Zorn’s iconic Big Gundown album as perhaps the most noteworthy example.  While not quite as idiosyncratic as Zorn’s inimitable renderings, Johnson’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” medley, the centerpiece of this record at over 21 minutes in length, provides a wonderfully rich and evocative treatment of some of Morricone’s most memorable music.

But before we get to the Morricone, we’re treated to three tracks that are almost as good, in which Johnson and his partners showcase their craft with well-constructed, highly engaging music.  Johnson has selected his colleagues judiciously, with pianist Kris Davis, drummer Mike Pride, and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn all able to inhabit Johnson’s distinctive compositions expertly.  Johnson has a knack for writing tunes that grab you on the first listen, but which have just enough oddness that there’s something vaguely unsettling about them: really the perfect sensibility for tackling Morricone’s music, when you think about it.  And though the first three cuts are all Johnson’s, they do have a bit of Morricone’s element of surprise, as for instance on the opener, “Ten Hands,” which starts with a funky, odd-metered riff, featuring Davis’s energetic runs and Johnson and Pride’s steady backing, before taking a detour soon after Alcorn’s entry, when she pushes the track in a much more abstract, ambiguous direction with her atmospheric, effects-driven musings.  As the band takes the music into this more ambiguous realm and leaves the beat behind, Johnson and Alcorn together explore more uncertain terrain, only to become re-energized as Davis’s piano comes back in to define the central motif once again, and Pride’s rock-inflected drumming guides the track into more familiar territory.

The same tension between the known and the unknown characterizes “Greenwood” and “Great Big Fat Person,” both of which offer ample opportunities for listeners to get lost in the moody, mysterious settings they create, while still providing enough of a tether to prevent us from being completely unmoored.  Alcorn’s contributions are central, as she can veer back and forth between serenely beautiful passages and much more caustic expressions.  And through the dynamic team of Johnson and Pride, both of whom can generate or release the pulse at will, the structure of the music seems always in a constant state of either emerging or dissolving.

Which leads us to “Once Upon a Time in the West.”  Its scope is suitably cinematic, heavy on ambience and a slowly-developing arc, with Davis’s sparse, lyrical statements essential for delineating its melodic contours.  But although there are moments where Morricone’s lush romanticism shines through, Johnson is typically more content to provide oblique, sidelong glances at the melodies of Morricone’s music.  The reference points are there, but they rarely fully coalesce; it’s less of an overt tribute than a perceptive re-imagining.  At the same time, Johnson makes abundant room for each of the musicians’ personalities to color and shape the music as it is played, giving the music its collective character and vibrancy.  And by its conclusion, we’re left with the lasting impression that we’ve been taken on a long, winding, and eventful journey.

Add this one to Johnson’s growing list of impressive releases, and yet another terrific entry in the Clean Feed catalog for 2017, in what is turning out to be an especially strong year for the label.

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Give the Composer Some

By Paul Acquaro

In the most recent of El Intruso's Encuesta 2024 – Periodistas Internacionales poll, in which participating music writers are asked a series of questions asking about the best of in many categories, drummer Devin Gray and bassist Max Johnson made it into my choices under best composer, even though these two are probably considered more frequently under the best drummer and bassist category. Although no one has asked me, I thought it would be interesting to share what prompted my decision. While I cannot claim to have a scientifically valid selection method, both Gray's Melt all the Guns II and Johnson's I'll See you Again really stuck out to me as great examples of disciplined trios featuring compositions that allowed the individual players to express themselves freely.

Devin Gray - Melt All the Guns II (Rataplan, 2024)

Last we heard from drummer Devin Gray was the solo recording Most Definitely that mixed electronics with percussion for an expressive outing, which itself had followed in the a duo recording with fellow drummer and electronics experimenter Gerald Cleaver, 27 Lick, a few years earlier. Orienting here back to more melodic terrains, Gray reconnects with his compelling trumpet, piano and drums trio with a lively set of tunes.

 

The trio on Melt All the Guns II is a continuation of Gray's trio with trumpeter Ralph Alessi and pianist Angelica Sanchez with whom he released a self-titled EP in 2021. Now, on this full-length recording, we meet French pianist Myslaure Augustin, a convert from the classical piano world who studied with trumpeter Ralph Alessi in Switzerland. Augustin does a commendable job bringing energy to the compositions, starting from the jaunty grooves of the opener 'East Berlin 2024' to the fractured solo in the swooning 'Administration Rulez' and the sparsely beautiful arpeggios on the ruminative opening of "No More Walls.'

 

Alessi's trumpet is sharp and precise, imbuing the clear melodic statements both a lithe laser focus and an emotional gravity. Again the opener, 'East Berlin 2024,' after the drums and piano introduce the underlying groove, the trumpet goes from highlighting the contours to delivering a forceful melodic statement. On the other side, Alessi's work on '77 Posaunen' is probing, seemingly in a questioning mode with the piano. On the closer, 'Broom Lyfe,' Alessi adopts a muted tone, employed to a melancholic end. The track provides a contemplative ending to an energetic recording.

 

I haven't singled out Grey's singular contributions here, but it is his compositions that really make their mark here. It is safe to say, however, that he is everywhere, his expressive playing supporting, guiding and shaping each track of this excellent album. 

 

 

Max Johnson - I'll See You Again (Adhyâropa Records, 2024)

One thing that both of these recordings have in common is introducing newer names on the scene. Not that Johnson is an old name himself, only in his mid-30s, Johnson has a mind-boggling discography and feet in New Music, bluegrass, modern and free-jazz (no, he's not a quadruped, it's just a saying). Currently a doctoral candidate and an active educator, Johnson still finds time to make some very impressive music. Though I'm not sure if I'll See You Again still qualifies as his latest, it certainly is a hell of a trio recording, that in addition to featuring his own playing, introduces some newer faces on the scene, namely Neta Ranaan on tenor saxophone and Eliza Salem on drums. 

 

From the moment that the feisty opener, 'Barberous Jape,' explodes from the speakers, Ranaan is ready. She burns through the head, a vigorous post-bop melody played over a syncopated rhythm and takes the first solo as Johnson and Salem drive the piece forward. After a slowly building solo, the way is cleared for Johnson's hearty bass solo, which segues seamlessly into a nuanced drum solo from Salem. The group comes back together, reprising the head - a classic compositional form and a high class performance. The next track, 'Chestnut Squid,' is a more contemplative tune, Ranaan begins with a legato melody and soon lets Johnson take over laying the songs foundations. 'Tiny Beautiful' is a ballad but with some bite, while 'Scribbles' cooks along at mid-tempo, allowing the melodic nature improvisational approach to boil at an unhurried pace. The closer 'Farewell to Old Friends' showcases the most heartfelt piece of the album. Starting with melody that is likely encoded somewhere in our cultural DNA - a bit of Old Lang Syne, a bit of an old American folk-song that you maybe sung in music class in your New Jersey elementary school, and every bit as evocative as it should be. Ranaan treats the melody achingly, lending it a feeling of loss and resilience that sticks around after the music fades. 

 

A solid piece of work from this working trio that is both a great example of Johnson's compelling compositional work and a perfect introduction to Ranaan and Salem's playing, if you don't know them already. 

 

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Russ Johnson, Tim Daisy & Max Johnson - Live At The Hungry Brain (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2024) Trumpet Trio Series

By Stef Gijssels

This is the tenth album by master trumpeter Russ Johnson as a leader, next to appearances on more than a hundred albums. The latter fact demonstrates that he is very sought after and able to perform in various contexts and styles. He is classically trained which you can hear not only from the purity of his tone, but also from some of his phrasings when improvising. I came to know his music and playng in the beginning of this century when I discovered in my local music library the New York modern jazz scene with musicians such as Michael Blake, Jenny Scheinman, Ohad Talmor and bands such as The Other Quartet, Roy Nathanson, Touch Acoustra, all with Johnson on trumpet. 

On this album as a leader, he is in the company of Tim Daisy on drums and Max Johnson on double bass, also two musicians with brilliant mastery of their instruments. The trio presents us with two long collectively improvised pieces, with a quality, intensity and inventiveness that you wish they did more often, and with a sense of freedom that we have seldom heard the trumpeter perform in. 

All three musicians have their share of the creation, with strong moments for the percussion and bass too, seperately or collectively. They move us to different moods and dynamics, with very nervous and jazzy agitation to quiet almost modern classical music, especially in the last half of the second improvisation, when Max Johnson switches to bowed bass, and Russ Johnson's crystal clear tone weaves wonderful meditative phrases, subtly accentuated by Daisy's precise percussion. They lead us to two long soundscapes with many different ideas and pieces without losing the coherence of the overall sound

The performance was recorded live in the Fall of 2018 at the Hungry Brain, Chicago. 

I think Russ Johnson and this trio deserve wider attention. It's such a treat to hear them play. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Here is a video of a life performance of the trio at the Jazz Central Studios in Minneapolis, MN on May 13th, 2017.

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Max Johnson Quartet (Not Two, 2012) *****

By Philip Coombs

With the onset of fan donation pages all over the Internet, artists, musicians and inventors of all sorts can now speak directly with their fans and solicit funds for all types of projects. Some are fantastical like 'help me turn into a cat' fund or 'help make my paper clip rocket ship a reality', but more often than not it is a musician with a book of songs that means the world to them and are looking for a way to make their vision a reality. There are even added perks to sites like these. They come in the form of incentives for the public's donations, such as a copy of the completed album or even executive producer credits.

The Max Johnson Quartet is a success story born from this new artist driven way to produce music. From a business model to recording and art work, (fantastic by the way if you can get a close look at it) to getting Not Two Records to back the recording.

Track 1 entitled 'Elephant March', is as close to a perfect track as I have ever heard. It has an accessible opening jazz structure and not just one designed to get to the solos quickly. It is full of youthful abandon and it sounds like it could fall apart and moment in a good way, a very good way. Tyshawn Sorey (drums) is tasked with a very complicated chart as the rest of the quartet; Max Johnson (bass), Steve Swell (trombone), and Mark Whitecage (saxes and clarinet) try everything in their collective power to shake him. They are sometimes ahead of the beat and sometimes behind it. Part pebble tossed in a clear pond, part tsunami but always on the verge of disaster yet still gorgeous to look at (listen to).

Part of what makes a leader great is the ability to be humble when needed to be, be genuine and confident in their decisions and have the skill and ability to perform when the finger eventually gets pointed at them. A perfect audible explanation of this is 'Lost and Found (for Henry Grimes)'. Johnson studied under Grimes during his stay at New School University and this track reads part final exam and part pride in what was passed from master to student. Johnson travels through many bass techniques without ever sounding like a warm up exercise. The track is a well thought out and very personal dedication indeed.

'60-66' is one of those tracks that start out as a good idea in theory but ends up being a great track in reality. It develops into a track of duos as Swell and Whitecage build a sound to give way to Johnson and Sorey who also develop their own sound. Each time the duos change it gets better until the finale where both duos are on fire.

Johnson releases a sigh as the album comes to an end on 'Iset-Ra'. A joyous melody leads to a bass solo where all the pressure of making an album and the realization of why people do it in the first place all gets released through his fingers and the wood and steel responds.

So follow your musicians closely and donate to get their albums released. It could mean the difference between getting them recorded or not.

Available from Instantjazz or bandcamp. 

© stef

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Max Johnson – The Prisoner (NoBusiness, 2014) ****

Deep Listening Weekend - Day 2

By Dan Sorrells

Looking back, Patrick McGoohan’s TV classic The Prisoner marked the point where the anti-establishment rebelliousness of 60s counter-culture started to sour into the paranoia of the 70s. Over the decades the show has remained tremendously influential, while the sort of surveillance society that it railed against is increasingly realized in our current hyper-digital, globalized world.

The concerns of The Prisoner are interesting in the context of Max Johnson’s namesake tribute album, performed by a quartet of Johnson, Ingrid Laubrock, Mat Maneri, and Tomas Fujiwara. As our anxiety grows about a modern culture that’s slowly warping into The Prisoner’s Village, we also live in a world that allows improvising musicians unprecedented means for inspiration and collaboration. As websites subversively build detailed profiles of all our likes and movements, The Prisoner’s musicians and I can go online and easily enjoy the cult British series made before any of us were born. As the NSA presses Google for warrantless information, Max Johnson can effortlessly send a promotional copy of his album to my GMail, and I can download it onto my computer within seconds.

But whatever the conditions for its conception, the music is what’s important. What makes The Prisoner a remarkable album is that Johnson’s loose compositions convey a certain narrative and drama all on their own, regardless of whether you’re familiar with the show that inspired them. And—just like the show—what they ultimately do best is imbue the listening environment with a sense of the uncanny, the queasy feeling that nothing is quite what it seems.

 “No. 6 Arrival/No. 58 Orange Alert” begins in a tentative, exploratory manner: low in volume, the music feels its way through unfamiliar territory, with long tendrils of strings reaching out through Laubrock’s hazy tenor and Fujiwara’s delicate percussion. It’s uneasy yet beautiful, slightly claustrophobic even as it picks up in volume and texture.  But before the piece comes to a close, the Orange Alert: Laubrock sounds a chiming alarm, and the music comes alive. It’s busy but short-lived, much like McGoohan’s first scuffle with the eerie Rover that can be seen chasing him across the album sleeve.

Elsewhere, “X04” has the jaunty swagger of the show’s jazzy interludes, while “No. 24 Hammer into Anvil” builds to a marching crescendo that erupts into a free improv workout. “No. 48 Living in Harmony” flirts with Alice Coltrane-style spiritual jazz, with some beautiful saxophone playing that calls to mind Pharaoh Sanders. Bolstered by Johnson’s thick, bowed double stops and Maneri’s skittering lines, the piece perfectly conveys the paranoid, suspicious nature of the show: beneath the placid melody, a dark undercurrent surges, the deep, uncertain flow that threatens the outwardly normal surface.

The Prisoner showcases music of many influences, but never blatantly declares itself to be any of them. The uncanny pseudo-familiarity is part of the fun. However untrusting No. 6 may have been of the others he enlisted in his escape attempts, Johnson can be assured he has a rock-solid crew of co-conspirators for his realization of The Prisoner. He’s proving to be a brilliant and surprising frontman as of late. To him I’ll simply say:

“Be hearing you.”

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Max Johnson Trio - The Invisible Trio (Fresh Sound Records, 2014) ****

I had the luck to attend the launch event of The Invisible Trio in New York last month. When the trio played this slow and beautiful tune, I kept wracking my brain about what melody it was, scanning my memory disk, going over all the jazz greats to capture what was eluding me, and this without luck. Until Max Johnson said that they had just played Abba's "Money, Money", and I could have slapped my head, because of course, that's what it was, but then in a version that was miles above the original, or rather, that captured something great in the Abba tune that I never had identified. Or to put it differently, they create beauty out of little. A great feat. That tune is to be found on "Elevated Vegetation", reviewed before on this blog. We also recommend you check the review of the "Max Johnson Quartet".

The trio is Max Johnson on bass, Ziv Ravitz on drums and the - inevitable - Kirk Knuffke on cornet. The trio's playing is rooted in jazz tradition, relatively accessible without being mainstream. Johnson's compositions are sketchy, leaving lots of room for improvisation and abstract developments. The sound is warm, intimate and compelling,

Some tracks, such as "Don Wrinkles" are based on a solid boppish theme and rhythm, including walking bass, solid pulse on the drums and soaring soloing by Knuffke, others, like "A Pair Of Glasses", sound like warm cool jazz, and still other parts, like the title track, are more abstract. But the accessibility and the free form of the improvisation are perfectly joined here, and the playing by all three musicians is a real treat for the ear, and the heart.


Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Max Johnson Trio - Elevated Vegetation (FMR Records, 2012) ****½

By Philip Coombs

Dear Mr. Johnson;

Two records in one year! Thanks for keeping me entertained and keeping my anticipation time between records to a minimum. A music lover can't ask for much more than that.

A Fan.

Do people even write fan letters anymore? Do they request 8"X10" autographed pictures or do they just download everything? Do artists even have pictures anymore?

Well here is Max Johnson's picture, his snapshot of three men in a room making music, and as with any great composed shot, here would be his law of thirds for creating a great image.

First Law: Max Johnson (bass) has the ability to search out the best musicians to suit his current project. Ziv Ravitz (drums), drawing from his Israeli roots, contributes not only a solid and earthy foundation for the others to play over but also provides just enough world music flavor without making it old or tired. Listen to the beginning of "The Chirps of Imaginary Birds" to get a taste of what I mean. Rounding out the trio is Kirk Knuffke (cornet), who not only writes a great track for the album ("Meta Analytical Procedures for Social Research"), but also takes Johnson's melodies and arrangements and transports them from the ground, past the weeds and straight to the fruit on top of all the vegetation. His playing on "Money, Money, Money" is fantastic.

Second Law: Johnson constantly displays his ability to maintain all of the rhythmic qualities needed in a trio setting but can switch gears to push the melody. Regardless of what is happening in the track, your ear will find its way back to the bass somehow. On the opening track "Blue Willie", he keeps the time under the cornet yet seamlessly finds a way to either finish, start and interject the melody in unison with Knuffke.

Third Law: He is always changing. Very little here sounds the same as his quartet record from earlier this year. I admit, I was expecting the same, but was forced once again to question what it is I like. Now I can't turn it off. Tracks like "Crackdown" and "Many Celebrations" are germinating seeds that get under your skin, just waiting for you to add your own water and sunlight.

So there you have it. I am a fan, hoping that music of this calibre will continue into 2013.

Buy it from his Bandcamp page or anywhere else you can find it.

Here is what I mean about "Many Celebrations".

         

© stef

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Jeff Parker & The New Breed - Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem/Nonesuch, 2020) ****½

By Lee Rice Epstein

In 2016, Jeff Parker released two albums that probably expanded listeners’ preconceptions of what kind of artist he was: The New Breed, an ode to his father, and Slight Freedom, Parker’s first solo guitar album. With both, Parker stretched beyond what we’d heard with his trio, his work with Tortoise, and other collaborations he’d recorded with dozens of artists. What he delivered were two deeply passionate, rich and layered albums, celebrated by critics and beloved by listeners.

A guitarist like few others, Parker plays with a gorgeous tone and avant-garde sensibility that often finds him coming at projects from unexpected angles. And here comes Suite for Max Brown, credited to The New Breed, the band. It’s mostly a one-person show, but Parker uses the concept of a group to weave nearly a dozen collaborators—including, once again, his daughter Ruby Parker—into his tapestry: Paul Bryan, Josh Johnson, Katinka Kleijn, Rob Mazurek, Nate Walcott, Makaya McCraven, Jay Bellerose, and Jamire Williams each contribute to the whole, with Parker performing and shaping like a maestro. In the liner notes, Parker is credited with “drums, vocals, piano, electric piano, electric guitar, Korg MS20, sampling, editing, bass guitar, percussion, glockenspiel, sequencer, JP-08, midi strings, midi programming, pandeiro, [and] mbira.” But, what’s exceptional about Suite for Max Brown is how delicately and expertly all of these instruments are stacked together, centering Parker’s guitar with layers of counterbalanced rhythms and harmonies. Much like The New Breed, Suite for Max Brown is a loving reflection on family, this time Parker’s mother, who graces the album cover. Originals, like the opener “Build a Nest,” with Ruby Parker on vocals, highlight a fractal-like approach to composition, with numerous instruments echoing and hocketing. Later, towards the end of “Fusion Swirl,” Parker plays a solo with a slight restatement of the opener’s theme. It’s another tantalizing hint of how many looping motions throughout the entire album will bring a listener back to center.

Among the many excellent originals, Parker has two standout covers. The first is a lovely take on John Coltrane’s “After the Rain.” emerging from the storming 1-2 of “C’mon Now” and “Fusion Swirl.” It’s one of those classics that still inspires some amazing interpretations. Then comes, for me, one of the highlights of the album, a gnarly, churning take on Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus.” Titled, appropriately, “Gnarciss,” it’s got this fun, inspired feel that’s become a standard feature of International Anthem albums, as the label continues to support a free-flowing vision that updates both sides of the jazz coin, straight and free. It also has the largest lineup of any track, a sextet with McCraven on drums, Bryan on bass, Kleijn on cello, and Johnson and Mazurek the two-person horn section, At two minutes, “Gnarciss” packs a mighty punch (don’t be shocked if a limited-edition 7” drops next record store day, and if it does, expect it to sell out in minutes).

Constructed from three more-or-less 10-minute sections, Suite for Max Brown flips through sonic Polaroids, 8mm reels, stacks of postcards, letters read and reread, lovingly creased along their fold lines, all interpreted through the dozens of instruments used to create its soundworld. Towards the end, McCraven returns for the Aftrobeat-laden “Go Away,” closing out the second section of the album. For the finale, Johnson, Bryan, Williams, and Walcott join Parker on the 10-minute “Max Brown.” Kicking off with percussive beats, keyboard, and a teasing solo from Parker, once the angular melody gets introduced, “Max Brown” lifts off. Johnson’s been up-and-coming in LA for several years. His playing is like the next generation of that Pi Recordings house sound; fans of Mahanthappa and Lehman will surely take note. In particular, check out his solo around minute five, buoyed by Williams’s expertly skewed backbeat, Bryan’s bass, and Parker’s keyboards. This is the kind of loose, lengthy track that will make listeners yearn for the return of live music. “Max Brown” settles into a groove near the end that rivals some of Parker’s work with Tortoise, amped up by the individual energy of these players. With Suite for Max Brown, Parker’s delivered on his unspoken promise of 2016, he’s taken us even higher. It doesn’t matter what comes next; for now, we’ve arrived.

Buy from International Anthem: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/suite-for-max-brown

Buy from Nonesuch https://www.nonesuch.com/albums/suite-for-max-brown

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Trumpet Trios

By Stef

Oh yes, trumpet-bass-drums trios are still to my liking, and quite a lot even. Maybe somewhat late, but here are three albums which should not be missed by fans of the format, or fans of jazz tout court, and interestingly enough, two of those albums are led by bass-players.


Maciej Garbowski, Piotr Damasiewicz & William Soovik - Sesto Elemento (Fundacja Sluchaj, 2015)  ****½

The first one is led by Maciej Garbowski on double bass, with Piotr Damasiewicz on trumpet and William Soovik on drums. It is a brilliant journey into free improvisation, with the three instruments coloring space with broad sweeps or refined details, going deep into uncharted emotional territories, with sounds that are at times as liberating as they are oppressive, full of anguish and anxiety, or with blasts of joy, it is hard to tell, with other sentiments in between, the things without words but all too real, the feelings that are beyond expression in everyday life but who get their moment here, weird and wild, and so sensitive and moving and true. That is the 'sixth sense' of the title, revealing what can not be understood, and the way this trio does it is absolutely magnificent, compelling from beginning to end, and without exaggeration one of the most fascinating trumpet trios I've heard in years. What is even more to their credit is the use of their instruments, with little extended techniques, fully voiced trumpet and deep bass sounds and rustling percussion together creating an amazing listening experience. 

Highly recommendeed!

Max Johnson Trio - Something Familiar (Fresh Sound New Talent/Bandcamp, 2015) ****

The second one is this nice album by the Max Johnson Trio, led by bassist Max Johnson, with the omnipresent Kirk Knuffke on cornet and Ziv Ravitz on drums. The eight tracks are composed by Johnson, yet as can be expected leave much to the other band members to fill in. That makes it anything but 'familiar' as the title might wrongly suggest (although the theme vaguely reminds me of a Don Cherry tune), and sure it bops and dances with joy, and sure, the themes are tight and the band is disciplined, yet they break through the mould which increases the joy and the fun even more, adding surprises and lots of space for the other musicians (listen to the great drums solo and further leading on 'Cold Blood').  'Hammer Song' is another one worth mentioning, with a title that does correspond to the music, and a great bass solo by the leader. Only 'Les Vague' (sic) and 'Wind Song' - with great arco playing by Johnson - are melancholy and meditative, the other tracks are quite upbeat and uptempo.

A real treat.


Josh Berman Trio - A Dance And A Hop (Delmark, 2015) ****

More fun and musical joy is to be heard on this album, with Josh Berman on cornet, Jason Roebke on bass, and Frank Rosaly on drums. Here the title is more correct, because 'a dance and a hop' is exactly what you get. Also starting with boppish foundations, the trio demonstrates again that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. This is highly entertaining music, but then of the best kind, clever, inventive, creative with great interaction, and wonderful playing full of little surprises, which is so good, that it made me laugh out loud several times out of sheer joy. On 'Blues' Berman solidly colors outside of the lines, despite the gentle theme. On 'Your Uncle' Roebke gives us some foot-tapping bass solo, and 'Luggage' is a great drum piece with a trio outro. And 'Bridges' is so jazzy and great that you wonder why it took humanity so long to invent jazz.

Don't miss it!

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Max Johnson – The Prisoner (NoBusiness, 2014) ****½

Deep Listening Weekend - Day 1

By Martin Schray

The Prisoner was a cult British TV series created by Patrick McGoohan, which has inspired metal and punk bands as different as Iron Maiden, XTC or The Clash. The plot is about a secret service agent who finds himself a prisoner in an isolated village after he decided to resign. The village, in which the individual is reduced to a number (the protagonist is No. 6), is controlled by a mysterious No. 1, although nobody gets to see him. The village is guarded by an elaborate surveillance system, including security personnel and a mysterious balloon-like device that recaptures – or kills – those who try to escape. The village administrators are various No. 2s, who are replaced constantly because of their futile attempts to find out about No. 6’s real reasons to resign. Aesthetically the series is a weird stylistic mix of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451, Orwell’s 1984 and James Bond films, but even 45 years after it was created you can still feel its claustrophobic and Kafkaesque mood.

New York-based bassist Max Johnson, a man who has collaborated with artists as various as Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, The Butthole Surfers, Vernon Reid and several bluegrass (!) bands, has been fascinated by this series since he was a kid. But when he decided to compose a suite based on the series he was obviously not interested in interpreting or using the original score, which rather reminds of classic 1960s spy movie soundtracks. Instead Johnson tried to capture the above-mentioned atmosphere.  Even structurally he tried to transform the concepts, the “intricate webs weaved throughout the show, [the] loose ends that never get tied up, and huge questions that are never answered” into music. The music has an episodic character: Johnson said that “some of the tunes represent little moments or episodes, while the beginning and end of the suite signify bigger parts of the story.”

And the album is indeed bookended by the longest tracks, “No. 6: Arrival/No. 58: Orange Alert,” and “No. 2: Once Upon a Time/No. 1: Fallout.”  The first one introduces us to the world of the prisoner and sets the tone for the album – it is a gloomy and oppressive world and the musicians use long, deep and dark tones to illustrate this. The long and almost ethereal beginning is destroyed with a siren-like call by Laubrock’s sax which forces the group to test out the boundaries of the composition – just like No. 6 trying to escape from the village. The latter closes the album with a two-part finale (like the series). Part one begins almost melancholic, as if there was a certain nostalgia in the face of the near end, but the final part (like the episode) flows into chaos with Laubrock and the strings battling wildly and Fujiwara soloing (one of the great moments of the album, since it represents the brutality and action of the last part of the show as well) before the whole piece evolves into a funeral march meandering in a classic bebop improvisation – a final hint to the series when the protagonists finally manage to leave the village.

These two tracks are like blueprints for the other compositions. “No. 12: Schizoid Man/Gemini,” an episode when No. 6 is replaced by a spooky look-alike in order to crash his self, focuses on Maneri’s viola and Laubrock’s sax stalking each other mysteriously. And one of the more brutal episodes – “No. 24: Hammer Into Anvil”, in which a paranoid, sadistic No. 2 has taken over – begins with a painful sax call, before there are high-pitched scratching and straining tones from the viola, which leads to a pure free jazz fight in its last few minutes. It’s my favorite part on the album.

One of the most famous quotations of the show—“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered”—is like a motto for Max Johnson’s music: It is hard to pigeonhole this music, it is programmatic and notated yet free and excessive at the same time. And with Ingrid Laubrock on tenor saxophone, Mat Maneri on viola and Tomas Fujiwara on drums, he simply has a great band.

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Vinny Golia - Trios and Sextet

By Lee Rice Epstein

In addition to the many ensembles Vinny Golia leads and directs, he is also a steady sideman and featured player with a number of groups led by younger players. Among several he’s played on this year, three stood out.

Vinny Golia, Max Johnson and Weasel Walter - No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds, 2023) 

Bassist Max Johnson recently released this trio date from 2014. Along with drummer Weasel Walter, Johnson is a brilliantly free improviser. The set runs just under an hour, flying so fast and free with Golia performing Dolphy-esque leaps alongside Walter’s percussive fills. A fascinating drummer, Walter has a wind player’s knack for pulling back suddenly before a roaring processional. And Johnson playfully jumps from a kind of supporting role to one more goading and directional. His round tone is sometimes reminiscent of Ronnie Boykins (the set overall displays an early ESP-Disk’ energy, especially some runs where Golia evokes John Tchicai).

 

Vinny Golia, Stueart Liebig and Nathan Hubbard - There Is a Light That Goes On Automatically (Castor & Pollux Music, 2023) 

The second release for the trio of drummer Nathan Hubbard with Golia and Liebig, who plays fretted and fretless basses. Hubbard's another one of Golia's longtime collaborators, and the three are so beautifully in sync throughout two sets recorded over a weekend in August 2019, "There Is a Light That Goes On Automatically" (from Santa Barbara) and "Was It a Lost Weekend?" (from Long Beach). As a melodic, percussive player, Hubbard sets a tone for the group that calls back to John Stevens and Eddie Prévost small groups. 

Vijay Anderson’s Silverscreen Sextet - Urban Jungle: Los Angeles (self-released, 2023) 

Urban Jungle is Vijay Anderson’s second album with his Silverscreen Sextet. This time around, he’s shuffled the lineup slightly: cornetist Bobby Bradford, saxophonist Vinny Golia, tubaist William Roper, and bassist Adam Lane form the core band, while artist crushed blacks created an immersive video that functions as another instrument. Anderson has deep roots in the Los Angeles creative-music scene, born and raised in Southern California, he’s played with many West Coast luminaries (including Bradford, Golia, and Roper) for decades. And on several other projects he’s worked on with Bradford, Golia, Roper, and Lane, he’s consistently drawn inspiration from visual media.

To go a little deeper on this one, Urban Jungle: Los Angeles explores the city’s complexities through five chapters and interludes, which include dedications to historian and critic Mike Davis, the brilliant artist Simon Rodia (best known for his Nuestro Pueblo, or Watts Towers), firefighter Sam Haskins (both the first Black firefighter at the Los Angeles Fire Department and the first LAFD firefighter to die in the course of duty), streetcar operator Arcola Philpot (the first Black operator for the Los Angeles Railway) and the humanitarian Father Luis Olivares (who lived by his religious ethics and made his church a haven for El Salvadoran refugees in the 1980s).

Through both Anderson’s composing and the group’s improvising, the evocation of these stories weaves a complicated tapestry. Come to this album ready to learn, ready to think, and ready to have your complacency challenged.

And some visuals:

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Guitar Week: Jazz-Rock-Folk-Americana (Day 5)

Here on the FJB, we often cite free jazz pioneer clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre for his album "Free Fall", but a couple of years before his trio with guitarist Jim Hall spawned the hit "The Train and the River", which Giuffre described as "blues-based folk jazz"...

Bill Frisell - Guitar in the Space Age (Okeh, 2014) ****½

By Martin Schray

Bill Frisell is a man of many facets, he has played hardcore with John Zorn’s Naked City, pure jazz in his duo with Jim Hall and his trio with Ron Carter and Paul Motian or avant-garde rock with Power Tools. But in the last few years he has also focused on his version of the Great American Songbook, especially of folk, country&western and pop songs. Albums like East/West, Ghost Town, The Willies or the marvelous Good Dog, Happy Man present Frisell’s vision of compositions like “Shenandoah”, “I’m so lonesome I could cry”, “John Hardy was a Desperate Little Man” or “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”.

Frisell has been criticized by his jazz fans for playing less complex music like this, but in an interview he said: “As I get older, I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of playing something that was a part of my life. Some naive melody or childhood memory that I once would have thought wasn’t complicated enough.” On his new album he has chosen harmonically “simple” songs like The Byrds’ “Turn Turn Turn”, The Chantays’ “Pipeline”, The Beach Boys’ “Surfer Girl” or Duane Eddy’s “Rebel Rouser”. And Frisell is very close to the originals, he is not interested in deconstructing them, instead he explores the sublimity of them by breathing the spirits of the songs – he builds a temple for them. His band – Greg Leisz on pedal and lap steel guitar, Kenny Wollesen on drums and Tony Scherr on bass – is outstanding, especially Leisz, maybe the world’s best pedal steel guitarist, is an equal soloist here, which makes the album a feast for guitar fans. Guitar in the Space Age is on par with Good Dog, Happy Man, it’s a Frisell essential and a great trip down memory lane.

Ross Martin, Max Johnson & Jeff Davis - Big Eyed Rabbit (Not Two, 2014) ****

By Paul Acquaro

How viable is bluegrass as a basis for free improvization? The music itself is largely improvisational, though rooted in chord changes and certain traditions. So what if you strip out traditions, pull back the changes, and let the other elements of the music remain -the rhythms, the melodic language, the open feel? That’s what the trio of Big Eyed Rabbit have done to great effect on their eponymous release.

The group is Ross Martin on electric guitar, Max Johnson on bass and Jeff Davis on drums. Though their feet are firmly planted in the New York jazz scene, Martin’s bluegrass influenced guitar playing references the Americana stylings of Frisell, bluegrass virtuoso work of Tony Rice, and even some Wes Montgomery for good measure. The tracks on the album include some bluegrass standards - ‘Cluck Old Hen’ and ‘Brown Country Breakdown’, which are both stand out tracks, hewing both close to bluegrass and letting themselves stretch out in ways most likely never imagined by Bill Monroe. The original tracks, like ‘One of my Happiness’ and ‘Mr. Sherbert’ have their own connections to the style and demonstrate the group’s originality extends far beyond interpretation.

Great album!

Erik Friedlander –Nighthawks (Skipstone, 2014) ****

By Martin Schray

In October 2012 there was a massive blackout which struck New York City. Cellist Erik Friedlander was inspired by the quiet and solitude that lay over the usually busy and loud city like a pall. In the end Friedlander wrote ten new compositions for his band with guitarist  Doug Wamble, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Michael Sarin which are rooted in rock, blues, folk and C&W but which are also deeply tinged in an urban somberness and melancholia – the result is a perfect soundtrack for a walk through a dark and deserted Manhattan.

Musically it’s the clash between Friedlander’s classical approach and Wamble’s slide guitar that makes the difference on Nighhawks. There is a also lot of excellent musicianship, but it’s the marvelous melodic compositions that stand out, mainly on ballads like the folky “Hopper's Blue House”, reminding of Bill Frisell’s Americana albums with its cello arpeggios juxtaposed to a delicately and lightly sketched slide guitar tune, or “Nostalgia Blindside”, a perfect companion for the hours around 4.a.m. when you are tangled up in blue.  The highlight of the album is the title track – the longest and slowest ballad – which is dominated by unison playing of cello and guitar, elegant guitar flageolets, open, reverberating, lush guitar chords and a heartbreaking pizzicato solo by Friedlander.

There might be another reason why the album is so nostalgic since Friedlander’s wife had died less than a year before. However  many of the tunes breathe optimism and joie de vivre like the opener “Sneaky Pete” or the midtempo blues-rock number “26 Gasoline Stations”.

A very fine and accessible album.

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Solo Double Bass Day 2

By Stef Gijssels

To complete the list that Eyal Hareuveni made of recent solo bass albums, I can add a few additions that fans might be interested in looking for.

Barre Phillips & Daniele Roccato - Confluence (Parco Della Musica Records, 2022)

Three years ago, on March 1, 2023, Barre Phillips performed live with Daniele Roccato at the Sala Accademica Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. The latter is one of the leading modern bass players in Italy, and one of a long list of excellent and creative fellow compatriots such as Stefano Scodanibbio and Stefano Battaglia, who are all as comfortable with classical music as with modern new music. They can also be heard together in the Ensemble Ludus Gravis, which consists only of double bass players. 

On this duo album you hear two masters at work, improvising and exploring each other's skills and sonic possibilities, sharing the perspectives from the two different worlds of sound that they originate from. 

The pieces are relatively short, but very focused and coherent, and especially the arco improvisations work best for me. There clearly is a lot of respect and mutual understanding between both musicians, both personally and musically. 

Even if not everything works or is equally captivating, the collaboration and 'confluence' is strong in most pieces, also to the appreciation of the apparently large audience.

Max Johnson - Hermit Music (Unbroken Sounds, 2022)

New York bassist Max Johnson has been the bassist of many ensembles, including with Karl Berger, Chris Pitsiokis, Thomas Borgman, Vinny Golia, next to his own trios and quartets. His first solo album is the result of the pandemic. I'd rather let him introduce the album in all its power honesty:

In many ways, the pandemic marked the ending of a very busy, productive, and happy time of my life. The following two years have been a daily battle to resume being a positive productive human being, and this music represents the dark confusing place I have been living since. Recording this music was very difficult for me, and created a number of mental and emotional challenges I did not anticipate. What you hear on this record is a different bass player, improviser, and person than you would have heard two years prior, and this music symbolizes my struggle with self, reality, purpose, and mental health. This album represents who I am right now, and I am proud to share it with you.

The fact that this music exists, and is here to listen to, and to enjoyed even, contradicts the 'hermit music' feeling of the composer when recording it. The five tracks have a strong level of unpredictability, of deep feelings with often unclear structures. The advantage of this, is that the listener has to be more active, without any chance of anticipation, pushing you to follow every note in its naked expression.

 

Johannes Nästesjö - The Hand, the Bow and the Bass (Konvoj Records, 2022)

Swedish bassist and educator Johannes Nästesjö also presents his first solo album. His sonic space is more in the realm of free improv, with no clear jazz references at all. I assume that he temporarily resided in Spain, which might explain his collaboration with Spanish artists such as Agustí Fernández, Vasco Trilla, Albert Cirera, Irene Aranda. On 'The Hand, the Bow and the Bass' he finds a nice balance between bowed and plucked bass, bringing slow, moody pieces full of unexpected sonic changes and effects. His music is one of contrasts, with titles such as 'Control-Uncontrol', 'Uncontrol-Control', 'Inhale, Exhale' already indicating some structural aspects to his improvisations, as well as the tensions that the musician and the music are subjected to when confronted with the extremes of disciplined skill and ultimate freedom. 

He asks himself the following research questions: 

• Can I, by reaching for the utmost limits on my instrument, in dynamically, technically and pitch related ways both find, for me, new contemporary techniques and expand the ways on how to play and perform them on the double bass?
• Can I, by illuminating, documenting, studying, organizing and re-documenting my musical process, design a toolkit for improvising bassists with contemporary techniques? 
• Can I, in my musical process both act as the first person, i.e. the subjective musician and as the third person, i.e. the objective observer?

• If so, can I, as the observer objectively observe and organize the ”discoveries” that I am doing in my daily work as first person.
• Can I create this toolkit through the limitations that my instrument offers acoustically (the hand, the bow and the bass).
• And can I through this immerse and widen my musical expressions? - A richer language - more elastic - with more colors. 

Fascinating questions that drive his playing, making it all sound like a very cerebral and rational endeavour, but I can assure the listener that is not limited to this. Beyond this, and at a deeper level, there is the subjective artist with his feelings and personal perspective.

João Madeira - Aqui, Dentro (Miso, 2022)

Drone-like bowed bass with minor shifts and levels of intensity built around a single tone. Some may find it boring, others mesmerising. It requires some good preconditions to properly savour the slowness, the precision and the quality of the sound.

Rick Rosato - Homage (Self-released, 2022)

On his first solo recording Canadian bassist Rick Rosato welcomes us to his refined technique and musical ideas, excellently coming to life in the pristine production quality. The inspiration for the tracks comes from traditional delta blues, from artists such as Skip James, Muddy Waters and Mississippi John Hurt. With the exception of the first piece, all tracks are penned by these artists, adding Thelonious Monk and Elvin Jones - also at their most bluesy - to complete the list. 

By itself I find it amazing that an accomplished jazz bassist enjoys working with the relatively straightforward and repetitive structures and chord changes of the traditional blues, yet it works out nicely. Rosato's heart is in this music, and you can sense it throughout. It's not jazz, but I guess that probably only jazz lovers will appreciate this music. The album is short, but that's just a good excuse to listen to it again. 

 

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15 From 2012 Right Before 2013 (part 2/2)

By Stanley Zappa

Picking up from where we left off yesterday ...

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith, Han-earl Park - Cork 04-04-11 (Bandcamp, 2012)  ***½

Bill Dixon used to say (more or less) “there's always a leader in the band, even if it isn't the leader.” What he meant by that was there was always someone who is the “best” in the band (cf Brian Blades with Joshua Redman.)

On "Cork 04-04-11" there is no doubt that Sikora is the most luminous of the three, so much so that this recording is, now and forever “one of Catherine Sikora's early recordings.” This is less the recording's fault and more the fault of Ms. Sikora's continued emergence as a leading, steering voice on the tenor saxophone. I say “continued” as Han-earl Park, despite being “first”, found me long after this more recent solo performance by Ms. Sikora, found again on the Kreilley video channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF4tD-FSkQs


Joelle Leandre / Phillip Greenlief – that overt desire of object  (Relative Pitch Record, 2012) ****½
Vinny Golia Quartet – Take Your Time (Relative Pitch Record, 2012) ****½

And just who is this Kevin Reilly and why does he have such a great YouTube page? Mr Reilly is the proprietor of the delightful Relative Pitch label, responsible for two equally compelling through very different releases showcasing two distinct approaches to the single reed. Yes, more than just the single reed is showcased—certainly readers of freejazz-stef have at some point solemnly nodded along as they read one glowing review after another about the undeniably glowing Joelle Leandre. In a perfect world, an equal amount of solumn nods have already affirmed the undeniably excellent Bobby Bradford's cornet playing. Yet, when That Overt Desire of Object and Take Your Time, are listened to one after the other, you hear two different yet equally remarkable realizations of the saxophone's place in improvised music. The Yin and Yang if you will.

In the Yin corner we have Phillip Greenlief in duo with Leandre on That Overt Desire of Object. The cover of the recording is a blurry photo, in the liner notes is written:

Joelle and I have talked a lot about the state of the world throughout our friendship
a common underlying theme was greed, and all the malaise it causes.

Key words = asymmetry, “other sounds”, “lowercase” music writ large, cursive handwriting; all the things mechanization and increased production necessarily crush. Does That Overt Desire of Object remind anyone else of that Belgian crime fighting sensation Hercule Poirot? Perhaps it is the portrayal of that time between the “great wars”: the last days of a certain kind of civility and attitude towards art, those twilight hours before the Holocaust and The Bomb, before plywood and plastic above ground pools, that fabled time when everything was made by hand and made beautifully. Isn't it funny how non narrative improvised music made by two people can evoke the gestalt of an era?

In the Yang corner we have Vinny Golia with the gripping Take Your Time. It was interesting to read in the liner notes that Mr. Golia was first a graphic artist. There is something about Golia's playing; a-musical isn't the right word, but it will do the trick if it differentiates your sound image of Golia from someone who started Suzuki violin at age 3. There is a uniformity and thoroughness to Golia, a density and concept of form that makes me think of columns of news print seen at a distance, or one of those fractal screen savers more than our tonal forefathers. Golia's placement of notes on top of notes on top of notes, combined with Bradford's placement of notes on top of notes on top of notes, both in composition and in improvisation, creates a super-musical moire effect which is not to be missed.

So when is Golia going to get his MacArthur?


Lisa Mezzacappa, Eneidi, Golia, Anderson – Hell-Bent in the Pacific (No Business, 2012) ****½

...Hopefully right around the time Eneidi get's his MacArthur.

Once again, a meeting of two absolute masters of the single reed, and Marco is one of them. The combination of Golia and Eneidi, like the combination of Eneidi and Spearman (The Marco Eneidi Coalition), and Eneidi and Brotzman (B.E.E.K. Live at Spruce Street Forum) before, promised joys untold. I was not disappointed.

Nor was I disappointed by Vijay Anderson, who I've heard perform with Eneidi. (It was epic.) Anderson's playing brings to mind that of long time Eneidi colleague, the undeniable, under appreciated genius of percussion, Jackson Krall. Both have an active sound that is well peppered and punctuated. Anderson knows what makes percussion exciting to listen to and he lithely delivers. Of course he does fabulously with the down tempo, but I'm more of a car chase guy.

Mezzacappa is a wonderfully lyrical bassist whose lines in the ensemble could just as easily stand as solos...indeed throughout the recordings there were times when I wish the recording came with alternate “dub” takes.

This is an absolutely fantastic recording. Just get it already, will you?


Max Johnson Quartet (Not Two, 2012) ***½

The Max Johnson Quartet also celebrates the composed among the improvised. Mark Whitecage, an under appreciated long time stalwart of our beloved improvised music, gives us another reading of the alto's place in our beloved music. One of the benefits of FreeJazz-Stef is the ability to listen to a number of different contemporary alto players, and in so doing really have had more than one “beyond good and evil” moment wherein all the musicians really are sitting at a round table, are all manifestations of Sarswati, and as such, are all equal.

And so it is neither condemnation nor praise, but merely synesthesia when I say Whitecage is a little more oaky than Lehman—less of a patio sipper, less “bright” less “fun.” Combined with Max Johnson's rough and ready, present and accounted for bass with Tyshawn Sorey's understandably celebrated drumming, and the fantastic Steve Swell's trombone (here really isn't much a trombone can't make better) the pairing is well rounded, full bodied and complete.

Mr. Coombs' 5 star assessment strikes me as a bit of a stretch, though by no means a future impossibility. It's times like these one wishes the US didn't have that addiction to expensive wars, and was a little more loose with the grant money. There is so much to like about each individual musician, mostly because their musical personalities are so well developed, which in this case may be a liability. The voices need more time to meld, to become even greater than the sum of the parts. Were this group to have the luxury of extended stretches of rehearsal and work as a group (like, months in a castle somewhere, or a state sponsored tour of the United States) I'd wager a lasting work would emerge.


Darius Jones – Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity, 2012) **** 

Darius Jones in the quartet configuration on Grass Roots is a different Darius Jones than on Big Gurl. It should then come as no surprise that Grass Roots is quite a different listening experience than Big Gurl. With Grass Roots, Jones more than absolves him self for any low hanging fruit he may have grabbed on Big Gurl.

Equally exciting as Jones is the extremely exciting baritone saxophone of Alex Harding. Like the trombone, there isn't much a baritone saxophone can't improve either. Harding lends distinction to an already distinct recording. My new favorite baritone saxophonist!

Jones digs deeper on this one. He sounds like he's trying harder. The compositions are less contrived than on Big Gurl. The grace and support of Sean Conly on bass and Chad Taylor on drums also makes this one worth hearing. Now I can't wait to hear Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing) with the ultra-mega excellent Cooper-Moore and the equally fantastic Rakalam Bob Moses.


Rakalam Bob Moses – Sacred Exhalations (2012) ****

Though clearly most would disagree, certainly someone hears me when I say if Pat Metheney only put out one recording, and that recording was Bright Size Life, his esteemed place in music would be just as secure as it is now, all those recordings and awards later.

There is a perfection to Bright Size Life, much like there is a perfection to... The Lowell Davidson Trio. HA! Bet you never saw that one coming! But really, Rakalam Bob Moses trajectory has, with Sacred Exhalations, taken him from the birth of our Metheny consciousness all those years ago, put him right next to Milford Graves at the drummer's round table. What's more, the 3 horn/1 drum instrumentation harkens this listener back to Graves' Babi Music.

As with Babi Music, what I love about Sacred Exhalations (and Hell Bent in the Pacific, Lost in June, and so many other records within our beloved area of music) is the sound of non quantized, pan-tonal, pan-rhythmic spray of prana. Either you like that kind of thing, or you don't.

Either way, it's a way of being in music that “before” was not, then, one day was. Still today, despite the smothering in life brutal tapestry, “This music” this way of making music exists, attracting musicians of all ages and all backgrounds.


Wadada Leo Smith and Louis Moholo-Moholo – Ancestors (TUM, 2012) ****½

And so we end our meditation on 2012 with Wadada Leo Smith and Louis Moholo-Moholo's release Ancestors. A fitting concluding rite.

A lot of music, improvised music included, has something to prove or something to say. Ancestors has something to share. No need to prove anything. If you don't get it, it's not for you. Though the chances of any listener “not getting” Ancestors is pretty low. It is a music for everyone—much in the same way clean drinking water, appropriate housing, medical care and equal treatment under the law is for everyone.

The beauty of Smith's sound (both sonority and attack) eclipses all concerns about “right notes” in all but the most pathologically neurotic. His sound is the careful distillate of the entire history of the trumpet? Is that fair to say? There certainly is a majesty and complexity that doesn't emerge overnight.
That's for certain.

For large stretches, Moholo-Moholo plays unadorned patterns, but plays them magically. Here's a
confession: sometimes when I'm listening to music, I'm also washing the dishes. There is an arresting authenticity to Moholo-Moholo's drumming, even at its most plain that made me take off the yellow rubber gloves, put down the dishes and listened with my full, undivided attention.

Ancestors, like Look Up, includes vocals. In this instance it is less an admonition for our arrogance (appropriate though that is) and more a declaration of love for colleagues and antecedents. Something we should all do more often.

© stef

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