Tim Berne - Snakeoil (ECM, 2012) *****

By Paul Acquaro

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of writing about The Veil, a recording with altoist Tim Berne, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Jim Black. While the twists and turns on Snake Oil are comparable, many elements of this latest release make it an apples to oranges endeavor. Whereas 'The Veil' was a scathing free improvisation of unabashed noise and gritty power, 'Snake Oil' embraces a more compositional and melodic approach.
The instrumentation on 'Snake Oil' is a bit more introspective, yet can coalesce with some power. With Oscar Noriega on clarinet and bass clarinet, Matt Mitchell on piano, Ches Smith on percussion, Berne has a nice palette of timbers and tonalities with which to work. The melodic passages showcase his complex compositions and an affinity for mixing these qualities. Right from the first tune there is an assuredness in the intertwining melodies and ever evolving musical ideas. Quiet passages are contrasted by intense ones, and the ebb and flow throughout is seamless. Patterns and melodic memes often begin as small tributaries and flow into powerful rivers of sound.
The press material captures what I think is an important aspect of the recording:

It’s an arresting collective sound, from a disciplined crew: two years of workshopping and woodshedding preceded the recording to reach what Berne calls “the necessary ‘looseness’ essential for a group identity”, and to realize “the dynamics that would enable the sonic details of this chamber-like band to emerge clearly.”

When listening, it can be difficult to parse is what is composed and what spontaneously emerged, but in the end it all seems to composed - or actually - it doesn't. A spirit of freeness permeates the recording.

Read More

Tim Berne's Snakeoil - You've Been Watching Me (ECM, 2015) *****

By Paul Acquaro

Tim Berne's Snakeoil has already released two excellent albums on ECM. These efforts - the eponymous debut and the follow up Shadow Man were the works of an acoustic quartet and on the new You've Been Watching Me, alto saxophonist Berne expands the group to a quintet and introduces electric elements to the mix, expanding the textures and possibilities of this already virtuosic group.

Electronics are introduced by way of pianist Matt Mitchell, whose new sounds can be heard as the album begins, and by Ryan Ferreira, who comes to Snake Oil with electric guitar and a bag of effects. His distorted textural guitar playing underscores the group work on 'Lost in Reading' and helps take the tune from the slow build to its climax. None of this takes away from the acoustic sounds of Berne's keening alto and Oscar Noriega's bass clarinet as they traverse the intricate arrangements. Percussionist Ches Smith plays a pivotal role as well, and on a track like 'Small World in a Small Town' the absence of his drums is counterbalanced by his judicious use of the vibraphone.

Compared to earlier output, You've Been Watching Me is an evolution in the group's sound and it's interesting to hear how the compositions are growing and changing. Listen to Mitchell's electronics darting about Noriega's rich lines on 'Lost in Reading', or Berne's extensive passage on 'Small World in a Small Town' where the supporting harmonies are quite simple but underpin much complexity. On You've Been Watching Me, with the larger group and more expansive palette of sounds at his disposal, Berne's use of subtleties really comes to the fore.

It tempting to think that Berne has reached his peak with Snake Oil, but then again work from his previous group's like Big Satan and Bloodcount (just to randomly pick two others) were also career highlights, which suggests You've Been Watching Me is most likely just a new high.

Listen and read liner notes here.

Read More

HAPPY NEW EARS AWARD - THE VOTE IS ON!

The final list : a balancing act between various subgenres and innovative ways to take music and listening a step further, by coincidence - or not? - also offers a great spectrum of nationalities and instruments, genders and ages. This is of course a selection, and by definition an arbitrary one, based on inputs from specialists who only listened to a tiny fraction of what is available. That being said, there is at least some consensus that these are all albums worth listening to. The vote is on!

1. RED Trio + Nate Wooley - Stem 
2. Eivind Opsvik - Overseas IV
3. Tim Berne - Snake Oil 
4. Levity - Afternoon Delights  
5. Katherine Young's Pretty Monsters
6. Mikolaj Trzaska's Ircha - Zikaron Lefanaj 
7. Thomas Heberer's Clarino - Cookbook 
8. Eve Risser - En Corps 
9. Pão - Pão 
10. MMM Quartet - Live at the Metz’ Arsenal  
11. Stian Westerhus - The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers 
12. Evan Parker, Okkyung Lee, Peter Evans – The Bleeding Edge
13. Bobun - Suite Pour Machines À Mèche
14. Angharad Davies, Tisha Mukarji, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – Outwash 
15. Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Hasselt

You can vote between now and December 31, 2012 at midnight, when the winner will be known. Cast your votes, mobilise your fans, persuade the cynics, convince the indifferent, wake up the musical sleepers .... and have fun!

Read More

Kate Gentile - Mannequins (Skirl, 2017) ****

By Paul Acquaro

A problem that I often feel I am running into when writing reviews is my flogging of a dead metaphor and over use of certain words like “texture” or “interplay”. So recently, in a ham-fisted attempt to expand my lexicon, I asked a musician how would you describe the compositions of drummer Kate Gentile … without a pause the answer was “well, it’s like jazz math-rock”. Yes, indeed it is, and I began imagining the pieces in terms of ∛, the occasional f(x), and a liberal sprinkling of ${\displaystyle \approx }$. Ok, forgive me, I have no idea what I’m writing. However, I can posit with certainty that an album like Mannequins is a deep dive into the swirling logic and exacting twisted phrases that end up equaling something quite special.

Gentile, who is immersed in the fertile music scene in Brooklyn, has worked with luminaries and peers such as Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Michael Formanek, Marty Ehrlich, Chris Speed, and Kris Davis. Her quartet here is comprised of herself on drums, Jeremy Viner on tenor saxophone and clarinet, Matt Mitchell on piano, synth, and electronics, and Adam Hopkins on bass. If you paused on Mitchell, and thought perhaps about his recent solo foray deep into the music of Tim Berne and his work with Snakeoil, then you'll have a sense of the polyrhythmic mind-teasers and deep melodicism that you encounter on Mannequins.

Track One, “Stars Covered in Clouds of Metal” is more than just a great name, it actually a perfect description: a slightly bruising beat-slipping thrust of chords from the synthesizer brings the Metal … its distorted and jerking rhythms sets a tone for the album and the clatter of Gentile’s percussion provides the stars. It’s a quick track, leading to “Trapezoidal Nirvana," which progresses along an unpredictable path. This time on piano, Mitchell provides the structure while he and Viner play tandem syncopated melodic lines that are at once teasingly divaricated and undeniably tuneful. Veering off the path that they have started down, “Hammergaze” begins with prismatic chimes, percussive and mesmerizing, which leads quickly into “Otto, On Alien Shoulders.” Following the earlier template, the shifting blocks of sounds have electronic sounds percolating through.

“Xenomorphic” is another short percussion heavy textual piece that eschews interplay for a more monolithic approach. There a is a great deal of variety within in the tune, though the dominating effect is the zigzagging lines from Viner and Mitchell. Hopkins and Gentile get into it during the penultimate “Alchemy Melt [With Tilt]” during a particularly free section towards the end of the 12 minute track. The closing “Ssgf” is an excellent summary of everything that came before, mixing the intertwining lines with an extended solo passages from Hopkins and Viner, into accessible but oblique patterns.

Mannequin’s is an excellent debut recording, and Gentile taps into the jazz math-rock which it seems that pianist Mitchell sits in the middle of (I'm thinking of Anna Weber’s wonderful Simple trio, and Tim Berne's incredible Snake Oil recordings). Heady stuff for sure, and absolutely perfect for getting lost in its matrix.

Read More

End-of-year Lists Galore

Allright, here they are then, the albums of the year 2012 as selected by the entire review team of the Free Jazz Collective. Each reviewer presented his (unfortunately not her) list of the ten best albums of the year. Based on the commonalities between those lists, we selected the top-10 that we all favoured.

The Free Jazz Collective Top-10 albums of 2012

1. Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc & Edward Perraud - En Corps
2. Angles 8 - By Way Of Deception
3. The Thing With Barry Guy - Metal!
4. Aram Shelton Quartet - Everything for Somebody
5. Henry Threadgill Zooid – Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp
6. Nicole Mitchell - Arc Of O
7. Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges
8. Martin Küchen - Hellstorm
9. Levity - Afternoon Delights
10. Stian Westerhus - The Matriarch & The Wrong Kind Of Flower

Every contributor to the blog also made his own list of preferred albums.

Denti Alligator

1.             Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc & Edward Perraud - En Corps

2.             Aaron Novik - Secret of Secrets

3.             Neneh Cherry & The Thing -  The Cherry Thing

4.             Bester Quartet -  Metamorphoses

5.             Charles Gayle - Streets

6.             Keith Rowe -  September

7.             Mats Gustafsson - Bengt

8.             David Krakauer -  Pruflas -  The Book of Angels Volume 18

9.             King Tears Bat Trip -  King Tears Bat Trip

10.          The Thing With Barry Guy -  Metal!

Paul Acquaro

1.             Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges

2.             Elliot Sharp Trio - Aggregat

3.             9 Volt - Open Circuit

4.             Elephant9 with Reine Fiske - Atlantis

5.             Joe Morris, William Parker, Gerald Cleaver - Altitude

6.             Paul Dunmall & Tony Bianco - Thank You To John Coltrane

7.             Eivind Opsvik - Overseas IV

8.             Aych - As the Crow Flies

9.             Scorch Trio with Mars Williams - Made in Norway

10.          Tim Berne - Snake Oil

Tom Burris

1.             Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc & Edward Perraud – En Corps 

2.             Nicole Mitchell – Arc of O 

3.             Jooklo Duo & Bill Nace – Scratch 

4.             Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges 

5.             Henry Threadgill Zooid – Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp 

6.             Rob Mazurek Pulsar Quartet – Stellar Pulsations 

7.             Sam Rivers, Dave Holland & Barry Altschul – Reunion: Live in New York 

8.             Hairy Bones – Snakelust 

9.             Noah Bernstein – Six 

10.          Ballister – Mechanisms 

Daniel Sorrelis

1.             Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc & Edward Perraud - En Corps

2.             Eli Keszler - Catching Net

3.             Angles 8 - By Way of Deception: Live in Ljubjana

4.             Angharad Davies, Tisha Mukarji, Dimitria Lazaridou-Chatzigoga - Outwash

5.             Pedro Sousa & Hernâni Faustino - Falaise

6.             Martin Küchen - Hellstorm

7.             Way Out Northwest - The White Spot

8.             Mikołaj Trzaska, Ollie Brice, Mark Sanders - Riverloam Trio

9.             John Tilbury - For Tomasz Sikorski

10.          Henry Threadgill Zooid - Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp.

Phil Coombs

1.             Angles 8 - By Way of Deception - Live in Ljubljana

2.             Nicole Mitchell - Arc of O

3.             Steve Lehman Trio - Dialect Fluorescent

4.             Daniel Erdmann - How to Catch a Cloud

5.             MMM Quartet - Live at Metz' Arsenal

6.             Emile Parisien - Chien Guepe

7.             Aram Shelton Quartet - Everything for Somebody

8.             Matthew Shipp Trio - Elastic Aspects

9.             Max Johnson Quartet

10.          Eve Risser - En Corps

Joe Higham

1.             John Butcher and Toshimaru Nakamura - Dusted Machinery

2.             Levity - Afternoon Delights

3.             Aram Shelton Quartet - Everything for Somebody

4.             Daniel Erdmann - How to Catch a Cloud

5.             Marc Ducret - Tower Vol. 4

6.             Eve Risser - En Corps

7.             Outhouse - Straw, Sticks + Bricks.

8.             Arts and Sciences - New You

9.             Kay Grant & Alex Ward - Fast Talk

10.          Fred Lonberg-Holm's Fast Citizens - Gather

Paolo Casertano

1.             Stian Westerhus - The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers

2.             Joe McPhee & Eli Keszler - Ithaca

3.             Nate Wooley/Peter Evans - Instrumental Vol. 1

4.             Colin Stetson & Mats Gustafsson - Stones

5.             The Thing with Barry Guy - Metal

6.             Steve Lehman Trio - Dialect Fluorescent 

7.             Martin Küchen - Hellstorm

8.             Peter Kolovos - Black Colors

9.             Paradoxical Frog - Union

10.          John Tilbury - For Tomasz Sikorski

Ananth Krishnan

1.             Thomas Heberer – Cookbook

2.             Angles 8 - By Way of Deception: Live in Ljubjana

3.             Levity - Afternoon Delights

4.             Trespass Trio - Bruder Beda

5.             Maya Homburger and Barry Guy - Tales of Enchantment

Stef Gijssels

1.             Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc & Edward Perraud – En Corps

2.             RED Trio + Nate Wooley - Stem

3.             Mikołaj Trzaska Ircha Clarinet Quartet* ‎– Zikaron - Lefanay

4.             Thomas Heberer's Clarino - Cookbook (Red Toucan, 2012)

5.             Mathias Küchen - Hellstorm

6.             Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers

7.             Skogen - Ist Gefallen In Den Schnee

8.             Angles 8 - By Way of Deception: Live in Ljubjana

9.             Pretty Monsters

10.          Dark Poetry

Martin Schray

1.       Fire! - In the Mouth a Hand

2.       Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet+1 - Walk, Sleep, Love

3.       Evan Parker's Electro Acoustic Ensemble -  Hasselt

4.       Stian Westerhus -  The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind of Flowers

5.       Hairy Bones - Snakelust

6.       Martin Küchen - Hellstorm

7.       Mats Gustafsson/Thurston Moore -  Play Some Fucking Stooges

8.       Colin Stetson/Mats Gustafsson - Stones

9.       Pao -  Pao

10.    Arts and Science  New You

.... and by the way, you can still vote for the HAPPY NEW EARS AWARD  for the most innovative listening experience of the year.

Read More

Invisible Guy - Knuckle Sandwich (BAG, 2016) ***1/2

By Joel Barela

A word from Ben Goldberg on practice:

"Steve Lacy suggested learning all the notes through a systematized and methodical study of intervals, at first outside of tonal context, then puzzling out the possible tonal contexts.  He said that he developed the idea from writings or comments by Stravinsky.  Joe Lovano suggested taking a chord sequence (for example the blues) and playing it in all twelve keys every day.  Eventually I stumbled upon a rubato approach -- playing in meter but not in tempo -- that allows time to stretch to accommodate my slow mind.  Somewhere along the way Charlie Hunter suggested at a clinic we were doing 'put down the guitar and play drums for a year,' to strengthen the groove.  This led me to try to learn a way of playing drums and clarinet at the same time, so that the groove comes first."

Goldberg doesn't play the drums on this record - the sticks belong to Hamir Atwal here - but the emphasis on the creation of more "fluent melody" in Goldberg's improvisations and especially on groove materialize here in almost "rockish" quantities.  Knuckle Sandwich is certainly a noddable listen, but its title is a tad misleading.  Never as violent or heavy as it might immediately suggest, the record actually contains joyous music that seems joyously made.

Evidence comes immediately, as Goldberg blows out of the gate in 1 Through 8 with an arpeggiated riff repeated with the aforementioned mind to respecting and growing the groove.  Michael Coleman - on keys - fires some dissonant chords that remind me a bit of Ryan Ferreira's textural work on last year's Snake Oil offering, Lost In Reading.  The trio deconstructs the melody and appears to bang around the pieces a bit in short examination before the piece coalesces into a near-rock number, Goldberg's impressive fluidity on full display.  Follow-up, 9 = 2, seems to reveal a bit of Goldberg's musical past - particularly his former ensemble play with Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich, as the track could easily (in both length and style) be a Deerhoof cut.

Hocus Pocus - retroactively named no doubt - sounds like a boardwalk magician's cheap conjurings - for a bit that is.  For all their abruptness, Goldberg's phrases are surprisingly lyrical.  Coleman's stabs again provide some necessary counterpoint.  They're especially effective when mirroring Goldberg's theme.  When they collide more fully toward song's end, the effect is almost psychedelic and one of the record's high points.  Citizen's Arrest finds Coleman at the piano.  The interplay here with Goldberg's clarinet screams of film scores and Gershwin.  However, without the full symphonic support, even the courageous playing falls a tad short of resolution.  Prelude to a Prelude is more interesting in title than in practice.  It stinks of nature, all waterlogged notes and dead keys, a gust of wind, and finally, appropriately, a sunrise.

Travels slogs a tad after Prelude to a Prelude, but Cold Weather and AMR follow with some of the record's most beautiful, inspired playing.  9+5 concludes and delivers the punches hinted at all along (and delivered in spots on Hocus Pocus).  The playing is frenetic and free before Atwal drops into a true plod, a heavy-handed stoner rock pattern.  Coleman and Goldberg follow him out.

Goldberg calling his mind in any way "slow" is almost laughable.  This isn't the most fiery playing I've heard and it's not particularly as furious as I typically prefer my music, but the lyricism and scope of the piece are without question.  The ideas throughout are strong.  I would really like to see the themes created in Hocus Pocus and9+5 examined more fully and expanded, perhaps to a full records.  For now, Coleman and Atwal provide a solid base and Goldberg flies atop, groove ever in his mind.

Read More

Matt Mitchell - førage (Screwgun Records, 2017) ****½

By Paul Acquaro

I have been a long time fan of saxophonist Tim Berne, catching when I can his concerts and covering his Snake Oil albums and the brilliant BB&C for the blog. His complex and interlocking melody lines have always been a draw, his music wraps around itself, like vines growing up the tree, overlapping and intertwining, beautiful, and sometimes overwhelming.

Pianist Matt Mitchell has been working with Berne for several years in Snakeoil, in addition to many other high profile and adventurous musicians such as Rudresh Mahanthappa, David Douglas, Darius Jones, as well a leader releasing some well-regarded albums like 2015's Vista Accumulation. Somewhere along the way, he found the time to make this illuminating solo piano recording of Berne's music, revealing both his own musical conceptions and the strength of Berne's compositions.

On just the piano, Berne's abstract and complex melodies are unraveled and untangled, then re-positioned, re-layered and re-tangled. The sinewy music strongly associated with the composer holds up remarkably in all of it tough and fragile beauty. The title førage also says a lot: this is not re-interpretations of scores, but rather a mash-up of ideas. Mitchell went through Berne's ample discography, selecting songs and melodies and put them together in his own way.

The first track, 'PÆNË', is calm as the opening chords move in an unusual progression, the melody is almost soothing, but it's not easy listening, rather it's accessibly demanding. The second track, 'TRĀÇĘŚ' is more angular, more jumpy, and the kaleidoscopic melody fills the space around the listener like small shards of colors turning in all directions. The slightly askew melody locks in with the rhythm in such a way that it is unclear if a beat is being skipped, but then again, it locks in so tightly that it's hard to imagine a beat missing. The third track, 'ÀÄŠ', is sublime. A sparse and evocative melody slides between the cracks of a suspenseful chord progression. As the song progresses it grows heavier, denser, and some of the hopefulness felt at first, turns darker, but towards the end, unfolds into a spacious soundscape. Mitchell is an energetic player, his broad use of dynamics and expansive approach reveals a great deal of emotion within the music through out the whole recording.

It is a true pleasure to get lost in Mitchell (and Berne)'s sonic maze. Over the course of the 58 minutes of førage, Mitchell shows a deep appreciation and understanding of this music, which comes through in every note, shifting tempo, and interlocking rhythmic phrase. Released on Berne's Screwgun records (which had been quiet for a while), førage also features a classic Steve Byram cover on a signature brown cardboard cover.

førage releases on March 31st

Read More

HAPPY NEW EARS!

This must have been the most boring competition for the HAPPY NEW EARS AWARD we've ever had, with the winner in the lead from the first hour to the last, and capturing almost one third of all votes. Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc and Edward Perraud are the deserved winners with "En Corps", which already featured on many top-10 of the year lists too. They have indeed given us some novel listening experience. Congratulations to the winners, and to all other contenders for the great music and ear-opening - and mind-opening - musical ideas. Thanks to all voters for their contribution.

1. Eve Risser - En Corps (27%)
2. RED Trio + Nate Wooley - Stem (15%)
3. Eivind Opsvik - Overseas IV (8%)
4. Stian Westerhus - The Matriarch (8%)
5. Tim Berne - Snake Oil (7%)
6. Thomas Heberer's Clarino - Cookbook (6%)
7. Angharad Davies, Tisha Mukarji, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga – Outwash (5%)
8. Mikolaj Trzaska's Ircha - Zikaron Lefanaj (5%)
9. Evan Parker, Okkyung Lee, Peter Evans – The Bleeding Edge (3%)
10. Pão - Pão (3%)
11. Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Hasselt (3%)
12. Levity - Afternoon Delights (2%)
13. Katherine Young's Pretty Monsters (1%)
14. MMM Quartet - Live at the Metz’ Arsenal (0%)
15. Bobun - Suite Pour Machines À Mèche (0%)

Read More