"Are you the one who sings those melodies I sometimes hear in spring, the ones that make me dream?”
With a fragile, heavenly tone, a voice I will never forget, he calmly replied:
"I don't know. Sometimes I have hallucinations where I sing winged melodies I don’t recognise, not knowing if they come from me or ever existed. I only remember the day I parted from those who taught me to fly. They told me I carried within me the most perfect song, and that one day it would let itself be sung freely by me.”
-Luis Lopes, from the liner notes
I sat down to listen to this album with no expectations beyond the fact that every NoBusiness album I have ever listened to has been of the highest quality. I didn’t know any of the musicians, but I was attracted to the album because of the bass clarinet played by Ziv Taubenfeld. I have been hooked on the peculiar, deep sound of the bass clarinet since the first time I heard Eric Dolphy playing it. I hit PLAY and almost immediately had one of those flashes where you realize you’re listening to something genuinely new and unique and wonderful. I think everyone who listens to free jazz is looking for such moments.
The album begins with the track 'Oluyemi' where cellist Helena Espvall plucks a simple repetitive pattern over which Taubenfeld improvises. I think of the title track of Julius Hemphill’s Dogon A.D., where Abdul Wadud’s cello plays a similar role. But this band has something different in mind. Espvall is restless in her playing and she varies further and further from her starting point. I realize she’s also steadily increasing the speed and intensity of her plucking. Taubenfeld matches her and João Sousa follows suit on drums. The song briefly feels like a contest. The track reaches an intense crescendo and then I realize that Espvall has begun bowing as Taubenfeld falls away and Sousa just plays a light, simple accompaniment. Her bowing is plaintive, as if she’s missing her accompanists or sad over the state of the world.
On 'In the Ether, In a Light', Sousa’s drumming propels the track forward. He’s especially good on this track. Espvall switches between bowing and plucking and always seems to be giving the right reply to what Taubenfeld is playing, as if they’re having the most intense conversation. I can’t get over how good Espvall is on this whole album.
'Come Back Evaporated Chess' is another standout. Sousa plays some fairly straight-ahead up-tempo percussion with Espvall bowing rhythmically but introducing slight variations in response to Sousa. Taubenfeld peeks in and then lurches in with some Dolphyesque lines. He’s excellent on this track and the next 'They Are Fragments of the Sun'. Over the course of the album, he demonstrates the full range of sound of the instrument.
'Of the Angel In You, Oh Tigers and Lions' starts off as a lovely, peaceful ballad, with Espvall’s cello sounding mournful and Sousa gently responding, with Taubenfeld’s bass clarinet floating above them both. The intensity of the piece increases as each musician digs into what the others are playing. It’s another tremendous track.
I could go on, but instead I’ll say a bit about the musicians. I discovered that I did in fact know Ziv Taubenfeld as he plays on a very good album I own, Albert Beger’s Cosmic Waves. Currently based in Lisbon, he has a great many projects on the go. He’s in a band called Kuhn Fu, dedicated to the work of Christian Kuhn (bonus points for the name). He leads a large band called Full Sun which is a collection of great musicians, including Michael Moore, Luis Vicente, Olie Bryce and Marta Warelis. He’s collaborated with Han Bennink, Ab Baars, Hamid Drake, Ada Rave, and many more.
Helena Espvall has been involved in a wide number of projects. Her bandcamp page has many solo pieces I’m slowly wading through and very much enjoying. She has produced a duo album with Masaki Batoh of the Japanese experimental rock group, Ghost. She has also been involved in, to quote Wikipedia, “Philadelphia's flourishing psychedelic and weird-folk circles”.
João Sousa is part of the exciting Portuguese free improvisation scene. Especially check out his duo with saxophonist José Lencastre, Free Speech and several albums with Pedro Branco.
This is an album to treasure, and another great release from NoBusiness.
0 comments:
Post a Comment