David Douglas & the Westerlies - Little Giant Still Life (Greenleaf Music, 2017) ****

By Paul Acquaro

Everyone knows Dave Douglas, right? The prolific trumpeter was a member of the original Masada in the early 1990s and has amassed an astounding and diverse discography over the years. One of his latest is the brass heavy Little Giant Still Life. His partners on the recording are the The Westerlies, whom we last encountered when they were playing the work of a different (ex)Downtown NYC composer, Wayne Horvitz. Here they lend their voices and talents, along with drummer Anwar Marshall, to a set of new brash and colorful Douglas penned compositions.

What is so striking about Douglas' work - whether it is with this brass quartet, his electronic leaning group High Risk, or in the tribute work with his group Riverside which recently released The New National Anthem (arrangements of Carla Bley's music) - is his balance between lyricism and texture. The opening track on Still Life is a good example, 'Champion' begins with a fanfare, the mix of the horns is rich and their syncopation is punchy, and a perfect set up for Douglas's energetic and fluid runs. A breakdown towards the middle of the track turns into collective improvization, which also reveals all the distinct voices.

The title track 'Little Giant Still Life' begins with a memorable theme that simply envelops and carries the whole piece. The Westerlies' strong comping and accompaniment provides a gripping balance of tension and motion. Douglas' humor also shines through on tracks like 'Bunting', where a somewhat traditional introduction is subverted by dollops of the blues and low horn blats. It's not slapstick however as the moments of levity are couched in some serious music.

Little Giant Still Life is a nicely balanced and vivacious album, and seems like it would easily appeal to the casual as well as the most voracious and demanding, listeners. A definite stocking stuffer for the music fan!

The Westerlies are:

Riley Mulherkar - Trumpet
Zubin Hensler - Trumpet
Andy Clausen - Trombone
Willem de Koch - Trombone

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Avantbrass - Filum Terminale (Discordian, 2014) ***

By Stef

In a way I love brass bands, the slow marching bands, the funeral brass bands, the simple and powerful tunes of the village bands, music without pretence apart from reflecting the mood of the audience, either festive or sad, and in the best of cases making sad people happy again or making happy people reflect on the deep melancholy that pervades life.

Without pretence, so is Avantbrass, a band from Spain, or Catalonia to be more precise (one has to be careful these days) consisting of Pol Padrós on trumpet, Iván González on French horn, Josep Tutusaus on trombone,  David Parras on tuba, Aleix Forts on double bass, and Guillem Arnedo on drums.

Why are they reviewed here? Because as their name suggests, they color outside the lines, playing nice themes in full harmony and equally nicely arranged, only for the whole edifice to collapse on itself once in a while, with musicians and instruments going their own way, only to regroup and recreate and get back to the main theme, with wild soloing on top. Ferocious at times, melancholy at other moments. Nothing extraordinary, nothing exceptional, but good and clever fun.

If anyone's interested in more of this, I can easily recommend The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Youngblood Brass Band from the US, the Florina Brass Band from Greece, the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band from Rajastan in India, Kočani Orkestar from Macedonia, or Boban Marković Orchestra from Serbia. Check them out on Youtube or elsewhere on the web, and enjoy!

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Ensemble X - Metaimprovisor (Red Toucan, 2012) ****½

Posted by Joe

It's not often that you get one of these on the Free Jazz blog! Real improvised music with people listening, no egos, no soloists, just like in the old days! My first statements might seem a little ridiculous, but they're not meant to be. I notice that today we seem to - luckily - be developing an improvised music scene made up of groups that have lead identities, and nothing wrong with that. Gustafsson, Brötzmann, Vandermark, Halvorson, Wooley, Laubrock etc, names that lead and could be called soloists if needs be. However, some forms of improvised music work on the idea of cooperative improvisation, ensemble work. Groups such as London Improvisers Orchestra and ICP are rare to see out on the road, probably due to logistics? Well, NFS Ensemble X is another of these large groups consisting of 19 musicians put together and led by Carl Ludwig Hübsch, a name (sorry to say) I'm not familiar with. You can read more about the circumstances for putting this ensemble together and a little background here and the full list of musicians.

If you bought or heard - back in 2011 - the Futon Quartet after reading Stef's reaction to the album, then this album may also speak to you. It is music which is very, very detailed, and extremely delicate in texture, in fact with so many musicians it's like wondering how so many elephants can tiptoe around without breaking anything! Each improvisation (4 in all) is a delicate canvas of sound and colour, not unlike a minimalist or abstract painting, maybe resembling such modern canvases as Pollock, Rothko or a Tobey. Splurges of sound, seemingly endless blurred blocks of sound colour blend together giving the pieces great depth.The pieces are titled X113, X8, X112 and X111 which also gives them a sense of abstract impressionism, leaving the listener to hear what they wish within these massive structures. There are no soloists sticking out of the music, giving an impression of a blanket of sound. The dynamics in each of the pieces can change unexpectedly, swelling up from time to time like a storm brooding which passes over you leaving a calm but mysterious unresolved mist of sound. The music's wild open landscapes conjure up strange images, full of half seen or imagined images.    

The key to this music, and what makes (or brakes) it is that 'Ensemble X' really listens to each other, which is essential to this type of music, and maybe something rather lacking in our present-day society? Each player must hear what the other is saying before making a contribution, absolutely sure what is needed, a truly egalitarian approach.

Highly recommended for all who like details in music, and for those who enjoy chamber ensembles, a rare thing in the present financial climate unfortunately.

*= Carl Ludwig Hübsch does of course feature on our blog elsewhere, unfortunately I hadn't heard any of his previous work. Of course now I'm very curious and will certainly be check up to see/hear what I've been missing.      

© stef

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Jacob Garchik: The Heavens (Yestereve Records, 2012) ****

By Martin Schray

I grew up in a small village in Southern Germany, my parents’ house is in the center of it just opposite the church. Some of the neighboring houses belong to the parish and twice a week the Protestant trombone choir has its rehearsals there. Especially in the summer they practiced with the windows open, so I could not avoid hearing them. Unfortunately, they were really terrible, the musicianship was poor, and the songs from the hymn book they played bored me to death which is why I hated trombones for a very long time. It only changed when Paul Rutherford and Johannes Bauer in Peter Brötzmann’s März Combo showed me what was possible with the instrument.

Another great young trombonist of the younger generation is Jacob Garchik, whose “The Heavens -  The Atheist Gospel Trombone Album” is a nine-song-selection for trombone choir, all performed by himself (he plays up to eight trombones, two sousaphones, two baritone and alto horns and slide trumpet). As the title suggests the album is about religious music and spirituality from anatheist’s perspective, that’s why you cannot only find gospels on it (e.g. “Dialogue with my Great-Grandfather”) but also soul songs (“This Song is the Center ofthe Universe”), a Ray-Charles-quotation (“The Heavens”), country music (“Glory/Infinity/Nothing”) and Doo Wop pop songs (“Be Good”). Even though his overall love for gospel shines through permanently, another very important influence is Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy and its deep admiration for the blues and funk of New Orleans Brass Bands.

“I was inspired to create this project out of a deep love for gospel music, and for religious music in general.” says Garchik in the notes. “I knew I had to play it but I wanted to do it on my own terms and in a way that was honest. In my mind, music and religion are both amazing reflections of human creativity.”

As to the underlying philosophy of the album there are two programmatic songs, the funk stomper “The Problem of Suffering” and the soul number “Digression on the History of Jews and Black Music”, because they deal with the similarities between African-American and Jewish history. Steven Lee Beeber (author of “The Heebie Jeebies at the CBGB’s”) points out that both people share a similar history from slavery to displacement and genocide and emphasizes the role of music in the process of assimilation to American society. He also explains that one of the central messages of the Pesach feast was that Jews were never allowed to support slavery and oppression because they were slaves in Egypt themselves. This historical motif of the Jews as children of Israel is also a central image in many gospel songs of the African-American church, which leads us back to this album. And Stanley Crouch adds that “they [the Jews] have a joy of life that's cynical, which is basically the same sensibility as the blues sensibility. That's a greater connection than atrocities.”

Even if Garchik claims that he is an atheist quoting Stephen Hawking on his website (“It would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary.”) this does not mean that all this stuff mentioned above is not part of a collective memory.

Most songs are just a couple of minutes long, the longest being just over six minutes, and the entire album only runs for 28 minutes – this is almost apunk/DIY attitude (but that’s a different kettle of fish).

Great album, great fun to listen to.

It is available on Garchik’s bandcamp page http://jacobgarchik.bandcamp.com/, where you can stream it in its entirety and purchase it in a number of file formats.

Listen to “Digression on the History of Jews and Black Music” here: 

© stef

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