Cello & Viola & Some Violin

By Stef

The violin, the cello and the viola make you think about classical music, about string quartets, about Bach, Vivaldi, Paganini, about Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals, Rostropovich, and many more. Yet the strings may contain some more magic in them, magic that is only now released, with new sounds, weirder sounds, somehow more complex, multiphonic, distorted, tormented, somehow more fit for those strange times we live in, full of luxury, agony and inhumanity, full of beauty, sensitivity and horror.

No deep dives here, just some small sketches, hinting, encouraging you to discover the music.

Ernst Reijseger - Crystal Palace (Winter & Winter, 2014) *****

Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger no longer needs an introduction, film composer, member of ICP Orchestra, musician of world music, but also an avant-gardist, as on this album. Reijseger plays solo, and even if this is not his first solo album, it is definitely his best, with twenty-eight short improvisations inspired by the paintings of Jerry Zeniuk, and as the label describes it : "sound pictures at an exhibition".

All of the painter's work is in the similar vein, with full color dots sprinkled over the canvas, and one might expect some similar concept in the music, but that's not the case, quite to the contrary. Reijseger's music is different on each track. Beautiful, intense, classical, dissonant, controlled, loose, dark, frivolous. Some pieces are flowing like a soft stream in spring, some are percussive repetitive single plucked notes, some are filled with high-pitched overtones, some with hesitating soft bows, but whatever he does, it is beautiful, it is simple, it is rich, it is inviting and welcoming.

He will be celebrating his 60th birthday later this year, and he has already given us a fantastic present. A real treat for fans of high quality improvised music.

Highly recommended.


Hugues Vincent & Yasumune Morishige - Fragment (Improvising Beings, 2014) *****

French cellist Hugues Vincent and Japanese cellist Yasumune Morishige sound like soul-brothers on this album, which has incredible power and intensity from beginning to end. The two artists invite you to a sonic universe that is beautiful and dark, carefully weaving bowed phrases in a context of drone and noise and darkness. The instruments screech and whisper and sing and rumble. Their universe is attractive and threatening at the same time, as if the listener is invited to trespass into a forbidden area. They create suspense, anticipation, tension as well as ferocious moments of relief, they create long hypnotic contrapuntal flows close to a tonal centre. They create moments of despair and agony and doom. The create sounds with refinement and sensitivity and precision.

This is without a doubt one of the most coherent and powerful albums I've heard this year. A dark masterpiece.


Jennifer Allum  & Ute Kanngiesser - Bell Tower Recordings (Matchless, 2014) ****½

The tree improvisations on this album are duets between Jennifer Allum on violin and Ute Kanngiesser on cello, and were recorded in a church bell tower, each in a different room. This is as avant-garde as it can be, with both instruments exploring well beyond the boundaries of their instruments, with the bells chiming in, and inspiring the musicians, as do other ambient sounds such as outside traffic, the siren of an ambulance or the ticking of the church clock mechanism (I think).

The music on the first track has a nice and sometimes even powerful interaction of high almost whistling tones interwining like a slow rhythmless dance, a cautious circling around a tonal center, with vibrating notes floating in mid-air, then gradually losing even the faint substance they had to become even more ethereal and ephemeral, slight wisps of music supported by silence. The second track, "Clock Room", has more gravitas, with a more forceful attack of the bows, even if that is still fragile. The pièce-de-résistance is the half hour long "Bell Room", in which the outside world quietly invades the music, and is integrated, carefully lifted into a new level of fragility and refinement. Each note has value here, and when silence takes the foreground, with the distant ambulance the only sound to be heard, deep tones from the cello and super-high tones from the violin create a mirrored drone-like repetition, full of menace and anxiety.

Many people will wonder about this music, and probably that's good. It has its own voice, its own story, its own aesthetic. It may take some time to get into it, but as usual the effort is worth taking.


Keiko Higuchi & Yasumune Morishige - Awai (Improvising Beings, 2014) ****

This is the second duo release by cellist Yasumune Morishige and vocalist Keiko Higuchi. Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of vocal jazz or improvisation, because of the unauthentic sense of drama or in-your-face declamation that usually seems to drive singers, but here we get a different story. Higuchi's voice is an instrument, very much at the same level of the cello, and both look for sonic creation, in a very calm, quiet and precise way. Both cello and voice use sparse sounds that hover over a background of silence, fragile, vulnerable and sensitive. The nature of the music is very Japanese, and it may take some mental adjustment to get into this strange musical universe, but once you're in, you will be hooked. Very delicate and beautiful.


Fred Lonberg-Holm & Nick Stephens - Crackle (Loose Torque, 2014) ***½

My original Dutch version of the "Free Jazz Blog" will be forever frozen on Fred Lonberg-Holm's "Terminal Valentines", then just released in 2007. He has been featured many times afterwards, with his own efforts or as part of the Chicago jazz scene. Now we find him here in the presence of Nick Stephens, bassist and one of Britains lead voices on bass in the free improv and free bop scene. Their performance on this album is really one of dialogue, and in that sense maybe closer to jazz than it sounds. They tease, they react, they dance around each other, with lots of emphasis on the interaction, on the ideas and the joy of it all, rather than on the creation of a musical sound, which is raw, harsh, nervous, agitated, physical even, although they don't shy away from more quiet and sensitive moments.

Jim Baker & Sarah Ritch - Articular Facet 5.3 (Pan Y Rosas, 2014) ***½

On this quiet album, Jim Baker on modular synth and Sarah Ritch on cello, guitar and electronics, create a sonic environment with minor changes from a long horizontally developing tonal texture. The effect is mesmerising at times, with repetitive loops and sudden 'surprise skree', one of the appropriate tag lines that Sarah Ritch gives to her music, together with 'modern scratch, mechanical wood, tone bits, crushed fragments and atlantis shred'. Despite these names, the music is relatively accessible, and of a dark monotony.

Download the album from the label.


Francesco Guerri - Prima Di Qualsiasi Altra Cosa Allora Si Perderà (Self, 2013) ***½

Francesco Guerri is an Italian cellist, with a degree of the conservatory of Cesena, who now ventures into his first solo album, after some previous group releases. His playing is very raw, with lots of coloring outside the lines, breaking conventions, and exploring new spaces, but without relinquishing the instrument's core sounds. His improvisations are dense, busy, like some solo dialogues with lots of rhythmic emphasis and strong attack, and only the last piece, "Macbeth", has a lighter texture, with Guerri weaving his notes around the silence of the space.

Ganjin - Healing (Self, 2013) ***

• 
  
• Ganjin is Hugues Vincent on cello, Frantz Loriot on viola and Yuko Oshima on drums. The album starts with calm precision, with soft touches and extended technique sounds coloring space and silence, until this explodes in your face with screams full of agony and despair, the sign to pull you along on a roller-coaster of rhythmic and tempo changes, with changing qualities of tenderness and violence. 
• 
  

Each time you think you're into their way of playing, you are wrong. The second track too evolves from some metal noise into a joyful balkan tune, with unison passages. "Sorry, But You're Too Far" starts with a long drums intro, to be followed by a great noise soundscape by the strings. "Diviheads" is all violence and mayhem out of your worst nightmare accentuated by infrequent drum beats, until you think that's what you'll get till end, but you're deceived again when Oshima lets loose some fierce rock drumming that is incapable of stopping the banshee wails of the strings. 

You get the idea, there is a lot to be heard, including long moments of silence, with a huge amount of variety and influences, putting the listener on the wrong foot time and time again, and that's fun in a way, but it destroys the unity of musical vision in a way. The album's strength is also its weakness. Yet it's worth listening to. 

• 
  
• Hugues Vincent - Early Electroacoustic Works (Soliloq Edition, 2014) 
  
  
  
  
  
  This album is a re-issue of Hugues Vincent's first two solo CDs, both of which are actual live collages of cello, electronic sounds, radio snippets, film music and other ambient material that's all presented in a very coherent way in strange sonic sculptures. The sound of the cello itself is hard to identify.

Nils Bultmann - Troubadour Blue (Innova, 2014) ***

This beautiful album is a strange concoction. The first ten pieces are viola duets between Nils Bultmann and Hank Dutt, performing music composed by the former, as a result of years of improvising. The delivery sounds very classical, yet contains improvised parts, and some pieces have influences from country music, film music and other sources.

Then you get four pieces called "From The Depths", an unusual duet between viola and didgeridoo, the latter played by Stephen Kent. The atmosphere is totally different than in the first part, more solemn, with more gravity and emotional depth. Gripping stuff.

Then you get a five minute solo viola piece by Bultmann, a very melancholy and beautiful composition, slow and full of anticipation and intensity.

Then you get five pieces for solo cello, performed by Parry Karp, but composed by Bultmann as an hommage to Bach's famous cello suites. Some of Bach's material is used in the piece. Again, the quality of the playing is excellent, and so are the compositions, but as a listener you're into another sonic universe again.

In sum, great music, but a not very coherent album. The duo with didgeridoo would be preference for further exploration and real attention.


Giovanni Maier & Franco Dal Monego - 4 Pezzi Lunghi (Palomar, 2013) ***

An intense duo album with Italians Giovanni Maier on cello and Franco Dal Monego on drums. They perform four improvisations of approximately fifteen minutes each. This is a very jazzy outing, with long plucked and bowed dialogues, all very rhythmic and with strong interactivity.


Helena Espvall - Both Art And Nature Are Fond Of Machinations (2014)

I am not sure why I would mention this album here, apart from the fact that it is played by the cello and that the music is improvised, but basically what you get is one long drone of various layers of instrument, sounding like an entire orchestra. Not my cup of tea but some may like it.

You can listen and download from Bandcamp.

Read More

Survival Unit III: Game Theory (Not Two, 2013) ****½

By Martin Schray

Reviewing this album gives me the chance to appreciate the work of three institutions without which free jazz would not be possible – local organizers who give the musicians the possibility to play, labels who publish their albums and the long time commitment of the musicians themselves.

I recently saw Survival Unit III, which is Joe McPhee on saxes and pocket trumpet, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics and Michael Zerang on drums in Weikersheim, a village in South Germany which is really out in the sticks. For more than 30 years Norbert Bach and Elsbeth Schmidt have been booking mainly punk rock and free jazz bands for their club called W71, their cultural engagement for this region cannot be appreciated highly enough.

NotTwo, the Polish label founded by Marek Winiarski in 1998, has been one of the most interesting labels in the last few years (as well as NoBusiness in Lithuania, Clean Feed in Portugal and Rune Grammofon in Norway, among others). Winiarski’s simply releases the stuff he likes and he clearly prefers live improvisations. In the last years he has produced outstanding CD boxes by Barry Guy New Orchestra (“Mad Dogs”) or DKV Trio (“Past Present”).  It is actually no surprise that they have now released a CD by Survival Unit III.

And of course this music is about the artists, especially about icons like 74-year-old Joe McPhee, who has been on the scene since 1967 and who has been responsible for seminal albums like “Nation Time”, “Black Magic Man”, “Topology” or “Survival Unit II: At WBAI’s Free Music Store” (just to name a few). In 2006 he has reanimated his Survival Unit and has released three albums with this group since then.

The beginning of their new album, “Ever Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head”, is very meditative, Lonberg-Holm and Zerang are very reluctant, they create an almost spiritual atmosphere which enables McPhee to bring in a melancholic blues improvisation before – almost without noticing - the piece escalates into classic free jazz. Exactly in the middle the track seems to stop, as if it was looking around for its possibilities. Introspections, McPhee’s only contribution on pocket trumpet, a harsh Brötzmann-like outburst and McPhee humming are the result.

Lately McPhee’s music has been less motivated by the political situation of African-Americans but more by the sonic exploration of his instruments (“Sonic Elements”) but on this album it seems that he wanted to comment on recent social upheavals again. “Love in the Time of AIDS” just asks what love is today opposed to sex, power and control. On the one hand it is an incredibly sad comment on a feeling that seems to vanish, the piece sounds like a requiem. However, it is also a great musical reminiscence to John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders.

The final track, “A Song for Beggars”, is the most obvious political statement starting with the words “This song won’t feed the starving, nor will conferences on hunger with a fortune spent on talking. Nor will it house the homeless or quench the thirst of millions who will die from lack of water while the vampires drink their blood” – words clearly in the tradition of beat generation authors like Amiri Baraka (“Nation Time” was a tribute to him). It is a dark piece, full of frenzy, yet it is also elegant, beautifully swinging, enrooted in gospel and blues.

Another great album of a great artist.

Buy from instantjazz.com.

You can watch a full – and marvelous - gig of their latest tour here:

Read More

Barrel - Gratuitous Abuse (Emanem, 2011) ****

Reviewed by Joe

Well, I'm not sure how this one got missed in our folders? Alison Blunt (violin), Ivor Kallin (viola/violin) and Hannah Marshall (cello) whip up a real storm using just strings and an impressive storm at that! Hannah Marshall is a name that pops up on this blog from time to time as one of the UK's leading improving cello players. Alison Blunt's CV (you may already know her) includes a long list of very diverse and extremely interesting groups and projects ranging from 'Tindersticks' to the Tony Marsh 4tet. Ivor Kallin seems to be a very interesting artist whose interests go in many directions including film, radio shows and poetry. The thread that unites these three players seems to be the ever evolving London Improvisers Orchestra, certainly a fine recommendation if needed! If you don't know the LIO then the best way to explain them is : a group that's often presented in programs as - 'LIO band members can be ....'

This is surely one of the most creative records of improvised music I've heard for quite a long time. The group really creates a canvas of sounds that makes you wonder if you're listening to something written by the late Elliott Carter. But no, this is a real improvised string trio of the highest order with not one boring second to be found on this album, it's simply stunning to hear these three at work on the CDs four tracks. Three of the pieces (Tks, 1, 3 and 4) are between 22 and 32 minutes, the second track 'Soft Porn, Hard Cheese' is just 1:51sec. The trio uses all available means to make music with their instruments and voices, and even though they mostly use the bows on strings to communicate there are plenty of shrieks and verbal mutterings to be heard as well. All these elements seem to come together at the perfect moment, never leaving you waiting to see what could happen next. What's also interesting is the polyphonic lines they constantly develop and which give an impression of a very contemporary string trio. They also attack their instruments : slapping them, scraping them, plucking, double stopping and anything else that can be used to make a sound.

I can imagine that this is one hell of a trio to see live, great energy and plenty of imagination. I noticed there's a video from 2009 on YT which will give you an idea of the trio in action (here Pt1 and Pt2). Although these pieces are shorter than on the CD, you do get to see how these three go way beyond abstract improvisation, managing to combine melodic ideas with extended techniques.

I think this is certainly an album that will bear up to repeated listening on many different layers. Great stuff, or as we say 'a sleeper'.

© stef

Read More

Daniel Erdmann - How To Catch A Cloud (Intakt 2011) ****½

Reviewed by Joe

I noticed that one of our new writers Philip Coombs (kind of) apologized for reviewing an album from 2011. Well I can tell you if you look into our archives there's piles of albums that we just can't get through quickly enough to review, hence the new members of the review team. Well, this is another one that slipped through the net from 2011. So here you have it, the German sax man Daniel Erdmann with Samuel Rohrer (drums), Vincent Courtois (cello) and Frank Möbus (guitar). A record with not only a very classy line up, but also a selection of very stylish compositions.

You won't class this as free jazz, nor avant-garde. Best of all it's so NOT American jazz, no chromatic approach tones, no tired post bop-isms, it's music with European roots, and deeply planted ones. The music is difficult to describe even though it's mostly composed. If anything the music is slightly 'rock' orientated (or at least rhythmically), a very beat driven music, which has some very attractive melodies. In fact the choice of musicians is a real stroke of genius as the combination of Frank Möbus' guitar with either Daniel Erdmann's sax or the cello playing of Vincent Courtois work a treat, the four musicians (to include Rohrer's drums) bring out the subtler points of the music. The three musicians swap between roles, playing lines together either as part of a melody, part of a bass line, an ostinato, or independently as a soloist or to carry the main theme. It's almost impossible to pick out one track to write about as all of them have something interesting. 'Broken Trials' (tk4) has a wonderful cello melody over a riffy guitar and drums unfolding into a glorious melodic free for all which becomes a sort of suite which passes through various melodic landscapes some free, others rock! The title track 'How to Catch a Cloud' (tk5) literally hangs over you like it's title suggests, a cloud. Waves of cello, sax, guitar and drums spread out like some ominous storm that's brewing. Or the wonderfully relaxed '5463' (tk2) which opens in such an unhurried fashion, becoming a menacing cello/sax melody full of tension which opens up to give space for some fine solo work for Vincent Courtois' cello.     

Finally what I can tell you is I listened over and over to this record due to the excellent material which is highlighted by the groups fine playing. Everyone really plays with subtle precision and the group sound of cello, sax, guitar and drums really make a great texture. There's an excellent balance between solos and melody. The group doesn't go for long burn out heroic soloing, more small compliments to the piece itself, often returning unnoticed to play a melody or join a riff which has recently accompanied them.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes skillfully crafted melodies with never ending twists and turns, thoughtful ensemble work and solos that never outstay their welcome.

Buy from Instantjazz.  

© stef

Read More

Alexander Hawkins - All There, Ever Out (Babel Label, 2012) *****

Reviewed by Joe

More original music from the UK, and a very nice one too! The young generation of UK jazzers keep on producing refreshing new music that respects the previous generation and yet builds on newer concepts. Along with the Polish scene (a little more dark in concept) the UK seems to be capable of turning out music which is truly 'genre bending' and at the same time be also accessible. When I talk about 'these' groups I think of the new generations involved with the Loop Collective, F-Ire, the LIMA and several others on the UK scene. The music that is being produced seems to be happily embraced by the younger generation of jazz lovers, meaning that the contemporary music and free-improvisation scene stays healthy and vibrant.   

Alexander Hawkins' new offering, the second I think, with his ensemble consisting of Orphy Robinson (vibes/marimba), Otto Fischer (guitar), Hannah Marshall (cello), Dominic Lash (bass), and Javier Carmona (drums) is one of these wonderful such groups. A group that produces a music that is looking for new ways to play old forms, but that in no way compromises itself (not unlike that of Taylor Ho Bynum). To a certain extent it kind of reminds me of modern day Andrew Hill way of thinking and composing. The compositions are wonderful pieces full of melody with interesting rhythmic twists and turns. Solos glide in and out of the music so naturally, giving the listener a view into the music which needs no concentration. You'll find yourself magically transported into the piece as if on a magic carpet ride. Tatum Totem III (Tk 2) rattles away like a train out of control, but who cares it's such fun to listen to. Ologbo (Double Trio) (Tk 1) is a wonderful guitar piano melody that is so awkward it has to be heard and at the same time it has a naive beauty which is perfectly balanced. The use of Orphy Robinson's marimba work is a master-stroke in this context, giving the music a wonderful combination of rhythm and melody, his solo features throughout are a highlight every time. But then again so is everyone. Cellist Hannah Marshall plays some excellent lines and solos on this record. One such moment is a fantastic duet between Dominic Lash and Ms Marshall on (Tk3) 'Owl (Friendly)/A Star Explodes 10,000 Years Ago, Seen By Chinese Astronomers' ... great title, wonderful duet! In fact it's difficult to decide what to write about on this album as there's so much to look at (I mean listen to). Ahab (Tk5) is like Beefheart meets Dolphy meets Hill meets Monk, quite a combination I suggest (?), and which also gives plenty of room to Hawkins himself to stretch out over a fine bucking bronco rhythm section.

Throughout the record there is a excellent balance of improvised music, composition and even humour (I suppose) as the melodies are what could be called 'playful', all are played with energy and precision. The final track 'So Very, Know' is a stark contrast to the rest of the album with an eerie Hammond organ that finally makes way for the atmospheric guitar of Otto Fischer who gently places chords giving the piece some still movement. In fact it's not unlike standing on a beach at night looking out into the darkness at the sea wondering 'I wonder what's out there'?     

This could be one of the albums of 2012, miss it at your peril. Or if Stef was writing this ....... Highly Recommended!

© stef

Read More

Hank Roberts - Everything is Alive (Winter & Winter, 2011) ****

By Paul Acquaro

There is no argument in my mind that the Bill Frisell quartet(s) that recorded albums like "Where in the World" and "Look out for Hope" were on to something special. Mixing jazz, rock and Americana, they created a lasting and captivating blend of music, and it seems that some of the musicians who worked in these groups revisit the style in some fashion - often with Frisell's help. Kermit Driscoll's recent "Reveille" touched on it and "Everything is Alive" from cellist Hank Roberts certainly embraces it while putting its own stamp upon it.

While I have enjoyed other recent collaborations between Roberts and Frisell, such as Frisell's "Disfarmer" and "Signs of Life", I'm finding the intensity on the cellist's new album quite satisfying. Joining Roberts here is drummer Kenny Wollesen, bassist Jerome Harris and the aforementioned Frisell on guitar. Throughout the album, Roberts' compositions have intricate passages, big loping rhythms and streaks of humor mixed in with serious compositions.

The first song, "Crew Cut" is a great romp replete with a deep groove and power chords. Roberts' cello cuts through with legato melody and Frisell contributes off an energetic, dare I say, rocking solo. Following this is the pastorally spartan Cayuga, where Robert's builds up a folkish melody, full of space and longing. A few more cuts in is 'Joker's Ace', featuring a sound scape that build slowly with scattered percussion and eventually morphing into an askew hoe-down. The next tune 'Open Gate' features the back-beat loping feel, some folk-like motifs, and a devastatingly good solo from Roberts. 'Necklace' is atmospheric and delicate, with Wollesen providing accents and washes in lieu of steady rhythm.

Frisell and Robert's earlier work is simply a touchstone. Here, Roberts compositions with their masterful folklike whimsy breath and come to life and throughout, the group's interplay really shines. Frisell's guitar is both searing and sweet, Robert's colors the proceedings with well chosen dissonance, and Harris and Wollesen keep the songs moving. This album is fast becoming a frequent play on my iPod.

© stef

Read More

Okkyung Lee - Noisy Love Songs (Tzadik, 2011) ****

By Stef

Korean cellist Okkyung Lee is one of those musicians who is not only comfortable in any genre - modern jazz,  rock or classical - but in her own compositions she even goes beyond genres, not blending them, but defying them.

The musicians who accompany her on this album attest to that : Cornelius Dufallo on violin, Peter Evans on trumpet, Craig Taborn on piano, Satoshi Takeishi on percussion and electronics, and Christopher Tordini on bass. Ikue Mori and John Hollenbeck join on one track - "Steely Morning" - on electronics and percussion.

The second piece has a strong Asian feel, starting like soundtrack music for a Zhang Yimou movie, romantic and moving then shifting deep into avant sounds, with the strings fiddling coarsely in the higher regions, escaping sentimentalism.

Some pieces, such as "Kung" have a strong rhythmic base with cello, violin and bass circling around each other in a hypnotic counterpoint dance.

At the other end, you get "Steely Morning", a real avant-garde piece, with chime-like sounds forming the backbone for a weird electronic exploration, as sweet as it is bizarre.

Lee's compositional approach is one of control and abandon, of structure and exploration, more accessible than much of the music reviewed on this blog, and this despite its complexity of composition and arrangements, resulting in a world of sonic and lyrical magic. Yes, control and abandon describes it well : carefully crafted pieces, with memorable themes, yet with a kind of full emotional giving in the improvisations that says it all, full of depth and subtle inventivenss, without needing to resort to extremes.

A strong and beautiful album.


© stef

Read More

Daniel Levin - Fuhuffah (Clean Feed, 2008) ****

The cello trio in jazz is an unusual line-up. Recently Erik Friedlander released his Broken Arm Trio album with cello-bass-drums, and before him Fred Lonberg-Holm and David Eyges come to mind. Now David Levin has done the same, and quite well even. The album does not have the great atmospheric feel of his "Blurry", going for a more direct, raw approach, but assisted with two stellar band-members Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. On the album the compositions vary between real jazzy tunes, with a strong rhythmic backbone to more modern work-outs. In stark contrast with his previous albums is the nervousness, the drive, a little more tormented, or even hypnotic and eery at moments, but always rough and moving on, with the title song already setting the stage from the very beginning. The second track "Shape" is built around some odd rhythmic patterns. The traditional, "Hangman", is absolutely brilliant and dark, starting with the melodic tune played by cello and bass played with arco, and evolving into eery soundscapes. For the following tracks, I am not too sure what happens, but I loose attention. It might be that I'm tired, but it may also be that the trio reaches a limit of possibilities. But it ends well again, with "Wood", a great kind of rubbing shoulders between cello and bass, sounding like lovesick whales courting one another. And once you're fully into this weird intimacy, all hell breaks loose again, with the last track, "Wiggle", on which the trio unleashes its true jazz power by bringing a long high tempo tribute to Jimmy Lyons. The cello trio has of course its limitations. The lack of vocal power of the cello next to bass and drums makes it a hard task to keep the same drive at with a tenor leading the tracks, but nevertheless, this trio really manages to play some great stuff, even if not all the tracks are of the same high level.

Listen to
Fuhuffah
Shape

Listen and download from eMusic.

Watch a recent performance by the trio (relatively calm compared to the CD).


© stef

Read More

Erik Friedlander - Broken Arm Trio (Skipstone Records, 2008) ****

In the Broken Arm Trio Erik Friedlander on cello, Mike Sarin on drums and Trevor Dunn on bass, join forces for a nice, light-footed and warm-hearted record of unpretentious yet sophisticated and captivating music. It is jazz, at times with a few klezmer influences, but barely, with Friedlander mostly plucking his strings. He can only be heard bowing on a few exceptions such as on "Pearls" or "Ink", with especially the latter track adding some gravity and variation. This gives the whole a sense of lightness and fun, in great contrast to the melancholy sound of the bowed instrument. Most tracks are uptempo, which gives the rhythm section the chance to shine. The music is inspired by Oscar Pettiford and influenced by the small group feel of Herbie Nichols. Friedlander, Dunn and Sarin have all three already ventured into very avant-garde environments, integrating influences from modern classical music to rock and klezmer, on top of their own creativity and adventurousness, and it is actually great to hear them here in a more traditional jazz setting. The love of melody, rhythm, jazz and interplay just drips off every note. Three great musicians having fun with music. A treat!

Listen and download from eMusic.

© stef

Read More

Joan Jeanrenaud - Strange Toys (Talking House, 2008) ****

The cello is the ideal instrument for expressing melancholy and sadness, almost by its very nature of being able to play deep and low tones, while the bowing can create long almost weeping sounds, and yet still be able to sustain a full melody. Joan Jeanrenaud certainly is one of today's leading cellists. Her "Strange Toys" brings a strange cocktail of genres and adds a lot of her own creative musical vision. Jeanrenaud was for about twenty years the cellist of the Kronos Quartet, a modern classical string quartet, which was open to any style of music. On this album she takes this a step further, with her own compositions and approach, which is a little more sentimental and romantic. She uses the full emotional power of the instrument while still adding unexpected tones and combination of tones, but always with the same purity of sound. The compositions themselves range in style from repetitive Philip Glass influenced pieces (especially on "Vermont Rules") over minimalist to modern classical, avant-garde and world music, with the center piece "Transition" incorporating them all. The line-up changes with the tracks, with William Skeen and Joanna Blendult on viola da gamba, Alex Kelly on cello, and Paul Dresher on his quadrachord. On the fantastic "Dervish" she is joined by William Winant's marimba which adds wonderful rhythmic counterbalance to the singing cello, dancing together like sufi mystics. Winant plays vibes on "Livre", creating a repetitive almost lullaby pattern of crystal clear bell-like tones, over which the cello wails and weeps in agonizing beauty. At times she barely avoids the trap of falling into "new-agey" mood or soundtrack music, but in general there is sufficient power and variation in the compositions and arrangements to make this more than a worthwhile listen. And those expecting only smooth sadness, will have to look somewhere else.

The only downside of the album is the presence of PC Muñoz who recites a poem on the otherwise nice "Air & Angels" (sorry guys, I can't help it).

Listen and download from iTunes.

© stef

Read More

Daniel Levin - Blurry (Hatology, 2007) ****½

With "Blurry", the Daniel Levin Quartet brings an album of extreme aesthetic beauty, full of sadness, melancholy, and late evening slowness. The quartet consists of Levin on cello, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Matt Moran on vibes and Joe Morris on bass. As Art Lande writes in the liner notes of their previous album "Some Trees" : "... if the instruments that establish the rhythmic foundations - especially the drums - are removed, then each remaining instrument is free to vary the timing, spacing, and emphasis within its own phrasing". And that's a good description of the feel of the album - the music floats along in slow tempo, rarely with all four musicians playing together, but just rotating roles to add notes and sounds in support of the soloist of the moment. Chamber jazz, indeed. The album expands on the ideas of the previous record, and goes a step further in reducing structure and composition, giving more space to freedom of interaction and emotional expressiveness. Although the music is built around empty space and silence a lot, this is music with substance, dramatic power and musical adventure too. "Improvisation II", but especially the title track, which ends the album, lead to some raw free improvisation, full of anxiety and angst, adding a stark contrast with the intimacy of the other pieces, revealing the dark side underneath all the beauty. Highly recommended.

Listen to
Law Years
Improvisation II

Read More

Solo Cello Albums

Here are a number of my favorite cello solo albums in the free jazz, free improv, avant-garde genres. The instrument is very much not jazz at all, and there is always this classical presence, combining a cerebral approach with deep emotion. If I ever get banned to the moon, and if I'm allowed to take only ten albums with me, then Bach's Suite For Cello Solo is certainly one of them. This piece of classical music was for me a personal revelation of the absolute power of artistic beauty, leading to an unprecedented musical experience. Ever since, the cello has been one my favorite instruments. It is also a very feminine instrument, with magnificent musicians as Joan Jeanrenaud, Jane Scarpantoni, Maya Beiser and Peggy Lee, to name but a few. I will write a review on my most favorite cello contributions in jazz albums shortly.

These solo cello albums are easy to recommend :

Abdul Wadud - By Myself
Maya Beiser - Worlds To Come
Erik Friedlander - Volac
Rufus Cappadocia - Songs For Cello
Ernst Reijseger - Colla Parte
Joan Jeanrenaud - Metamorphosis
Dave Holland - Life Cycle
David Darling - Cello
Fred Lonberg-Holm - Anagram Solos
David Eyges - Wood
Tristan Honsinger - A Camel's Kiss
Tom Cora - Gumption In Limbo

Other solo cello CDs that I haven't heard (yet), but are probably worth looking for :

Fred Lonberg-Holm - Personal Scratch
Eric Longsworth - I Hear You
Hank Roberts - 22 Years from Now

Any suggestions for other solo cello CDs are most welcome.

View Maya Beiser with Worlds To Come (music and image are not synchronised)

And see the great Yo-Yo Ma with Bach's Courante from the Cello Suites : pure musical joy!

Read More