Guillermo Gregorio & Brandon Lopez - 12 Episodes (Relative Pitch, 2019) ****

By Keith Prosk

Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet) and Brandon Lopez (contrabass) play freely across twelve tracks lasting 39 minutes on 12 Episodes. I love duos because each player is given ample time and space to really display their personality and still engage in player to player communication. The duo is a rare and welcome format for these two; I believe this is Lopez’ first recorded duo and Gregorio has only recorded the format with Paul Giallorenzo on Multiverse and Ran Blake on Something To Live For. The duo do well for themselves and I hope it’s the first of many meetings, especially considering Gregorio’s penchant for developing lasting relationships with physical, violent strings (e.g. Fred Lonberg-Holm and Kent Kessler) and Lopez’ penchant for playing such strings.

The 12 tracks are structured in such a way that the first two thirds of the recording last as long as the last third, with the earlier vignettes having only enough time to explore one thread though they navigate few thematic changes in the longer tracks too. Despite the tracks’ structural monotony, each one is timbrally rich. Gregorio cuts up mellifluous lines with overblown distorted tones, circularly breathes furiously flurried flights, and utilizes key clicks, air notes, tongue clicks, and perhaps some light voicing. Lopez switches up his typical, physical arco by tapping the strings with the bow, sawing below the bridge, tapping and rubbing the body, preparing the bass by threading something through the strings, plucking the strings so hard they buzz against the neck, rubbing the strings so hard the flayed sound is almost like a chair creaking (think Raging Bull), and splaying out bowed tones’ chroma like a prism disperses a ray of light. And though there aren’t many thematic changes to listen to each other for, the communication between the two is present and prompt, with each player matching the cadences and complimenting the textures of the other.

Beyond the somewhat limiting structure of the takes, my only criticism is that Lopez tends to resort to a walking - or rather lumbering - bassline when Gregorio falls back to more mellifluous playing, and I think some syncopation or unequal time would have complimented Gregorio’s more subtle angles a bit better. However, this is a rich, colorful study from two masters that’s just as much fun as Gregorio’s legendary Hathut run or Lopez’ recent exceptional work, including this year’s Old Smoke with Steve Baczkowski and Chris Corsano (also on Relative Pitch).

12 Episodes is a CD-only release.

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Isabelle Cirla et Joël Trolonge - Le Retour Du Coelacanthe (Linoleum - 2013) ****

By Stef 


This album has been in my "draft" box for a while. I listened to it a lot. It is a great album. Isabelle Cirla on bass clarinet. Joël Trolonge on bass. I hesitated to review it, because it clearly is not free jazz, nor free music or even avant-garde. Yet it is relatively unique, with composed pieces and some improvisation. Is it even jazz? 

There is a lot to admire here. The quality of the compositions. The quality of the playing. The sensitivity.The precision. The depth. The purity. The atmosphere. The low sounds of bass clarinet and double bass. Yet it all sounds light and accessible. Welcoming back the ancient fish to this world. In a way, this music is also timeless.

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Reeds and basses

By Stef  

A couple of months ago, I planned to make a review of the various reeds-bass duets that were produced this year, with Pedro Sousa & Harnano Faustino's "Falaise" (already reviewed) and with Sean Conly & Michael Attias "Think Shadow" (still to come). So I waited for more, and possibly this is it, just a handful of albums with a line-up that I really like. If you like the format, as I do, the following albums are not to be missed.

 Frode Gjerstad & Nick Stephens - Different Times (Loose Torque, 2012) ***½

The great thing about duos is the intimacy of the interaction, two musicians focused on each other's movements, thoughts and concepts, catching and anticipating, just to integrate, develop and then amplify. One of the critical elements is the sound quality : it is chamber music in a way and as a listener you should get the feeling that the musicians are playing in your living room.

Which is certainly the case here. What they don't do, is playing wall-paper music, or offering you the warm comfort of a burning hearth fire. They do the opposite. They are in your living room, and they offer you some burning fire, yet it's not of the comfort-offering kind.

Gjerstad's clarinet phrases are mostly short, almost like dots on a canvas, or like bird calls, full of abstract frenzy and wild commotion, yet combining this with the natural lyricism we know him from.

Nick Stephens' bass sound as it should sound, deep, warm, with every string plucked releasing notes that are  enveloped in a woolen warmth. The calm delivery, the love of timbre and single notes, the cautious touching of sounds, it is all here, as you hope to expect from a duo performance. Stephens picks up his bow at various moments, but the magic comes with the last track, when suddenly notes are lengthened, both on bass and on clarinet.


Remi Àlvarez & Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - First Duet Live (JaZt Tapes, 2012) ***

The approach of the Mexican tenor saxophonist and the Norwegian bass-player is different. First, the sound quality is not optimal, with both instruments being recorded from a distance. In contrast to Gjerstad's pointillism, Àlvarez is a lyrical player, stretching and lengthening his phrases, while at the same time not afraid to go into violent outbursts of strong expressivity. The pieces are lengthy, offering both players the time to develop and expand. Álvarez is a real emotional and soulful player, offering his heart on a plate for everybody to see and hear, despite the abstract level of the improvisations. Håker Flaten is his usual good self, used as he is to play in this kind of limited setting, as he did before with artists such as Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Håkon Kornstadt. Håker Flaten also played with Frode Gjerstad on numerous occasions and is part of his Circulacione Totale Orchestra.

The interaction is good, so is the performance and the live aspect of the recording too, but the sound quality could have been better.

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Ned Rothenberg

It's already hard to keep up with all new releases, but if musicians now also start releasing several albums a year, in various genres and all worthwhile to review, there is little choice left but to combine them, but also to rejoice because of so much good music.

Ned Rothenberg needs no further introduction: a fantastic clarinet-player and composer, open to any genre and style, and proficient in many, he uses this broad background to treat us to some special records.

Ned Rothenberg - Quintet For Clarinet & Strings (Tzadik, 2010) ****

Quintet For Clarinet & Strings is almost modern classical music, not only because of the strings, but primarily because of Rothenberg's abstract and intense compositions, often dissonant, varying between long repetitive phrases, lots of counterpoint or more open textured. You get it all. All through the compositions, you get the rare event of a clarinet which is used with all the possible tonal expressivity of a jazz instrument, adding tremendous power to the more traditionally played strings.

The Mivos quartet consists of Olivia De Prato and Joshua Modney on violin, Isabel Castellvi on cello, Victor Lowrie on viola.

The nice thing about the compositions are the variety of moods and influences, ranging from romanticism over jazz to more cinematic parts. Rothenberg gives the quartet also ample possibilities to add their own ideas and leaves them plenty of room to play the long pieces. On some, like "Setting Stones", his own contribution on clarinet is minimal. The last track "Finale" is pretty intense, but the best piece is the opening track, with its long and eery central moment when Rothenberg let his clarinet soar, first in circular breathing over light touches by the strings, then adding a wailing quality to his playing.

It will require some open ears, but it is a treat.

Listen and download from iTunes.

Ned Rothenberg - Ryu Nashi/No School - New Music For Shakuhachi (Tzadik, 2010) ****½

As a young man, I was a great fan of Tony Scott"s "Music For Zen Meditation" of which I mysteriously own two copies. I never listened to it for meditation purposes, but I liked the purity of the sound and the absolute calm the music expressed, linked to a emotional element that can be qualified as deep compassion with everything. Buddhism, in a nutshell.

That is the memory that comes back to me now, when listening to Ned Rothenberg playing his shakuhashi. The Japanese flute is actually quite expressive, offering a wide range of tones, and allowing to bend timbre while playing, flexing or bending tones, resulting often in a kind of plaintive fragile cry.

He plays several solo pieces ("Emergent Vessel" and "Shadow Detail") and there are some duets, yet with Rothenberg ceding his position to either Riley Lee or Ralph Samuelson, on shakuhachi, and with Stephanie Griffin on viola, Yoko Hiraoka on jiuta shamisen and voice. 

The long "Dan No Tabe", with Stepahnie Griffin on viola is to me the highlight of the album, because of the almost perfect match between both instruments, and its incredibly slow and carefully mastered sense of pace.



It all sounds very Japanese, with no clear indication that jazz or other genres are involved, but as Rothenberg explains, these are all his own improvisations and compositions in the Japanese style, but without following any specific rules that are ususally at the foundation of the music. The music is a "little westernized", but it will be impossible for the casual listener to notice this. 

Absolutely impressive and beautiful.

Listen and download from iTunes.

Ned Rothenberg and Vladimir Volkov - Live in Dom - Duo Music for Nicolai Dmitriev (DOM Records, 2010) ****

But because this is a jazz blog, you get your jazz too. On this album, Rothenberg plays alto, clarinet, bass clarinet and shakuhachi, and Russian bassist Vladimir Volkov joins him for ten improvisations that are absolutely fantastic. Abstract in nature, often with high intervallic jumps, but the two musicians correspond quite well, with faster than light reactions and joint build-up of a piece's character.

But it is jazz, without a doubt : the phrases, the rhythms, the expressivity, the joy, the fun, and the direct appreciation you get as a listener from sometimes complex interactions. Volkov plays more arco than you would expect, and the effect of that on the music is great, because it brings both instruments to the same level of sonic and lyrical expressivity.

It shows a totally different side of Rothenberg,with moments of fun, madness, deep sorrow, and wild explorations, with less restraint and composure than on the albums reviewed above, yet an environment that fits him equally well.

Again, great stuff.

© stef

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Rawfishboys - Pianoworks/Pianoworksn't (Spocus, 2010) ****

The somewhat enigmatic title of the album can be explained: of the fourteen tracks four come from the piano song book by well-established jazz pianists, such as Thelonious Monk and Enrico Pieranunzi, and the rest are improvisations by this two very gifted young musicians that expand on it : Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet and Brice Soniano on bass.

So, no piano, just clarinet and bass, in wonderful duets that resonate with the melancholy and sadness of the original pieces,without strict adherence to melody and harmonics.

The end results is fabulous : it has the intimacy of chamber music, with both musicians transforming the undescribable warmth of their wooden instruments' into to the color of their tones, even in the free improvised parts. It is calm and lyrical and welcoming, usually slow ... but luckily with a great tasts for adventure, taking the overall sound into areas that are new, with gut-wrenching bowing on bass and hypnotic dark sounds coming out of the bass clarinet, or Badenhorst's unvoiced blowing at times that is more percussive than melodic.

But interestingly enough, the two musicians are called back from their wild excursions by the four composed pieces, which they play full of reverence and admiration for the original piano material, sounding astonishingly beautiful in the traditional sense of aesthetics, lightly dancing, warm and sad. The variation, the contrast between old and new, but also the similarities between them, the transposition of similar moods into different contexts, are what make this album really great. And of course the musicianship. Recommended.

© stef

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