Ellen Arkbro - For Organ And Brass (Subtext, 2017) ****

By Stef

This album has been lying here for too long, and I was fascinated by the sonic architecture created by Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro, and at the same wondering whether its lack of improvisation made it fit to be reviewed on our blog. It is fully composed, but the effect of the historic organ -  specifically tuned in what experts call the "meantone temperament", present in the St Stephen's Church in Tangermünde in Northeastern Germany, and played by Johan Graden - in combination with the brass trio is nothing but amazing. The brass part is performed by a trio consisting of Elena Kakaliagou on horn, Hillary Jeffrey on trombone and Robin Haward on tuba. The effect is mesmerising and relatively unique. “Hidden within the harmonic framework of the Renaissance organ are intervals and chords that are a close resemblance to those found in the modalities of traditional blues music,” explains Arkbro. “The work can be thought of as a very slow and reduced blues music.”

The music evolves incredibly slowly indeed, with long sustained notes, repetitive and relatively simple on the surface of it, with the brass keeping the same lines at different intervals. It is neither somber nor joyous, but solemn, with an additional strange contradiction of sounding both intimate and majestic. As a listener you feel very close to what you hear, while the music is at the same time also so much grander.

A special sound that I did not want to withhold you.

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Tomasz Sikorski & Julius Eastman - Unchained (Bolt, 2014)

By Stef
When I heard the first track of this album, called "Evil Nigger", I was perplexed by its title, but even more by the music itself. The composer is Julius Eastman, an African American classical composer who passed away in 1990. It's a lenghty composition for four pianos, here performed by Emilia Sitarz, Bartek Wąsik, Joanna Duda and Mischa Kozłowski, and it's absolutely amazing for its strange combination of frivolity and darkness. It sounds light and repetitive, with phrases that move like long grass in the wind, almost dancing and joyful, only to come down again in dark rumbling chords full of dread and ill omen.

As the liner notes point out "Eastman could be called a maximalist, which is a strange type of minimalism", an interesting description but that's exactly how he sounds. The limited set of core themes and the repetitiveness are typical ingredients of minimalism, but at the same time Eastman makes it a very expansive composition, soaring almost.

The two shorter central tracks are by Polish composer Tomasz Sikorski, composed for two pianos, here played by Emilia Sitarz and Bartek Wąsik. Even if of a different nature, his style fits well with the end of "Evil Nigger" leading to a nice transition in calmer territory in which repetitive phrases are rhythmically juxtaposed, creating a strange sense of familiarity and surprise. "Diaphony For Two Pianos", the next piece, is more playful then shifts into quiet musings.

The album is book-ended on the other side by another long Eastman composition, called "Gay Guerrilla" (he clearly did not shy away from controversial titles), a piece that keeps a steady repetitive basis that changes in intensity, density, power and drama, alternating with a quiet vulnerability and sensitive responses.

In short, some of the music here is phenomenal, and a real find for someone like me who is relatively ignorant of classical music. And if you have any doubts that four grand pianos could play together in perfect interplay, doubt no longer. I will refrain from rating the album (who am I to evaluate classical music?), yet I can highly recommend it.

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Jacaszek & Kwartludium - Catalogue Des Arbres (Touch, 2014) ****½

By Stef 

Minimal jazz and minimal free improv and electro-acoustic music and modern classical at times merge into some beautiful results. This one is a true gem. It is beyond genres, and of a subtlety and fragility that is beyond words, that can, actually, only be reflected by the sounds themselves.

The 'composer' is Michał Jacaszek, who tries to sonically evoke the sound of trees : "their forms, atmosphere and mystery", and in order to do so he first recorded the actual sound of the trees, turned them into a background drone, for Kwartludium, a Polish ensemble, to improvise on. The quartet are Dagna Sadkowska on violin, Michał Górczyński on clarinet, Paweł Nowicki on percussion, and Piotr Nowicki on the piano. After the improvisation, Jacaszek rearranged the sounds into its current collage.

The end result is absolutely stunning: surprising, moving, vulnerable, solid, vibrating and incredibly dynamic, and all this with an incredibly musical vision and sense of coherence.

No more words: listen to the music

 

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Tracy Silverman and the Calder Quartet – Between the Kiss and the Chaos (Delos, 2014) ****½

By Ed Pettersen

Funded entirely by a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012 Tracy Silverman and the Calder Quartet’s new disc succeeds on many levels.  More composed than most records we see here in free jazz-ville it is nonetheless equal measures adventurous, genre-bending and fulfilling at the same time.

The first five cuts are with the quartet and the last four are Tracy alone with his six string electric violin, pedal board and looper.  The project began as an original electric violin concerto composed by Tracy scored for electric violin and orchestra and debuted with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra in January 2010.  I for one am certainly glad for the pairing between Mr. Silverman and the Calder’s so the wider world could hear this beautiful, sneaky work.

There’s plenty to love here for classical fans but the music far transcends it, especially the second half of the CD.  I’ve had the pleasure to work with Tracy on occasion and though we mine a lot of the same territory I almost forget to play sometimes and watch in wonder as he weaves his perfect musical tapestries on the spot.  A lot of guys, including myself, use loopers to varying effects but Tracy is a master and he uses it to compose spontaneously to the point you lose track what he currently playing and what he already laid down.  Genius.

The Calder Quartet, who I wasn’t previously familiar with, are precise yet passionate and I can see why they were chosen for this work.  Tracy’s electric six-string violin is perfectly complimented by the acoustic strings and the result is calming and enthralling at the same time.  The level of virtuosity here is astounding.  No mean feat blending electric with acoustic strings but the album is perfectly recorded and every part and each instrument occupies its own unique space in the mix.

The “Between the Kiss and the Chaos” concerto is designated by five famous painters; Michelangelo, Matisse, O’Keefe, Van Gogh and Picasso and it’s a delightful canvas (and the perfect length as well at approximately 30 minutes).  Tracy ends the recording with four pieces covering approximately 27 minutes by himself that boggle the mind.  Very inspired.

Whether you’re a classical fan or not I think you will find this album rewarding and after three listens I’m still finding new textures and have yet to tire of it.  It’s not hard to see why Terry Riley chose Mr. Silverman (who plays in Mr. Riley’s group) to debut his first concerto in 22 years for electric violin last year.  It was recorded in a few locations, including a radio broadcast at Carnegie Hall, and I for one can’t wait to hear it again over and over (I attended the debut at the Nashville Symphony who commissioned the Riley concerto) but in the meantime you can familiarize yourself with Tracy’s work with this excellent CD.  (the Calder Quartet was in fact introduced to “Between the Kiss and the Chaos” process by Terry Riley himself)  Highly recommended.

Check out some sound clips.

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The Necks: Open (Northern Spy, 2013) ***½

Reviewed by Joe

This, according to what I see on the Necks' website, is their 17th album, quite an achievement for a band that plays improvised music! I have to admit this is the first Necks album I've heard and the reasons I choose this out of the pile of records. I'd heard, and read, so much about this band who seem to have a very faithful fan base, something not unlike EST did before the untimely death of Esbjörn Svensson. The group's 'ethic' for those who don't know them is to make one long improvisation per set/album, not unlike the fabulous Mujician did. To define a style would be difficult, but from what I've listened to in the last few days - I've tried to hear a couple of their other records for comparison - most of the music is fairly minimalist, melodic, modal, and groove oriented. Interestingly we haven't reviewed any of their records on this site, but if you put 'Necks' into our search engine you'll find a few of the projects involving the band members - Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Bucks (drums) and Lloyd Swanton (bass). 

As with their other albums, each record has a 'feel'. As an example the well loved "Hanging Gardens" album, released back in 1999, was what fans called a logical extension to Mile Davis' "In a Silent Way", and it's true that that album has a sort of contemporary feel that one can imagine Miles would have approved of. In the case of "Open" the album starts with a quasi Indian raga/sitar like atmosphere that will define the next 40 odd minutes (the album is a little over an hour). With the use of light glistening arpeggios and gentle bass notes they cleverly manage to conjures up, via sound, a picture of a hot, dry and dusty place. When the piano leaves the drums to play percussive fills at around 11mins, the trio cleverly manage keep us 'within the atmosphere' and also give the music plenty of space.

Of course it would be possible to go through the record with a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow account of each little change, but what is more important is the overall atmosphere of the music they create. It's full of shimmering images, crescendos that build up over several minutes only to die away leaving space for another idea. The modal style gives their music a very hypnotic and powerful direction, keeping you fixed listening, wondering what is that sound, where is it coming from and how will it develop. Of course, like all good music this record is like a film, one has to listen to the whole thing to get the point.
 
What is the point? I guess that in recent years musicians have really developed the idea of music with 'space' and 'atmosphere' as prime components - Arve Henriksen, Jon Hassel, the Foton Quartet or even Skogen. On this record the Necks manage to combine all these strands 'minimalist', 'new-ageism', 'world-music', 'improvisation', 'groove', to produce atmospheric music which can be listened to on many different levels. Could it be described as exiting, and soothing?
       

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Alexander Hawkins: Song Singular (Babel Label, 2013) ****½

Reviewed by Joe

Piano solo albums are one of those mediums that reveal much about the composer, probably because there's really no place to hide! "Song Singular" is a new album out on the Babel label from the composer/pianist Alexander Hawkins made up of ten pieces. It shows off not only his very quirky, but catchy, compositions, but also what a top level pianist Hawkins is. Stylistically it's difficult to place him in any one camp but if you're familiar with the solo albums of pianists Randy Weston, Matthew Shipp, Misha Mengleberg, Craig Taborn or Myra Melford then you have an idea of the type of playing and musical direction the music takes. In particular, like Randy Weston, his use of a strong bass note rhythms, Hawkins manages to create complex melodies which even if abstract are also accesible.

There are ten titles on the record, one of them a re-worked version of "Take the A Train" (Billy Strayhorn). The music borders between a contemporary classical feel, not unlike Henri Dutilleux, and bright powerful Monk type spiky melodies built around intervalic leaps and a stumbling time feel. "Stillness from 37,000 ft" (tk4), has a bass line that sounds out of sync. With its melody gradually building up steam, the two lines,  like a conversation, vie for their own space. "Two Dormant, One Active" (tk5) starts with a curious line reminding me of of a standard. This is not surprising, a few tracks later at "Take the A Train" (tk7), you also have the same reaction of "I know this tune, but ...?" Another tune that does this is "Hope Step the Lava Flow" (tk6) which is the closest you get to a regular tune with an almost walking bass line. Maybe it's this which makes the music so interesting. Themes and ideas develop, giving you food for your ears you listen intently, following the maze of notes that unravel. "Early Then, M.A." (tk2) and "Dancing Between Points" (tk8) could be called ballads, playing with time or tempo, and could be called - could one say - rhapsodic. They both use the piano's  full range to create lush chord sounds and rippling arpeggios.
 
This album will be a delight to anyone who enjoys melodic (modern) music that has a direction. On this record you get to hear a pianist developing ideas with no holds barred, creating music and pushing boundaries at the same time.

A quick note: Alexander Hawkins (and his Ensemble) released this album in tandem with "Step Wide, Step Deep", also released on Babel this year. As yet I haven't had time to listen to the ensemble record, but I notice there are a couple of titles which pass between the two albums. We'll keep you posted here on the blog in the next weeks for an update - the album looks very promising!

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Looper - Matter (MonotypeRec, 2013) ****½

Reviewed by Joe

Ingar Zach, Martin Küchen and Nikos Veliotis make up the trio known as Looper. If I've read correctly this is their 4th album together - which includes an album in collaboration with UK pianist John Tilbury. To call this music understated would be an understatement! Being very minimal I ended up listening on headphones to make sure that I was indeed listening to the record, and not the ambient sounds around me. It is certainly a music which needs your whole attention, probaby the perfect record for very early in the morning, or last thing at night when surrounding world sound is at its lowest. 

Minimal music (*) such as this is always an interesting listen I find. The musicians create an intimate sound world that needs attention, a little like someone who speaks softly whilst explaining something, it would be interesting to hear/see how music such as this works live. The detail the three musicians put into each piece is fascinating, and also very delicate. Although it's difficult to pin-point exact instruments Ingar Zach's soft bass drum, or the fluttering of Küchen's saxophone pads clearly come through from time to time. The cello of Nikos Veliotis like his role in the drone string trio of "Mohammed" is somewhere within the sound of the ensemble, but trying to identify it may be more difficult. On "In Flamen" (tk2) I found myself comparing the sound of the trio to that echoing through the corridors and passages of the London Underground, a sort of fully realised ambient live performance. Everything is slightly blurred, yet you clearly hear all the details.  

Another very interesting point in the music is the amount of rhythmical detail the trio creates. Track three "Alignment", like "Slow" (tk1), uses very subtle - I guess - saxophone key noise to create a sort of clickerty-clack (not unlike a train track) helping the music have a sort of subliminal rhythm. The only piece on the record that is louder than a whisper is the last piece, a sort of electronic drone "Our Meal" (tk4). Here, sounding like an oscillator orchestra, you get different frequencies rubbing together to create a crescendo. We hear the sounds of overblown sax, bowed/rubbed glasses, percussion clicks, cymbal sounds and ..?.. all played and mixed into a highly charged industrial soundscape. This final piece is well placed after all the delicate sounds beforehand, releasing the listener from the previous pieces which have up until now been like listening to the delicate sound of snow falling in the night.

Highly recommended!

p.s. Released on a vinyl LP, and you can find a copy at instantjazz.com.  

*= As an example check out Another Timbre's catalogue for an excellent representation of what you can do with modern minimalism.

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Kit Downes & Tom Challenger: Wedding Music (Loop Records, 2013) *****

Reviewed by Joe

Gothic jazz arrives, and in grand style! There aren't many organ and brass/woodwind duos, not that I can think of? One record that comes to mind is the glorious "PIPEDREAM" from Keith Tippett and Mark Charig on Ogun records, another - although I haven't heard it - was Jan Garbarek and Kjell Johnsen on "Aftenland" in 1979. Here from Loop records is "Wedding Music", an apt title for music such as this played by Kit Downs (organ) and Tom Challenger (tenor sax).

From the very start the music is majestic, there's no other way to describe such a sound. "Wedding Music" is exactly that, swirling organ just like one hears coming from the local church on wedding days. Kit Downes manages to coax some extraordinary sounds from the pipes. Clicks, atonal clusters, thuds, throbbing sounds, pulsating sub-woofer noises, they're all in there. I guess a lot of the music is improvised yet the duo manage to introduce melodic content into their music whilst finding some really interesting sounds.

As the album progresses the duo move further into a world of sound that is quite unique. Although the albums starts off (quite) normally with the title track "Wedding Music", the duo start to really experiment with textures over the remaining pieces. "Shos" (tk2) has a very sinister type of melody line, here Kit Downes responds to Tom Challenger's melodic improvisations with some serious sonic blasts which make your whole room rumble! "Optics" (tk3) on the other hand starts with tiny tone clusters which hang in the air. You can really hear the atmosphere of the church (recorded in St Paul’s, Huddersfield, UK) as these delicate tones meld together with the sax sounding like a boat lost way out at sea. By the time you get to "Cooks" (tk4) you're ready for anything, and indeed what sounds like a pneumatic drill is in fact the organ! However, interestingly the duo turn this piece into an intimate sound world with the tenor sax playing some flusters of breathy sound over the gentle but dissonant chordal sound.

The last tracks really come together beautifully in an unexpected way. "Restart" (tk5) has sub-sonic chords that hang so delicately in the air forever. The sax touches at these chords like a painter just adding slight dashes of colour to a canvas, aware that one mark too many could spoil the balance totally. "Rat Catcher", the last track is full of silences that are broken by a wheezing organ, or broken bagpipes, yet the duo manage to squeeze a beautiful major chord right at the last second bringing to an end this unique album.  

A very highly recommended album.  

If you don't know Tom Challenger or Kit Downes it's worthwhile checking out some of the groups they're are involved in (although not together): [Ma], the collective group Outhouse, Troyka, The Golden Age of Steam are just a few names that I know. If you visit the individual websites you'll get to discover a very wide range of interesting musical projects.

You can find the album (only a digital download) on the Loop Collective bandcamp page.

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Christian Wallumrød Ensemble: Outstairs (ECM, 2012) ****

Reviewed by Joe

I haven't been a fan of Christian Wallumrød's music for so long, it's a recent fad that seems to have grown on me whilst listening to some live recordings I have of this band. His approach is completely original, if you listen to his other records - trios, the ensemble, solo etc - you'll notice how he's developed his style bit by bit over the years. Moreover, that is what makes it so interesting, one could say it's all the same even! It's a music that works on small details, simple ideas that develop slowly, not unlike a melodically organised version of Skogen's "Ist Gefallen in den Schnee". Interestingly Stef also saw a connection with Wallumrød's collaboration on "Dans Les Arbres", so maybe I'm not dreaming after all!

The texture of the ensemble is of utmost importance to the colour of this music. The original band had Arve Henriksen on trumpet, which may give you a clue to the music stylistically, but since a while Eivind Lønning has been in the trumpet chair. The rest of the group is Gjermund Larsen - violin, hardanger fiddle, viola. Espen Reinertsen - tenor saxophone. Tove Törngren - cello and of course the unstoppable Per Oddvar Johansen on drums and vibraphone, and for all who don't know him, Christian Wallumrød plays piano, harmonium and toy piano. You'll notice there's NO bass and this really makes the music sound somewhere between classical and a sense of world music, which is created via the harmonium and the clever use of drums, often played with the hands. The great use of bass 'movement' via the cello, or sax even gives the music a very special sound. 

"Stille Rock" starts the album like a mournful prelude to the music that follows, Wallumrød's music has that sound, but is in fact uplifting. "Bunadsbangla" is 'the hit' of the album, and believe me he can write some catchy tunes! The album, like most of his work, is best listened to as a whole. There is little space between improvisation and composition, it sounds very organised, but it works well that way. You can make out small sections of improvisation, but don't buy this if you're looking for mind stretching new approaches, it's all about control and the beauty of restraint. There are too many pieces on the album to talk about everything. "Tridili #2" is a baroque piece with saxophone playing overtones and clusters in response to the melody. "Very Slow" is a quite piece (and slow!) using tone clusters. "Folkskiss" is a beautiful ballad that reminds you of a tune you heard long ago, but where - almost Gaelic in feeling! The scrapings and scratchings of "Third Try" could be from a gore movie.

This is a fine album that hangs musically between many worlds of sound. If you love film sound tracks that create space, and if you like organised beauty, then this is certainly one for you. 

    

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Jean-Marc Foltz & Stephan Oliva - Visions Fugitives (Visions Fugitives, 2012) ****

By Stef

Serguei Prokoviev, Alban Berg, Francis Poulenc, Witold Lutoslawski and Johannes Brahms are not a jazz quintet, but classical composers who inspired the great French duo of Jean-Marc Foltz on clarinet and Stephan Oliva on piano. But they are not the only composers here. John Coltrane's "Naima" and "Lonnie's Lament" also figure among the covered pieces, as well as some of their own compositions.

The pieces were apparently all chosen for their abstract beauty, all slow and elusive, full of melancholy and fragile tension. Despite the breadth of source material, and the time-span of their compositions - more than a century apart - the thirteen tracks are all fit well within the duo's musical vision.

Boundaries of genres are transgressed, or rendered futile, yet the tone and the technique are entirely classical. There are no extended techniques, no iconoclast excursions into today's world of distress. It all floats, beautifully, respectfully and if there is intensity, it is it because jazz expressivity enters somehow, by stretching tones, and leaving more space by changing the classical pieces' original tempo, or by actual improvisations as in the two variations on Alban Berg.

The album comes with a 30-page booklet with drawings of trees by French painter Emmanuel Guibert. You can watch them too in the video below.

Great music for quiet and introspective moments.

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Maya Homburger & Barry Guy - Tales Of Enchantment (Intakt, 2012)

By Stef  

Often in improvised music, rawness and muddiness and even some roughness and extended techniques are essential to the music. Sounds have to collide in order to form something new. On the other end of the spectrum you have classical music, with its incredible attention to the purity and accuracy of the sound.

Nobody but British bassist Barry Guy has been able to combine both in his music. The technical precision of Barry Guy on his five-string double bass (possibly only equalled by Miroslav Vitous) and of his partner in life, baroque violinist Maya Homburger, enable to unify both ends of the spectrum like few others can.

They've played together on a variety of albums, some of which were reviewed earlier on this blog. Like on other albums (Aglais, Inachis, Dakryon, Star), the compositions are either classical or by Barry Guy himself, and by doing so offer an interesting image of pure music, in which genres are no longer of importance, making the overall emphasis on feeling and esthetic even stronger.

The album starts with "Veni Creator Spiritus", a 9th Century hymn, followed by Guy's eight part "Hommage to Max Bill", a Swiss artist and designer, then follow some Biber compositions, the Swiss composer and violinist whose work is among Homburger's favorites, and she has played his oeuvre on many occasions. The central piece is by the Hungarian contemporary composer György Kurtág, around which the album's structure is mirrored.

Guy's compositions add a strong contemporary feeling to the music, full of distress, suspense, danger and anger, aspects that are often lacking in classical music, and that complete the more detached abstract compositions by Biber.

Like with their previous albums, you wonder at the absolute beauty of the playing while at the same time you can be surprised by the boundary-breaking approach in Guy's compositions-improvisations, but also by his introduction of - somewhat iconoclastic - improvised moments in the classical pieces. I'm sure classical purists will call this a disgrace and jazz and modern music afficionados will call this approach conservative, but the truth is : this is a truly great and cohesive album, regardless.

Absolutely impressive and pretty unique. In my opinion one of the best albums of the year. And even if the duo has done this before, they've clearly outperformed themselves on "Tales Of Enchantment", and the title couldn't be more precise.


Watch them play Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Rosenkranz Sonata on the video below. It is not from the album but it gives a good idea what the music is all about.


© stef

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Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012) *****

By Stef     

Regular readers know that it is extremely difficult for me not to give a five-star rating to Wadada Leo Smith, as I did with six of his previous albums. And even if I think this is one of the albums that you should buy this year, and even if I think that few musicians have spent as much time, and effort in an album as Wadada Leo Smith did with this one, I hesitated a long time to give it a five-star rating.

The trumpeter's project is ambitious : a four disc box of composed and improvised music, evoking the history of the civil rights movement in the United States, by juxtaposing a classical chamber string ensemble with his own Golden Quartet, consisting of Anthony Davis on piano, Susie Ibarra and Pheeroan akLaff on drums, John Lindberg on bass, and Smith of course on trumpet. The Southwest Chamber Music ensemble is conducted by Jeff von der Schmidt and consists of Alison Bjorkedal on harp, Jim Foschia on clarinet, Lorenz Gamma on violin, Peter Jacobson on cello, Larry Kaplan on flute, Jan Karlin on viola, Tom Peters on bass, Lynn Vartan on percussion,  Shalini Vijayan on violin.

Whether solo or in duos or quartets or bigger ensembles or bands, Wadada Leo Smith always goes for maximum intensity, with incredible commitment to musical quality, sense of direction and in-the-moment focus. The same is true of this album. Despite its length, it's hard not to remain captivated as a listener. Some moments  are outright spectacular and unique, less in the separate quartet or ensemble pieces, but when they mix or clash or move as one.

If anything, Smith moves his usual commitment even further, creating four CDs with an incredible sense of drama and tragedy and dark romanticism. There is absolutely no moment of relief for the listener in the ensemble compositions, as there is with the jazz pieces, who often move into a lighter, sometimes even lightly funky mode. That being said, Smith moves his "classical" composition into areas unheard of in the genre, adding the level of harsh distress that gives a unique quality to the sound, as on the finale of "Medgar Evers", when piano and drums literally overpower the string ensemble.

Or take the example of "Emmett Till" on the first disc, on which the entire central part of the composition consists of long stretched and eery cello tones, leading the ensemble into a complex arrangement only to clash full force with the jazz band, as if the sweet waters of a massive river collide with the upcoming salty surf from the sea, mixing and moving forward with waves shooting in all directions, full of turbulence and mayhem.

The trumpeter himself is less present than on most of his other albums. Sure, his playing is still decisive for the overall sound, yet if you calculate his playing time on the entire album, my estimate would be around fifteen percent, but as on "The DC Wall" his few muted sounds at the end of the sad and slow quintet piece say it all in terms of mood and effect.

We get some known tracks from "America" with a drum solo by akLaff. Other pieces, like the bass-line on "Thurgood Marshall" sound familiar, yet I did not want to start looking in his full discography to find the similarities.

Maybe my lack of interest in third stream music influences my decision not to give this album a five star rating. Would I listen to the string ensemble if this was not a Wadada Leo Smith album? Probably not. Would I enjoy the classical parts if they were carved out from this album? Possibly, yet not sure. But they are part of the album, they are an integral part of the overall sound and story and structure.

But I must be crazy. Listening again to some pieces after having written the above, and especially the twenty-minute long finale, the great tribute called "Martin Luther King, Jr", with its dark string tones and somewhat hopeful clarinet, the slow build-up and magnificent pacing driving the ensemble sadness into a paroxysmal clash with the quintet, at the same time sad, yet full of force to pick up the pieces and change the intimate chamber sound into the expansive energy of the jazz quintet, I can only go back and reconsider my evaluation.

It is by all means an exceptional album. Smith's grand work, the thing that's been in the making for many years, a cry for America, a cry for freedom and emancipation, for education and expression and representation, using the struggle of African Americans, but representing the struggle of all oppressed peoples at all times anywhere, a cry for what went wrong and still goes wrong, full of heartrending moments of sadness, of distress and powerlessness, and of rising above oneself, standing up and moving the unchangeable.

It is also an intelligent and complex album, with the two worlds of classical and jazz merging yet remaining separate, clashing yet making the same music, emphasised by the identical solos by cello and trumpet, like two individuals coming from two separate worlds expressing the same feelings. Both genres are here in their own right, the classical is classical, and the jazz is jazz and not like in so many albums, with the strings providing a backdrop for jazz musicians who want to be taken seriously. 

Smith manages to make it all come across : the politics, the social distress, the psychology of individuals who conquered their own fear and did what they thought was right, but rather than being an outright ode and tribute to these exceptional people, Smith brings them to life, makes it all real again, makes it felt again, including the internal conflict and turmoil, avoiding black and white contrasts, .... and all this through music.

One of the most memorable albums you will hear in years, if not decades. In the shallowness and mediocrity and superficial junk that surrounds us, it is a wonderful moment of relief to hear something so deep and significant.


The people whose freedom struggles are remembered are :

Dred Scott
Malik Al Shabazz
Emmett Till
Thurgood Marshall
Rosa Parks
Freedom Riders
Medgar Evers
The Little Rock Nine
Fannie Lou Hamer
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Buy from Instantjazz.  

 © stef

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Aaron Novik - Secret of Secrets (Tzadik, 2012) ****½

By Paul 

It's about half way into the first song 'Secrets of Creation (khoisdl)' on Aaron Novik's Secret of Secrets and after a long classically influenced passage, the strings have interlocked with the keyboards in a dark and moving groove that makes me feel like I'm discovering an unknown chamber in my soul. The sounds takes on an earthy hue and I can feel my heart being pulled from my corporeal being as the strings draw the song up to a tight finish.        

Now prepared, I embrace the powerful entrance to 'The Divine World (terkish)'. The persistent and powerful rock like intro is a multi- layered affair with a klezmer melody atop a weighty rhythm played by the strings. The guitar contributes a swirling line over the dark and churning tempest below, until the strings soon help usher in the next movement and lighten the whole affair with a folk tinged melody.

Throughout the recording, rhythms, countermelody, and complex harmonic movements that reveal great attention to detail and thoughtful construction. While Novik's compositional approach has yielded  lucrative results, his talented cast of musicians really help bring these compositions to life. Novik plays electric clarinet and his group is Matthias Bossi on drums, Cornelius Boots playing the utterly fantastic robot bass clarinet, Carla Kihlstedt on electric violin, Willie Winant on percussion like the timpani, vibraphone, glockenspiel, gong, and tubular bells and Fred Frith on guitar. He also features Bay Area guests Ben Goldberg on contra-alto clarinet, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass and Aaron Kierbel on dumbek. The Real Vocal String Quartet and Mafia Brass help round out the contributers.  

Besides the strong musicianship and intriguing song development, there is a third element to the album, which is its inspiration. The album is built around mysticism and reference to 12th century Kabbalistic writings (for a more in depth explanation I refer you to Eyal Hareuveni's excellent review). Suffice to say, I am simply listening to this dark and stirring album as just that, a dark, stirring and electrically charged album, though I'm sure an understanding of its roots and inspiration could shine in some light while deepening other shadows.    

A fantastic work that draws on elements of classical, jazz, rock and electronics to great effect. Certainly worth checking out!

Check out an excerpt here:

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Maya Homburger & Barry Guy - Star (Ergodos, 2011)

By Stef 

Classical violinist Maya Homburger and her husband jazz bassist Barry Guy are always a treat, whether performing their own music, pieces from the classical repertoire, or like on this EP, music composed specifically for them.

The album contains three meditative compositions by  Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, Garrett Sholdice and Simon O’Connor. Both musicians play arco throughout, with an uncanny precision and resonance.

Fans familiar with the the couple's other albums will be surprised : usually they like contrasts, between the classical and the avant-garde, between harmony and dissonance, between calm and intensity.

Nothing of the sort on this EP, which gives you the exact atmosphere as the art work on the cover : the rising of the sun, the world is calm, still quiet, live begins ... without any dissonance, without any disturbance, but equally without form yet, fragile and light. Nothing more than a promise, but a beautiful one, full of purity and hope. Life begins.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

© stef

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Giacinto Scelsi - Vincent Royer, Séverine Ballon – The Viola Works (Mode, 2011) ****½

By Stef

For those who think that improvisation, extended techniques and tonal explorations belong to the realm of avant-garde jazz, I can recommend a close listen to this fantastic album of modern classical music, composed by Giacinto Scelsi and performed by Vincent Royer on viola and Séverine Ballon on cello. I review classical music rarely, and when I do, I seem to have a preference for string duos, as with the equally recommendable "Manto and Madrigals" by Zehetmair and Killius.

This album is quite unique in the sense that it is the first recording of the complete works for viola and cello. It consists of five pieces, ranging from the experimental "Manto", in which Royer even sings, to the more restrained and austere "Coelanth". "Elegia per Ty", dedicated to his former wife, is the most gripping piece, with cello and viola playing in a tender embrace, full of sadness and controlled tension.

There are no themes so to speak of, just soundscapes, composed with an incredible sense of minute development and sense for effect, and performed with an uncanny precision. The end result is incredibly mesmerising and compelling.

Fantastic music. Listen to the excerpt below and judge for yourselves.







© stef

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Thomas Zehetmair & Ruth Killius - Manto and Madrigals (ECM, 2011) ****

By Stef

I rarely review classical music, not because I don't like it, but because I know nothing about it, apart from Bach and some Mozart.

I review this album, because it is absolutely fascinating. A duo performance by husband and wife Thomas Zehetmair on violin and Ruth Killius on viola and voice on one track.

As can be expected, the music is composed, with pieces by Bohuslav Martinů - the “Madrigals” - and by Giancinto Scelsi - “Manto”. Other composers include Bartók, Holliger, Skalkottas, Rainer Killius, Johannes Nied and Peter Maxwell Davies.

Yet, the Holliger and Scelsi pieces almost sound like modern improvisation, with lots of mesmerising, hypnotic interweaving of multiple layers of sound, lyrical without being melodic, with Killius singing a kind of tribal chant on "Manto 3". The harmonic complexity is dazzling, as on the intense "Danse Dense", as is the playing, virtuosic and sounding adventurous, in the sense that you expect this absolutely pure sound from classical violinists, but like in jazz, raw emotions result from timbral adventures, creating drones and screeching sounds played on several strings.

The fourty-four seconds of the Bartók piece stand at the center of the album, and creates a shift towards more recognizable structures and harmonics of classical music, even if the Skalkottas compositions are modern, abstract and intense, somewhat aggressive even at moments. With Peter Maxwell Davies the music becomes playful, with folk music elements integrated, and continues in the same vein with the Martinů compositions.

It is all incredibly virtuosic, and that guarantees quality throughout the album, yet the choices of the composers gives the album a little too wide of an emotional and stylistic span. But the first part of the album is guaranteed to be a delight for avant-garde fans of whatever musical genre.



© stef

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Philip Glass - Songs And Poems (Orange Mountain, 2008) ***** & **

Many years ago I switched on the radio and I heard this repetitive violin sequence, which just kept repeating and repeating itself, with once in a while a little change: it was both hypnotic and ununderstandable. I was hesitating whether it was a stuck record that the radio channel did not notice, but that could not be it, because of those changes. I listened to the whole twenty minute piece, totally mesmerized. It was Philip Glass's "Einstein On The Beach", a wonderful record, a unique listening experience. One of the things that truly get me is what madness, what unbelievable concentration it must require from the musicians to play these lengthy pieces with so little variation. In the meantime, Glass became more famous than any other current classical composer, maybe next to Michael Nyman, because they both write film scores.

Now there is this "Songs And Poems", written for solo cello, and one not to be missed. Unlike many other Glass compositions, the music is hardly repetitive. There are repetitions of course, but then more Bach-like, as musical patterns to play with and explore. As can expected from pieces for this instrument, there is some melancholy to be heard, some dark feelings even, in the middle part and towards the end, but the overall trend is classical in its severe structural approach, its finesse and refinement. Wendy Sutter, also a cellist in "Bang On A Can", is absolutely fabulous on this album: precise, sensitive, and with a great sense of pace. Sutter plays on her "ex vatican stradivarius" from 1620, a unique instrument with a deep and very warm sound.

So far so good, then comes the cold shower: the last four tracks are no longer solo, but pieces from "Naqoyqatsi" that were not used in the movie, on which Sutter is accompanied by David Cossin on percussion and by Glass on piano. Those pieces create a bizarre musical conflict with the rest of the album. They are totally different in style and approach, more romantic, less austere, less dramatic.

I find it mind-boggling that labels can be so stupid and irrespectful, to musicians, but especially to listeners, to break the coherence of such a wonderful album. Nothing wrong with the last four tracks by themselves, but the context is totally wrong. It's like adding some unused Beatles '62 tracks to Sergeant Pepper's just because there was some space left at the end of the album! Who cares if the album is just thirty minutes long? As long as it's good! It drove me up the wall when I heard those additional tracks. And truth be told, I find the terribly kitschy artwork on the album cover as repulsive, and again in total contradiction with the quality of the music. But that should not deter you from buying this album. Do like me: re-record it and delete the last four tracks. You will be holding a true gem in your hands.

Listen and download (the first 7 tracks) from iTunes.


© stef

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Giacinto Scelsi - The Works For Double Bass (Mode, 2008) ****½

Italian classical composer Giacinto Scelsi (or "a horizontal line beneath a circle"), who died 20 years ago, was one of the pioneers who moved Western music into microtonal environments, exploring the nature of sound itself and pitch. One of his ideas was to bring to life the "whole universes that exist within these sounds". For the first time his works for double bass have been compiled into one album, giving the music an even more direct focus than usually. On some of the tracks only one note is played by the bass, but then in a huge variety of approaches, with different attacks, requiring the musician to use lots of extended techniques, making the single note sound different each time. And it is not boring. Yet I must admit that when the cello joins on "Dharana", the variation felt welcome in my ears, despite the fact that they stick to the one tone approach, but adding more layers, creating a richer texture with the two instruments bowing along. The work is played by Robert Black, bassist of the "Bang On A Can All-Stars", and assisted on cello by Felix Fan on one piece, on bass by John Eckhart on three tracks (my favorites), and by June Han on harp and Tom Kolor on tam-tam on one track. Bizarrely enough, on one track Black starts "vocalizing" too, short almost shouts which hold the middle between orgasm and torture. This is one of those pieces of music which is beyond categorization. In its detailed notation and programmatic approach it certainly is classical music, but the boundary-shifting thinking, the unconventional sounds and the room for improvisation, together with the plucking of the bass, surely makes it avant-garde, but will certainly also please modern jazz afficionados. The last track, "Mantram" is the most melodic, with references to Indian classical music. The overall effect is stunning though, with lots of emotional power, ranging from joy to gloomy atmospheric pieces, with lots of hauntingly mesmerizing passages.

© stef

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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

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Maya Homburger - plays J.S. Bach and Barry Guy (Maya, 2008) *****

I grew up with Bach (dad) and Louis Armstrong (mom). Classical music and jazz, and especially free jazz, are more related than some people would want to accept. Often the string players or string ensembles are the first to agree with this, for obvious reasons. Especially violinists and cellists. Once in while a pianist too, but it's often an either/or situation. Jarrett played both, so did Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, but neither of them integrated jazz and classical, they kept their output as separate releases. But that's not what I mean. Classical music, and especially baroque music and free jazz are really close relations : the music has an unadultered purity, a directness combined with instrumental virtuosity, musical wealth (anything goes), and emotional strength. The only difference that the first is fully composed and the other fully improvised (and even one and the other are not entirely true). "Bang On A Can" already moved in that direction, but what Maya Homburger does here, is really strong. Yes, she plays Bach, but how, reverent, but different than the original, without hesitating to slow down the process, to bring a really idiosyncratic performance. She starts with Bach violin sonatas, then moves into the lengthy middle part, Barry Guy's Aglais, then ends with Bach's partitas for solo violin.

A risky endeavour. But the result is brilliant.

I know it's not jazz. Nevertheless, it's brilliant.

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