Abdul Moimême: Sound Sculpter / Sonic Architect

Abdul Moiméme. Photo (c) Nuno Martins

 
Introduction 

By Paul Acquaro

This past summer, late July to be more precise, I had a partial chance encounter with guitarist/sound sculpture Abdul Moimême outside of the Jazz Messengers record shop in Lisbon. I say 'partial' because we had been in touch about his latest recordings and had made loose plans to meet up during the Jazz em Agosto festival. This turned out to be one of several impromptu meet-ups we had during the week, the rest at an outdoor cafe after the evening concerts.

Going back a bit further, my first encounter with Moimême, and his music, was at Jazz em Agosto in 2019. He performed in a hall with a set up where the audience was seated over the performer, a bit like a lecture hall, a bit like a surgical theater. I remember being intrigued and a bit confused. Going back to the sentences I wrote about the performance:

It's a microscopic moment blown up into a 45-minute expose, where all the vibrations, magnetization, and charge of a strummed chord on an electric guitar is turned inside out as the audience follows the note through the wires and out the speakers. Or, rather, as a fellow I spoke with after the show described, "it's like we are ants in a universe of sound."

On the landing outside the record shop, amongst the fantastic open steel staircases and exposed gangways, on the second level of a bookshop inside an old industrial building in Lisbon's LX Factory, we spoke about the record that Moimême had just picked-up. If I recall correctly is was Joe Pass' For Django - a must hear for any guitarist, any musician, or really, anybody. I suspected the was already quite well aware of the album, but such a treasure on 180 gram vinyl cannot be easily passed up. I likely recalled a story about when a friend and I 'snuck' to a jazz bar (we weren't yet 21) in New Jersey and saw Joe Pass play shortly before he passed away, and then about a guitar I built when I was in high school, an electric that looked good but whose intonation was a bit um … crude. I called it the "More or Less Paul." The conversation shifted to Moimême's art as he described how he had also built his instruments, the guitars that he lays flat on the table and he uses to perform and record. 

Photo (c) Nuno Martins

The conversation slowly turned into a plan, but as it often goes with a plan, it was interrupted by a few things unplanned, however now, finally, in the budding moments of 2023, here it is. Over the past two days, Stuart Broomer and I reviewed two of Moimême's recent works, Ciel-Cristal and Livro das Grutas and what follows here is an account written by Moimême about his life, influences and music. He takes quite a wide view, looking at traditions of music from both historical and personal perspectives. This is followed by an annotated discography, with comments from both Moimême and me.

***

Abdul on Abdul

By Abdul Moimême

Early years:

I was born in the heart of Lisbon, but at the age of 3 my family moved to New Mexico. At age 5 we moved to Dublin, where I began school, studying the English language alongside Irish. At age 9 my family moved to Madrid where I completed English secondary school, during the turbulent years that elapsed between the Portuguese ‘Carnation Revolution’ and the conclusion of Spain’s drawn-out and agitated transition into Democracy. Though we lived in Madrid, my holidays were spent in Portugal, which implied living in two totally contrasting worlds; the repressive governance of the latter-day Franco regime and, contrastingly, the euphoric and unbridled freedom of the early Portuguese revolutionary process, which culminated in our current Democratic regime.

Transition:

During the days of the ancien régime, music was both a means of resistance, as well as a way of attaining a modest degree of freedom. I believe the title of the Jazz em Agosto festival, in its 2019 edition, Resistance, somewhat echoes the spirit of that time. After all, the code that unleashed the ‘Carnation Revolution’ and the demise of the Portuguese dictatorship was basically a protest song, played on the radio; Grandola Vila Morena, to which Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra paid a beautiful tribute. This to say that, for me, very early on, music and especially improved music, became an existential and aesthetic necessity of the utmost urgency.

Movida:

Alongside both of these major political and social changes came an ample exposure to live jazz, as both countries began to frequently promote concerts and festivals. For me, some of the highlights in those years were (literally) sitting beside Bill Evan’s piano, during his stellar performance at Madrid’s Balboa Jazz Club, as well as listening to the Jazz Messengers playing totally acoustic, as the minute size of the same club so permitted. This was in the Madrid of the early Pedro Almodovar’s films and La Movida Madrileña, the counterculture movement that was to rock the very foundations of Spain’s intrinsically reactionary society.

During this period, I moved to Boston for a year, to begin college; living in Lexington, with a group of jazz musicians, which included pianist Bruce Torff. Though at the time I wasn’t actively playing music, I was exposed to the prolific scene there, topped off with the odd trip to New York’s jazz and rock clubs.

In 1983, after two decades of living abroad, I made Lisbon my permanent residence, where I concluded my degree; living for a short period in the Azores islands, where I began my career as a professional architect.

Musical background:

My itinerant life inevitably had an impact on my interest and approach to music. The necessity of adapting to regularly changing environments, as well as being exposed to different cultures, not only broadened my tastes as it also directed me toward improvisation, as if it were an inevitability of my own fate. Though many genres of music were played in my house, essentially, I discovered jazz and contemporary ‘classical’ music on my own.

I started learning the guitar at the age of 11, with a private teacher; later studying with her brother, Raul, a proficient flamenco and rock guitarist. With him I studied both genres. At the time flamenco was evolving from its traditional form, incorporating rock and other styles of music into its lexicon. Around that period, Paco de Lucia released his album Fuente y Caudal, which incorporated electric bass; the very same year Santana brought his Welcome album tour to Madrid’s Monumental Theatre. I was a young adolescent and very impressed by the latter’s band. By then, I had already worn out the grooves of Caravanserai and Axis: Bold as Love. In those formative years such LP releases as George Benson’s Body Talk, Jim Hall’s Jim Hall, Live!, Anthony Braxton Five Pieces, Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life and Miles Davis’ Aragtha were soon to suffer the same fortune.

As far as influences are concerned I am wary of acknowledging any, merely because it implies assuming the responsibility of a legacy; something I refuse to invoke light-heartedly. Besides, one tends to idealize one’s own work beyond realistic proportions. Contrarily, I acknowledge that the musicians with whom I have played have influenced me greatly.

Essentially, I consider myself a ‘street musician’.

Approach:

The reason I became aware of the electric guitar as a very distinct instrument, as compared to the Spanish guitar, was the moment I discovered notes could be prolonged indefinitely by positioning the guitar in a certain spatial relationship to the amplifier. I’m talking about the kind of sustain Carlos Santana used to achieve simply with guitar and amp, with no added electronic effects. It took me a long time to realize how that simple physical phenomenon could open so many doors and help me sculpt my particular sound. Amplification became much more than an accessory of the guitar; it became an integral part of the instrument, modulating the vibration of the guitar’s strings in an array of possible forms.

It took me many years to really begin to fully explore these possibilities, something which has become an ongoing work in progress. It has come to the point where I have a metallic bar that attaches the guitar stand to the speaker. Laying the guitar horizontally also allowed me to use gravity as a technical resource, permitting me to constantly shift approaches and discover new techniques; though technique is only but a means to an end. For me, the most interesting musicians are those capable of subjugating their skills to the critical reflection of what makes a sound meaningful.

Only recently have I begun to incorporate electronics. Previously I only relied on straightforward amplification. Though it sounded like electronic music the only electronics involved were various stages of pre-amplification and amplification; the bulk of my sound palette relying solely on objects and the way I ‘prepare’ the guitar with them.

Although I acquired my first electric guitar when I was 16, a 1973 Fender Stratocaster which I still have, in the same year I decided to build another solid body guitar with a humbucking pickup, from scratch, starting with a raw block of mahogany. At the time, guitar parts were not on sale in Portugal, so my father had to bring them from the US. I ended up installing an early super distortion pickup and for the truss rod a solid brass bar, embedded into the neck with epoxy glue did the trick. The guitar has a beautiful tone and I use it more often than not. Recently, I designed and built a slightly more sophisticated instrument, a lap steel with a 27, 5 in. scale. Both these instruments constitute what I consider as one single instrument, as I frequently play them in tandem. 

Photo (c) Nuno Martins

Saxophone:

In the early nineties I started taking saxophone lessons with Patrick Brennan. For the greater part of the decade I focused solely on the tenor; at the time I was also playing with an indie rock band called Hipnotica, with whom I recorded 2 CDs, also doubling on flute and the clarinet.

2007 was a year of significant change for me, as I abandoned the tenor and returned to the electric guitar, beginning to explore the possibilities of playing two guitars simultaneously. That change is documented in the Variable Geometry Orchestra’s CD, Stills (cs100). My first solo CD, Nekhephthu, followed in 2008, with the two guitar combination; at which point I also began playing solo concerts.

Lisbon Scene:

Returning to Lisbon had a huge impact on my listening and playing; especially due to the music scene that started to emerge from the early 2000s onwards. Through Ernesto Rodrigues’ Variable Geometry Orchestra and his smaller format groups, in which I participated, such as Suspensão, IKB, String Theory and the isotope Ensemble, I encountered a fertile environment for experimentation. As Lisbon became a hub for jazz and free improvisation, I was also fortunate to play with many visiting artists, something that clearly impacted both my listening as well as my playing.

The advent of a new generation of extremely well equipped and creative Portuguese improvisers has been a most welcomed occurrence.

Ongoing projects:

Currently, apart from playing in the various aforementioned ensembles led by Ernesto Rodrigues, some of the ongoing projects in which I’m involved include:

• A duo with Wade Matthews (digital synthesis);
• A duo with Patrick Brennan (alto saxophone)
• A duo with Lionel Marchetti (analogue synthesizer)
• Dissection Room trio with Albert Cirera (soprano & tenor sax), Alvaro Rosso (double bass);
• A trio with Maria do Mar (violin), Sofia Borges (percussion);
• Transition Zone trio with Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Carlos Santos (analogue synthesis)
• MJAJA a quintet with Mariana Dionisio (vocals), João Almeida (trumpet), Alvaro Rosso (double bass), João Valinho (percussion)
• A duo with performer Lorena Izquierdo

***

Selected Discography

By Abdul Moimême and Paul Acquaro

In this section, Abdul Moimême reflects on select moments in his discography with additional commentary by Paul Acquaro. 

Complaintes De Marée Basse / with Diatribes (Insub,  2010)

Abdul Moimême: In March 2009 the Swiss duo, Diatribes, including electronics musician D'Incise and percussionist Cyril Bondi and I played our first trio performance at the Clean Feed Record store; playing at the Mapping Festival, in Geneva, the following year. In 2011 we tour in Portugal and southern Europe, culminating in a concert with the Insub Meta Orchestra, in Strasbourg. Complaintes De Marée Basse is a product of that collaboration. We later recorded a second CD, Queixas, touring in Switzerland in 2013.

Paul Acquaro: Drums, laptop, percussion large and small, prepared guitars (of course!) and as the CD notes say "metallic objects" - just the ingredients should give you a sense of the final product. From this inventory, you know that the the trio will begin building something with a lot of scraping, clattering and clanging and that the sonic structure the construct will be something never before seen heard. Each track is like a new floor, another layer of creativity, a new arrangement of tones. Track two, 'Crustaćes,' becomes beguiling as the tempo increases and the sounds merge, while track five, 'Entre Les Haut-Fonds,' is the audio commentary for a tour through the HVAC system, leading to track 6 'Pavillon Noir,' where it all comes tensely together.

- - -

 Khettahu / with Ricardo Guerreiro (Creative Sources, 2011)

AM: At the time, as part of his approach, electronics musician Ricardo Guerreiro was especially interested in processing other people’s sound, using this as the foundation of his playing. We worked for a year, improvising together regularly, culminating in Khettahu, a live studio recording of improvised pieces.

PA: Real-time re-processing is fascinating. Taking something that in some ways is familiar and turning it into something new and unexpected can yield exciting results. Here we are invited deep into the visceral percussive and vibrating world that Moiméme builds with his two guitars and whatever he has prepared them with. By the middle of track two (#34), it feels like we are outside, blown by wind, sheets of metal clanging around us, and the middle tracks (#29.1, 29.2 and 29.3) are a trek through a barren land of blustery snow and bare tree branches.

- - -

Fabula / with Axel Dörner, Ernesto Rodrigues, Ricardo Guerreiro (Creative Sources, 2012)

AM: As a follow-up to Khettahu, Ricardo and I invited German trumpeter and composer Axel Dörner to play and record with us. Violinist Ernesto Rodrigues joined the trio in this concert, recorded in central Portugal, on a freezing night in the winter of 2011. Stuart Broomer kindly wrote the brilliant liner notes. The piece was an improvisation and the quartet was playing together for the very first time.

PA: Adding the Dörner and Rodrigues to the collaboration between Moiméme and Guerreiro amps up the "unfamiliar" in many ways. Dörner's own foray into the sonic unknown with his trumpet and electronics can already be a riveting experience. With Rodrigues' viola, the undulating audio-landscape is filled with flashes of something identifiable, yet still out of reach. At times, certainly in the later third of the recording, the sounds become almost subconscious, leaving more of a feeling of something being there than a distinct memory of exactly what it was.

- - - 

Mekhaanu / Solo (Insub,  2013)

AM: Mekhaanu is my second solo CD and, as in all my solo works thus far, it was totally improvised, as I like to approach studio session similarly to live performances. In other words, using the solo context as a laboratory for experimentation. D’Incise, who had recently created his net label INSUB was amply impressed by the rough mix as to volunteer to concoct the final mix and master and release it on his label. It’s one of their first releases.

PA:  Moiméme's liner notes are particular interesting, as he draws contrasts between mechanisms and digitization. For the most part, Moiméme's work is "analog," in terms that he manipulates the sounds that naturally come from his prepared guitars and the waves between them and his amplifiers. In his notes, he writes"our daily lives are also permeated by mechanical sounds," and if we pay attention, we will hear "a territory where wild mechanisms live unbridled by any human restraint." So, what we hear in this solo recording is the unprocessed guitars and endless variation of sound generation - and for what it is worth, the sounds of a plucked string stands out of the drones, oscillations, overtones, and all out audio assaults. 

- - -

Rumor / with Marco Scarassatti, Eduardo Chagas, Gloria Damijan (Creative Sources, 2015)

AM: Rumor was the result of our meeting at the MIA improvisation festival, held yearly in Atoughia da Baleia, Portugal. Marco Scrassatti is a specialist on Walter Smetak, the Swiss composer and instrument inventor, as well as being an improviser and composer himself, also teaching music at the University in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Gloria Damijan is an Austrian pianist and Eduardo Chagas a Lisbon based trombonist and improviser. Marco builds all his instruments and, at the time, Gloria frequently improviser with an assortment of small objects and the inside of a toy piano. This project was also a consequence of an invitation, the previous year, to a committee of Portuguese musicians, by the UFMG University (Minas Gerais), to play in Brazil.

PA: The opening moments of Rumor instantly have a different feel than the other recordings so far visited. There is the possibility of a melody, of some sort of musical structure, that seems to pervade 'Improvisation I,' then about half-way through, Chagas' trombone can be heard, pushing through the  layers of sound. It's a ghost though, submerging back into the restrained collective drone. Then, there is chiming tone, it too fade away, but each time noticeably suggestive. 'Improvisation II' continues with restraint and the feeling that something is lurking, about to happen. About two-thirds through there is a peak of energy that trails off to a exploratory exchange of sounds.

- - -

Exosphere - live at the Pantheon / Solo (Creative Sources, 2017)

AM: Exosphere results from an invitation by the ‘Escuta Profunda’ festival, curated by João Silva, to play in Lisbon’s pantheon, where amongst the cenotaphs of various prestigious Portuguese historical figures is buried the seminal singer Amália Rodrigues. The building is also the culminating piece of Portuguese Baroque architecture.

The concert was totally improvised as I had no preconceived idea, at all, of what might be played.

Once again, Stuart Broomer wrote the wonderful liner notes.

PA: Broomer's notes contain all of the important points needed to navigate this 'music.' He discusses the physicality of the sounds, the metallic scrapings, the sonic spaces and the vastness of the landscapes. There is a point where he writes, "there is a sense in which Moiméme's guitar music is at once epic and abstract, physical and metaphysical, the reimagined instrument itself become projectile ... but both its launching mechanism and target are here subject to inquiry..." This incomplete quote sums up for me the haunting and emphemeral (but also so very real and tangible) sounds that Moiméme conjures from his instruments. Eyal Hareuveni also wrote about this work on the Free Jazz Blog here.

- - -

Lisbon: 10 Sound Portraits / with Wade Matthews (Creative Sources, 2017)

AM: I believe my liner notes for this work are self-explanatory.

PA:  Again, I could hardly offer a better overview of this music than Stuart Broomer does in his article about the making of the source materials of this recording. In my articles about Jazz em Agosto over the past few years, I have indulged myself in writing about my wanderings around Lisbon, a city that really must experienced by foot - as dangerous as that can get on some of those tight, twisting streets. In addition to the sights, there are the sounds, sounds of the waterfront, the aqueduct, the scrape of a historic street trolly as it climbs the hills of the city, and much more. On this album, Moiméme has worked with Wade Matthews to record the sounds of the city - one whose sounds themselves are changing. The resulting recording is a pairing of Moiméme's sound sculptures with the field recordings, intertwining and becoming their own tone poems.

- - -

Dissection Room / with Albert Cirera, Alvaro Rosso (Creative Sources, 2018)

AM: Dissection Room, as the trio is called (formerly AAA) was formed in 2015 and has since then played regularly. Catalan saxophonist Albert Cirera apart from his outstanding solo work and various formations, has worked regularly with pianist Agustí Fernandez. Uruguayan double bass player currently lives in Lisbon, playing with some of the most relevant Portuguese improvisation groups, including ensembles with violinist Carlos Zingaro.

PA: One long track, over 53 minutes in total, begins with some blurted notes from saxophonist Albert Cirera. Moiméme's distinct metallic clangs and warping strings are discernible. We are still waiting to hear from Alvaro Rosso's double bass ... and there it is, a low droning below the droplets of sound. A few minutes and this long standing trio's individual contributions are congealing into a cohesive, lightly abrasive blanket of tone. Around 10 minutes in the bass is hopping about a bit, while Moiméme is adding reverberating augmentation. Again around the 18 minute mark the interplay, especially between Cirera and Rosso is alight - though still firmly rooted in the atonal sound-world. The intensity ebbs and flows, but the tension is always present, until the recording's minimalist ending. Of the recordings so far in this list, Dissection Room seems to be the most musically varied. Eyal Hareuveni also reviewed Dissection Room here.

- - -

Terraphonia / with patrick brennan* (Creative Sources, 2018)

AM: My association with Patrick dates back to the early 1990 when I was his student and played percussion in one of the piece of his landmark CD Which Way What. Which Way What was important for Patrick as it consolidated his career as composer and bandleader but also because it was, I believe, Acacio Salero’s debut as jazz drummer, an outstanding Portuguese percussionist who has since disappeared from the local scene.

In Terraphonia patrick and I establish a continuous dialogues, where the rhythmic and melodic lines of the alto are constantly interwoven with the rhythmic and textural material of the electric guitars (played in tandem). 

PA: For this one, I'm going to quote myself from my original review here on the Free Jazz Blog: "This is hard to define music, but even when the harshest tones are at play, the duo presents them with care and precision. Brennan compliments Moimême's sudden tonal attacks with quickly formed ideas, while Moimême fills the silences that the saxophonist's leave with unexpected sounds. The track 'gotabrilhar' stands out, the short track, mid-album, features a buzzing-bee sax and a darkly lit landscape painted by a droning and moaning guitar."

*spelled in lower case at the musicians request

- - -

Aura / with Ernesto Rodrigues, Nuno Torres (Creative Sources, 2019)

AM: Aura is another trio improvised concert with two musician with whom I play regularly in Lisbon, in the various ensembles led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues.

PA: This short recording (31:28 minutes in total) is sort of an exercise in self-restraint. The three musicians, Ernesto Rodriques on viola, Nuno Torres on also saxophone, and, of course, Moiméme, blend their respective intruments seamlessly. All of the small sounds, long tones, crunchy textures, whistling tones that make up the bulk of the exploratory concert set reach a knotty crescendo in the final moment of the recording.

- - -

Transition Zone / with Fred Lonberg-Holm, Carlos Santos(Creative Sources, 2019)

AM: Carlos Santos (analogue and digital synthesis) and I have an ongoing duo project where we invite or are invited to play with a third musician. Wade Matthews (digital synthesis), Wilfrido Terrazas (flute), Emidio Buchinho (guitar), Mariana Dionisio (voice) and José Bruno Parrinha (clarinets) have all been our partners.

Here we invited cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm to join forces with us. This improvised studio session was the very first time we played together as a trio. Since then we frequently play together when Fred is in town.

Rather than a traditional liner note, Stuart Broomer’s text functions as a conceptual extension of the music. 

PA: Quite true, the liner notes are a tone poem themselves. Playing with the sound of the words as they transition from the cardboard sleeve to the readers/listeners mind, and playing with the very words on the cardboard themselves, the notes should be read to the beat-less music with their own cadence. The music - well sound - pulsates with energy. With Fred-Lonberg-Holm providing eviserating, electroncally enhanced cello work, couple with Carlos Santos' synthesizer, Moiméme is in electric company here.  The opening 'Whirr' begins without reservation, buzzing, zapping, clattering from the count of ... whatever. Follow up 'Hush' begins with searing legato notes from the cello and vibrations from the prepared guitars. Crackles of electronic sound emanate from (likely) the synthesizer. As the track continues, sounds stretch like Silly-Putty being stretched to its breaking point. The wealth of sounds and their imaginative application abound on fascinating this recording.

- - -

Ciel-Cristal / with Lionel Marchetti (Sonoscopi, 2022)

 

AM: When Wade Matthews and I played in duo, in the COPLEXA festival (2017), organized by the Sonoscopia Association, I was extremely impressed by Lionel’s duo with Xavier Garcia. Providentially, Sonoscopia invited Lionel and myself to do a residency at their premises, culminating in a concert at Porto’s planetarium. 

See Stuart Broomer's review of Ciel-Cristal here.

 

 

 - - -

Livro das Grutas / with Wilfrido Terrazas, Mariana Carvalho (Creative Sources, 2022)

AM: My association with Wilfrido dates back to 2016, when we played together at the Spanish Cervantes institute in Lisbon. Since then Wilfrido has returned on regular visits and consequently he proposed a studio session, to which we invited the upcoming Brazilian pianist, Mariana Carvalho, now residing in Berlin. 

See my review of Livro das Grutas here.

Read More

Dominic Lash - an Artist Deep Dive

By Lee Rice Epstein

Dominic Lash is an exceptional creative musician, performing under his own name, in groups with Evan Parker and Joe Morris, and as a member of the Set Ensemble and the Convergence Quartet. In 2015, Lash started released short albums of creative music on Bandcamp with members of the Set Ensemble and other creative improvisers. Here’s a roundup of a few of those albums.

Dominic Lash, Michael Maierhof & Birgit Ulher - Hamburg Meeting (Self, 2015) ****

The album and track titles give you everything you need to know about this improvised session with Dominic Lash (bass), Michael Maierhof (cello), and Birgit Ulher (trumpet). One day, in Hamburg, the three assembled for an improvised session. It’s an exciting and challenging moment, luckily captured for our benefit. Much of the challenge comes from keeping track of the sounds recorded, where they’re coming from, who could be playing them, and how the sounds are being made. The whole album is an exercise in extended techniques. Ulher and Maierhof were both new to me here, but now I’ve surely got to hear more of their work. Ulher is the standout, if there can be one, if only because she takes the trumpet to some exciting, new places. “First Meeting Part 1” opens the album with Maierhof high and quiet on cello, Ulher lightly sputtering, and Lash accenting. It isn’t long before all three begin trading notes, gathering silence that will soon disappear completely. On “First Meeting Part 2,” Ulher plays muted staccato and clattering trumpet valves. Later, in the opening of “First Meeting Part 3,” Lash or Maierhof bows tightly against muted strings while Ulher seems to blow air plainly through the trumpet before her first full, rumbling note appears about a minute later. Gradually, a storm of sound pulls itself together, then dissipates into a Lash solo. With calmly sustained notes, backed by various noise effects and clacking, Lash nearly captures something concrete from the ephemerality of this meeting, for approximately 2 seconds. At the midpoint, the mics capture someone let out a cough. Then, Ulher’s trumpet returns to the fore, and the group patiently moves on.

Dominic Lash - Riesenfalter (Bandcamp, 2015) ****

Track two combined from two live performances, one at ABC No-Rio in New York (5th May 2011) and the other in Cambridge, England (24th February 2012); recorded and mixed by Dominic Lash

This interesting, at times thrilling, album features Lash in a duo with fellow Set Ensemble member David Stent. Doubling on guitar and electronics, Lash also contributes double bass and clarinet. The opener and closer, “The Ballad of Mavis Palmer” and “The Sound of Other Rooms,” were recorded in a single session. Both are fascinating duo improvisations. The soundscapes are tense without seeming rushed. Stent is a remarkable guitarist, capable of wringing some delicate, Bailey-esque sounds. An album of songs like these would be fine enough, but the middle track “Two Continents” is taken up with a half-hour of live improvisation that was somehow combined from two different live performances. The first was in New York, May 2011, and the second was Cambridge in February 2012. I honestly don’t know how the two were cut together, but the mixing was done by Lash himself and the resultant track is well worth the admittedly budget-friendly cost of the album. There’s no real seasonal or geographic fixed point in the improvisation, but the freeness of the duo, especially around 8 minutes in, with Stent on guitar and Lash on bass, feels distinct and personal. Having heard Stent in the larger Set Ensemble, this was my first time hearing him in a small group, and his connection to Lash is strong. They’re on some similar kind of wavelength, for sure, and it’s one I’m happy to dip into. Around the halfway point, there’s a sustained fugue of feedback and distortion, which builds for several minutes to another guitar/bass duet, with Lash walking and Stent clutching riffs from midair. The two settle into an extended sequence, absent electronics, that is definitely one of the best collective improvisations from all four albums.

Dominic Lash - For Four (Bandcamp, 2015) ***½ 

Kate Lash, flute; Stefan Thut, cello; Tim Parkinson, piano; Dominic Lash, objects

Another entry in the growing category of improvised musicians breathing life into silence. Thoughtful, creative, sensitive, these compositions provide some respite from the clashing noise of life. The group here is Kate Lash on flute, Stefan Thut on cello, Tim Parkinson on piano, and Dominic Lash on objects. This is the kind of subtle, meditative piece I would love to see performed live, in part to learn what “objects” means in a performance. One thing I dislike about digital music is the absence of things like liner notes and musician credits. This is why I’m pleased about the rise of Bandcamp, which, unlike iTunes, provides a lot of space for musicians to post notes and details about their recordings that provide some important context for listening to the music. For Four is a perfect case in point. On record, this is a lovely composition, filled with the kind of Feldman-esque spacious minimalism you hear in Tyshawn Sorey’s work. But, back to those notes. There are some interesting details in the notes on Bandcamp, particularly “recorded during 2013 by Dominic Lash (except Stefan Thut recorded by Stefan Thut) edited, assembled, mixed and mastered by Dominic Lash.” So, how to take this information and approach the recording in a new way? There are still so many questions, such as, Was Thut at the recording or listening to the original recording? What does it mean the recording was assembled? Even, how rigidly composed is a piece like “For Four”? There are dozens of questions worth asking that may reveal additional nuances to the piece. But ultimately, that’s a curious itch for my brain to scratch. For, replaying the album, I’m plunged again into a simmering ambience that carries me through from start to finish, calming my mind, acting as a bulwark against the surrounding chaos.

Dominic Lash - Four Compositions, 2011-2015 (Spoonhunt, 2015) ***½

This set features members of the Set Ensemble in recorded and live settings. The opening and closing tracks, “Two Simultaneous Solos” and “One Simultaneous Duo,” have Lash in a duo with Stefan Thut. “Two Simultaneous Solos” is an extremely quiet duet, at the most plaintive edges of both instruments, with calm, patient bowing sporadically dropping into a mostly silent background. This album is probably where my lack of familiarity with the Wandelweiser Group leaves me at a disadvantage. But I found “Preferential Uptake” and “Notes, Paper and Time” to be much more engaging than the duets, with “Notes, Paper and Time” a wholly captivating listening experience. Once the metronomes are set in motion, the quartet moves in unison through blocks of sound. Over time, the metronomes move out of sync, and the blocks become longer, turning into wide, flat bricks, the sound becoming heavy and dense. By minute 10, everyone’s playing a distinct line, creating tension in mounting an organic juxtaposition against the ticking metronomes. The whole is truly captivating, and I’m excited to hear more from Lash and the Set Ensemble.

Read More

50 Years of AACM: 2005-2015

This is the last installment of the AACM retrospective - a highly subjective, entirely personal, and completely non-representative list of albums plucked from our own collections to represent what the recordings of the AACM and it's musicians have meant to us as enthusiasts of the music. Today, the years between 2005 to 2015.

Note: a big thank you everyone who made this happen, it takes a collective! Thanks to Stef and Matthew for the inspiration to celebrate the occasion of the AACM's 50th anniversary, and to Colin and Martin, who gave us a great (re)introduction to The AACM (thanks for letting me tag along - PA).

By Colin Green, Martin Schray, Matthew Grigg, Paul Acquaro, Stef Gijssels

Fred Anderson - Blue Winter (Eremite, 2005)

Fred Anderson was one of the key figures in free jazz in Chicago for the past decades and a founding member of AACM. Many albums by him can be recommended, yet this one is quite exceptional, not only because of Anderson's playing, but also because of the phenomenal and very inspired rhythm section of William Parker on bass and Hamid Drake on drums. The "lone prophet of the prairie" as Anderson was called demonstrates his great narrative skills on tenor for a full two disc set, for a little less than two hours of music - for just four tracks. Anderson can just keep going, with his strong rhythmic and fluid phrasing, his wonderful tone and great sense of melodic inventiveness and focus. And then this in the company of Parker and Drake : this is sheer magic! And all three musicians have as much fun as the listeners. (SG)

Frequency - Frequency (Thrill Jockey, 2006)

Given the increasing disparate nature of the AACM, that Frequency is comprised of an all member band five decades in speaks volumes for the Association's continued importance and contribution. Moving through soulful grooves to heated free blowing, Edward Wilkerson, Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead and Avreeayl Ra all double on a variety of instruments which ensures a rich sonic palette, and inevitably gives rise to Art Ensemble comparisons. However, at their most cohesive they present a meditative and spiritual approach not dissimilar in intent to the early 70's work of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. (MG)

George E Lewis - Sequel (for Lester Bowie) (Intakt, 2006)

An early exponent of computer music and electronics, particularly as pertaining to 'creative music', here Lewis leads an electro-acoustic octet through one lengthy composed piece and three shorter improvisations. The multinational ensemble comprised of Guillermo E. Brown, Ulrich Muller, Siegfried Rossert, Miya Masaoka, Kaffe Matthews, DJ Mutamassik and Jeff Parker realise the former brilliantly, an intricately woven tapestry of kaleidoscopic sounds, expertly dovetailed, delivered with a poise deserving of the composition's beauty. The following freely improvised pieces demonstrate just how simpatico the ensemble are without a compositional framework to guide them, time and again finding cohesion within the most oblique sound strategies. (MG)

Roscoe Mitchell - Composition/Improvisation Nos 1, 2 & 3 (ECM, 2007)

In a career full of what are now regarded as 'classic recordings' and 'master works', the majesty of Roscoe Mitchell's later output is in danger of being overlooked as commentators (rightly) heap praise on earlier recordings. Here with his Transatlantic Art Ensemble, on paper and in practice, a 14 piece improvising dream team of Evan Parker, Anders Svanoe, John Rangecroft, Neil Metcalfe, Corey Wilkes, Nils Bultmann, Philipp Wachsmann, Marcio Mattos, Craig Taborn, Jaribu Shahid, Barry Guy, Tani Tabbal and Paul Lytton, Mitchell's scored improvisations yield a recording full of deep beauty and rich harmonic complexity which numbers amongst the finest examples of genuine 'third stream' music, an approach central to the AACM's early aesthetic. Ranging from chamber like solemnity, through deftly swung passages, what could so easily become crowded is full of space and poise, tension and silence, a recording that bares all the hallmarks of Mitchell's approach as far back as Sound, and is richly deserving of the same reverence. (MG)

Matana Roberts - Chicago Project (Central Control International, 2007)

Roberts' current Coin Coin project is such a significant body of work it may almost certainly eclipse fine recordings she has released by smaller group aggregations, notably on the two LPs issued with trio Sicks And Stones, and here - a quartet date with Jeff Parker, Joshua Abrams and Frank Rosaly. Joined by Fred Anderson on 3 of the 9 tracks (all of which are spiralling horn duets), the Chicago Project bristles from the off with beautiful lines, smart interplay and energetic group investigation. Chicago's musical heritage is referenced throughout in the thematic material, marked by repeated stylistic and musical shifts which serve to both reference the city's lineage, and demonstrate the breadth of scope of Roberts' creative drive.  (MG)

Mike Reed's People, Places, Things - About Us (482 Music, 2009)

The second installment of People, Places Things finds the quartet of Reed, Greg Ward, Tim Haldeman and Jason Roebke joined by David Boykin, Jeb Bishop and Jeff Parker on one track apiece, each musician contributing compositions to the recording. Knowingly backward looking (the project was devised to shine light on critically under-appreciated inspirations of Reed's from late '50's Chicago), whilst the recording is clearly in thrall to the past it is never in deference to the limitations of established conventions, and continually seeks to expand on the potential of past ideas. Bop(s), of all kinds, are re-imagined with lessons learn after the fact, resulting in something both grounded in the past yet thoroughly modern, the kind of smart thinking record that Jazz at Lincoln Centre could easily produce we they not beholden to the restrictive yoke of past greatness. (MG)

Douglas R. Ewart  & Inventions- Velvet Fire (Aarawak, 2010)

Dedicated to (Baba) Fred Anderson, much like its dedicatee, first generation AACM member Ewart is sadly under documented on recordings. Captured live at the Velvet Lounge, what Velvet Fire lacks in fidelity is more than compensated by the joyous and effervescent performance. A star studded/AACM member filled line-up of Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson, LeRoy Wallace McMillan, Wadada Leo Smith, Jeff Parker, Mankwe Ndosi, Duriel Harris, Dee Alexander, Tatsu Aoki, Darius Savage, Dushun Mosley, Vincent Davis and Hamid Drake move through a diverse range of material, vocal numbers punctuating blues, insistent driving hard-bop and more experimental full band investigations, the latter providing the album's high points. Depending on personal taste this could be something of a mixed bag, but it is never less than solid - at times excellent and enlightening snapshot of the AACM at 45. (MG)

Nicole Mitchell - Awakening (Delmark Records, 2011)

The AACM's first female president, Mitchell is first rate in every setting but on this quartet date the instrumental balance allows her flute the space often denied it in more congested groupings. Leading an all AACM band featuring Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead and Avreeayl Ra, they move seamlessly from harmonically galvanized group work, through the musical margins into wispy fragments of sound, with a consummate ease demonstrative of top rate musicians with a deep faith and understanding of one another. Melodic sophistication and textural detail permeate a recording of robust group invention and daring, sophisticated fragility.  (MG)

Chicago Trio - Velvet Songs - To Baba Fred Anderson (RogueArt, 2011)

The Chicago Trio is Ernest Dawkins on sax, Harrison Bankhead on bass and cello, and Hamid Drake on drums and frame drum. The double CD presents a live gig performed a year before Fred Anderson passed away, yet even then, the performance was already a tribute to him. Both Bankhead and Drake played a lot with the legendary Chicagoan and owner of the Velvet Lounge, and although Dawkins and Anderson also performed together, to my knowledge none of that is available on record.

In any event, this album is really excellent: a deep dive into jazz history by one of the best sax trios you can find, with Drake offering all kinds of rhythmic playfulness, ranging from a funky "When The Saints Go Marchin' In" with Dawkins on two saxes, reggae on "Jah Music", to weird modern work-outs on "Galaxies Beyond". As I told Drake once, his playing sounds like dancing in paradise, and that's also the case on this album. Bankhead is phenomenal too, also on cello on what is possibly the best track of the album, the long "Moi Trè Gran Garçon". The precision of his tone, including bowed, is fantastic, as are his improvisations.

Dawkins is an ensemble man, and it must be said that he give the trio lots of space, yet he is also a great front man, very lyrical and melodic, also in his improvisations, with jazz and blues traditions never far away, yet sufficiently free in his approach to make this album an easy one to recommend for readers of this blog, moving listeners from joy to sadness to spirituality to world empathy and back. The kind of free jazz Baba Fred Anderson would have enjoyed. A great tribute to a great musician. (SG)

Matana Roberts: COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres / COIN COIN Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile / COIN COIN Chapter Three: River Run Thee (Constellation, 2011 - 2015)

Although the AACM members have always released very good albums it seemed that the organization has more recently lost some of its musical and socio-cultural importance (especially compared to the 1960s and 70s). And then Matana Roberts started her Coin Coin project and put the AACM back in the spotlight again! Coin Coin was announced as a conceptual project in twelve chapters, including notation and free improvisation, historical storytelling, theatrical elements, Roberts’ grandfather’s poetry, field recordings and samples with which she would explore African-American history, culture and life as well as family history during the last 300 years. (The series’ protagonist is Marie Thérèse Metoyer – also known as Coin Coin – a freed slave, doctor, planter and business woman.) The first three chapters range from music for up to 15 musicians (Chapter 1), to a quintet plus opera singer (Chapter 2) and a solo recording (Chapter 3). Coin Coin is an ambitious, almost monstrous endeavor that could have failed terribly – but the results so far belong to the most interesting and exciting jazz albums of the last ten years. (MS)

Read More

50 Years of AACM: 1995-2004

The AACM retrospective week continues today with our highly subjective, entirely personal, and completely non-representative list of albums plucked from our own collections to represent what the recordings of the AACM and it's musicians have meant to us as enthusiasts of the music. Today, we present the years between 1995 and 2004.

By Colin Green, Martin Schray, Matthew Grigg, Paul Acquaro, Stef Gijssels

Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble -- Chicago Now - Thirty Years Of Great Black Music Vols.1 & 2 (Silkheart , 1995)

Ernest Dawkins was a neighbour of Anthony Braxton as a youth and remembers hearing him practise. Having survived that, perhaps unsurprisingly he first took up bass and drums before eventually deciding on the saxophone in 1973. He studied with members of the AACM, and replaced Ed Wilkerson in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (Papa’s Bounce (CIMP, 1998) is toe-tappingly good).

In 1979 Dawkins formed his own New Horizons Ensemble which played extensively for a number of years, and it shows. This pair of albums celebrated thirty years of the AACM back in 1995, but since good music doesn’t date they deserve a place in this half-century batch of reviews.

As one would expect, there are some infectious rhythms but with plenty of fluid playing on top, In true AACM style however, Dawkins refuses to be pigeon-holed. There are three improvisations – of which Improvisation #3 is the longest, and best – and Flowers for the Soul contains a coruscating free jazz solo from Dawkins, accompanied by Jeff Parker’s spiky guitar.

The highlights however, are two tributes. Dream for Rahsaan (presumably, Roland Kirk) a languorous tune – beautifully voiced by the Ensemble -- with crafted solos from Ameen Muhammad on trumpet, Dawkins and Parker Any doubt about the subject of Many Favors is removed by the bass introduction and an occasional Art Ensemble feel, including hand bells and whistles. Again, a theme of aching beauty treated with sensitivity by the whole Ensemble.

To hear more of Dawkins in a free jazz vein, there’s no better way to spend a couple of hours than soaking up the Chicago Trio’s Velvet Songs to Baba Fred Anderson (Rogueart, 2011) (CG)

Fred Anderson, Marilyn Crispell, Hamid Drake – Destiny (Okka Disk, 1996)

Anderson played on some early AACM albums, but due to other commitments recordings didn’t appear until the late 1970s, and then relatively few until the last twenty years or so of his life. There are even fewer recordings of him with a piano. In this performance, the established duo of Anderson (tenor saxophone) and Drake (drums, percussion) joined Marilyn Crispell (piano) – on her request – at the Women of New Music Festival held in Chicago in 1994.

Anderson believed strongly in preserving a tradition, keeping a musical culture alive, and regarded his music as an extension of Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker, the saxophonists of his youth and “the AACM of their time”. It can be heard in the warmth of his tone and the supremely articulate nature of his playing – free jazz, not random. He had a repertoire of short tunes – he thought of them more as phrases – which tended to form the basis of his improvisations and in this performance, one of his most memorable provides the theme on which each of the Destiny variations is based: sprightly and tender by turns. We get Crispell’s familiar staccato clusters and darting runs in Destiny 1, but Anderson brings out the melodic invention that’s always characterised her playing. Destiny 3 is pure ballad, and in Destiny 5 we reach the emotional core of the performance when the theme takes on a Coltrane-esque grandeur, with Anderson’s tenor suspended over Crispell’s tremolos. Time stands still. After rapturous applause, he shows he can deconstruct a tune along with the best.

Drake as always, ensures that everything flows as smoothly as possible, a standout moment being his tabla accompaniment when Crispell reaches inside the piano. The only downside is that the piano’s seen better days.

If you like Fred and a piano, also try the first CD of Muhal Richard Abrams’ SoundAspects (Pi Recordings, 2011): two co-founders of the AACM spurring each other on to ever greater heights. It’s inspirational. (CG)

Lester Bowie Brass Fantasy The Odyssey of Funk & Popular Music (Atlantic, 1999)

I recall buying this one when I was on a brass band kick back in the late 90s. At the time I knew nothing about Lester Bowie or the AACM but I did know about the Spice Girls and when I heard Bowie's formidable arrangement of '2 becomes 1' on WBGO, I think I nearly cried. Just how, I thought, has he found the song that I just heard in that sliver of processed cheese? So, I went to the local record store (yes, the good ol' days) and picked up the CD and proceeded to really enjoy the rest of it as well - from the smokey  'Birth of the Blues' to the percussive menace of Marilyn Manson's 'Beautiful People'. Aside from some of the period production, two tracks with dated sounding rap, and those occasional bar chimes, it's still a bright spot in my collection. Bowie's music transcended - hell it elevated - the source material, even 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' had some decent moments.  (PA)

Kahil El' Zabar's Ritual Trio - Africa N’Da Blues (Delmark, 2000)

It is difficult to make a selection of all the dozen albums that Kahil El'Zabar released with his Ritual Trio or with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Usually his music is pretty straight-forward with a core theme, long improvisations, lots of African rhythmic elements, and a deep sense of soul. "Africa N'Da Blues" might be a good introduction for readers not yet familiar with the master drummer. The "trio" is for once extended with some guests : El'Zabar is on drums and percussion, Malachi Favors on bass and Ari Brown on sax and piano. The guests are Pharoah Sanders on tenor and Susana Sandoval on vocals, on the beautiful "Africanos Latinos" only.

The nice thing about El'Zabar's music is that it never shocks, it is never wild or ferocious, yet it does color outside of the lines. There is even some place for "Autumn Leaves" on this album, yet "Ka-Real" and "Pharaoh's Song" are more in line with the Trio's other albums : a hypnotic rhythmic foundation for African chants and saxes to sing, dance and jubilate with the soul of life.  (SG)

Wadada Leo Smith - Golden Quartet (Tzadik, 2000)

Apart from almost systematically receiving 5-star ratings from me, the only common denominator in Wadada Leo Smith's music is his phenomenal trumpet-playing. He has many different approaches to music, with his "bitches brew style" Yo Miles! band, his more contemplative solo and duo works, his more ambitious recent works with strings. Here we have his Golden Quartet in its original line-up with Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet, Anthony Davis on keyboards, Maghostut Malachi Favors on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums, with all four musicians member of AACM or closely related in the case of DeJohnette. The instrumental quality of the four musicians allows for technical and compositional complexity, which will become the trademark of the quartet for all their output, but luckily they keep their distance from fusion-like pyrotechnics: it's all about the music, which has an amazing tension between nervous agitation and zen-like calm, with lots of other paradoxes such as a strong jazzy feel, yet avant-garde dynamics and sonic colors, such as a strong compositional structure with an overall sense of freedom in the execution. (SG)

Matana Roberts, Josh Abrams & Chad Taylor - Sticks & Stones (482 Music, 2002)

This is one of the first albums - if not the first - on which altoist Matana Roberts has the lead voice, with Josh Abrams on bass and Chad Taylor on drums. It is a very gentle and welcoming trio album, one which already has the sound of Roberts' later music : warm and buttery on the horn, full of respect for the musical tradition, yet sufficiently liberated and with sufficient character to push things a little bit further.

Roberts had been classically trained as a clarinettist, joined AACM and was (is?) a member of Burnt Sugar, the jazz-funk-soul-rock band. On this album, and on "Shed Grace", its sequel from 2006, we hear something completely different : melodious music, very jazzy, rhythmically superb and very unassuming. It does not have the ambition of Roberts' "Coin Coin" series, it is all about the music, and not about the message, which gets my preference. Many will contradict me here, but so be it. If you like Roberts and Abrams and Taylor, it's really worth looking up this trio album.  (SG)

Fred Anderson - Back at the Velvet Lounge (Delmark, 2003)

An AACM member from the outset, it took time before Anderson received anything like the exposure of his colleagues. He went largely under/un-documented until his later years, subsequently every recording he features on feels like a gift. On Back at the Velvet Lounge, recorded at the club he ran for several decades, he is joined by Maurice Brown, Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead, Tatsu Aoki and Chad Taylor as they navigate five blues-tinged Anderson originals. With a tone simultaneously suggestive of both sides of the '59 divide, Anderson inhabits a space which is seemingly both well defined but boundless in potential, shaped by bop conventions and freed by the avant-garde.  (MG)

Jeff Parker, Kevin Drumm, Michael Zerang - Out Trios Volume Two (Atavistic, 2003)

In a recent article the Chicago Tribune made the case for the AACM having influenced the city's avant-rock community. Out Trios Volume Two provides a compelling argument in favour of this position, and demonstrates the feedback between disciplines. (Associate) AACM member Jeff Parker, positioned firmly in both camps, reprises his relationship with Michael Zerang (Vega Trio) and is joined by electro-acoustic texturalist Kevin Drumm. The resultant recording is filled with post-AMM clatter, gritty timbres and extended techniques, the lines between contributors quite literally blurred and distorted. Whilst insular and focused, the album demonstrates the open exchange of sounds and approaches which exist in the margins of differing 'Avant' musical communities. (MG)

Ernest Dawkins - Mean Ameen (Delmark, 2004) 

Despite saxophonist Ernest Dawkins' long experience as a jazz musician, he has not released that many albums under his own name. He is former president of Chicago's AACM and member of several bands including Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Yet most of his records are of interest, and this one, "Mean Ameen" is one I keep putting back in my CD-player very regularly. It's more free bop than free jazz, all pieces have a clear compositional structure and fixed themes. But all that's irrelevant. What is relevant is the music itself. And it's awesome. Blues-drenched, heart-rending, swinging highly rhythmic music with fantastic improvizations by the whole band, which consists of Maurice Brown on trumpet, Steve Berry on trombone, Darius Savage on bass and Isaiah Spencer on drums. The album is a tribute to former "New Horizons Ensemble" trumpeter Ameen Muhammad, also known as "King Ameen", who died in 2003.

Now, the great thing about this album is it's hard to equal heart-energy-music continuum. The raw emotions and the unbridled energy resulting in this great rhytmic and musical feast, sad and joyful at the same time, have rarely been equalled. Every track on the album is great, but the absolute highlight is the last one, "Buster And The Search For The Human Genome", which is a 16-minute long rhythmic monster of a song, starting slowly and bluesy but gradually the tempo is speeding up to some break-neck velocity, with staccato unisono blowing by the horns, fierce soloing, with abrupt and sudden breaks, nothing more than a pause for breathing, when the whole monster gets back on top-speed, dragging the listener along to musical areas where everything is possible. Impossible to remain indifferent. This is not a record which will change the history of jazz, but it is the result of it : authentic, creative, rooted in tradition yet free as a bird. As the liner notes say : "King Ameen is smiling from up high". (SG)

Read More