Matthew Shipp & William Parker - Re-Union (RogueArt, 2021) ****½

 By Sammy Stein

Matthew Shipp and William Parker are amongst the greatest musicians today and Re-Union is one of the best duo albums I have heard. Not that I was expecting anything less than high quality improvisation but the entire album is a discovery and even at the fifth listen, there was still much more to find.

My knowledge of Shipp is, I am ashamed to say, limited. Of course, I have heard some of his many recordings with master saxophone player Ivo Perelman but the only time I have seen him live, was at Cafe Oto and I had to leave because agreed to do to see Evan Parker, John Edwards and John Russell at The Vortex which is very close to Oto. William Parker I knew of as a Cecil Taylor sidesman of legend , and I had seen him with Peter Brötzmann. This album is a chance to really hear him and Shipp allows him plenty of room too.

'Re-Union' starts the album and at once there is that intelligence which is part of both players' intrinsic nature. Shipp interspersing pretty rivulets of sound among Parker's evocative rhythms. There are random passages ( seemingly random, yet at the third listen a pattern emerges) where the bass walks its own line, the piano flows over the top and then seems so sidle up to the bass like an interested observer as if to say, 'come play this way'. The bass responds, dropping its own ideas and following the piano for a while. Shipp is masterful in his delivery, from trickles to stepped chords and knows just when to encourage the bass - like when he repeats the same chord several times and the bass responds in kind on the strings. What strikes is the similarity in tone at times from the two strung instruments. The percussive subtleties are used as effectively as the melody lines. The joy of this track is the length of it, at just over 22 minutes, which allows themes and ideas to be fully and clearly developed. Shipp at one time prowls the length of the keys in a frenetic flurry of dissonant chords which the bass echoes with melodic and sighing phrases - turning the previous conversation on its head. Even in the closing phrases we get jazzed out top lines from Shipp, softer, gentler lines and a sensual final fade.

The 'New Zo Re-Union' is more plink and plonk than melody for the first section. Then, the bass enters with a sweeping, deep, lustrous bow and its body reverberates over buzzy bowed strings, while Shipp issues forth incredible, linked phrases of enormity in sound and phrasing. There are times when the two instruments meld together so closely there is an innate sense of cohesion and oneness. The effective return to the gentle 16 note theme emphasises the harmonics of the rest of the number, particularly when Shipp thunders out the deep chords as the bass maintains its steady reply. Absolutely stand out from both players, this is a piece of epic proportions musically and emotively and contains such musical beauty, it is difficult to put into words.

'Further DNA Re-Union' is shorter at around fourteen and a half minutes, but still of a length which allows it to develop and evolve. There is a sense of Shipp deeply engrossed to an extent the exploration of the instrument at his disposal is more the controlling factor than any end point. The bass of Parker easily works to follow and sometimes lead the way, deftly avoiding some of the crevices into which both could fall and leading back to the key. The result is tuneful, with Shipp diverging into several styles, whilst the bass reflects, yet contains the boundaries. At times, the pair seem to be playing almost standards with wonderful references easily arising out of the freely improvised sections - the minds and ideas becoming a singular thing. An intriguing and compelling listen.

'Song Of Two Re-Union' is a gentler piece, at least initially. It is only 6 minutes or so long and has the sense of being a conversation on a different level. Shipp's tenderness with the keys is reflected by Parker's unerring responses and the subtle changes, like the times Parker glides across chords, works to emphasise the gentle character of the piece - even with Shipp rumbling in the lower notes. A change and the piano is singing a tune in upper registers across the top of harmonic bass lines and a gear shift happens. Suddenly both players are creating their own beautiful lines which meld and diverge , creating colours and textures.

This is a wonderful album with both players impressive. Both sense that precise moment when to come forward and when to allow the other more of the floor.

Parker says, "After thirty years the music connection between myself and Matthew Shipp is getting stronger and more beautiful. Everything has purpose and function all the sounds and silences are dancing in their own way. Excursions into myriad worlds of tone, texture and color. All anchored by the tradition of the blues and the cosmic church. Even as the world around us is dying this new CD “ReUnion” on RogueArt is a testimony of hope and light."

Shipp comments, "Playing duo with William Parker is a joy and a dream for me. It feels so natural like it is ordained by the gods that it had to happen. The dialogue between us is natural and unforced. It does feel to me that this duo had reached full maturation. There is not much I can say about the music except to say we just play the music. At times what is here seems to me to transcend the idea of music and enter some realm of pure language and vibration. I feel so blessed to be in a duo of this sort. The less I say the better. Open yourself up to the flow of the language."

The album is enjoyable start to finish. One thing is for certain. No matter how pressing engagements are I am never going to leave a Shipp performance part way through.

Interestingly, the album is produced by Michel Dorbon whose first production, twenty years ago, was Matthew Shipp’s trio with William Parker and Rob Brown, and, over fifteen years ago, his first recording for RogueArt (though not the first label reference) was Matthew Shipp’s quartet with William Parker, Sabir Mateen and Gerald Cleaver.

Re-Union is just four pieces but it evidences the art of communication in jazz - its necessity and the sheer brilliance when it happens.

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The hypnotic universe of Pak Yan Lau

By Stef Gijssels

Last year, I came across Belgian pianist Pak Yan Lau, who released the phenomenal "Duo Pour 454 Chordes". Despite the fact that we're living in the same city, I never actually met her, nor did I ever see any of her performances, and the current context is not really helpful either. 

Pak Yan Lau was born in Belgium, after her parents moved here from Hong Kong. She began playing the piano at the age of six ("A girl from my neighborhood was playing, and I just wanted to do the same. My mom was convinced that it was not for me as in the Chinese culture the concept of playing the piano means “sitting still like a lady and being very disciplined". Contrary to that, I was constantly running around and sitting still was something I really couldn't do. I cried for 2 days before she gave in" (Kraak, 2019). She started a formal piano education at the age of nine and obtained her degree of classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium and at the 'Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo' in Porto, Portugal. After her studies she expanded into jazz following workshops by Marilyn Crispell, Stefano Battaglia, Christoph Erbstösser and others. 

Like other pianists such as Magda Mayas and Eve Risser, she has left the traditional notion of her instrument as a keyboard. In her hands it has become a total instrument, with many hidden sounds and percussive possibilities. You couldn't call her music 'jazz', because it lacks the typical chord progressions or scales that are typical in the genre. Her approach is minimal in its inputs - a few notes, a few beats - that then get expanded and amplified both acoustically or electronically. 

"Improvisation is like a whole world of 'possibilities'. Depending on when, where, and with who you’re doing it, it shapes the music. So, I see it as a moment of possible things. All kind of possible things, from positive and beautiful to negative and ugly or just simply blank. However, what I love about improvisation is that it's very much always the moment. So it's a very present thing, it is alive, it follows the energy and, in a certain way, focus is required. Flexibility and open ears. Always very open ears. All my music making is very much into improvisation and experimentation. I am sure I will go on to another phase of composing one day but I really love to improvise. I love this intense being when you have to let go of yourself and connect to a bigger stream", she says in an interview in Kraak in April 2019.

She has released several albums since last year, of which I will review two duo performances who of an equally high level. 

Pak Yan Lau & Lionel Malric - TIOT - Live At Lastours (Self, 2020) ****

On TIOT she performs again a duo with Lionel Malric, also on piano. TIOT stands for "the impermanence of things", a philosophical concept that is found around the world and is possibly most  relevant to the nature of music, it is gone before you realise it. 

This album is a live recording from a concert at the Domaine de Lastours in Coursan, France in September 2017. Next to their pianos, the duo have a whole range of other instruments and materials that they use to perform their art: clavichords, cimbalom, toy pianos, synthesizers, casio keyboards, woks, old irons and electronic effects. Like on the previous album, their art gets organically structured, growing out of some initial ideas, and anchored around repeated rhythms. 

The performance consists of one long improvisation of close to one hour, and it offers a kaleidoscopic use of sound, changing into a myriad of sonic elements that alter and move, hypnotic and persistent at moments, calm and plaintive at others, resonating and intimate, but always captivating and surprising, including the use of ambient sounds (such as birds singing).     

The middle of the piece is quiet and minimal, with few notes and bass tones creating even more intensity and tension than the more voluminous moments. Minimal patterns grow with patient discipline and restraint, gradually building up their narrative with subtle sonic and rhythmic changes. And once you think you've understood their approach, they take the journey to an even stranger place, equally suprising and enjoyable. 

Like on the previous album, the question of 'how' they do it quickly disappears (because impossible to answer) and the joy of listening remains. It is strong, compelling, balanced, inviting and unusual. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Pak Yan Lau & Darin Gray - Trudge Lightly (By The Bluest Of Seas, 2020) ****½

Her second album this year is a duo with Darin Gray, who plays double bass, preparations, objects and electronics. Gray is an American bassist who may be known from his collaborations with Jim O'Rourke, Loren Mazzacane Connors or Chris Corsano. Pak Yan Lau plays prepared piano, toy pianos, synth, objects and electronics. 

This album is again something else, with six relatively short pieces, quite distinct in nature and atmosphere. The album was recorded in 2016 with little preconceptions and agreed ideas. Then Pak Yan Lau reworked the material, adding and subtracting as she saw fit. A long work of post-production, but the result is worth it. 

The album starts almost in "in medias res" as if you've entered too late into an already ongoing performance. The approach shocks, refreshens and creates a sense of urgency. It is dark, compelling, insistent and strange ... and it is over before you realise what's happening. 

The second track, "Callings" presents weird deep moaning bows accompanied by flute-like sounds, the third, "Suspended Thoughts" is an intense interaction between gamelan-like percussion, rhythmic plucked strings and a deep moaning/mooing sound from the bass. It conjures up a deep sense of sadness and despair, and has a surprisingly radical ending. "Way to Walk" is a short rhythmic piece, with ever changing structure and sounds, calmly slowing down near the end. 

"Lost" starts with light-textured eery resonating sounds, evolving in a meditative theme played on the keys of the piano (yes), gentle and spacious, and surrounded by the mystery of fragile accompanying sonic explorations. The longer title track, "Trudge Lightly" illustrates the light/darkness contrast of the music and the title itself: the moving forward through obstacles yet in an easy way. The piece develops around a simple rhythmic pattern, played on muted strings, which resonate at the same time through other devices, creating an unusual contrast of soundlessness and clarity, that develops into a hypnotic insistent and rotating repetitiveness. 

Like her other albums reviewed here, this one is equally mesmerising, fresh, inventive and intense. Her sense of spontaneous composition, the inherent intensity and musicality of it as well as the sonic arrangements are exceptional. 

Listen and downlad from Bandcamp.  It is also available as a vinyl production with booklet. 

I can only hope that the lockdown ends soon and that performances are allowed again. Pak Yan Lau will be high on my agenda.

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Chris Burn & Simon Fell - Continuous Fragment (Bruce's Fingers, 2018) ***

By Stef

Star ratings also reflect the length of the album, and if this album was longer, the rating may have been higher. The duo fo Chris Burn on piano, and Simon H. Fell on double bass already dates from improvisation they gave in January 2010, but these twenty-three minutes of exploration have become published only this year. Burn is more active on the inside of his piano than on the keyboard, using a variety (of unspecified) objects to work its strings, by plucking, rubbing, scraping, caressing, marbling (?) and hammering, all movements that create sounds that work amazingly well with Fell's bass. Even if initially the sonic bits are investigating and colliding and sometimes hesitant, gradually a wonderful collective sounds emerges from this, sensuous and ominous, subtle and refined, which is masterfully changed in the last two minutes. And then it suddenly stops. Twenty-three minutes is short. But well, then you listen to it again.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda – Mizu (Long Song Records) ****½

By Nick Ostrum

A long time ago, a friend introduced me to the music of Satoko Fujii. He loaned me a few albums and, at first listen, I immediately realized I had been missing out on something special. Fujii is thoroughly contemporary in her mastery of styles. She combines and configures influences unpredictably and seamlessly. And, she does so not for the sake of novelty, but, it seems, because she perceives some common emotive or harmonic thread uniting the musical forms. Accompanied by the venerable Joe Fonda, Fujii is as nimble and inspired as ever on Mizu, a live recording capturing two nights – one in Belgium and one in Germany – in 2017.

The first track, “Rik Bevernage” (an homage to the late Belgian music promoter), begins with isolated piano and bass tones that quickly gather into a tempest of wild, running melodies and abstract pizzicato. Around nine minutes in, Fonda steers the song into bluesier territory as Fujii supports the pivot with a soft, loungey melody that soon tangles into an angular flourish of augmented scales. As she finishes this statement with a prolonged, dark chord, Fonda lays a tapestry of delicate plucks and bowing to which Fujii responds with her own exploration of the piano’s interior. By the 20-minute mark, the track really begins to pick up steam. Fujii returns to her keys and Fonda adapts in kind, drawing a solo into a distorted harmony with the piano. The track ends in a prolonged crescendo and intensification, then a walking bass groove over which the piano, for the first time, waxes jazz.

The second piece, also from the Belgian concert, is equally engaging, though quite unique. This track is shorter and seems more directed than the first. It is founded on the gradual realization of an emergent, driving rhythm repeatedly traded between and reinterpreted by Fujii and Fonda.
The third track, “Mizu” (Japanese for “water”) is a different beast altogether. It starts quietly and contemplatively. Fujii takes the lead, teasing potential melodies as a Fonda plays intermittent arco. As much as “Rik Bevernage” was about rather skillfully combining musical languages and generating an immediate and lasting impression, “Mizu” seems focused on the process of musical creation. The track builds then retreats as water ripples (hear the ripples six-and-a-half minutes in) when touched by the wind or any other minor disturbance. The piece gathers speed as Fujii plays a glistening melody and Fonda, rather than simply following, out-paces her at points. Fonda continues with a stunning solo as Fujii deploys some percussive scrapings and rattles in support. Then, Fujii steps up again. At later points, Fonda contributes howling vocals and flute, adding the wind and air that had hitherto been only hinted in the rippling. And it is here, as the wind finally reveals itself, that the water stills and the track slowly fades.

This album is characterized by this type of give and take, this frequent exchange of the lead, this strikingly even balance rarely struck in a duo and even more rarely achieved between a bassist and pianist. This is beautiful music not just because of Fujii and Fonda’s virtuosity, but because of their delicate interplay and mutual responsiveness, their raw intimacy, and their almost frenetic creativity. I have not followed Fujii as closely as I should have during this past year of relentless performances and releases. Nevertheless, I am certain that this album holds its own among the others. Whether you are new to Fujii (or Fonda, for that matter) or a seasoned listener, Mizu will not disappoint.

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Satoko Fujii / Joe Fonda - Duet (Long Song Records, 2016) ****½

By Eyal Hareuveni

Japanese pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and American double bass master Joe Fonda did not need much time to establish a rare and profound musical rapport. These two prolific musicians managed to do so even though their winding paths have never previously crossed and both had not heard much of each other’s work before they were asked to play together. Duet, initiated by Fonda after a promoter in Germany recommended him to listen to Fujii, captures beautifully the duo second concert at Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, Maine in November 2015.

These resourceful and experienced improvisers tapped immediately into a rich, intimate musical atmosphere. Duet begins with an extended free-improvisation titled “Paul Bley”, obviously dedicated to the late pianist. Bley was an early mentor for Fujii, a student of him at the New England Conservatory in Boston, with whom she recorded a piano duet (Something About Water, Libra, 1996). Fonda plays with one of Bley’s early collaborators, drummer Barry Altschul in his 3Dom Factor trio. This piece is a powerful - in the most physical and muscular sense of the word - both Fujii and Fonda sound as if they play all over their instruments, very intense - even in the short, quiet segment that Fonda plays on the flute, with sudden, fast-shifting ecstatic moods. Both explore inventive timbres, extended bowing and percussive techniques, structure and deconstruct colorful textures, always pushing each other’s sonic envelope without stopping for a second to gain their breath. Their mutual understanding is so immediate that you may think that they actually developed a telepathic reading of each other’s minds, created a unique sonic entity that, no doubt, would have made Bley happy. The second, short improvisation, “JSN”, features also Fujii's partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. This piece offers a different, more relaxed, even melodic atmosphere,informed by the inventive, playful ideas of Tamura. His idiosyncratic playing, together with fonda folksy flute and Fujii hammering on the piano strings contribute to the clever, mischievous spirit of this piece.

This masterful, exciting duo calls for more, many more performances and recordings.

Listen:

Watch: https://youtu.be/AXpA4K5Hf8E

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Keith Tippet & Giovanni Maier: Two For Joyce - Live In Trieste (Long Song, 2013) ****

By Colin Green

James Joyce (1882 – 1941) lived in Trieste for fifteen years from 1904, where he completed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and wrote most of Ulysses. Two statues, various tours around the city, and annual conferences now celebrate this famous resident. In May 2012, Keith Tippet (piano) and Giovanni Maier (double bass) played at Teatro Miela as part of the city’s “Le Nuove Rotte del Jazz” (New Routes in Jazz) festival, in a performance they acknowledge was a homage to Joyce “who has been both an inspiration and a passion for us”.

The most obvious inspiration is Ulysses, and Joyce’s famous stream of consciousness technique, his literary allusions, and mimicking of different genres – such as romantic novelettes, newspaper headlines, and advertisements – rather than Finnegans Wake, a book no person I know has admitted to finishing. One can hear the parallels in Tippet’s eclectic mix of styles – jazz (traditional to free), classical and popular music – where apparently disparate ideas from high and low culture flow into each other through free associations. The continuous performance of some 50 minutes – spontaneous and virtuosic – allows the duo to explore these to their full affect. 

They open with undulating waves on the piano over Maier’s propulsive bass, and a run of notes picked out in the piano’s upper registers, until eventually brought to an end by a Rachmaninoff-like cadence from Tippet. After a passage of arco bass accompanied by soft chords, Tippet plays a folk-like melody reminiscent of Janáček’s piano music, but it’s true identity only becomes clear in Maier’s subsequent solo – Charles Mingus’ Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. The theme is taken up by both and concludes as a lullaby.

After some bowed harmonics and plucked piano strings, Tippet introduces a new passage with a staccato motif that sounds like something from one of Bartok’s piano concertos, accompanied by Maier’s skittish bass. The music builds powerfully, with jazz inflections and accelerates into a haze of tremolandos, before the motif returns. This then morphs into a repeated rhythm in the left hand with irregular accents in the right: an allusion to the Augers of Spring section from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. 

Tippet’s use of the prepared piano is not the multitude of incongruous sounds pioneered by John Cage – with various objects set in the strings – but a more selective treatment, placed and removed at will, which allows him to play standard and prepared portions of the keyboard at the same time. This produces a counterpoint of normal piano timbre and exotic textures, with music to match.  After the last passage mentioned above, a gently rocking folk melody emerges, with the treated upper register resembling a cimbalon, and a delicate pizzicato on the bass which transforms the tune back into Mingus. Later, washes of sound at the piano’s lower end alternate with a gamelan-like theme in the buzzing upper octaves, until the cascades envelop everything and are joined by the sound of a harpsichord in perpetuum mobile. There are surprises and delights at every turn, and thoughts of Mingus don’t stop at quotation: Maier’s bass lines have that same solid, beefy quality.

In Ulysses there are tributes to maudlin popular songs, and at the same time a lampooning of the lyrics as overly sentimental. One doesn’t sense quite that edge here but as with Joyce, under the playfulness there’s a serious point being made. This performance is not a game of “Name the Composer” for music geeks (though I may have given that impression) but a genuinely inventive celebration of musical diversity which shows that the demarcation of genres is really not that rigid, and that the spaces between can prove just as interesting.

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Michael Bisio/Matthew Shipp - Floating Ice (Relative Pitch, 2012) ****

By Paul Acquaro

Bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp's Floating Ice is a rather beautiful recording. It's a collection of conversations between two masterful improvisors, and the album's sound is well represented by the title.

There is a delicacy to the intertwining acoustic instruments. Mostly eschewing extended techniques, and working within the more established parameters of melody and rhythm, the music made is like the same element but in different states. Ice, floating on water, connected by nature, but existing fully formed on their own.

Shipp, who I often associate with angular patterns and strong rhythmic statements can often be found here in a more lyrical mode. Using the keyboard to its fullest, his harmonies and accents can be subtly jarring and equally soothing. Bisio's role as a co-creator is well fulfilled, as his bass often provides countermelody to Shipp (or vice versus), accentuating and leading the songs in new directions. A particular favorite part is his energetic rumblings on 'Swing Laser.' the piano's frenetic runs are more than counter balanced with the basses ebullient passages, replete with fret board slaps, slides and other interesting devices. When Bisio switches to the bow towards the tune's end, he is unstoppable -- and wonderfully so.

Quite a nice recording. The overall sound is captured elegantly, as you can even make out the musicians' faint breaths through the crystalline production. The energy alone makes it a joy to recommend.

You can buy it from instantjazz.com.

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Matthew Shipp & Joe Morris - Broken Partials (NotTwo, 2011) ****

By Paul Acquaro

The music starts getting tense midway through 'Two' on Matthew Shipp and Joe Morris' vibrant new duo recording 'Broken Partials'. Shipp extracts all the sound he possibly can from the piano while Morris, intense and focused on upright bass, contributes a swarm of sound below the piano. Soon, like Shipp, he is digging fiercely into the acoustic depths of his instrument.

Shipp's improvised melody on 'Three' begins with angular notes and puncuating tonal clusters that are ever evolving and rarely resolving. The music is dense and always moving forward, roiling and rolling, as Morris adds weight to Shipp's frenetic flights. 'Four' slows down a bit, with Morris taking center stage with a spacious bass line, at least at first, while Shipp sprinkles in boppish snippets and chords, not full phrases but nascent ideas and suggestions throughout. 'Six' builds up in tension, using repetitive motifs like building blocks. I was particularly drawn to 'Eight', Shipp's lines are lighter, favoring the upper registers of the keyboard but soon builds in intensity along with Morris whose initial plucking becomes strident bowing and the intensity is masterfully built and released. All of the tracks possess a forward momentum that carries the listener seemlessly through the shifting and unsettled ideas.

The recording is sonically rich, the acoustics and overtones have just as much presence as the actual notes and tones. I took the opportunity while listening to Broken Partials to revisit the Shipp/Morris duo album 'Thesis' (Hatology, 1998) on which Morris plays acoustic and electric guitar. Regardless of the instrumentation, the duo posseses a sympathy for each others playing that allows their separate lines to intertwine and meld like an ongoing, and sometimes freewheeling, conversation with Shipp seemingly stating and restating the facts and Morris spitting out rapid responses and interjections. A really interesting listen, 'Broken Partials' makes for some excellent eavesdropping.

 Buy from Instantjazz.

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Lisa Ullén & Nina de Heney - Carve (LJ Records, 2009) ****½

 By Stef

The advantage of writing fewer reviews is that I can listen a lot more to the same album, and I have listened dozens of times to this double CD in the past few weeks, first hesitantly, then becoming mesmerised by the beauty of it, then wanting nothing more than to listen to it again, and again.

The musicians are Swedish pianist Lisa Ullén and bassist Nina de Heney, both as skilled as adventurous, treating us to eighteen improvisations of three to five minutes, ranging from voiced instruments, as on "Luminal Sung" to extended techniques only. The result are sound sculptures, as the album's title suggests, with tonal creations carved out of raw sound material, sometimes familiar, often quite new to the ear, yet each full of wonder, full of surprise and fragile beauty.

I am rarely touched by descriptions in liner notes, but this one is quite accurate : "Carving is an ancient hand craft ; whether done in ice, wood, stone or bone, it’s process takes time. Carving could be seen as the the art of surrendering to the element by the understanding of the element. When achieved, it can last for centuries, or melt within a day".

Some pieces are reminiscent of nature, with organic sounds arising out of nowhere, from the soft occasional drip of water, the buzzing of bees or the raw tearing of tectonal plates against one another. Other pieces are more tribal, going back to the origins of organised sounds, percussive repetition, enchanting, spiritual. Yet without a real message, nor is there even an attempt to evoke existing sounds: their true work is the new sound itself, with all its possibilities of expansion and juxtaposition, to create new sonic possibilities.

And even if the music is serious, they are not afraid of little jokes and fun, adding a great human touch to it all, full of empathy with the sounds created. 

It is minimal, unobtrusive, cautious, precise. Avant-garde music is often denounced as noise. This is the absolute opposite of noise, even if that noise, the primary sound, offers the building blocks for a captivating musical creation.

If you have open ears, you shouldn't miss this one.


© stef

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Stephan Crump & James Carney - Echo Run Pry (Clean Feed, 2010) ****

Last year pianist James Carney released an excellent modern jazz CD, "Ways And Means", yet what he does here on this album with bassist Stephan Crump is of a totally different nature. Gone are the compositions and the arrangements, gone is the solid ground under their feet, gone are the planification and the known endpoints.

On two pieces of a little more than twenty minutes, the two musicians explore the sounds of their instruments with lots of extended techniques, slowly, patiently, yet full of the excitement of the mutual discovery, sometimes building in rhythmic moments like little dance movements, spontaneously, then switching back to normal walking, doing the more serious stuff. That's the kind of freshness and joy that you find here.

Yet within the same piece, they will also delve into other emotions: Crump's arco on the second half of the first piece will bring tears to your eyes, while the piano adds the very sparse keys to accentuate the desolation and loneliness, evolving into more romantic yet equally expressive piano playing.

The second piece is even more minimalist and quiet, it is intimate, very "European" in approach, abstract yet lyrical, gradually picking up a sense of urgency and tension, utterly refined, and with a kind of universal aesthetic that will appeal to all true lovers of music, including more traditional jazz fans and afficionados of classical music. But then it might also be that I have lost all sense of reality.

In any case : grand in its intimate power.

Listen and download from eMusic.

Buy from Instantjazz.

© stef

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Piano & bass ... reunions

So far, we did not have too many "piano & bass" labels on this blog's catalogue, and now we double the amount, thanks to three new releases. 

Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden - Jasmine (ECM, 2010)***

Possibly with the exception of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, there are few jazz musicians that I have listened to so extensively over the years as Keith Jarrett, ... and Charlie Haden, together or separately in various formations, as leaders and band members. I somehow lost my interest in Jarrett once he started becoming stuck in his standards trio. I remain a great fan of his American and European quartets of the eighties, and of (some of) his solo performances. Both Jarrett and Haden are romantics pur sang. And here they find each other back after 30 years of not having played together. No wonder it's all about emotions, yet luckily coupled with incredible instrumental skills. Here, they get a little bit stuck in sweet sentimentalism. It is the best album you can imagine to listen to at the fireplace on a lone winter evening, quite nice, but nothing more. Buy it as a present for your romantic niece, she'll love it.

Watch the promo clip for the album



Cecil Taylor & Dominic Duval - The Last Dance Vol. 1 & 2 (CJR, 2010) ****

Another reunion, but then after ten years, is this double album by Cecil Taylor and Dominic Duval. Taylor is his usual self, creating stories full of tension, plot changes, moments of intense action, then sudden melodic phrases, and back to pounding and surprise chords, yet it flows and evolves as if it was the easiest thing in the world, without hesitating, without halting, like a never ending cascade of ideas and thoughts that come up at the spur of the moment, get transformed and developed. And Duval in all this? He is unfortunately a little too silent in the final mix of the first CD, somewhat in the background, giving the impression that his input does not seem too vital for Taylor's stream of consciousness, Duval's support is rapid, functional and once in a while he manages to impact the pianist's playing too.That is especially the case in the slower middle part of the first CD.

The perfomance was recorded at the San Francisco Jazz Fest in 2003. Volume 1 brings over one hour of free-flowing music. Volume 2 is the rest of the program: 25 minutes in total, starting with Duval on arco, adding a more collaborative and balanced dimension, a situation which is maintained for the second piece, when Duval moves to pizzi again.


Watch "Bridge Works" from the concert.




Agusti Fernández & Barry Guy - Some Other Place (Maya, 2010) ****½

But music has moved on, beyond Jarrett, beyond Cecil Taylor, and this is possibly the most modern you can get: Fernández and Guy, two other masters of their instruments, both equally at home in jazz, classical music and new music. And they already demonstrate this from the very first piece "Annalisa", which evolves from a pastoral and impressionistic sphere to rhythmic jazzy unison lines and avant-garde sound explorations: it is creative and fun at the same time. Not everything is pleasant to the ears, though (like the short "Rosette"), but the power of the compositions/improvisations, the quality of the playing, both in the technical skills as in the emotional delivery is without a doubt among the best you can get at the moment. All the human emotions get a place on this album, from agony and distress to surprise to quiet contemplation to joy and fun, and frankly, also stuff you didn't know existed. And the cohesiveness, interplay and mutual power of bass and piano is absolutely fabulous. A great listening experience.


Watch a great visual evocation of the music by Fernández and Guy.




© stef

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Joëlle Léandre & Quentin Sirjacq - Out Of Nowhere (Ambiances Magnétiques, 2008) ****½

The title "Out Of Nowhere" says it all, on these eleven tracks, French bassist Joëlle Léandre and fellow countryman Quentin Sirjacq on piano conjure up intimistic avant-garde music out of nowhere. Sure, you could argue that Léandre's long-standing experience must have an influence on what she brings, and that's true only to a point. You do recognize her voice on bass, and with even more certainty her real voice when she sings/shouts (luckily only on one track, "Ruins", interestingly also the highlight of the album), but on the other hand she always tries to reinvent herself, as she does here, playing relatively fresh, more romantic than we've heard her before, accomodating young pianist Sirjacq, who is her student at Mills College in California, and who does sound a little intimidated at times. And that's possibly the nice part about this music. Both musicians do make an effort to meet half-way, even if their natural styles are radically different. Sirjacq's playing is impressionistic and sparse, he does not need many notes to create a captivating musical environment, which leaves lots of open space for Léandre to accentuate, deepen and contrast. She is much more daring than he is, understandably, adding the raw tones of her bowed improvisations sometimes like a knife cutting through lace, yet also sometimes sensitively and hypnotically laying a solid single tone foundation for the high piano tones, or adding a weeping arco melody over the intimistic piano chords. The contrast and the synergetic effect are both working well and superbly delivered. All the improvisations have a different character and approach, leading to a wealth of ideas, sentiments and styles, yet all fitting really well in the album's overall unity. Léandre keeps amazing me, and Sirjacq has a great future in front of him. Strongly recommended.

Listen to an excerpt from "The Call"


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Mark Dresser & Denman Maroney - Live In Concert (Kadima, 2009) ****

This is the third duo album by bassist Mark Dresser and pianist Denman Maroney, after "Duologues" and "Time Changes". In contrast to some of the other material by the two players, this one is fully improvised in three long pieces. The first 30 minute track was recorded live at Vision Festival on June 10, 2008, the two other pieces date from a performance in Chicago in 2001. It's hard to call this jazz, since none of the two plays anything which ressembles anything which could fit in a category. It is music that evolves, following its own logic of feeling, interaction and sonic pallette: highly unpredictable yet very focused. Maroney's "hyperpiano" becomes a different instrument in his hands, with all kind of materials muting the strings, vibrating along, or any other kind of bizarre sound that can be extracted from your standard piano. The new sounds that are created push Dresser along on the same route, re-inventing the bass as well. This does not mean that this music is experimental per se. Art is at the center of what they do, using their skills to generate feelings and intellectual play, with at times even beautiful passages, and through all the sonic novelty, jazz, blues and classical music emerge, like wisps of memory, in a great synthesis of sound. It is better than the two previous albums, soberer and richer at the same time, and strangely enough more focused despite the difference in recording dates.

Listen to a sample from "Ediface".

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Russ Lossing & John Hebert - Line Up (Hatology, 2008) ***½

After many recordings together in various line-ups, pianist Russ Lossing and bassist John Hebert finally play the long-awaited duo. With the exception of a piece by Irving Berlin and one by Duke Ellington, this is all new and improvised material by the two musicians. The limited line-up offers great possibilities for both freedom and intimacy, although the music has structure and form, and many of the piece are quite nervous and intense. Some pieces such as "Blind Pig" have a romantic impressionistic quality, but is immediately followed by the abstract expressionistic "Type A", just to illustrate the breadth of scope of the album and the wealth of musical territory both artists want to cover, but mostly within a post-bop environment, and they play well wherever they move, exploring lyrical and rhythmic possibilities, anticipating each other's moves and supporting it. They keep away from fixed themes or melodies, yet the lyricism in the music makes it relatively accessible, certainly when compared to "Metal Rat", his previous album. This is not ground-breaking music, and of course it doesn't have to. What counts here are the interplay between two masters of their instruments, and two artists with a common musical vision, effortlessly bringing a synthesis of piano jazz that spans more than half a century.

Listen to
Monotype
Fais Do-Do

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