Crispell, Hemingway and Dresser

Marilyn Crispell / Gerry Hemingway – Affinities  (Intakt)   ****

Marilyn Crispell / Mark Dresser / Gerry Hemingway – Play Braxton  (Tzadik)  ****

By Tom Burris

Anthony Braxton's 1980s quartet is arguably his finest small ensemble and is undoubtedly his most well known group.  The interplay between the members of the band was nothing short of miraculous during its few short years of existence; and its reputation has (rightly) become legendary.  So when the listener hears the opening few minutes of “Shear Shift,” from the new Crispell/Hemingway set of piano/percussion improvisations, he will be teased by Crispell's arhythmical single-finger jabs, playing elliptical figures while Hemingway begins to swing like Max Roach, then suddenly breaks the rhythm apart, plays with the tempo, and then returns to the relaxed pulse.  He does this repeatedly underneath Crispell's gradually increasing notation, which eventually morphs into huge banging chords.  Without warning the piece slows to a gorgeous end.  The question of “Do they still have it?” remains unanswered – at least on this first listen – leaving a second question in its wake: “What the hell was that?”

Of course, nobody expects this to be easy listening – and from these two, we know going in that the only thing we can expect is the unexpected.  That said, the next track is a piano/vibes avant-lullaby that wouldn't sound at all out of place on a horror film soundtrack.  The one that follows, “Starlings,” features a vibes & treated piano duet that sounds like two aliens (and birds are aliens of sorts) having a conversation that gets more excited as it progresses.  By this point, the listener will know that not only do Crispell and Hemingway still have it, but that their rapport has matured into communication which takes place on some mysterious celestial realm.

Ever imagined John Bonham playing with Cecil Taylor?  Me neither, but a close approximation exists on “Threadings”.  So telepathic is the conversation between the two musicians that it sounds like one person talking to herself on “Air”.  “Permeations” revisits the parade-like impressionism that Braxton loves so much.  In closing the disc, Crispell plays the insides of the piano on a track that is slow, spacious and majestic, leaving a trace of an imagined Nino Rota score lingering in the air.

Enter Mark Dresser on the trio disc of Braxton material.  This is the closest you're likely to get to that golden era and if you're anything like me, you're gonna try to not get your hopes up too much because any disappointment from these folks could make you question all of existence.  But even on familiar material, surprises abound.  After ONE minute of classic parade impressionism on “Composition 116,” a jerky anti-rhythm appears (precisely between 1:20 and 1:50) sounding uncannily like DNA circa 1980.  Seriously, tell me you don't hear Arto Lindsay on the piano!

“Composition 23C” is a minuet of sharp, startling beauty and precision.  The classic unison melody model played by Crispell and Dresser is accompanied by Hemingway's brushes in a way that makes the years melt away.    “Compositions 108C/110/69Q” features some great solo breaks, first by Dresser w/ Hemingway later dropping in with a post-bop groove before Crispell comes in playing unison lines with Dresser – and then her own solo steals the show with positively sublime presence.  The interplay between the musicians here is hair-raising, as is the rumbling ensemble flip-out during “Composition 69B (8.2)”.  “Composition 40N/40B” gradually builds into a hard bop-type swing with Crispell taking an extended solo that, I think, defines her playing: melodically angular, logically terse, and emotionally fierce.  It's a moment of intellectual brilliance combined with smoldering emotional intensity, just like the best moments from the composer who inspired it.

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Paul Plimley, Barry Guy, Lucas Niggli – Hexentrio (Intakt, 2012) ****

By Dan Sorrells

There’s a track on Hexentrio called “Witches in Our Fingers.” After listening to the trio at work, it’s a phrase that would actually explain a lot. Barry Guy has a long history of mystifying listeners with his warp-speed improvising, bass playing that, despite its pace and abstraction, is still so musical and compulsively listenable that few things short of black magic seem adequate to explain it. Pianist Paul Plimley and drummer Lucas Niggli also share in Guy’s preternatural gifts, and the three conjure a prickly, lively sort of improvisation that’s apt to get some new synapses firing.

Guy has paired off with Niggli and Plimley for years now, and the three first formed a trio together in 2010. Hexentrio was cut in the studio during their European tour earlier this year, a collection of seventeen short, busy pieces that showcase an overabundance of energy and ideas. Both Plimley and Guy are known for their work with large ensembles that blur the lines between composition and improvisation, and there’s an air of that approach to Hexentrio, too. Figuring out which is which in the frenzied activity is anyone’s guess, though.

Despite the racket of tracks like “Flo Vi Ru” and the aforementioned “Witches,” these three have been playing long enough to know that not everything needs to be shouted, and in that spirit Hexentrio sports some quieter pieces, too, like the lilting “Passport (Expired)” or the melancholy “Arcdesedo.” It’s all enjoyable stuff, with the only misstep being the weird vocal improv of “Come and Go.” The track goes on about twice as long as it needs to, but is forgivable when taken in the fuller context provided by the two brisk tracks that book-end it.

The “hexen” in the album’s name is an ambiguous coinage, as it’s unclear whether these three are the ones casting spells or if they themselves are the victims of some dark curse. Either way, it makes for exciting music. Loud or soft, cluttered or sparse, Hexentrio is a stimulating listen. It’s worth giving a shot; everyone could use a good brain-kneading now and then.

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Marc Ducret - Tower Vol.4 (Ayler Records, 2012) ****½

 

Posted by Joe

The instant I saw Marc Ducret's name on the list I rushed to open up the file to get a listen. It's always a pleasure and an experience to listen to Marc Ducret he's, as far as I know, never made a bad record. Everything I've heard has all the elements needed to make great music : original, accessible, avant-garde, melodic, rhythmic, rocks, swings ... and the list goes on. This latest release is another in the Tower series : 'Tower, Vol.4'  and this time a solo project. For those interested Vol.1 was his French ensemble and Vol.2 with a Franco/American group. As far as I know there's no Vol.3, or not released on CD that is. 

I remember (a few weeks ago) reviewer Paolo Casertano's trilogy of articles on Stian Westerhus where he talked about Westerhus as a new Derek Bailey. After reading his articles I immediately thought of a few other guitarists that really deserved a place in that list -  Fred Frith, Hans Reichel, the excellent Keith Rowe, to name three players. Marc Ducret is another guitarist who should also be on that list, and for me he's also on a different level than Stian Westerhus. Ducret's creativity holds no bounds, as this album attests. And, to add to the interest, it's all on acoustic guitar! If you know Marc Ducret's playing from the multitude of artists he works with, you can certainly attest to the amazing range and depth of sounds he manages to coach out of his guitar. He can also write a good, if slightly left field, melody also. Anyone interested in such a project should check out his big band project Le Sens de la Marche.

There are nine solo instrumentals on the record. Each track plays off the different textures or aspects of the guitars sound. The acoustics (in the room where he's recording) are perfect, making for a very intimate listening experience. In fact you can even hear birds in the background tweeting away on some of the pieces.

Some of the highlights for me are - 'From a Distant Land' (Tk1) where he uses his guitar like a Japanese Koto. Ducret eventually turns the piece around with some wonderful 'dampened string' playing which pulses along and sounds not unlike John Cage's piano on 'Sonatas & Interludes for prepared piano'. There's a reprise of this piece, a second take I imagine, later on the record called '... Distant Land' (Tk7). The third track 'Sisters' is a microscopic view of harmonics on the guitar, short but very beautiful. 'sur l'électricité' (Tk2) is a typical Ducret sounding piece, something between Derek Bailey and Gary Lucas in Beefheart's band (ex : 'Flavor Bud Living'). The atonal lines are often a-rhythmic but certainly beautiful to listen to, often developing into chords or strummed sections. 'Ada' (Tk6) another piece with plenty of space also has surprising leaps and melodic twists. It finishes in glorious large chords, which have no real name - harmonically that is.

Finally, what I really enjoy about Marc Ducret's playing, and this record in general, is his ability to constantly come up with fresh sounding music. He manages to be utterly 'in' the avant-garde and yet remain very accessible, not unlike John Cage did. There's always plenty of things for the listener to hold onto (sort of audio guide post), but with plenty of new sounds you can marvel at. The music is full of details and depth which means you can come back to discover something new each time.

If you don't already know Marc Ducret this may be a good place to start. And for anyone wanting to hear what's possible on a guitar this has plenty of inspiring ideas, unless you're thinking of auditioning for the X-Factor of course!

Highly recommended, as always.

Postscript : I sent an email to Paolo recommending the above album. In his reply he made a very pertinent remark which sums up the large range of music to be found on the album. I quote : 

"The music on this record seems to be ancient and really modern at the same time. A rare blend!"

I couldn't have put it better myself, thanks!

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Ben Thomas - Endless Mountain Region (Lungbasket, 2012) ****

By Paul Acquaro

Bassist Ben Thomas is a recent arrival to the jazz scene in NYC, prior to which he was active in upstate New York and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. The trio that he directs on Endless Mountain Region is saxophonist Tony Malaby and percussionist Aaron Staebell.

Endless Mountain Regions works in between the lines of free and composed music. The opening song, 'Longshot', gets the album going on vigorous path. The cast is set here with Malaby's warm but egdy tone, Thomas' full sounding and imaginative bass playing, and Staebell's driving and somewhat unpredictable percussion. The trio covers a huge range, playing exciting runs and using space and volume quite effectively.

The 11 minute plus 'Elephant in Labor' kicks off with some acoustic ambiance and light instrumental mayhem but soon segues into a free and evocative tune with a melody that at moments delves into Ayler territory as the group introduces some well intentioned mayhem into the mix. The melodica is used to interesting effect on 'Two and a Half Hours' where the sax and the tiny instrument duet. When Staebell goes back to the kit, the song opens up, building up to a fine climax with extended melodic lines and a strong rock beat. The closing song 'WRU' is a uptempo Ornette Coleman piece with an coolly syncopated melody. The interplay between the three musicians is top notch, Aaron Staebell percussion a persistent rumble and presence, while Thomas delivers a short but effective solo.

This is an excellent listen, well paced and well thought out, the quieter and more delicate moments draw you in and contrast deliciously with the powerful blasts of improvisation and rock solid interactions.

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New Bone - Destined (CM Records, 2012) ***½

By Philip Coombs

If free jazz was the affair and this album was the marriage, a divorce would almost be certain. The lawyers would have been called in and all parties lectured on what to say as to not lose everything in the settlement. The point I will try to make surfaces in songs like, 'New Ballad For'; a beautifully played tune with plenty of hooks and familiar melodies but a marriage needs to be based on love and when loves fades or leaves completely, we tend to go out and find a new variation or a complete replacement. This song and many others on the New Bone album 'Destined' fit into that category. They are easy to really like but difficult to love.

As with any marriage that has had any longevity, there are moments and memories that will play over and over in your head regardless of how horrid it ended. The opening track,  'We'll See', will have you humming the melody days after you have turned the album off and started listening to something else. One morning you will be frozen in front of a mirror brushing your teeth trying to place where such a lovely melody came from. Was it the music on the beach during the honeymoon or was it New Bone?

The musicianship on this album is at times breathtaking but it also seems that they are playing a very familiar songbook. Tomasz Kudyk (trumpet and flugelhorn), Marcin Slusarczyk (alto sax), Pawel Kaczmarczyk (piano), Maciej Adamczak (bass) and Dawid Fortuna (drums) sound like they could play this blindfolded. To their credit, and what seems to be a sense of the marriage starting to fall into complacent mode, decide to spice up the relationship by adding percussionist Jan Pilch and tenor sax player Tomasz Grzegorski. However, they too fall into some mainstream trappings with familiar Latin beats and comfortable solos and breaks, albeit played very well.

'Altanowa 18' again gives us a killer melody that is destined to get stuck in your head in no time. The solos get traded off seamlessly and sound effortless. Kaczmarczyk kicks off 'Like Me' with a wonderful piano mood giving way to a wall of horns. Can it be that this piece is predicting the end? It is more serious than the rest while generating some guilty emotion and a little darkness.

The moral of the story; buy your loved one a little something on your way home today just for the element of surprise.

Can be purchased from the label.

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Katherine Young - After Party (Vol.2): Releasing Bound Water From Green Material (Prom Night, 2012) ***½

By Paolo Casertano

Katherine Young, by name and by nature, plays bassoon. The bassoon, or fagot, is scarcely known beyond the boundaries of classical music and orchestral repertoire. Many people, if asked, would probably not even distinguish its shape and know it has such a significant sound and it has had a weighty role for example in many Mozart’s compositions. You can say as well it is infrequently used as a jazz instrument (admitting - not me - that instruments have a preferential application to a music genre). What about the contrabassoon then? That’s the real blast!

In any case this artist may already boast about a substantial discography, important collaborations (Peter Evans, Fred Lonberg-Holm) and a broad live activity as solo performer and as a member of the various large ensembles under the tutelage of Anthony Braxton, extensively touring all over the world. She has been already reviewed on this blog, both as regards her solo work and in relation to the interesting duo “Architeuthis Walks On Land”.

The three-part present work started as a composition for a fixed percussion trio enhanced by an improvising and unorthodox ensemble - mainly brass, the bassoonist included - and it’s strictly connected to the video projections that visual artist Michael Kenney specifically developed for it. This results in a short (just 21 minutes) but highly pleasurable listen.

According to the liner notes from the label, the second episode “Capacity” is the only unaltered document of the premiere performance. In it, especially in the central part, the insisting wooden objects “carpet” perfectly melt with gongs, sticks, drums and for some passages (if I am correct) with a musical saw, building a coherent imaginary landscape made of tone-colors and almost tribal atmospheres.

Katherine Young has instead reassembled the opening and closing acts, respectively “Binding-Releasing” I and II, to encapsulate the main and dominant composition.  The first one moves among whispers, whistles, clacks and ventriloquisms provided by the many brass, softened by emerging gentle piano chords. There’s obviously a constant use of extended techniques by all the musicians. The second and final one starts and grows instead from a deep timbre surrounded by buzzes, obscure synth chords and breaths.

I’m sure that the live execution accompanied by the simultaneous video installment is the best embodiment to take advantage of such a composition.

The release is available for preview or as a digital download from the label and here you have the first part of the related video.

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Bogdo Ula - Crash Canis Majoris (self-released, 2012) ****

By Paul Acquaro

In the note that came along with Bogdo Ula's Crash Canis Majoris, guitarist Samuli Kristian indicated that the Finnish trio was making a conscientious effort to change up their sound. This power trio's music, which is fully improvised, features full throated guitar, punchy bass, and propulsive percussion. So, what could be wrong?

"In a sense," says Kristian, "we were becoming prisoners of freedom."

So, this time around the guitar has a drier tone, and minus some of lush reverb effects, the group has to work harder to fill space. Fortunately, they seem up to the task. In my last review of this group, I mentioned hearing echoes of Terje Rypdal's more rock oriented work, as well as the spirit of the Scorch Trio. While some of this still holds true, the sound leans in a rawer, less filtered, direction. I am having some trouble thinking of a direct comparison, but as their CD Baby page mention Nels Cline, I can see some common ground with the Nels Cline during the Trio era.

Crash Canis Majoris is a high-energy and highly melodic affair, and like I mentioned last time when I wrote about Prisoners of Freedom, it seems like these spur of the moment melodies could have been written out or perhaps should be written down as they are quite compelling and complete. Adding to the overall sound is the telepathic and tight interaction between the bass, drums and guitar.

The album kicks off with 'Your Sign Cygnus', which blasts off (to piggy back on the album's space travel metaphor) without a hitch. The trio's high octane performance will suck the air out of your lungs as fast as accidentally opening the ship's portal without your space helmet on. The energy continues from song to song, in fact, the transitions between songs is more like a momentary pause rather than begin a new song. 'Crash Canis Majoris' features Jean Ruin's punchy and driving bass lines and drummer Ivan Horder never lets up, always pushing the tunes and tempos forward. The song 'I Never Was Anyway' is probably the most atmospheric on the album, featuring space and suspense between the notes and the instruments. Other tunes, like the aforementioned opener, are exemplars of tight improvised fusion, with the guitar leading through dense thickets of arpeggios red melodies and biting chords.

Another good outing for the trio, a small evolution in sound, but still relying on their improvisational intuition.

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Russ Lossing – Drum Music – Music Of Paul Motian (Solo Piano) (Sunnyside, 2012) ****½

By Steve Mossberg

Paul Motian was a musician that crossed back and forth across the borders of composition and improvisation, the traditional and avant-garde, and rhythmic discipline and abstraction. He was the first, along with Chico Hamilton, to truly break jazz drumming out of its regular role, focusing on color, shading and negative space as much as traditional support for his bandmates.  The iconic figure’s passing late last year has spawned a number of well-deserved tribute albums, and Russ Lossing’s “Drum Music” is quite possibly the finest.

Ironically, the recording was not originally intended as an elegy. The music contained on the CD was performed live as an 80th birthday present for Motian half a year before he passed away. Lossing, Motian’s long time collaborator on both the pianist’s record and his own records and his own is one of New York’s greatest oft-overlooked players. He possesses immense physical power at the piano, but generally tends toward understatement and delicacy, and consistently releases albums of very interesting material and cerebral but intensely emotional readings of standards. “Drum Music” is no exception.

 Surely a major reason for the success of the project is Lossing’s familiarity with Motian the personality, and his fifteen years experience playing the material with the drummer. Perhaps more important is that how much his aesthetic and approach seem to mirror those of his old partner. On ballads like “Last Call” and “Olivia’s Dream” one hears a tender introspection and a sure sense of time and foresight. Lossing’s tempos are slow but self-assured, moving with purpose rather than urgency – and just as Motian played Bill Evan’s sweetest songs without sentiment over 50 years ago, Lossing carefully tends the composer’s gardens without weeping all over the flowers.

There is a great clarity in Lossing’s piano voicings on abstracted bebop numbers like “Fiasco” and “Mumbo Jumbo.” His wide reach is evident as he plays from all parts of the piano’s range, but more often than not, he goes for concise, complimentary bass lines and melodic dashes as opposed to thick chords, and in doing so produces a great deal of action and surprise in the music. The elastic rubato in the left hand regularly evokes Motian’s own elastic time, and is delivered with unwavering conviction.

“Drum Music” has a disciplined rigorous, highly intellectual sound that is  played out in a perfectly relaxed organic way. It’s a great testament of Motian the composer, a wonderful solo piano record in any context, and a fitting tribute to one of jazz’s greatest artists.

Very Highly Recommended

© stef

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Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc, Edward Perraud – En Corps (Dark Tree, 2012) *****

By Dan Sorrells

Two for two, Dark Tree. Last year’s Pourtant les Cimes des Arbres was a challenging, powerful piece of music, a perfect snapshot of the bold, demanding improvisation currently being produced on the French scene. It was also a hell of a way to launch a record label. So, even after multiple listenings, it’s still a little hard to digest the fact that their follow-up—En Corps, with Eve Risser on piano, Benjamin Duboc on bass and Edward Perraud on drums—is even more challenging and jaw-dropping. I’m utterly consumed by En Corps. Lately, I have little desire to listen to anything else. There isn’t anything else that sounds like it.

Duboc’s a large part of the label’s success—he features on both albums, and is one of the most interesting, idiosyncratic bassists in the improvising world. “In his works, he intends to shape time,” proclaims his bio. A seemingly nebulous statement, but upon reflection, one that actually captures Duboc’s sound with striking accuracy. He comes across more as a fearsome sonic omni-presence than a single voice in a trio. His colossal drones and hypnotic figures compose the very medium his band mates move through. The end result is a positively monolithic slab of sound. There’s an eternal quality to En Corps, like being suspended in some temporal void in which you have always been listening to these sounds, sounds that will continue on with no conceivable end. Even with music so intense and alien, it’s an awe-inspiring feeling; the raw “power of music” without any of its cliché connotations.

Don’t get me wrong—this isn’t all about Mr. Duboc. Perraud is a talented drummer, a blur of limbs who brings a nuanced ear along with all his free jazz fury. Risser, who headlines the bill, is a less familiar name, but a stunning musical presence. She works in stabbing chords, small repetitive motifs, currents of dark, muted sound. She never disguises the fact that she’s playing piano, and yet she doesn’t sound like a piano player. En Corps sounds nothing like a piano trio. Risser brings density and delicacy, strong rhythm and looseness, freedom.

And so I’m both consumed and confounded. I’m left to listen again and again, trying to puzzle out what it is that makes En Corps so thoroughly different from so much of what I’ve heard before. When it’s not on, I find myself yearning for its ambiguous rhythmic undertow, for the tiny details of piano that must surely be played by Risser’s third or fourth hands. So I pop it in the player again, and it’s always just as good. Best album of 2012.

Listen to an excerpt from “Chant D’Entre”:



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Many Arms - Many Arms (Tzadik, 2012) ****

By Philip Coombs

Many Arms do sound like many arms at times but in fact there are only six. Two belong to bassist Johnny DeBlase, two more are in the shoulders of drummer Ricardo Lagomasino, and the final two are home to guitarist Nick Millevol's fingers. This is the third album from this American trio and their first on Tzadik, with each member contributes one suite each to this three track recording.

Track 1, "Beyond Territories", strikes me as what Newton's first law of motion would sound like; a track not unlike hitting a golf ball on the moon. There is no friction interfering with the motion of this track and if it weren't for the restraints of the recording medium or a producer, this track may have continued forever. From its drum rolls and guitar licks and the bass keeping it all together, there really is a feeling of perpetual motion going on here. It stitches together repetitive segments until you just about can't take anymore and then it blasts into a wonderful free jazz affair.

"In Dealing with the Laws of Physics on Planet Earth", does, ironically, fit firmly into Earth's laws of potential and kinetic energy in continuing with an unintentional theme. This trebuchet of a track gets loaded and starts its slow winding to maximize the energy in the counterweight by using guitar and bass runs with feedback before the drums start the propulsion. It takes many arms indeed to wind the wheels on this one. Then thirteen and a half minutes in, after some very deliberate string picking and an ever increasing tempo, the concrete ball is triggered sending it straight into the air. The only shame is that you know it's coming and results in no great surprise.

The final track, "Rising Artifacts in a Five-Point Field", continues in an 'objects in motion stay in motion' until acted upon by a Lagomasino drum solo. This track starts like any good free jazz number should, full of direction and confidence, with everyone listening and yelling at the same time with some serious funk on the bass. Then the drums bash through the wall that stopped the strings in their tracks. This is a great drum solo break indeed, and completely unexpected as everything had been a complete group effort to this point, very welcome, but unexpected.

I did like this record on the third listen more than the second and much more than the first and am looking forward to the next. I also realized that I need to brush up on my grade school physics.

Watch them here. Can be purchased from the label.

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