When we talk about rhythm in jazz (even in free jazz), we refer to the
basic element of this music. When rhythmic moments in a piece are said to
reveal something essential, it always implies that something original is
exposed. It’s often said of the style-defining moments in music that they
are breathless, that all movement in them is stretched to a kind of
standstill on the one hand, and to breaking point on the other. What blows
our minds, e.g. in the experience of musical happiness, often occurs very
silently or uncompromisingly intense. Yet, often the subtle moments in
particular are easily overheard, be it because the roar of the other
instruments is too loud, the communication noise too dominant, the
irradiation of the other acoustic sources too determining, if not even
violent (which can be very fascinating, just think of the large formations
and the intensity mentioned above). Drummers are often responsible for this
intensity, however the best of them stand out for their restraint and
subtlety. Without any doubt it’s obvious that if you want to absorb sound
in free jazz in its full dimension, you have to experience the drums as
something essential, perceive them as real substance and not just as a dull
clock. Outstanding drumming is clarity, it’s colourful, it’s pulsating,
even if it is freed from time playing, it’s the foundation on which all
creative work of value grows. Paul Lovens has embodied all this for me
since I first saw him.
Lovens, who has been living in Nickelsdorf in Austria for quite some time,
has always been close to the members of the Berlin improv scene. One day, two protagonists of that scene, Australian bassist Clayton Thomas* and
German saxophonist Ignaz Schick met for an acoustic session, which went
very well from the beginning. They both decided that they wanted to expand
their new-born duo to a trio, which meant that they needed a drummer. The
story goes that several suggestions from Thomas were immediately declined
by Schick, who had the perfect idea: Paul Lovens. The result is Meeting the
Past, an album that presents two live concerts which took place in 2010.
And Lovens adds precisely what Thomas and Schick needed: his higher-pitched
snare drum, the millions of little click sounds he’s famous for,
hummingbird-like whirring, the hissing of ultra-precise cymbals - in short:
the subtlety of rhythm.
Meeting the Past is a programmatic title in a certain respect because
especially saxophone and bass always fall back on the jazz tradition.
Schick does this mostly with bebop melodies, Thomas and Lovens with
swinging bass or drums. But mainly Lovens prevents a drifting off into too
cheesy realms, when he steers the improvisation back to freer paths. A good
example of this is “First Meeting (Set 1)“. A very calm, ballad-like parts
seems to dissolve into free hardbop, Thomas’s walking bass grounds the
improvisation, Schick plays melodies that you can almost whistle along. But
Lovens, who’s definitely up for such fun parts, always captures both of
them. Still, the music is at its best when almost all harmonic and rhythmic
restrictions are abandoned. Then Schick’s runs sound like arabesque
melodies floating over debris avalanches. Another highlight is “Third
Meeting (Set 2)“ with its merciless, relentlessly forward-driving, swinging
passages, which are repeatedly interspersed with brutal drum intermezzi.
This is Lovens at his best.
The label decided to present the entire concert also including the audience
reactions and musician comments between the tracks in order to give us in
an authentic impression of the atmosphere.
*Clayton Thomas left Berlin in 2015 and lives in Australia again.
Meeting the Past is available as a download only. You can listen to it and
buy it here:
Is The Necks free-improv’s John Luther Adams? Has any other group
accomplished so much variety, plumbing endless depths, underneath a veneer
of minimalism? And what about the impression of self-seriousness one might
infer from titles that could easily pass for 20th-Century pomo social
novels: Aether, Silverwater, Hanging Gardens. And yet. As an
earlier album teased with its title Piano Bass Drums, a droll wit
precedes moments of sublimity. Piano by Chris Abrahams. Bass by Lloyd
Swanton. Drums by Tony Buck. It’s a straightforward math equation, where
one and one and one make, ahh but you get the joke. The cleverest part of Three, their latest full-length, is playing against type after
their brilliant 2018 album Body. Notably, the majority of The
Necks albums have featured a single, unbroken recording, around an hour
long, give or take. A handful of albums, including Three, feature
separate tracks and appear to use a predefined structure or set of
parameters, akin to, but not exactly, composition. Like many of their
studio albums, Three also has Abrahams, Swanton, and Buck using
production tools as a fourth voice in their ensemble, giving the effect of
a hyperreal performance. The album evolves over, here it comes again, three
tracks: “Bloom,” “Lovelock,” and “Further.” The opening minutes of “Bloom”
ooze from the speakers, like ink dripped onto blotting paper. Because of
its typical role as the lead instrument in a traditional piano trio,
Abrahams’s ebbs and flows surface more quickly than Swanton’s bobbing bass
lines, but the two establish an equilibrium that builds tension through
their sustained high-wire act. How long can they balance atop Buck’s
shuddering, percussive backbeat? Has the chord progression reversed itself,
or have I? In “Lovelock,” Buck plays crystalline chimes against waves of
electronic patterns and a simply gorgeous piano line from Abrahams. In 20
minutes, the trio oscillates between subterranean diversions and brightly
lit cadenzas, steadily amplifying (no pun intended) that fourth voice of
the studio. “Further” begins almost as a bloody mash-up of the two
preceding tracks, with a loping beat that steadily pushes against
steadiness itself. Swanton and Buck duel like drunken masters, while
Abrahams coasts around their playful rhythms. As with most other albums
from The Necks, the joys reveal themselves over many, many listens. And
just like those other albums, this one will be on repeat for a long time.
Bassist Gary Peacock passed away on Friday, September 4th at age 85. Peacock's work in free jazz goes back to nearly to the genre's beginning with his work in saxophonist Albert Ayler's groups, recording the highly influential Ghosts (Debut, 1964), Prophecy (ESP-Disk, 1964), New York Eye and Ear Control (ESP-Disk, 1964), Spiritual Unity (ESP-Disk, 1965), and Spirits Rejoice (ESP-Disk, 1965).
Peacock also had a long association with pianist Paul Bley. The two appeared on many albums together, including Virtuosi (Improvising Artists, 1967), Mr. Joy (Limelight, 1968), and of course Paul Bley with Gary Peacock (ECM, 1970). Following the ECM thread, Peacock worked for over 30 years with pianist Keith Jarrett, appearing on Standards, Vol. 1 (ECM, 1983), Standards, Vol. 2 (ECM, 1983), Changes (ECM, 1983), Standards Live (ECM, 1985), At the Deer Head Inn (ECM, 1992) and many others, up through After the Fall (ECM, 2018).
Peacock was born in Idaho in 1935 and later studied music at Westlake School of Music in Los Angeles, before being drafted in the Army. In the 1950's he was stationed in Germany and worked with European musicians such as Hans Koller and Atilla Zoller. Upon returning to the US, he worked in LA with Barney Kessel, Art Pepper, Don Ellis, Clare Fischer, Prince Lasha, and later in New York with Jimmy Giuffre, Roland Kirk, George Russell, Archie Shepp, and Bill Evans.
Pianist Marilyn Crispell has said Peacock as a "sensitive musician with a great harmonic sense" and Scott Yanow describes Peacock as "a subtle but adventurous bassist" whose "flexibility and consistently creative ideas have been an asset to several important groups". This last point, especially in terms of free jazz, is further explored in an article in Jazz Times by pianist Ethan Iverson which details Peacock's influence:
"In this molten context [Ayler's music], the bassist needs to blanket the bottom with activity. Nobody did it better than Peacock, whose raw charisma and fiery temperament could almost match Ayler in songful intensity. The album they recorded in 1964 with roiling Sunny Murray for ESP, Spiritual Unity, has gone into the history books as one of the most important of all time. "
Peacock's work in free music continued over the years in parallel to his more mainstream output. Personally, I recall being thoroughly confused (at first ... I just wasn't quite ready for it yet) and later beguiled by a duo recording with guitarist Bill Frisell entitled Just So Happens. If you can, listen to the opening solo bass run on 'Only Now,' it is tense and dramatic, and absolutely throbbing before the guitar begins dancing around deep pedal tones.
Peacock leaves behind an impressive discography as both leader and side-man. His last as a leader was Tangents (ECM, 2017) with Marc Copland, Joey Baron. The opening of Britt Robson's review in Jazz Times seems like a good coda this short tribute: "listening to Gary Peacock makes one pine for a world where all jazz bassists are steeped in Eastern spirituality, have played with everyone from Albert Ayler to Bill Evans and live to be an agile 82."
--- Filmmaker IJ. Biermann shared an interview he conducted with Gary Peacock in 2015 (more info below in the comments):
Other reviewers have accurately and effectively described The Necks music here, here, and here so there's no point in reinventing a well constructed wheel. The only anecdote that illustrates their broad appeal, even for a “cult band”, is they're one of the few groups my wife has responded positively to in the car on a road trip to the point of asking who they are and did I have anything else by them, which puts them in unique company. They're the quintessential sui generis group refusing to be pigeonholed into any convenient category. When I asked one of my buddies if he liked them he told me he'd spot listened to some of their recordings and wasn't interested. I told him they're not a spot listen kind of group, that you have to experience how they morph things over time into something different almost imperceptibly until the listener is left wondering how that happened.
Which isn't to say they're incapable of surprising their ardent fans even after 26 releases (according to Discogs, excluding singles and EPs, compilations, DVDs and promo releases). The opening cut of Three, “Bloom”, has an atypical electric drum pattern by Tony Buck that is rattlingly propulsive without having a real beat, underlaid by Lloyd Swanton’s popping bass sounding like a single rhythmic unit. Add cymbal splashes plus a persistent high hat and it's a hectically aggressive supersaturated soundscape that doesn't relent for over 21 unsettling minutes that seem strangely brief at the conclusion. Over this Chris Abrahams plays calming piano figures that seem oddly fitting as organ, synth and guitar filagrees make sporadic coloring appearances.
The second selection, “Lovelock”, is a spacious tribute to Damien Lovelock, longtime frontman of The Celibate Rifles, that would sound at home on an updated Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt in terms of being hauntingly austere. Processed drum rolls, tympanic and snare, sporadically appear along with tinkling bells along with shimmering piano notes and single note bass string staccato thrums as a sense of loss permeates the performance.
The final piece, “Further”, is more familiar territory for the band as Buck and Swanton start a loping rhythm to which Abrahams adds an effectively simple five note motif which gradually changes into something different, enhanced by descending smears of notes along the way before subtly giving way to the organ. Prior releases have employed this type of approach in album length cuts so Three gives the listener that number of multifaceted gems to enjoy and explore. Maybe even spot listeners might get snagged.
COVID has had a massive impact on the arts. The world of musicians has
changed beyond belief. A year ago if someone had said there would be no
live gigs, that venues would close their doors to paying audiences and the
incomes of musicians, artists and many creative people would fall to zero
in an instant, it would have seemed laughable. A ridiculous scenario. Then
came COVID19 and the unthinkable was suddenly reality. People had to think
quickly and come up with creative ideas to keep their industry going. The
pressure on music has been enormous and relentless. Live venues are going
to be amongst the last to re-open and many sadly will never open their
doors again. Even the few gigs which have been put together have been
strange and distanced affairs. On line music has been a salvation and far
flung collaborations have come about which have helped but the shock and
coming to terms with a very different musical world will have ramifications
far into the future because you cannot simply re-start live shows.
Rehearsals, planning, forward contingencies and safety rules all have to be
considered. It has been a lesson in community seeing how supportive jazz
people have been to one another. Reviews, books, new releases are still
happening but it is so different.
Mats Gustafsson is known for his energy, his relentless pursuit of new
directions, new musical directions and finding the uniqueness of changing
collaborators, whilst still returning to tried and trusted musical combos.
For him, the sudden shock of not playing live, not travelling and possibly
worst of all, not being able to delve into new record shops everywhere he
goes, has meant his world turned on its head in many ways. However, he it
is also hard to keep him down for long and a little into the lock down
period, we argued about the value of reviews, wrote a piece together and in
Mats, there is a boundless energy and optimism which wavers at times but
always re-surfaces, often in the form of a new idea. He is a musician who
can bring others round to his way of thinking in no time at all. I
interviewed him last week at the end of a long and difficult period where
normality felt like a long distant imagining.
SS
: It has been several months now since live gigs happened. Do you feel this
has changed the jazz scene long term or do you think that once COVID 19 has
eased we will go back to normality?
MG
: No, normality is not possible any more. It will be different. Maybe
something really good will come out of it. I am guessing it will mean the
end of the super-globality we have been watching during recent years. And I
really think musicians will pay more attention to local concerts and
possibilities which can really be a good thing. But to travel by air the
way we used to will not happen for a long time. I' m ready to take all the
positive sides and melt them all together and create something unique and
strong.
We need to come out of this stronger than ever. There are no ways around
that. There are so many global and local stupidities around us. So much
racism, sexism and inequalities and it is seemingly getting worse now.
The system kicks in only to give support to the big businesses, even more
now than before. At the other end of the chain people are suffering even
more.
Art, in general and music in particular has the power of changing things. I
truly believe so.
SS
: As a musician have you felt support from the jazz community during this
period?
MG
: Yes, sure. This music is build on the foundations of loyalty, support and
community. People are really helping each other out. There has been a lot
of funding given to charities especially in the U.S. Also in connection to
the BLM movement and related matters. This is good, as in G O O D !
Catalytic Sound*
has come together- from the creative ideas and mind of Ken Vandermark - and
this really made a lot of supportive actions and proved very impressive. We
stand united. This is such an interesting example of musicians taking
matters in their own hands and really doing something together but we have
a lot of stupidity to fight against.
However, in general it feels like the whole jazz community has stepped up
for its members and musicians and helped out in a beautiful way. The
support systems from various countries has been a bit on and off. Some
countries are fast and some slow and there is a lot of bureaucracy.
In some countries, there is no support but most countries have found a way
to support their musicians. But it is far from enough. We all lost so much
work and money during the last 5 months. It will be extremely hard to catch
up now. Many of my younger colleagues are starting university now. They are
becoming nurses, or other non-music related work . It is extremely hard to
support oneself now. The art needs help, that is for sure. But we will kick
it all back. Wait and see. Wait and hear!
SS
: You recently collaborated with Peter Brotzmann again after a long hiatus.
How was that?
MG
: I have worked a lot with Peter over the years. And now we are back and
working on things again a bit. There was a bit of a pause after the Tentet
and Sonore but I am still learning so much from Peter - good and bad things
- in a never ending process. Some projects are planned. Let's see. We did
some amazing concerts in Berlin in November last year. With Caspar (
Brotzmann), Per -Åke, Wertmüller, Pliakas, Jan St, Werner and others.
Really amazing stuff! Music that was really pointing in some new and
interesting directions and perspectives.
SS
: Have you worked with anyone else new to you recently and in what context?
MG
: I am always looking for new collaborations. That is part of the game. And
because of the present situation there will be much more local
activities during the next year or so. New collaborations, to me, has been
working with Lukas König and Thomas Stempkowski and some more people. But
basically, I have just been working with Christof Kurzmann ( Austrian
musician and composer, founder of Charhizma label) in a duo over the last 6
months. I have basically only played with that duo and in solo situations.
I love working with Christof and we really have been playing a lot during
the lockdown. This is a good thing. Low dynamic ecstasy!
SS
: I know you have been writing a lot. Are there books planned?
MG
: There are many books planned at the moment. And I even have time to
write. One is with Thurston Moore but there are other ideas too.
SS
: How is your vinyl collection/business going and has this been affected by
the lock down period?
MG
: Well, I have had no time no time to spend in record shops at all which is
a real bummer! I have been online but it is not as satisfactory as being in
a real shop. I have been trading a lot, though. I scored some amazing
original posters from the 60s. Some deep jazz shit! Original flyers from
Slugs saloon, Cecil Taylor poster from 1962 and more, much more. ESP stuff
and I managed to buy a whole collection of spiritual jazz / free jazz
privately. Some good stuff indeed. So, this period has not only been bad,
haha. The archive needs new fuel all the time. ( Mats has a basement
stuffed with his collection).
SS
: I know it has been tough personally and you lost your Dad during this
time.
MG
: Yes, his name was Bengt Anderson . He taught me everything about
solidarity and politics and he is much missed.
SS
: What are your hopes for the immediate and long term future of jazz, given
that the Covid situation hit the industry hard?
MG
: Short and long term: an economic catastrophe. So many of my younger (and
older) colleagues are really suffering at the moment. It was pretty bad
before corona hit us. Things had changed a lot during the last 10 years.
The support has been far away from being enough. It is hard to guess where
this will end. It looks very bad. However, music, art and poetry will
always survive. That is a sure thing. Nothing else matters but we all have
a very rough time ahead of us.
On the other side it is truly amazing to see how people have been helping
each other out during this crisis. Both BLM and COVID have affected the
life and activities of so many people but the attitude has been great among
the community which is really assuring. It shows solidarity for real.
I feel very optimistic about continuing working on various projects and
also with the groups I have running. I can't help myself, I am always
putting together new projects . With some of them we even had to cancel the
first gigs already, ha ha! I am going to try to make a quartet with Mette
Rasmussen, Ingebrigt Flaten and Will Guthrie which will happen over the
winter.
I am also enjoying loads of time with the family at the moment, which is
great for my life and for music. I am also catching up on many recording
projects, mixing and writing as well. In my view, we have to use this weird
time in a good and creative way. There are loads of creative things to do
and make happen. Is say, let's do it!
*Catalytic Sound is a cooperative of musicians coming together to support
each other through sustainable support and generates revenue directly for
musicians by purchasing records from independent labels. Some of the income
goes to developing new projects.
https://catalyticsound.com/about.php
Brussels-based portuguese bass player Hugo Antunes has been releasing what he calls his 'bootlegs' on bandcamp: recordings of gigs or rehearsals or impromptu performances that did not undergo much editing and post-production.
We can be grateful to him for posting this album, a two hours - actually 125 minutes - trio performance with the late Dutch trumpeter Sanne van Hek and Belgian drummer Nicolas Chkifi, recorded during a session in the drummer's basement in 2012. Four of the tracks were recorded on the first day and five tracks on the third day of the improvisation. What happened on the second day is not clear.
The availability of this album made me rejoice because it is one of the few albums on which Sanne van Hek performs with such clarity.
Sadly, Sanne van Hek passed away on April 9 of this year at the age of 41. Her personal musical output as a leader is quite limited, with the "Black Napkins", her trio with Jasper Stadhouders on guitar and Gerri Jaeger on drums, reviewed in 2009 as one of the highlights. She got her initial formal music training on bass and drums, and only switched to trumpet at the age of twenty. She performed in modern jazz bands with the Magic Malik Orchestra or even mainstream with Rebekka Ling, but her real interest lay in sonic and electronic explorations. I saw her perform a few years ago, and despite the quality of the performance, I more than once wondered why it was even needed to use her horn, because many of the sounds could have been created without the physical effort of blowing into her instrument, but I guess that's the whole point of art, to make one wonder. Her most ambitious project in this sense was with her Sannety ensemble: "Network of Stoppages", celebrating the 100 years of Marcel Duchamp's painting with the same title (now at Moma).
But back to Antunes' Brussels bootleg ... The sound quality is of course not as you might expect from a fully produced album, even to the extent that the first piece is cut off quite abruptly at the end. The balance between the three instruments is very uneven. But all that is counterbalanced by the intensity, the fun of the performance and the quality of the performance itself which keeps the attention going. Van Hek does not have the technical skills of Susana Santos Silva or Lina Allemano, but she shares the same authenticity and audacity of approach, a straight from the heart inventive combination of expressivity, exploration, intelligent development and good listening skills. Despite the basement performance, each piece stands on its own and appears in full (except for the first track). I am not sure how happy she would have been with the result: she was a perfectionist, even switched completely to electronics in the last year.
Listening to the full album for the third time now, you can tell the trio were enjoying their own musical interaction. As a listener you can also feel this, and there is much to enjoy too. It is not a masterpiece but it has the merit to exist. It has the merit to offer us a testament for a too little known musician, a restless spirit and explorer of musical form and sound.
I apologise to Hugo and Nicolas for not writing too much about them, but I'm sure they will understand, and I want to thank Hugo for making this music available. Music to treasure.
Pedro Melo Alves is a young Portuguese percussionist and composer whose work freely mixes composed and improvised components. His five-part
composition In Igma, as mysterious as the conjunction of its title
and spelling, arises where borders between the composed and improvised seem
never to have been drawn, passages that could only result from both methods
operating simultaneously, or one evolving seamlessly into the other. The
group includes three singers: Aubrey Johnson, Beatriz Nunes and Mariana
Dionísio; the instrumentalists are pianist Eve Risser, bassist Mark
Dresser, guitarist Abdul Moimême and Melo Alves
himself, employing a broad range of drums and percussion.
The highly developed, multi-dimensional, vocal component sometimes reaches
the elastic virtuosity of Cathy Berberian or Barbara Hannigan, but then, in
the same exploratory spirit, the singers’ vocal harmonies suggest a
medieval choir, at once modal, warm and ethereal. The last effect is
enhanced by some subtle mixing of additional vocal harmonies. That mixing
and matching of the post-modern and the deeply traditioned will bring
startling textures to the fore: at some points the three voices haves a
cartoon helium quality, while in the concluding “In Igma III‒On Void,”
another achieves an ecstatic ululation in the same stratospheric range.
Singers and instrumentalists alike operate at a special level of musicianship and invention, whether it’s Risser’s subtle, repeating
dissonances or upper-register flights, or Dresser’s supreme sonorities
whether it’s his arco cello voice or a dense pizzicato obbligato.
Moimême’s unique sonic reach from guitar tones to electronic burbles and
industrial percussion can lead to unidentifiable intersections of sounds,
blending at one reach into Dresser’s bass and at another into Melo Alves’
array of drums and cymbals. The work is ultimately less a series of musical
episodes than an evolving, compounding dream state, an abstracted musical
narrative in which voices (instrumental ones included) intersect and
transform. One looks forward to Melo Alves’ next extended adventure and
hopes comparable companions are available.
The humorous name, the amateurish cover art, the short 15-minute playtime,
and the quick 6-day turnaround from recording to release might belie the
sublime listening experience of the two solos on Two Energy Cops at 3AM, on which John McCowen channels prime Evan
Parker’s skronky soprano solos.
Both tracks here are continuous due to circular breathing and multiphonic,
with at least four clearly audible lines of: (1) a deeper, woodier, more
controlled, more dynamic primary line; (2) a lighter, breathier, morse
code; (3) a metallic rattling and purring; and (4) shrill, sometimes
martial overtone interjections that can build to screaming outbursts. The
interactions of these dynamic lines form a rich polyrhythm with an
impressive breadth of pulses and pitches and colors. The higher frequencies
of the Bb clarinet contribute to the harsher, noisier character of the
music, compared to the mellower tones of the contrabass clarinet so often
found in McCowen’s music. The sensibilities concerning pacing and placement
of accents and rhythmic or timbral changes is expert; nothing here is
static or monotonous or sterile. It’s simply an awesome set of solos that
will wow most listeners.
And it demonstrates McCowen’s continuing development in the mastery of the
clarinet family, as the clarity and control of these various simultaneous
techniques is noticeably elevated compared to, for example, 4 Chairs in Three Dimensions. A delight to listen to and highly
recommended. It’s brevity might actually encourage repeat listens.
Listening to Invisible War repeatedly I never stopped wondering about the
title. It’s one of those small things that tend to get stuck in my head.
Does the title imply the inner wars that any artist, any human being has to
deal? Is it, maybe, a reference to our current dystopia, the eschatological
feelings inside many of if us?
The pairing of two Greeks, Skordas on soprano and tenor sax, flute and
tarogato with Chytiris on drums, came out on July even though it was
recorded in 2018-19 in Thessaloniki. Bad period to launch a cd for sure,
but many people out there still struggle. I’m not sure if the two have
played together before, but Invisible War makes it really clear that their
interaction is on the highest level. Having caught Chytiris live, I’m
pretty sure that his flexibility as a drummer played a big part on this.
Invisible War consists of seven tracks where the coltraneish dynamics
of their duo are mapped by Skordas’ buoyancy on the wind instruments and
Chytiris instant ability to adapt. One of the most significant values of
the duo is the ability of the two artists to interact, to play on the same
level, on the same time and space. Skordas and Chytiris manage to
incorporate all this into their playing. It has nothing to with speaking
the same language but, more importantly, with communicating in this non
verbal language we call music and being open.
Openness has always been a key element in Free Jazz and one that
differentiates this (let’s call it) genre from structured musics. Even
though Skordas rapidly moves from another wind instrument to another,
there’s this basic feeling of togetherness. I could also trace fragments of
Greek and Eastern Europe traditional melodies. Sometimes I caught myself
wishing that I could get more of that-tradition for most Greeks is always a
do not touch affair.
The ritualistic aspect of this recording is something that goes across all
the tracks and makes my Balkan roots feel at ease. But, mind you, not in a
way that’s soothing for the listener. It is an adventurous feeling of
displacement. Of a music belonging to a certain place but travelling
everywhere at the same time. A spiritual journey to say the least.
Chicagoan sax player is a busy man during so-called normal times and even
more during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. In the last months, he has emptied
his safe of treasured live recordings, released weekly on his Aerophonic
label, while other recent projects are being released by himself and other
labels.
Znachki Stilyag is a somewhat nonsense title in Russian, roughly translated
with the help of google as "hipster icons." This playful title captures the
spirit of the performance of the powerhouse trio Ballister - sax player
Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, who also adds electronics, and
drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, at Moscow’s DOM club in October 2019. Rempis,
Lonberg-Holm, and Nilssen-Love are, obviously, not the typical hipsters but
each of them has become an icon of free and energetic music in his own very
special way, and even more so together as a trio.
Ballister celebrates this year its tenth anniversary and Znachki Stilyag is
already its ninth album, recorded during a European tour. The riotous
energy of the Moscow audience pushed Ballister to new heights. But this
live performance also marks a new era of Ballister. Rempis adds here more
space, breath, and eccentric humor to his ecstatic playing; Nilssen-Love
continues to incorporate influences from his ongoing collaborations with
Ethiopian and Brazilian musicians, and Lonberg-Holm’s breadth of musical
experience is on full display here.
Ballister focuses here on intricate, long-form improvisations, that reveal
an underlying logic and organic structure. The titles suggest some insights
about life on the road. The opening, almost 40-minutes “Fuck the Money
Changers” flows naturally from one intense climax to another - some are
ecstatic and playful free jazz segments, others are openly emotional and
lyrical and few are sparse, abstract and even exotic ones, as the trio
exhausts its fast-shifting dynamics and exploratory sonic excursions, with
laser-beam accuracy. The following “hotel Mary Poppins” is a twisted but
highly passionate version of a chamber jazz interplay, obviously, faster
and louder, and the last “Old Worms” is an explosive, freak-out with such
intense energy and rhythmic drive that could warm up the whole Moscow
region for the entire Russian winter.
One of the performances that I - and probably most of you - would pay a
fortune to be there.
Dave Rempis / Elisabeth Harnik / Michael Zerang - Triple Tube (NotTwo,
2020) ****
Triple Tube is the second album of the trio of Rempis, fellow-Chicagoan
drummer Michael Zerang and Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik, following
Wistfully (Aerophonic, 2016), and, again, was recorded live in Graz,
Austria, the hometown of Harnik, this time at Tube’s in March 2019.
The atmosphere of this performance is reserved and introspective. Rempis
plays the alto sax and enjoys the free-associative exchange of ideas with
Harnik that often suddenly ignite into intense and openly emotional ones,
while Zerang charges this tight interplay with fragmented pulse and colors
it with an array of percussive objects. Later on and throughout the second
piece, Rempis, Harnik, and Zerang suggest their distinct perspectives of a
percussive-playful conversation that shifts through abstract and more
focused, fiery moods but not explosive ones. This development highlights
Harnik’s wide-ranging ability to offer an imaginative vocabulary and sound
for every abrupt shift. She hammers the keyboards, rubs the strings inside
the piano, and sketches a fragile, almost transparent melody that invites
Rempis to even more emotional playing. Rempis, Harnik, and Zerang begin the
encore as a fragile, ethereal drone that slowly gains more power and volume
- literally, until the brief, playful coda.
TOC & Dave Rempis - Closed For Safety Reasons (Circum Disc, 2020) ***½
Closed for Safety Reasons presents an obvious match. TOC is French,
Lille-based trio featuring keyboards player Jérémie Ternoy, guitarist Ivann
Cruz and drummer Peter Orins that has developed its own genre-bending
aesthetics - free, hypnotic pop-funk, post-rock and jazz core, or as the
trio calls it: disturbing, orgiastic and communicative. Rempis with his
academic studies of ethnomusicology and African studies, his experience
with free jazz and free improvisation and captivating energy fits perfectly
to the unclassifiable language of TOC and its claim to shake feet and
heads.
TOC invited Rempis to join the trio in February 2018 for the release
concert of Will Never Play These Songs Again (Circum Disc, 2018) at the La
Malterie, Lille. Later that year
Rempis joined TOC again for a short European Tour and recorded Closed for
Safety Reasons at La Malterie. Local tenor sax player Sakina Abdou from the
local musicians collective Muzzix was invited to join this quartet on the
last piece. Rempis feels at home with the dense and powerful
eclectic-electric-psychedelic mix of TOC. His energetic and restless
playing on the tenor and alto saxes pushes TOC even further to more
extreme, wild, and intense but also to abstract and mysterious territories.
He blends organically with the free-associative, joyful trance of the
free-improvised pieces. The addition of Abdou on “Temporary Lease” deepens
furthermore the ethereal-atmospheric-psychedelic spirit of this meeting and
she immediately finds a common language with Rempis.
Sangliers - Minuscules (The Bridge Sessions) (Aerophonic, 2020) ***½
Rempis first engagement with TOC coincided with The Bridge invitation to
connect with more French improvisers, in an attempt to enrich their methods
and philosophy about free music, or as double bass master Barre Philips
calls it: “try to widen the circle”. Rempis came to this meeting with
fellow-Chicagoan reeds player Keefe Jackson, who hosted him in his Project
Project and Likely So bands, and met the French percussionists - Peter
Orins - from TOC, and Didier Lasserre and pianist Christine Wodrascka. This
quintet was supposed to tour this year, but, again, the Covid-19 pandemic
forced the cancellation of this tour.
The beginning of this meeting is hesitant and sparse. Rempis and Jackson
sound as searching for melodic, playful free jazz dynamics while Wodrascka,
Orins, and Lasserre focus on sound-oriented free-improvisation, but soon
all find common ground and dive into a heated, collective conversation of
five strong-minded, “forces of nature” as The Bridge call them. And already
on the second piece “Cristatus” this quintet establishes a stimulating
interplay that challenges the ecstatic, free jazz aesthetics of Rempis and
Jackson with the abstract and elusive sonic paintings of Wodrascka, Orins
and Lasserre. This interplay intensifies later on and the following pieces
“Ukh Ukh” and “Gu Gu Gu” stress the profound affinity of Rempis and Jackson
and the imaginative and detailed rhythmic conception of the French rhythm
section. On the last “Gu Gu Gu” it is clear that both sides assimilated
ideas from the languages and syntax of each side and expanded their
improvisation strategies. This piece swings naturally between driving
rhythmic patterns and minimalist and abstract sonic searches.
McPhee / Rempis / Reid /Lopez / Nilssen-Love - Of Things Beyond Thule
Volume 2 (Aerophonic, 2020) ****
The second volume of this ad-hoc quintet, created by chance, and featuring
heavyweights as Joe McPhee on Pocket trumpet and tenor sax, Remips on alto
and baritone saxes, cellist Tomeka Reid, double bass player Brandon Lopez,
and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, is different from the
first volume
(Aerophonic, 2020) that offered slow, contemplative development of one,
extended piece. This volume offers four free-improvised pieces that ebb and
flow in their own accord between lyrical and reserved conversations and
powerful eruptions. Both volumes were recorded on the same warm and
intimate night at the Hungry Brain club in Chicago in December 2018.
This volume highlights McPhee's unique gift to articulate - including with
vocals - simple, elegant melodies, often with only a few phrases. McPhee’s
dark, warm tone immediately sets the spirit of every piece, and again and
again, brings the quintet into quick focus. Rempis wraps McPhee’s wise
gestures with lush harmonies full of cinematic and quiet, pastoral beauty
that distill his full arsenal of sound. Their beautiful, emotional
conversations are the center of this volume,. The ferocious outbursts of
the rhythm section of Nilssen-Love, Lopez, and Reid cleverly contrast these
deep talks, but the whole quintet never loses sight of their collective
mission. Or as Rempis puts it: “a genuine understanding of how to be
responsible to and for one another”.
Rempis / Rosaly Duo - Codes/Myths (Aerophonic, 2020) ****
Rempis calls the almost twenty years musical relationship with former
Chicagoan, now Amsterdam-based percussionist Frank Rosaly a
once-in-a-generation variety. These close friends have worked together as a
duo since 2004, and later on in Rempis Percussion Quartet, Ingebrigt Håker
Flaten Chicago Sextet, and Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet, have seen one
another through various relationships, family trials and tribulations, and
other life-defining moments. These experiences solidified a unique musical
affinity that is singular in its intimacy and its strength.
Codes/Myths was recorded live at the Elastic Arts club in Chicago in
January 2018, and you can sense instantly the sheer emotional joy of two
old friends rediscovering each other, feeling totally relaxed, completely
at home. There is no anxious rush to explore and exhaust musical ideas or
to reach cathartic climaxes but to suggest a mature and confident vision of
two experienced improvisers who take their time and investigate every
ramification of one another’s statements and all aspects of their highly
nuanced rhythmic interplay. The extended pieces “Patterns in Distance”,
with Rempis on the baritone sax, and the shorter one “Air in Between''
sound like deep and soulful meditations with some melancholic colors on
life’s struggles but also on the comfort of profound friendship and only
close to its conclusions settle on delicate grooves. The shorter piece
“Glitch” and the last, extended “Aletheia'' offer some insight into the
raw, kinetic energy of this duo, documented on their previous album
(Cyrillic, 482 music, 2009), but, still, both pieces develop in a patient
manner.
Rempis says that Codes/Myths is “more than a record, it’s a living
illustration of the human as social animal, and transparent expression of
how intimate that can be”. Say no more.
