Jazzfest Berlin 2020: Day 3 (NYC <--> BLN)

 By Paul Acquaro

Well, it's a stream, I can bring it to wherever I am, and just as easily as I pick it up, I can drop it. I'm not in the concert hall, rather I'm in the kitchen, or in the home-office, or who knows where. I'm not packed into a seat, and I'm not exactly glued to one either. What does it mean? It means that no one would notice if I showed up late for NYC based vibraphonist Joel Ross' opening set - but also that I could circle back and catch the beginning because everything is being archived and streamed on demand. Actually, I didn't ponder this very long, even though I did come in late, I was quickly taken by Ross' thoroughly engrossing set. Savoring the moment to perform, Ross led his sextet 'Good Vibes' through a series of climatic moments, and finally ending on a hymn-like piece. I'll definitely be coming back to this one. 

Joel Ross' Good Vibes © Wolf Daniel / Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn New York

The group waiting in Berlin to go on couldn't have been more oceans apart. Decked out in furs (assuming synthetic) and other bedazzling ornamentation, MEOW! is the quartet of synth player Liz Kosack synth, drummer Jim Black, bassist Dan Peter Sundland, and vocalist Cansu Tanrıkulu. They mashed up punk, cyber-punk, new-wave, no-wave, a little metal, a tiny bit of jazz and a whole lot of auto-tune. Riffing on musical styles, the group also offered strangely provocative lyrics channeling cat sensibilities (like, for instance, really liking mice) and American problems like the car seats not being heated enough while driving to Starbucks, and the group offered more than a dash of humor.  

 

MEOW! © Camille Blake / Berliner Festspiele

A historic moment passed during MEOW!'s set: the major news outlets in the USA announced Joe Biden as the next US president. In Brooklyn, German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock spoke over the live-feed with festival curator Nadin Deventer just after the announcement was made and said that the mood was already festive in Brooklyn with cars honking and people cheering outside so loudly that it could be heard inside. Laubrock then performed with pianist Kris Davis, the two have a long history of playing together and recently released Blood Moon on Intakt records. The music, coasting on the breaking news, evolved into a conversation between two friends who happen to be world class musicians. Davis' gorgeous, edgy lines mixed wonderfully along with Laubrocks serpentine melodies. In interview with WBGO host Keanna Faircloth after the set, Laubrock and Davis recalled that they were playing a show in Germany in 2016 and woke up to the news that Trump had won the previous election. They felt a different energy tonight at Roulette.  

 

Ingrid Laubrock & Kris Davis © Wolf Daniel / Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn New York

Back to Berlin: drummer Jim Black, this time in a more traditional piano trio with pianist Elias Stemeseder and bassist Felix Henkelhausen, took the stage. The trio has an accessible modern sound that straddles a line between modern and free-jazz. The trio also has a recording out on Intakt called Rekon.

 

Jim Black Trio © Camille Blake / Berliner Festspiele

Next, on a pre-recorded Zoom meeting, Deventer discussed with British pianist Alexander Hawkins how the pandemic changed his work with Lebenese/Berlin based visual artist and rapper Siska's, on thier sensory musical experience "SUNNOSPHERE". The commissioned piece kept on meeting new twists and turns, up to the end, explained Hawkins who could not be in Berlin because of travel restrictions. Calling it "a beautiful musical challenge," Hawkins acknowledged the parameters and problems of not being able to have the original group of musicians playing together, and how the focus shifted to an electronic environment supported by a graphic score. This revelation may have lead to very first "Jazz Festival Screen Share" ever, as the pianist showed off some charts. "It's a vague set of instructions," he explained. Judging by the subsequent concert, being in the hall would have been a memorable experience as an electronic disco ball with a tape cassette running on it floated between trumpeter Lina Allemano and bassist Nick Dunston, while Siska rapped in Arabic.

  

Alexander Hawkins & Siska: „SUNNOSPHERE“ © Camille Blake / Berliner Festspiele

Shifting back to Brooklyn, drummer Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double, a dependably good group, playing an energetic set. Fujiwara mentioned in the post set interview that a new recording from the group is currently being mixed, which is something to look forward to. 

  

Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double © Wolf Daniel / Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn New York 

Then, back to Berlin to the final show from Berlin based - and winner of this years Berlin Jazz Prize - saxophonist Silke Eberhard with the tentet Potsa Lotsa XL. Eberhard, who with the group had been exploring the work of Eric Dolphy, for the festival took on the work of composer Henry Threadgill in a show she called "Silver and Gold Baby, Silver and Gold." Threadgill, who is an original member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, continues to expand his body of work, and his latest recordings on PI Records have each been occasions to celebrate. Eberhard's set served as a joyous end to a kaleidoscopic program of music.

 

Potsa Lotsa XL: „Silver and Gold Baby, Silver and Gold“ © Camille Blake / Berliner Festspiele

Again, too much to hear, too much to watch for one day. I'll have to head back to the on demand to catch back up with the earlier groups like Joel Ross, and Hydropuls and Philip Zoubek Trio. 

Closing day is Sunday, with events starting at 3:00 p.m. Berlin time. Be sure to tune in and catch what you have missed, and keep up with the day. Here is the link.

And a closing note: during the festival the pandemic's impact on the arts was stressed several times and made an appeal to help support artists. This is very important. Please support artists. Please support the arts. 

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Jazzfest Berlin 2020: Day 2 (Berlin <--> New York City)

By Paul Acquaro

The connection between Berlin and New York for Jazzfest Berlin 2020 was fully realized today. Starting at 4 p.m. CET (Central European Time) or 10 a.m. EST (ya know, New York Time), WBGO's Nate Chinen introduced alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin who led her group through a set of John and Alice Coltrane's music. 

 

Lakecia Benjamin  ©Wolf Daniel

 

Suffice to say, Coltrane's sound filled the Roulette concert hall as drummer E.J. Strickland (replacing Darrell Green), bassist Lonnie Plaxico, and pianist Zaccai Curtis evoked a classic spirit. Benjamin took to the stage, playing to the robotic camera system and an audience attuned to their screens. She was ablaze. Within the first 15 minutes she and the band reached a level of intensity that set the bar high for the rest of her set. Though inspired by the Coltranes, Benjamin added her own sound, both reverent and modern, making it something new.

Then, switching to the stage in Silent Green, part-time Berliner Lina Allemano and her trio Ohrenschmaus offered a fascinating contrast. The fiery precision of Benjamin's set gave way to the precise firings of Ohrenschmaus' kinetic improvisations. To begin, Allemeno blew a fuzzy tone and Dan Peter Sundland drew a bow against the strings of his electric bass. Then, with drummer Michael Griener's help, the trio broke into a series of jittery syncopated passage. 

 

Lina Allemano and Ohrenschmaus © Camille Blake / Berliner Festspiele

 

Watching the concerts online does allow the mind to wander and to wondering: what does it mean to perform like this, sans living audience, but very much live in/to the world? Allemano captured this notion well when, after an intricate piece came to an end, she said "it's unnerving when there is silence ... in my imagination there are other things going on ...". Similarly, Benjamin introduced the band after their first tune as if there was a live audience there - and there was - but not able to provide feedback. New dynamics are at play.

Like what came next in the livestream. The performance from guitarist Philipp Schiepek Quartet was pre-recorded in Munich prior to the festival, but was premiering now. The piece “Meadows and Mirrors”, a sophisticated slice of modern jazz, was composed by Schiepek for the festival. This was followed by another pre-recorded concert, this time from Cologne, where trombonist Shannon Barnett led her quartet through a mix of modern jazz compositions, ending with a freely improvised piece.

Then, the concert moved back across the ocean to Roulette where woodwindist Anna Webber's group 'Clockwise' took the stage. They began by blowing a dissonant circular riff punctuated by sharp rhythmic hits. Reaching a peak of intensity, a solo passage on the cello opened up a new avenue of possibilities, eventually leading back to buzzing dissonance from the horns. Webber is a master of creating these knotty tunes. Her compositions often build in concentric layers, a mix of syncopated lines and fraught passages leading to gripping moments. (Check out her album Clockwise on Pi Recordings). 

Anna Webber's Clockwise ©Wolf Daniel

The group that followed, back at Silent Green, was actually the most "technically" advanced groups, so to speak. The duo TRAINING incorporated Işıl Karataş on live electronics, and playing from his apartment in the USA via Zoom, John Dieterich lent some guitar work (and also drank coffee for everyone). Performing against video backdrop, the group ran the gamut from fiery free jazz to digitally enhanced post-rock explorations with a little skronk mixed in. 

TRAINING feat. John Dieterich and Işıl Karataş (not in pic) © Camille Blake / Berliner Festspiele

This was the halfway mark, and having started at 4 p.m. and stretching until midnight, the amount of music was already staggering. Aside from the music, it is also interesting to watch how the musicians interacted - from performing to an empty hall to talking in real-time between Berlin and Germany, along with the interweaving of previously recorded performances, one gets the sense of more permanent transformation of the ideas of performance and festivals in the future.

... and it begins again on Saturday with Joel Ross live-casting from Roulette at 10 a.m. EST (NYC) and 4 p.m. CET (Berlin). For a full lineup, head here.

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Ab Baars & Joost Buis - Moods for Roswell (Wig, 2020) ****

 

By Stephen Griffith

It's hard to believe it's been fifteen years since Kinda Dukish was recorded by the Ab Baars Quartet, formed for that recording by trombonist Joost Buis joining the reed player's longtime trio of bassist Wilbert de Joode and drummer Martin van Duynhoven to tackle selections from the Ellington/Strayhorn song book. You'd think that redoing the classics with innovative variations would be old hat for the New Dutch Swingers, to coin Kevin Whitehead’s term, given the ICP Orchestra, of which Ab has been one of the younger members, and its spinoff groups’ treatment of Monk, Herbie Nichols and some occasional forays into Ellingtonia. But the first cut of “Kinda Solitude” (Kinda was the prefix for all the new arrangements) sounded like Albert Ayler had been transported into the lead tenor spotlight which, after the initial shock wore off, worked out very well in a piano less quartet setting as the harshness dissipated into a soothing ending. Since Ellington tailored his arrangements around the sounds of his soloists, that gave ample leeway for the group to be respectful and innovative in a superb collection.

Since then Ab and Joost started playing informally together at their homes to work on composition ideas until the interactions became interesting enough that they started performing in concert as Duo Baars-Buis. Included in their practice sessions were new arrangements of Ellington compositions for just the two. Removing the rhythm instruments creates both challenges to coherently perform the pieces and opportunities to be innovative. And Buis, who studied with Roswell Rudd, to whom this release is affectionately dedicated, learned how to play very percussive counterpoint in his lessons with another Ellington aficionado. Fortunately the Ellington/Strayhorn body of work is largely familiar and unfailingly melodic so that musicians can nimbly work around the chorus before finally stating it without losing the attentive listener. This is what happens in the opening cut, “Sootywing (Black Butterfly)” as the two deftly flit around the melody without touching it like the namesake before finally lightly landing on it at the end. Baars’ facility on clarinet, advanced by studies with John Carter, carries the Jimmy Hamilton melody on “Catskills Cyclist (Sonnet for Caesar)” while Joost becomes a one person brass backing section through skillful use of mutes. “Wig Wise” was from the Money Jungle trio recording on Blue Note with Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Ab on tenor and Joost thoroughly deconstruct the melody in a languid manner, first in unison and then dancing apart, before briefly hitting it energetically hard near the end of “Two Ways (Wig Wise)”.

In keeping with the spirit of the original compositions, all of these ten adaptations are under five minutes. Two of the compositions, “Cool and Gentle (Mr. Gentle & Mr. Cool)” and “Hopkins Rudd (Jack the Bear)” (as a brief aside, before I discovered Hopkins was Roswell Rudd’s middle name an internet search revealed that Jack Hopkins is an international bear expert), were redone from Kinda Dukish’s “Kinda Gentle” and “Kinda Bear”. The current version of “Cool and Gentle (Mr. Gentle & Mr. Cool)” spends most of the time being gentle on the clarinet, albeit with a martial beat, before cooly strutting away at the end with blaringly muted trombone accents. “Hopkins Rudd (Jack the Bear)” travels in some inspired territory before returning to the theme. The final piece, “Moods for Roswell (In a Sentimental Mood)” features Baars on a ghostly ethereal shakuhachi before Buis almost imperceptibly inserts the Ellington melody at the end in a touching tribute.

The period between these Ellington based releases coincides with a gap in my not small music collection from the Amsterdam scene, a previous and ongoing source of great pleasure. Ab was very open about discussing changes in the club and concert venues there as well as the passings and retirements of some of the original key players. But he assures me that it is still a vibrant entity with an ongoing influx of new blood, and the ICP Orchestra still exists. This recording was like a letter from an old friend.

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Jazzfest Berlin 2020: Opening Night

By Paul Acquaro

Jazzfest Berlin opened with a 90 minute live-cast 'show.' Of course, it was not supposed to go down this way. The previously scheduled meet the artists panel had to be swiftly reconfigured as a broadcast event, and the result was an inviting tour of the long weekend of music ahead. Streamed live, the event took on a variety show format with the festival curator Nadin Deventer acting as master of ceremonies.

The event kicked off with a broadcast of the Berlin's Kim Collective's commissioned video made at the start of the Corona crisis in the temporarily shut Hotel Henri. In this setting, old world charm mixed with surreal humor as music making ensued. The broadcast and subsequent interview made for a nice start. Then, the focus shifted to video art from the group "TRAINING", who are performing with Deerhoof guitarist John Dietrich (who will be joining the group via Zoom during their Friday performance) and then to a video from Moor Mother reading a new work (Moor Mother performed at the festival in 2018).

Focus then shifted to the center piece of the festival: the collaboration with Roulette in Brooklyn, where New York based bands will be live-casting performances to Berlin (in real-time, so they begin at 10 a.m. in New York). Jim Stanley, founder of Roulette, was himself streaming in from his loft in NYC (real-estate envy, ja) and spoke about the influence that his experiences at both the early FMP events at the Akademie der Kunste in West Berlin and the 1971 edition of Jazzfest Berlin had on him starting the Roulette concert series in 1980 in his loft space. In 2010, the series was moved to its current location in a theater on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Some music followed. Recent Berlin transplants Witch 'N' Monk - Heidi Heidelberg on guitar, and Mauricio Velasierra on flutes - played a short captivating set of minimalist progressive-rock. The duo will be performing with another somewhat recent Berlin transplant, drummer Jim Black, on Friday.

The opening event closed in conversation with bassist Joel Grip, who spoke about the group 'Topsi Unter Haltung', a small orchestra with a home-base at Au Topsi Pohl, a performance venue in Berlin of which Grip is part proprietor. He talked about a made up language "Ap Lla" and the orchestral works that the group created for the festival. In regards to the made up language, it was a case where letting the music do the talking was the best approach. The first of two long form pieces, "Ceremony of Ceremonies" featured strong classical underpinnings as well as full-throated free jazz crescendos. "Ap Lla", it turns out, is quite a musical language (hmm, maybe no surprise there really), and complimented the piece nicely. While the piece itself began with some pantomime from Grip, he soon moved to the bass and led the group through the rhythmic intensities and gossamer lulls.

While opening night had its ad-hoc quirks, whether it was spoken in "Ap Lla" or English, a warm embrace was certainly felt. A nice start to the upcoming 27 events over the coming days, overcoming the constraints and concerns of a global pandemic. 

All you need to know about the weekend can be found here.

And to learn more about Ap Lla, download the book! 

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Jazzfest Berlin 2020 goes virtual (a preview)

By Paul Acquaro

If anything, Jazzfest Berlin's curator Nadin Deventer and the team behind the Jazzfest Berlin have taken the constraints and unpredictability of these Corona ravaged times and crafted them into something even bigger. Other mediums that had already played a part in the previous two festivals have become core elements: namely the extension of the concert into the world beyond the festival's main location and the multi-media works.

In recent years, the festival had spread itself into the western Berlin neighborhood where festival artists performed in apartments and stores in the neighborhood around the concert hall, as well as into some of the nearby jazz clubs. This year, the partnerships extended to a series of live concert/radio-broadcasts from other cities in Germany and into an exchange across the Atlantic to New York City. 

Commenting on the fluid situation, Deventer writes on the Festival's website "we were aware of the concern that all of this might have to happen without any audience at the venues. And now it has become clear: Audiences will no longer be allowed in any of the venues, either in Brooklyn, in Berlin or the other German cities. I am delighted that all 27 projects can take place over the four days of the festival as announced."

So, this year, the Europe based musicians are still playing live at the Silent Green art space (a more than a century old crematorium turned official art space) in Berlin, and US based musicians will play from Roulette art space in Brooklyn, NY, but without the in person audience. The concerts are still happening in real-time, the US musicians begin performing at 10 a.m. EST to appear - online - at 4 p.m. CET in Berlin. The concept, as of last week, before the latest set of restrictions kicked in, was to have a live audience at Silent Green who would watch the live stream from overseas and enjoy live the European bands. Now, everything can be seen online on Arte TV and the festival's own livestream.  

In addition to the work at the main concert hall at Silent Green, there are several commissioned multimedia works being presented at the Kuppelhalle. Revolving around the idea of 'Outer Spaces', the visions of Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk and other outwards looking cultural phenomenon inform site specific music, light, and video works. The artists include bassist Joel Grip with the ensemble "Topsi Unter Haltung" performing a ceremony in a "lost and reinvented artificial language" on Thursday (more info); Witch ’n’ Monk with LUX:NM and Jim Black: “FLUID FORMATIONS”, where percussionist Jim Black and the contemporary music ensemble LUX:NM perform to abstract video scores (more info); and “SUNNOSPHERE”, which finds the British pianist Alexander Hawkins and Berlin based video-artist and rapper Siska, working with a group of musicians to create an immersive sound world (more info)

Finally, or maybe firstly, leading up to the festival, the Berlin based "KIM Collective" - artists and musicians who have added to the in-person concert experience in previous editions with sprawling interactive sculptures and musical performances - has produced a series of videos highlighting the strange emptiness and performance-lessness of current times. From the American side, saxophonist Matana Roberts presents "Stay True" a provocative piece described as "a sonic meditation on American state sanctioned violence" (see here) and pianist Jason Moran contribute's video based performance "Sayins" (watch here).

There is a lot going on with the Festival, even more than is written here, and it's a bit hard to keep it all in mind! However, you can take you time, enjoy from anywhere, without a ticket. 

Activities begin Thursday, November 5th at 7 p.m. with a chance to meet the artists, followed by the Topsi Unter Haltung's 'Ceremony of Ceremonies'.

The concert's can be streamed from the Festival's site, see the schedule and video here.

or on demand on Arte.

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Franz Hautzinger Round-Up

By Eyal Hareuveni

Austrian experimental trumpeter Franz Hautzinger, now based in Morvan, France, has developed in the last two decades an idiosyncratic sound that borrows its aesthetics from electronic, digital music to his quarter-tone trumpet. He employs unorthodox embouchure techniques and unique ways of modulating the streams of air, plus amplifying the slightest puff by intense miking inside the horn. The following releases offer different aspects of Hautzinger’s art.

Birgit Ulher / Franz Hautzinger - Kleine Trompetenmusik (Relative Pitch, 2020) ****

W.A. Mozart’s famous Eine kleine Nachtmusik is by no means inspiration for the duo trumpets of experimental German, Hamburg-based Birgit Ulher, and her sonic soulmate Hautzinger, now based in Morvan, France. But Kleine Trompetenmusik, recorded at Ulher’s flat in May 2018, suggests many subtle surprises and sonic nuances in the five dialogs of these idiosyncratic improvisers.

The trumpets are no more brass instruments but an assemblage of metallic tubes and valves that stream, channel, and manipulate breaths and air. Ulher adds radio, speakers, and objects to her arsenal. Extended breathing techniques and careful timbral research are integral elements of the deal, but the focus here is not about the technical aspect or sonic inventions, but on the always inventive, lively, and intimate conversational interplay and about the imaginative exploration of a rich spectrum of uncommon and abstract sounds.

Each of the five pieces has a distinct atmosphere. “Firn” focuses on sculpting very talkative, ethereal gestures, and the occasional attempts to discipline these imaginative gestures into loose kind of bubbling, rhythmic patterns. “Griesel” offers a fragmented, lyrical melody within a quiet drone, punctuated with sudden silences and abstract noises. “Filz” alternates between a very quiet and unworldly storm and a nervous electroacoustic sound. “Eibisch” is an intimate talk, quite playful and naturally eccentric, where Ulher and Hauztinger focus on raw, guttural sounds and restless breaths. The last “Zuuf” plays with rhythmic sounds and breaths that sound more like abstract electronic sounds, articulated beautifully with a great sense of timing. Inspiring set of duets.

Regenorchester XII - Relics (Trost, 2020) ****

Hautzinger founded the Regenorchester (Rain Orchestra in English) project in London in 1995 as an experimental. Cross-genre ensemble. This project morphed throughout the years into a lab of free-improvised music and hosted in its evolving incarnations close friends from the Viennese as guitarist Burkhard Stangl and Martin Siewert (who mixed and mastered this recording), Australian guitarist and sound artist Oren Ambarchi, American guitarist Ava Mendoza, and British drummer Steve Noble. The twelfth incarnation of this project features an all-star ensemble - Hautzinger on quarter-tone trumpet, fellow Austrian guitarist and sound artist Christian Fennesz, Dutch player of acoustic bass guitar Luc Ex (aka Luc Klassen, formerly of The Ex) and Australian drummer Tony Buck (of The Necks fame) and Japanese guitarist and turntables player Otomo Yoshihide, all took parts in previous incarnations of the project. Relics was recorded live at the Klangspuren Festival, Schwaz, Austria in September 2019, and reflects faithfully the inclusive vision of this ensemble.

Relics incorporates organically elements of art-rock, noise, and drone into its intense and wild free-improvisations. Hautzinger’s fast, staccato-like phrasings are at the center of the opening, title-piece and soar above the distorted storm of Fennesz and Yoshihide guitar and the percolating pulse of Ex and Buck. Buck builds a massive pulse on the following, the raging and chaotic“Arbre”, with only Hautzinger attempting to inject a coherent narrative into this tensed piece. Hautzinger’s whispering quiet breaths set the tone to the enigmatic, nuanced drone of “Icon”. The following “Fanfare” intensifies slowly the subtle, sound-oriented interplay of “Icon” and creates a dense palette of thorny, nervous sounds, anticipating an apocalyptic climax, but Hautzinger opts for a peaceful conclusion. “Dogman” delivers the promised, cathartic climax with a magnificent, cosmic meltdown of Haitzinger extended breathing techniques, Fennesz and Yoshihide’s tortured guitar lines, and Ex and Buck wild pulse. This performance ends with the haunting, cinematic drone of “Taimn”, with some lyrical overtones of Hautzinger’s trumpet and Buck’s percussive work, soon to be veiled a dense wall of noisy sounds of the Regenorchester XII.

Duthoit / Hamann / Hautzinger,/ Johnson / Pultz Melbye / Walters - Evolve (SoundOut, 2020) ****

Evolve suggests another, but a completely different approach for free-improvisation. The ad-hoc quintet of Hauztinger, his partner, French vocal artist-clarinet player Isabelle Duthoit, Danish, Berlin-based double bass player Adam Pultz Melbye, and Australian, Berlin-based cellist Judith Hamann, and fellow Australian guitarist Ren Walters and sax player Richard Johnson, was recorded during the SoundOut festival in Canberra, Australia in February 2018. Evolve documents the first-ever performance of this sextet, and the many ways its interplay evolves, shifts, and grows into intersubjective beauty.

This four-part performance develops organically, in a free-associative manner while offering its own, fragile, transient logic. Hautzinger and Duthoit begin this performance with an intimate duet of bubbling breaths and urgent, suggestive whispers and wordless utterances, setting the tone for the haunting, minimalist first part of this set. Walters, Hamman, and Johnson intensify methodically this kind of reserved, minimalist commotion on the second part and the whole sextet acts as a tight and wild yet democratic sonic entity on the third part, stressing the mysterious incantations of Duthoit. The performance reaches its climax on the last, fourth part, an inventive and poetic, conversational interplay, highlighting the immediate affinity, the strong and totally individual voices, the patient, chamber interplay, and the wide-open sonic horizons.

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Mats Gustafsson & Wendy Gondeln - The Shithole Country & Boogie Band (featuring Wolfgang Voigt and Martin Siewert) (Corbett vs Dempsey, 2020) ****

By Stephen Griffith

How can anyone look at that title and not be at least a little curious? Add in a genre busting sonic master blasting blog fave like Mats Gustafsson and the curiosity becomes “I gotta hear this". So what’s it sound like?

First off, other than some brief processed voices there aren't any vocals so this isn't Shockabilly 2020. As for the boogie part, the label's writeup describes this as spasmodic dance music. Wendy Gondeln (otherwise known as visual artist Albert Oehlen) has been pursuing various music projects since 1999, including with Rüdiger Carl, of minimal distorted electronic music to which very raw violin sounds are added. Gustafsson has been friends with Oehlen through his visual art and this project of combining their wildly different musical approaches had been contemplated for a while before Mats was recorded solo by Albert in a gallery in Weidingen, Germany. Then Wendy took that material and started processing and manipulating it, often converting an already ominously projecting sound into something even more so, and adding violin parts and electronic beats. Then they met up in Martin Siewert’s Vienna studio for mixing and mastering, plus Siewert added guitar and laptop guitar parts to “Crowdfunding” and “Sloop”. Finally, Wolfgang Voigt was invited to edit and remix two of the cuts, “Jazz Abstrakt 1.3” and “Gabber Jazz”, giving them an ethereal cinema noir feel.

My first reaction to listening to this was “what the hell is this” and wondering if I was a new Robert Crumb foil in an updated version of Torturing the Saxophone. By Gustafsson’s admission this is very different from what he's done previously, which covers a lot of ground, and he knows some listeners will hate it. But once the initial shock is over the interplay between Gondeln’s unusual violin playing and the processed blats of sound from Mats becomes oddly fascinating as a listener becomes aware that there's a lot going on underneath the strange surface. The eight songs are five minutes or less except for the ten and a half minute “Gabber Jazz” closing cut but in the short spans specific statements are coherently developed.

One of the songs, “Cooler”, takes a structure of a rock song, something like “Roadhouse Blues” from Morrison Hotel, played on a processed organ and staticky rhythms and flanks it with Mats’ intermittent spaciously enhanced baritone blasts on one side and Gondeln’s violin strumming on the other along with other synthesized noise. “Yesterday” sounds like a stripped down to the drums “Right Off” from “Jack Johnson” only with tongue slapped sax bursts, violin sawing with processed vocals and electronics floating through. Those references to other songs might be listener specific and others might hear something very different.

I don't think I've ever gone through such changed attitudes in the course of reviewing something as this. I went from “choosing to review this was a mistake” to “this is better than I initially thought” and ended with “I hope they do another project” about which Gustafsson sounds ready. But for Mats presence I wouldn't have listened to it and still don't know how to adequately describe it other than the label’s “highly conceptual experimental sound art” seems fitting. Reviews by the usual suspects are hard to find, although I suspect something exists behind The Wire’s fortress of solitude fire walls, so others are surely perplexed. But I think Gustafsson, Gondeln and friends have caught lightning in a bottle at least once.

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Larry Ochs - Aram Shelton Quartet - Continental Drift (Clean Feed, 2020) ****

By Matthew Banash

Continental Drift by Ochs-Shelton Quartet asks, “Can a quartet album of different generations be like-minded companions?” By the work of this group with Ochs on tenor and sopranino, Shelton on alto, Kjell Nordeson on drums and Mark Dresser on double-bass for six tracks and Mark Walton on double bass for the balance, ultimately one realizes it's a rhetorical question.

Not immediately accessible but not impenetrable, at times the songs meander or lurch or step up tempo and velocity, but they always have a reason or motivation or goal. This is not a seamless integration and for me that is its best feature. The two horns are not battling but speaking in their own idiom lapping or overlapping, paralleling or contrasting one another as the rhythm section locks in to complement or expand the music, with what the liner notes call “new music with a jazz approach and an avant-garde attitude.” Ochs and Shelton divide the composition duties evenly.

The opener, “Another Night,” by Shelton, starts with the horns dancing like snakes that then give way to a languid bass-drum conversation. Ochs tenor enters at the same, easy gait, like someone just stepped outside to see what’s happening now that the sun has gone down. Shelton and Ochs get back together then trade off on a nice carpet of rhythms from Norderson and Dresser. The dynamics are subtle, even graceful as the tune ends.

“Slat” from Ochs’ pen is up next and like its predecessor takes its time revving up. Horns stammer and stutter, before gaining momentum from Norderson to break into some out playing, again the two horns working individually with a collective purpose. Dresser explores the range of his bass, too, giving the tune a soothing undulating vibe.

Both Ochs and Shelton have experiences in different scenes, from New York to Chicago to San Francisco and even overseas now for Shelton whose groover “Switch” conjures up his time in the Windy City; a little freer, at times but with those locked in rhythms that are one hallmark of Chicago’s contribution to the jazz diaspora.

Mark Walton and Ochs open the latter’s “Continental Drift” with the somber grounding of a bowed bass and the fluttering flickers of Ochs’ horn before Shelton and Nordeson chime in. There’s almost a slight electro-acoustic tone to this piece, which given the leaders’ background in disparate genres is no surprise. It's a music that I’ve come to only later in my jazz wanderings. So, I’m toss around phrases like “sound-sculpting” at my own risk but there is a sense of construction, of building a piece out of sound to my ears. In the context of the album it isn’t a misstep or diversion but another mile-marker on the way.

Anita,” by Shelton slows everything down in a good way, call it an “almost chamber ballad.” Twittering horns and rolling cymbals simply emanate from the speakers and horns begin soliloquies and conversations. It's a spacious tune, allowing the listener to drink deep at the well.

“Strand” by Ochs starts off with some bass and drums and sounds like the Chicago influence is rubbing off in the best way. Ochs tenor ratchets up the heat with a throaty scorch as Nordeson and Dresser manage to support and encourage his playing.

Aram’s “Test Shots” settles into its own groove and sounds as if Shelton is synthesizing the concepts of earlier tracks. This is the sound of a band working at focused purposes rather than cross purposes

Ochs’ sopranino opens his composition, “The Others Dream”, the album’s magnum opus, could be its own release. He flutters and squawks as Nordeson minds his cymbals and kick drums sounding almost like a pianist to my ears. The sounds can be fractured or stuttered but responsive. The artists let the music unfold at its own pace, moving through several phases. Ochs blows some gut-bucket avant-garde, and Shelton contributes his swirls of sound later. Rising and falling seems to be a theme. And while 19 plus minutes can be a challenge coming to it as its own piece may be the best way for one to enter at first.

Each of us carries a history of places, faces, ups and down. And while our experiences are unique, they are common, too: we all have them. Larry Ochs and Aram Shelton Quartet create a space where a variety of experiences mesh to create a new, vibrant listening one. Take your time, work on it, let it work on you.

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Reeds & Skins

 By Stef Gijssels

There is little we can do to give credit to all the creative music that is being released these days, as if the lock-down has given musicians and labels the opportunity to dig up existing performances, to prepare a good production and to release them, often digital only. 

There is little chance for us to review everything, so here's a list of recent sax and drum duo performances, with sometimes some and sometimes little information. It is as if the sax-drums duets have been piling up over the year without review, despite the fact that the format is quite frequently reviewed over the past years. 

We can highlight the existence of these albums to the fans, in the hope that they will find something of their choice. A "reeds & skin" menu if you like, but up to the reader to taste them herself/himself. It's a little much, I know. Enjoy! 

John Butcher & Riccardo La Foresta ‎– Live In Italy (Weight Of Wax, 2020)

You're all familiar with John Butcher, of course, but probably less so with Italian percussionist Riccardo La Foresta. He is the inventor of and at least sole performer on the "drummophone", "a wind instrument made from a drum that generates resonances on the skin and offers new tonal possibilities and preparations of the vibrating surface. In live performance the sound emancipation of the mechanical parts of the instrument brings a new vitality of the traditional gesture and leads to unpredictable sound responses: gestures conducted to the maximum and minimum auditory consequences on the surrogate of a drum setup", is what I read on the drummer's website. 

Because of the unique resonance and stretched tones of the percussion instrument, it finds a kind of natural ally in the British saxophonist, whose interest in exploring timbre and resonance are known as his artistic trademark. When Butcher was invited by La Foresta to perform together, he accepted for two concerts in Italy. 

Without a doubt the result is unique, to a large extent by the use of the drummophone but not limited to it: the instrument and the performance by La Foresta help to create a great context for Butcher to expand his own sound. The three tracks - each around 13 minutes long - contain within themselves a whole suite-like level of variety, with little blocks of interaction moving into the next development, ranging from very quiet to voluminous moments, when the drummophone could even be mistaken for a bowed bass, an organ or a wind instrument. 

Not to be missed. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Steve Noble & Yoni Silver ‎– Lost (Self, 2020)

A slow and dark sonic exploration by Steve Noble on drums, percussion, cymbals and gongs, and Yoni Silver on bass clarinet. They demonstrate excellent listening skills and tight musical coherence. It is quiet, subdued, intimate but gradually becoming more expansive (and ending in animal growls). Abstract in concept, very concrete and physical in its in-the-moment delivery. 

The performance was recorded in 2015 at Hundred Years Gallery in London, after a long period of both musicians having shared the stage together. The seamless interplay testifies to this. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Mia Dyberg & Rudi Fischerlehner - Pause (Farai, 2020)

One of my favourite albums on this long list are Mia Dyberg from Denmark on alto and Rudi Fischerlehner from Austria on drums. We reviewed one of their previous albums "Berg", but I prefer this one. It is fresh, unassuming and aspirational at the same time, intimate and inventive. They continue to use the same concept as before, taking a natural environment as inspiration, in this case a park in the middle of Berlin Kreuzberg. The music is refined, gentle and with strong character. 

A piece of candy in a dark world. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Evan Parker & Zlatko Kaucic - Arkosberg (Klopotec, 2020)

In fact the album has two CDs, one a duet between Parker and Kaucic, while on the second both are joined by Massimo de Mattia on flutes and Bostian Simon on saxophone, but that does not concern us here: we focus on the first of the two disks. Evan Parker performs on soprano and tenor, and Kaucic plays zither, percussion, electric zither and objects. 

Parker is inspired, as is Kaucic, with the former resorting often to his familiar circular breathing bouts, leading to mesmerising moments of high intensity, and the latter using his full array of inventive drumming techniques (such as combining a drum roll with bowed tones). There are moments of silence and calm waiting for the music to develop. The pace is measured, without the urgency of some other sax-drums duets reviewed in this list, and this benefits both the quality of the performance, its variation and interplay. Two masters at work who do not have anything to prove anymore, just enjoying their music in a very fresh and smart performance. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Catherine Sikora & Ethan Winogrand - Things To Do In Paris (2020)

Sikora enjoys the freedom of small ensembles as her discography testifies (duets with Ross Hammond on guitar, Matteo Liberatore on electric guitar, with Brian Chase on drums, with Christopher Culpo on piano, with Eric Mingus on bass), several of which have been reviewed on our blog before. 

In 2014, when having residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris (Sikora is Irish), she heard that drummer Ethan Winogrand was also in town, and they managed to get a performance organise on very short notice. This album is the result of that meeting. 

The performance is really excellent. Sikora's lyrical, melodic flights which mix sensitivity with power are perfectly balanced by Winogrand's listening and response skills. Even if she leads the dance, he does much more than just support her efforts. He forces her several times to change course, adding variation to the idea she developed. At times they both leave each other some solo space, respectfully and it works, in the sense that the intimacy of the performance is even more accentuated by it. 

The album is a real treat of creativity and inventive interaction. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Kyle Bruckmann & Tim Daisy - Loop Language (Relay Digital, 2020)

At least Kyle Bruckmann and Tim Daisy manage to expand the reed-drums duet into something more and into something new. True, Kyle Bruckmann plays oboe/English horn and electronics, and Tim Daisy uses a whole array of percussion from the regular drum kit over marimba to glass bowels. 

The electronics and the glass bowels add an element to the more traditional duo format, with jazzy themes, strange lyricism, unpredictable atmospheres, eery rhythms, unexpected changes, weird interactions, pushing boundaries. Some are even outright too much, such as "Muck (Tim)" - but you don't win if you don't take chances - yet the last track on English horn is surprisingly gentle, melodious and lyrical. Despite the wealth of variation and inventive ideas, the core sound remains coherent from the first till the last notes. 

Two great musicians at work. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Andrew Cheetham & Alan Wilkinson - The Vortex Of Past Time (NWO, 2020) 

The duo is Andrew Cheetham on drums and percussion, and Alan Wilkinson on alto & baritone saxophones, bass clarinet and voice. 

The performance was recorded and mixed at Queen's Ark Audio, Manchester by Karl Sveinsson on 25th April 2017. The music is at the same time warm-toned, energetic, dynamic, fierce and raw. Free improv as we like it. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

John Dikeman & Aleksandar Skoric - Mo Faya! (Doek, 2020)

The duo are John Dikeman on saxes and Aleksandar Skoric on drums. The album consists of four tracks. The first one was recorded in January of this year at the Oude Kerk Charlois in Rotterdam, the three other tracks from a concert at a Cultural Center in Amsterdam the next day. 

The half hour Rotterdam track resonates in the church, as if we are listening from a distance. It is a no holds barred high energy work-out. The Amsterdam tracks have a somewhat closer feeling, even if the sound is still more distant than you would expect. The music stays fierce and high energy throughout. The art work gives you a good idea of the music. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Greg Osby & Florian Arbenz - Reflections Of The Eternal Line (Inner Circle Music, 2020) 

We have a different approach by modern jazz artists Greg Osby on saxes and Swiss percussionist Florian Arbenz on drums. The music is further inspired by a third party, the painter Stephan Spicher in whose workshop the performance took place. In contrast to some of the other albums in this list, there is more variation between the different tracks. 

Arbenz demonstrates a lot of his skills, by creating complex polyrhythms that drive the improvisations forward as on 'Wooden Lines', the first track. We have alternating leadership with Osby creating different and calmer atmosphere as on 'Chant', the second track, or on 'The Passage Of Light'. Most other pieces are mid- to uptempo, full of rhythmic joy. Arbenz may be trying to demonstrate his technical skills a little bit too much for my taste (it's about the music, not the instrument). 

The sound quality is excellent as is the musicianship. A Highly enjoyable album. 

Ilia Belorukov & Peter Ototsky - Conspects (Self, 2020)

We're back into a more exploratory context with Ilia Belorukov on alto and Peter Ototsky on drums. The former is a Russian iconoclast, relentless creator of new sounds from noise over electroacoustics to free improvisation. His compatriot is possibly less known, even if he has already a few dozen albums in his name. 

The first two tracks are recorded live on April 15, 2018 at the Museum of Enterpreneurs in Moscow, the last three tracks a year later at the same venue without an audience. 

The playing is direct, varied, fully acoustic, varying between violent - "Contact" - and sensitive moments - "Comfort". "Contrast" starts as a barely audible soundscape of tiny sustained notes built around the silence of the space, while "Conflict" drives us into more avant-garde territory full of shifting dynamic explorations. The album ends with "Contract", and bookends the album with another ferocious exhchange. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Batchko & DeMerritt 69-70 (Self, 2020)

This is a twenty-minute one-track performance by Chicago-based drummer Jason Batchko and L.A. based saxophonist Matt DeMerritt. Their interaction is unrelenting, ferocious, fierce and full of energy. 

There is a second track planned. Why it is not already available is a mystery. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Keshavan Maslak & Charles Moffett - Blaster Master (Mutant Sound, 2020)

The next duet is between Kenneth Keshavan Maslak on sax and Charles Moffett on drums. The former is possibly better known as Kenny Millions. The music is violent - agressive even. The soloing is usually very bluesy, using primarily pentatonic scales with little variation. The sound quality is not so good either. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Patrick Shiroishi & Dylan Fujioka - Neba Neba (Orb Tapes, 2020)

The duo are Patrick Shiroishi on alto and baritone saxophone, and Dylan Fujioka on drums and percussion. Both musicians have performed appeared together in several ensembles over the past years, going back to Chelsea Wolfe’s 2013 album “Pain Is Beauty”, and as recently as 2019’s “Borasisi,” where they played alongside percussionist Alex Cline and saxophonist Vinny Golia. 

They bring us three improvisations, two very long ones clocking 25 and 29 minutes respectively, separated by a shorter three minute piece. 

The performance is amazingly lyrical and offers a nice juxtaposition between slow soloing and robust drumming. Fujioka often takes a lead or solo voice, playing in a very creative and entertaining way. Shiroishi alternates well between his high singing alto, often resulting in deeply felt cries of agony, whereas the baritone interestingly offers more rhythmic and melodic forms. 

The sound quality is excellent, giving you the impression to be part of a personal concert in your room. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Jason Stein & Adam Shead - Synaptic Atlas (Ears & Eyes, 2020)

The duo between Jason Stein on bass clarinet and Adam Shead is equally enjoyable. They bring us eight tracks of warm and pleasant interaction. There is no power or violence to be noticed, energy surely, intensity too, yet the interaction remains warm, creative and exploratory. Both musicians demonstrate their artistry in a very natural, almost organic flow, navigating through moments of wonder and suprise to instances of supressed anger, sometimes in a kind of parlando style or one of solid determination. Stein's skills on the bass clarinet are exceptional, but the creative techniques and approaches of fellow Chicagoan Shead are a new force to be reckoned with. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Andreas Schulz & Paul Engelmann - Broome (OMP, 2020)

Andreas Schulz is the composer and drummer, Paul Engelmann plays alto sax. To be sure about the hierarchy, it is "Andreas Schulz featuring Paul Engelmann". 

There are to versions of the album released this year, one is called "Jazz Edit", the other one "Saxophone Edit", with three more albums to follow in the series: Electro Edit, Piano Edit, and Deluxe Edit. The series is inspired by Los Angeles and New York where the composer resided for a few years. 

The compositions/improvisations are smart, but also friendly and melodic. Even if inspired by the music of Coltrane and Coleman, the atmosphere is a little too welcoming and gentle. The playing is good, but you would expect more artistic courage and vision from musicians with their skills. 

Ben Goldberg & Kenny Wollesen - Music For An Avant-Garde Massage Parlour (BAG Rec, 2020)

Ben Goldberg plays clarinet, Kenny Wollesen percussion, including vibraphone, slide vibes, diddley bow and bells.

Goldberg already released zillions of improvisations this year, as part of his corona lockdown blues, OK to this date he has reached number 176 of his Plague Diary, and it is still continuing (but we hope he stops soon, not because of his music, but because of the pandemic). 

This album is a little outlier in this series, primarily because of Wollesen's melodic percussion. He provides a harmonic background to Goldberg's clarinet in a way that a drum kit cannot do. They also add some electronics, resulting in unexpected textures. 

Both add another 21 tracks to this years productivity. Not bad. Neither is the music. It is inventive, unusual and gentle. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Peter Brötzmann & Szilveszter Miklos - At Mu (Adyton, 2020)

I am not too sure what to think about this album. It's a duet between Peter Brötzmann and Hungarian drummer Szilveszter Miklós. The sound quality of the performance is not excellent. At the beginning of the performance Brötzmann clearly takes the lead, and Miklós is possibly too respectful, taking too much of a waiting attitude, and it's only when the drummer gets his solo moment that he dares show his skills and ideas. Brötzmann is good although at times maybe flying too much on automatic pilot. He plays tenor, clarinet and tárogató. 

Recorded live at 12. Újbuda Jazz Festival at MU Theatre, Budapest on 2 September 2016. The vinyl album is available in 300 copies. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Steve Baczkowski & Ravi Padmanabha - Open Door (Self, 2020)

The opening tones of "Open Door" immediately tell you that this is a different kind of sax-drums duet. It starts with Baczkowski on didgeridoo and Padmanabha on sarangi, an Indian fiddle, inviting the listener to another musical universe. Once you're through the first track, all hell breaks loose with a fierce sax-drums duet in the expected sense: violent howls and ferocious percussion push each other to the limit while constructing something meaninful together. On the third track, we are again somewhere else: with flutes and tabla playing a beautiful, slow, meditative piece, only to be pulled out of our reverie with the next track, which is again raw, direct, struggling, harsh. This alternation keeps happening track after track. It is the exact opposite of what you could call a single vision or a single musical voice, but of course that's the point somehow, you get transposed to a completely different place with each track. 

It think this is their sixth duo collaboration and you can tell that they sense each other perfectly, regardless of the instruments used or the musical style employed. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Bertrand Denzler & Antonin Gerbal - Sbatax (Umlaut Records, 2020)

One track, two musicians going a for full thirty-eight minute long physical work-out. French drummer Antonin Gerbal is clearly the lead voice in the duet, setting the scene, determining the energy. His fellow countryman keeps up the pace on his tenor, not an easy task but he increasingly gets into it, once he gets to more rhythmic phrases. Gerbal is just relentless, going on and on, going so far as even making the audience shriek and shout. Denzler has no other option than to turn his sax into another percussive machine, churning out the same middle register phrases again and again, trance-like, with the physicality of the effort getting more importance than the variation and exploration. This is high energy power music. And you will be exhausted when it ends. 

Patchwork - Patchwork (New Focus Recordings, 2020)

Patchwork is an unusual album. The performers are Noa Even on saxophones and Stephen Klunk on drums. The music was written for them by Erin Rogers, Eric Wubbels, Dan Tramte, Osnat Netzer and Hong-Da Chin, all five avant-garde composers who are new to me (apologies!), but who get some more exposure thanks to Patchwork. The liner notes mention that "Influenced by the worlds of free jazz, metal, progressive rock, and the avant garde, Patchwork's commitment to stylistic hybridity is matched by their fidelity to the score". Listening to the music, one can understand the reference to many styles (but metal?). The playing is refined, structured, with very strong dedicated parts for the sax and drums separately and jointly. Even if there is improvisation, the precision of the interplay gives away its composed foundation. The quality of the performance is stellar, the music itself is of varying nature, at times playful, at times complex, at other times quite unexpected. Especially the last piece, "Gr!nd" by Chinese composer Hong-Da Chin is a fascinating composition, more creative and more emotionally gripping.  

Like most composed music, it lacks the deep emotional resonance of free jazz and free improvisation, as well as a too balanced structural leveling out of the excesses of free music. On the other hand, it is also a refreshing exercise in listening to composed avant-garde music. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Ha! In the end it was a little more than just listing the albums. Check them out. I did not rate them with stars, because I should have listened much more and with more depth to each album to do it credit. 

Enjoy!

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WHO trio - Strell: The Music of Billy Strayhorn & Duke Ellington (Clean Feed, 2020) ****

By Stuart Broomer

The Swiss-American WHO trio of pianist Michel Wintsch, drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Bänz Oester has been playing together since 1998, developing a close musical rapport and a loose, creative identity, a group that looks like a traditional piano trio but that has a lightness that comes from close listening, something that also permits the group’s imaginative flights and rhythmic ease in difficult terrain. While their approach here to the compositions of Ellington and Strayhorn significantly loosens the rhythmic and harmonic structures of the material, leaving it free to drift into new shapes and patterns, WHO possesses some essential qualities with which to address this work, a certain wit and also an innate elegance, a certain grace that’s part of the respect that much of the material--too subtle to demand—requires (some of the older material seems to need a certain rough touch).

From the outset, there’s a certain deconstructive impulse at work here, spaces open up, a regular rhythm falls away, a tune comes undone, but there’s a certain spell cast, as if it’s housed in Duke’s place. The opening “The Mooche” comes with a singular surprise. It sounds like an early Ellington trombonist—ideally Tricky Sam Nanton—has joined in, but it’s actually Hemingway, who has now spent enough time in bands with Ray Anderson to be able to sing in a way mistakeable for a trombone. The version of “Black and Tan Fantasy” is similarly transformative, with Oester playing gut-bucket bass. Wintsch is brilliant on a version of “Take the A Train,” sometimes reaching high velocity with a light touch that has the piece flying in multiple directions. “In a Mellow Tone” achieves the same quality at a slower tempo with assertive differences enriching the harmonic and rhythmic patterns.

“Passion Flower” is launched with a drive reminiscent of Ellington’ s version with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, but it again finds its own direction with the three trio members weaving their own polyrhythmic patterns to a new complexity. The melody and rhythm of “Angelica” seems to dance back and forth among the three instruments, the rhythmic complexity retained by Oester and Hemingway when Wintsch launches a solo flight. The concluding “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing” has a slightly tenuous Hemingway vocal that summons up something of the music’s original era.

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