Paura - The Construction Of Fear (Creative Sources, 2008) *****

Two years ago, Brazilian saxophonist Alípio C Neto released a great album on Clean Feed with 'The Perfume Comes Before The Flower", now he goes a step further into avant-garde territory on Ernesto Rodrigues' Creative Sources label, equally Portuguese. Ernesto Rodrigues plays the viola, and his son Guilherme cello, Dennis González plays trumpet (and vocals) and Mark Sanders drums. Father and son Rodrigues are of course well-known for their experimental take to modern music, Sanders is one of the finest drummers in the European free improv scene, but adding González to the band was a very clever move. Against and in the context of the unusual and weird sounds that the string and percussion create, Neto's staggering expressivity and González' emotional lyricism form a wonderful counterbalance. These five musicians are not a natural match, yet their openness to each other and their musical skills for interaction are strong enough to make this an incredibly powerful and creative piece of music. Spread over three long tracks, they dive deep into the meaning of fear, evoking the feeling slowly, gradually, like something that creeps into you, full of surprises, but then rather of the mind, getting you off-balance and into unwanted places. But this is surely not a horror movie, that lives on cheap effects and lack of subtlety, quite the contrary, nuance, finesse, and a sensitive approach to how music can sound different while still striking an emotional chord is the main angle here. This is not music that will make you comfortable, it will suck you up, it will create distress, you will be glad and relieved and sad to hear some long lyrical phrases by González, but then they are replaced by some agonizing wails by Neto, which also dissapear, and you stay with the darkness created by off-beat drums and the extended technique sounds of the viola and cello. And through the quite uncanny and eery sounds, beauty emerges, once you get acquainted with the musical universe they create, once you accept what is going on and stop rationalizing, the artistry opens like a flower, not releasing sweet scents, but a dark and terrifying beauty. No, these guys are not a natural match, but for the music presented here (and it is not jazz, really), they are no doubt the perfect match.

Listen to an excerpt from "Paura - Lyrikon"

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Mikołaj Trzaska, Clementine Gasser & Michael Zerang - Nadir & Mahora (Kilogram Records, 2009) ****

Every new CD by Polish saxophonist Mikołaj Trzaska is one to look forward to, and this one also delivers the goods, in the good company of Swiss cellist Clementine Gasser and American percussionist Michael Zerang. The album is recorded live at the "Alchemia" club in Krakow, Poland (where else would it be?). Trzaska is not only a wonderful instrumentalist, but his musical creativity and sense of sound is possibly his greatest asset. He knows how to be intriguing, inventive, expressive and sensitive at the same time, adventurous and accessible at the same time. And in Gasser and Zerang he really found two soulmates. Gasser is a wonderful cello-player, wild and furious at times, heart-warming and bone-chilling, always creative and subtle when needed, also when playing in a more supporting role. Zerang too is a pleasure to hear, and he is as usual as defining for the music as the soloists, adding texture, depth and emphasis, performing a great intro for the the album's title song, as an avalanche introducing the repetitive and hypnotic single-note screeching of cello and sax, after which all three instruments move into an evocation of the sound of falling rain drops, that in turn change into light sustained sounds, all weird and sweet. Trzaska and Zerang I knew, and they more than deliver the expectations, but Gasser is absolutely stunning, with a really strong musical presence, a true revelation. I really hope to hear more from her.


Watch Trzaska and Gasser on Youtube (without Zerang, and without subtitles, but just go fast forward for the music pieces)


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Stéphane Kerecki Trio & Tony Malaby - Houria (Zig Zag, 2009) ****

French bassist Stéphane Kerecki had the brilliant idea to invite saxophonist to complement his trio with Michel Donarier on sax and Thomas Grimmonprez on drums. As usual, Malaby's performance alone is worth purchasing the album, but its real value resides in Kerecki's musical approach. The compositions shift between total improvisations and tightly composed elements, of nice unison themes, often with African references and rhythms, but then with more shady outlines like a modern painting, expressive and coloring outside the lines, while remaining very accessible throughout. "Houria" is the Arabic word for freedom, and the music's open texture testifies to that, with sensitive soloing of all four musicians, but with obviously the best dialogues between Malaby and Donarier. At moments, but very rarely, it is a little too mellow to my taste, but that's personal. The really improvised pieces are the best, I think, and there is sometimes too great a distance between the inside and the outside playing to make it a really coherent album, but it clearly shows wonderful promise. It has beauty and expressivity, a warm feel and adventurous moments.

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Avram Fefer Trio - Ritual (Clean Feed, 2009) ****

Melodic, energetic, soulful, spiritual. Hesitating between bop and free jazz, this is a nice album, consisting of lengthy and focused improvisations by this great trio led by saxophonist Avram Fefer. The bass is in the masterful hands of Eric Revis, known from the Branford Marsalis Quartet and Chad Taylor plays the drums, known from the Chicago Underground Trio to give for both just one reference. Despite the limitations of the trio, all three manage to make this a captivating performance. "Shepp In Wolves' Clothing" is a tribute to Archie Shepp with whom Fefer performed, but starts of like a Vandermark composition, uptempo and highly rhythmic, and Fefer even blows the theme on two horns simultaneously after a while. With a few exceptions, Fefer's sax is almost permanently on the foreground, much like David S. Ware, filling all possible space with notes, and only pausing to let his band-mates take a solo. This absence of silence to a large extent determines the dynamics of the music, even in slower pieces such as "Feb. 13th", and Fefer's rhythmic lyricism is a pleasure to hear. The band does not take too many musical risks, but listen carefully how all three manage to maintain a strong focus on each piece, despite the apparent freedom. The quality of the music and of the performance is sufficiently high to make this a very enjoyable album.

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Rob Mazurek - Sound Is (Delmark, 2009) *****

Cornettist Rob Mazurek's new album, "Sound Is", is a winner. With two more rock-influenced musicians, John Herndon on drums and Matt Lux on electric bass, and two jazz musicians, Josh Abrams on acoustic bass and Jason Adasiewicz on vibes, he manages to create appealing unfamiliar sounds out of the familiar. Highly rhythmic, the album moves you through distant cinematic moments, low energy late night empty jazz club feelings, high energy pepped up moments, all by yourself on a rainy night kind of feelings, drive your car slowly on a sunny day kind of feeling, early sunrise wonder, enjoy the company and the world kind of moods, to what is this thing torturing my brain and what the hell is the reason of this life kind of situations, while all the time sounding somewhat familiar, but not quite. There are basically no themes, no real melodies so to speak off, but only moods, played as cool jazz, as bop, but then of the electronic age, sounding unusually modern, even without having too often recourse to electronics. At moments it sounds like a combination of Evan Lurie with Tortoise and Don Cherry, with a late fifties feeling to it. What makes the music cinematic in nature, is that there is hardly any expansion of the themes, or of the original sound arrangement : once a rhythm and pattern is established, it is kept that way throughout the relatively short pieces, with only the cornet soloing, and once in a rare while, the vibes too. That repetitive pulse and steady drive makes the music quite accessible, and also quite attractive. The pieces also start and end in a very abrupt way, as if you capture the musicians in mid-movement, with only the relevant part made public, like a snap shot of the high jumper crossing the bar. In the past years Mazurek already treated us to some fantastic recordings, taking wild risks into sonic possibilities, and this is again an absolute highlight, although of a totally different nature than the Exploding Star Orchestra or the Chicago Underground Trio or his other projects. Less expansive and ambitious than the first, more accessible than the second, more jazzy than the third, but again a brilliant piece of music.

Listen to an excerpt from "The Hill"


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Gato Barbieri - In Search Of The Mystery (ESP, 2009) ****

Argentinian saxophonist Leandro Barbieri, aka El Gato, El Pampero, played with everyone from fellow countryman Lalo Schifrin to Carlos Santana, and is best appreciated with Carla Bley and Don Cherry in the early days of free jazz, to which he added his own sound without playing a major role though.

With Carlos Santana he has more than one element in common. Not only did Barbieri turn Santana's hit "Europa" also into one of his preferred tunes lately, but more importantly, both musicians added Latin lyricism to respectively free jazz and rock in the sixties, in a way that had not been heard before (I saw Santana perform several times, but Barbieri never). Then both were sucked up by the musical establishment, devolving into smooth jazz respectively pop music, using their signature sound to lively up otherwise dull music, yet endlessly repeating themselves in the process. A little sad, but well, everyone needs a living.

Anyway, here we're back in New York in 1967, with Barbieri on tenor, Calo Scott on cello, Norris Jones, aka Sirone, on bass, and Bobby Kapp on drums. On two 20 minute tracks this quartet does what it should do: play the bejesus out of their instruments. Barbieri plays like we know him from his collaborations with Carla Bley and Don Cherry : screeming, overblowing, full blast and full energy, but full of a natural melodicism and fully supported by this band. And they alternate well with softer and slower moments, but the emotional drive and tension are present throughout. Remarkably, even in the quieter parts, Barbieri can suddenly wail like crazy, in total contrast with the background, without any apparent musical reason, out of the blue, as if he got stung by something, going totally over the top, blowing his lungs out, while bass, cello and drums keep their slow pulse. But whatever he does, the emotional expressivity is there at all times, and the rhythm section offers the right balance, counterplay and context for El Gato to thrive in. Good to hear this one. Good sound quality too.

Listen to an excerpt from "In Search Of The Mystery/Michelle"


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Franz Koglmann - Lo-Lee-Ta (Music on Nabokov) (Col-Legno, 2009) ****

Austrian trumpeter Franz Koglmann plays within a category of his own: a sensitive intellectualist, an eclectist fusing classical music with soundtrack and jazz, breaking the boundaries between music, literature, theater and poetry, unafraid to explore new directions, not always successful, mixing a kind of romantic German darkness of approach with intimacy and drama, sweeping emotions with delicate compositions. Half of his work I really can't listen to, the other half is quite interesting and even beautiful. This album falls within the latter category. It is structured around his quartet and duo performances with pianist Wolfgang Mitterer. The quartet consists of Tony Coe on clarinet and alto, Ed Renshaw on guitar and Peter Herbert on bass, a band he's been performing and recording with quite actively in the past years, and their interplay is really a treat. The album is dedicated to Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov, best known for his "Lolita", a wonderful stylist and explorer of human emotions. No wonder Koglmann pays hommage to him. The fourteen tracks, of which 6 duets, demonstrate the leader's broad musical baggage, and the band manages to keep it quite coherent in approach, despite the variations in mood, now slow and sad, then sometimes even joyful, and despite the variations in style, sounding very jazzy in a traditional way, then avant-garde, or sometimes just sounding like the musical accompaniement for a movie, which is actually the case for the first piece, which is the "Love Theme" from Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita". As usual, Koglmann's sense of style and structure go a little bit at the expense of the emotional expressivity, but overall it's one of his best albums so far.

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Andy Sheppard - Movements In Colour (ECM, 2009) **

I know Andy Sheppard first and foremost from his trio collaborations with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, little gems of modern jazz, and easy to recommend. I only have two albums he released under his own name, "Nocturnal Tourist", and "Dancing Man & Woman", two albums which bring a mix of styles and genres, with fusion, world music and modern electronic influences. Now on his debut on ECM, the British saxophonist moves this personal aesthetic into the ECM range, softening the edges a bit, slowing down the tempo a notch, and increasing the sound quality. Here too, world influences abound, not only because of Kuljit Bhamra on tabla and percussion, who adds an Indian flair, but also because of John Parricelli's Spanish guitar sounds, with Eivind Aarset's guitar and electronics throwing a more modern flavor into the mix. Arild Andersen plays the bass. Without a doubt the quality of the delivery is excellent, not only because of the skills of the musicians, but also because of the perfect production. But that does unfortunately not lead to great music. It is taking no risks, but then really no risks at all. The result is something that might have been played by dozens of bands, maybe not with this level of execuction, but certainly with the same lack of inspiration. The old recipe: if you lack ideas, open your bag of skills, mix them up, and something new may come up. Yet the end result is often a bland soup, not very spicy, lukewarm, something you can swallow without any risk of either burning your lips, throat, or having steam coming out of your ears. And like soup, it doesn't fill the stomach, and it makes you hungry for a real meal. There's no substance, no musical statement, no personal vision. So, sentimental stuff, with possibly commercial ambitions, but clearly not musical ones. What a disappointment, because Sheppard is a delicate player with great skills.

Listen to an excerpt from "Nave Nave Moe"


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Petr Cancura, Joe Morris, Jason Nazary - Fine Objects (Not Two, 2009) ****

Great unpretentious sax trio, playing improvised music around thematic structures, with three excellent musicians, freely, but sounding like a very traditional bop sax trio. A pleasure to hear, "fine objects for listening", as Joe Morris aptly puts it in the liner notes. Morris plays bass, Petr Cancura tenor and soprano, and Jason Nazary drums. The playlist consists of two "older" Morris compositions, one by Dolphy, one by Ornette Coleman, and a few group compositions/improvisations. The sound quality is good, the technical skills are excellent, the improvisations deeply felt, the accessibility is high. No boundaries are broken, no exceptional things are tried out, but just listening to the absolute basic notion of what a sax trio should sound like, is a true joy. Petr Cancura is surely a guy to watch. He already released PeopleMusic earlier this year, and is planning for another trio release with Morris and Luther Gray later this year on AUM Fidelity.

Listen to an excerpt from "Rwanda"


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Transit - Quadrologues (Clean Feed, 2009) *****

In 2006 this quartet released the CD "Transit", under the leadership of drummer Jeff Arnal, with Seth Misterka on sax, Nate Wooley on trumpet and Reuben Radding on bass. The band is now called "Transit", and it brings this wonderful album of free improvisation. The first album was quite adventurous, with a very dense and loud, sometimes violent sound. This album is even more adventurous, but they let silence in, and quietness. The result is one of increased tension, of an increased quality of the individual sounds, more attention to detail (much more), less struggling between the musicians to get space, and hence a more mature interaction, if I may use that word. But over and beyond the tension, over and beyond the unusual and usual sound explorations, there is a depth of feeling that is astonishing. The first track "Strata" already starts with a strong trumpet performance by Wooley, going really deep, but the whole band excells in the slow and intense "The Science Of Breath", a long piece on which the long interwoven tones create something of a hard to place beauty. And even if the horns define the most audible effects, listen how Arnal's drums shift the deep structure by evolving from screeching sounds out of his cymbals toward hypnotic repetitive rhythms on his toms only. So much in the background yet defining the song's depth. "Flip" is more playful, toying with little sounds, interacting all four without falling into a pattern, almost, but not quite, and that's part of the fun, becoming elusive while playing the same game. Fun is also there are the start of "Rapid Eye Movement", with a nice interaction between Radding's bass and Arnal's drumming, with Wooley and Misterka joining in the repetitive but weird sounds. Subtle and creative. "Z Train" is more boppish - what else would you expect - in nature as defined by the bass, with Arnal's drums going fully against the rhythm of the bass, while sax and trumpet play slow phrases over the rhythmic excitement. Another highlight of the album is the long "Speaking In Tongues", with Wooley leading the piece with again a delight of a trumpet solo, that moves into a more African tune and rhythm, but then in a context in which all options are still open, without falling into clichés or patterns. In the hands of great musicians free jazz is without a doubt the most rich and moving musical genre. And all four of them excell here. The last track alone testifies to that. How they move the piece from avant-garde sounds, to a more uptempo piece, on which Misterka really shines with soulful and heartrending phrases. I have listened to this album at least a dozen times in the past few days, and it sounds different every time. There is lots of variation, lots of creative approaches, and a joy to the ear. Don't miss it!

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