Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem, 2023)

By Gary Chapin

For this eighth outing, Rob Mazurek brings us a trimmed down version of the ESO. Lightning Dreamers follows on from last year’s Dimensional Stardust, continuing on, joyfully, as they began. The album opens with Craig Taborn’s and Angelica Sanchez laying out a wurlitzer and synth ground over a simultaneously tight and laid back Gerald Cleaver’s drums. These opening moments draw you in immediately. You are on that street. In that groove.

This first piece tracks a meanderingly intense journey through the beat, with Jeff Parker’s guitar being our protagonist, and Damon Lock’s words being the paint on the walls. Timbrally it evokes Bitch’s Brew and other pre-70s funk/fusion—those organ sounds!—while also being very of this moment. Almost 2/3rds through the track, Mazurek comes in with a scathing skittering trumpet solo. Mazurek is the composer, arranger, and impresario of this outfit, and he’s also a great autre instrumentalist.

The second piece also evokes Bitch’s Brew (or maybe In a Silent Way) in its ambiently trippy opening. A collage of electronics, trumpet, and found sound lead into another of Lock’s poems. Lock’s voice and text are equal partners in the ensemble, rather than a lead voice to be supported. The languid opening gains tension over the minutes as it gains complexity and layers, a symbol crash from Cleaver at around 3:20 signals that we’ve broken through the surface and are suddenly flying.

Shape Shifter” starts as a more conventional sounding jazzism, with a trumpet head leading into explorations. Parker brings his cleaner soloing sound, here. Eventually the “conventional” accretes words from Lock and counter-sounds from the ensemble, slowly shifting shape. The last two tracks, “Black River” and “White River,” work for me as a suite. Mazurek wrote this as an exploration of the confluence of these two rivers in Rio, an expressionistically programmatic sound-image of this beloved place.They are loud, chaotic, percussive, fecund, and vibrant pieces. The noise/improv within the structure is very pleasing. The band has a guided mutuality that I envy.

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Hans Koch, Frantz Loriot, Jonas Kocher – Stranger Becoming (Neither/Nor Records, 2022)

By Nick Ostrum

Hans Koch (reeds with the trio of Fredy Studer with Martin Schülz, the Barry Guy New Orchestra, the Cecil Taylor European Ensemble, etc.) and Frantz Loriot (violinist in Der Verboten) are relatively known entities in improvised music today. Jonas Kocher is less so, though his work on last year’s feted Baldrian Quartet release likely brought him some deserved attention. A free improv accordionist is already a rare enough thing, but even rarer is one who so conscientiously avoids idiomatic temptations.

Stranger Becoming is the first release of the Koch-Loriot-Kocher trio. The music is minimalist, tonal and gauzy. Melodies sometimes fight to break out of the wispy haze as on the surprisingly melancholic title and final track, Stranger Becoming. They, however, emerge fragmented and transient, as the trio volleys these tuneful bits back and forth. Much of the time, the instrumentation is clear. Often enough, however, it is difficult to determine precisely which musician is creating which sound, and that is very much to the credit of the sympathetic responsivity of the group. This point also speaks to the skillful ways that Koch, Loriot and Kocher harness their sound. Long tones intertwine and refract, sometimes eliciting shimmery, almost cinematic (hat tip to William Rossi) crescendos. This is especially clear in songs such as A Fleeting Purchase and All Told. Pieces such as Relinquished Rifles and The Weight of Magic (the opener) take the interplay in a different direction, using shorter, punctuated swipes and pointillist clucks, coupled with the longer draws, moving further from reductionist new music toward free improv, albeit sans the jazz implications and sound blasts. This is alternately a colder and warmer approach to the style.

I am not sure whether or how much of this is composed. It certainly sounds deliberate, in the sense that the group is working toward a singular aesthetic. A truly engaging release, and one that reveals new layers with each listen.

Stranger Becoming is available as CD or download from Bandcamp: 

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Hans Koch, Frantz Loriot, Jonas Kocher – Stranger Becoming (Neither/Nor Records, 2022)

By Stef Gijssels

The NeitherNor label has carved out its own place in avant-garde music, one that is very focused on timbral explorations, spaciousness and precision. On this album, we have the trio of Hans Koch on clarinet, Frantz Loriot on viola and Jonas Kocher on accordion. Swiss master Hans Koch is well known for his presence in free music. On this album the clarinet is his only instrument. Kocher is known for his forward-looking use of the accordion, an instrument that is often absent in modern music, but here it clearly demonstrates its possibilities. Koch and Kocher performed and released already several albums together in various line-ups. Frantz Loriot is a French-Japanese musician who has been reviewed many times on this blog. 

Describing their music is almost impossible - it's always hard, but here it defies description - so I can only recommend the interested reader to their Bandcamp page. 

The album consists of six pieces that range from four minutes to ten. Some of them are slow moving soundscapes, in which slight variations create kaleidoscopic shifts ("The Weight Of Magic", "All Told", "A Fleeting Purchase") within a very coherent overall sound. On the other hand, you have the compact agitated nervousness of "Relinquished Rifles", a dissonant piece with instruments more engaging in combat than creating a coherent sound. "Found Bodies" finds its place somewhere in between these extremes, with the difference that it even adds some elements of musical fun. On ""Stranger Becoming", the long last piece, the two modes of working - calm versus agitation - work side by side, with Kocher's accordion remaining peaceful throughout the more intense dialogues of clarinet and viola near the end.  

Regardless of the approach to music, the skills of the three musicians is such that it is never boring or repetitive. Surprises are present at any moment, as they possibly are to them too. 

Creative music for creative listeners. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Artur Majewski - Day 2 - Izumi Kimura, Artur Majewski, Barry Guy & Ramon Lopez - Kind Of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2022) & Kind Of Shadow (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2022)

By Stef Gijssels

We find Polish trumpeter Artur Majewski back in this fantastic quartet with Izumi Kimura on piano, Barry Guy on bass and Ramon Lopez on drums and percussion. All four performed at the Ad Libitum Festival in 2021 in Poland, and the label invited them to stay a little longer and get together in the studio for some improvisations. This took place on October 17, 2021 at Agnieszka Osiecka Polish Radio Concert Hall, Warsaw. 

What was originally planned for one CD, eventually turned into two, because in fact all the material was of such quality that it deserved to be shared with interested audiences. 

Izumi Kimura is possibly less known to our readers than the other three musicians. She started playing the piano at four, got her degree of classical piano in Tokyo before moving to Ireland where she now resides. Her interest in modern improvisation led her to invite both Barry Guy and Gerry Hemingway to work together, which resulted in a trio album "Illuminated Silence" also released by Fundacja Słuchaj, after which the trio toured around Europe.

The collaboration between these four musicians is like magic. Especially Lopez (listen to him!) and Guy drive the music to unexplored territories, and Kimura and Majewski take the invitation for the journey with pleasure and grace, adding their personal sounds and giving voice to the direction taken. Some pieces allow for duo expansions, as on the interesting dialogue between Kimura and Guy on "Part Five" or "Part Three" which is performed by Lopez and Majewski. 

Because it is so excellent, it is truly no surprise that the rest of the recording was also released on a separate CD. "Kind Of Shadow" offers another eleven relatively short improvisations, around four to eight minutes long. On the opening track, Kimura leads the piece, and it is welcoming, gentle, slow, beautiful, setting the scene for the next track, now started by Majewski but in the same subdued and intimate style. Here too, some of the improvisations are duets, such as "Part Four", an intense piece for piano and drums, or "Part Six" for piano and trumpet, "Part Eight" for bass and drums. 

The amazing thing is that despite the identical line-up and the same day recording, both albums truly stand  in stark contrast to each other. "Kind Of Light" is fiercer, more direct, more adventurous and exploratory while "Kind Of Shadow" is gentler, slower, calmer, more subdued, and with a more generous role for the piano. 

Both are easy to recommend. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp: here and here. 

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Artur Majewski - Day 1 - Artur Majewski & Jan Słowiński - Sloma + Artur Majewski & Vasco Trilla - The End of Something (Sound Trap Records, 2022)

 By Stef Gijssels

Today we review two trumpet-percussion duos with Artur Majewski on the horn, the first with Jan Słowiński on drums, and the second with Vasco Trilla. For good measure, we also add a third CD, a quartet in which Majewski equally performs. 

We've followed Majewski over the years, from his earlier work with the Mikrokolektyw, with the Foton Quartet, in collaborations with other Polish artists such as Gerard Lebik, Anna Kaluza, Kuba Suchar, Rafal Mazur or international free improv luminaries like Agusti Fernandez and Barry Guy. 

Artur Majewski & Jan Słowiński - Słoma (Sound Trap Records, 2022)

On the first album, the interaction between cornet and drums is as you would expect a cornet and drums duo to sound: clear sounds on the horn, rumbling drums, and strong interaction. The playing is excellent, consisting of welcoming and open-ended improvisations. The music is stripped to its core essence of two artists enjoying their and each other skills, moving together, listening, reacting. This is not genre-breaking or discovering new sonic horizons, but that is also not their aspiration. 

It's entertaining from beginning to end and highly enjoyable. The kind of music that puts me in a good mood. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Artur Majewski & Vasco Trilla - The End of Something (Sound Trap Records, 2022)

The duo with Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla is of a completely different nature. Majewski's cornet is played with a delay pedal, allowing for many layers of sound to arise, expand and disappear again. Vasco Trilla is on equal footing with Majewski, being a kind of sound architect himself, with the skills to make his percussion do many things, including ringing and singing. 

With this approach, the intimacy and directness of "Słoma" is contrasted with the spaciousness of electronic sound altering and sonic resonance. The delay pedal also allows for repetitions, creating a rhythmic effect that acts as the foundation for improvisations on both the horn and percussion. Majewski again demonstrates his incredible technical skills including the more extended use of his horn at various moments during the three lengthy pieces: and he gives it all: high pitched screams, muffled whispers to deep growling sounds and many hard to describe sounds. 

On the last track, Trilla takes the lead with a solid drums intro, welcoming the trumpeter who makes this both jubilant and fierce. Interestingly, the ferocious drumming slows down allowing the cornet and its mirror images to develop into a world of serene calm, and even silence. 

This album is definitely more daring and more exploratory, showing another side of Majewski's many artistic languages. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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patrick brennan sOnic Openings - Tilting Curvaceous (Clean Feed, 2023)

By Paul Acquaro 

I first heard saxophonist patrick brennan play at a solo show at Downtown Music Gallery, long long ago in a galaxy far far away. I recall being quite impressed with his fiery and rhythmic playing and on his tremendous Tilting Curvaceous, a quintet recording featuring a stellar cast of musicians, brennan merges his effusive sound with a set of thematic compositions that takes classic free jazz concepts and stretch them out with fantastic imagination.

The description on Bandcamp says, "the music’s orienting matrix is constructed from a series of melodically coded polyrhythmic cells whose connective tissue may suggest nearly unlimited transformations." This somewhat bewildering sentence is a perfect description to the feel of the music. Wrapped in the group's simultaneous melodies and unusual musical paths, you can hear the elasticity and tenacity of brennan's composition. Look too at the band composition, complimenting brennan' alto sax is trumpeter Brian Groder whose works is always melodic and probing. Add Rod Williams, whose approach to the piano provides a solid foundation and jolts of energy at opportune moments. Drummer Michael TA Thompson and bassist Hilliard Greene add absolutely essential rhythmic drive and sensitivity. The group takes brennan's musical cells and generates a cohesive, elastic, and generous whole.

Structurally, Tilting Curvaceous is a collection of 14 short tracks, all given a 'Part n' title. 'Part 1' begins with the piano delivering an intriguing syncopated riff, just on the atonal side with with hints of a melodic hook. Quickly, the others join in with colliding harmonic ideas. Soon, 'Part 2' begins, which is a bit of slow burning ballad containing some visceral remnants of initial theme, if not exact notes. The mood of this track continues through brennan's solo, which burns reservedly over minimal accompaniment. 'Part 3' then starts with an uptempo rhythmic intro from Thompson, joined by Williams and Greene driving like a classic 1960s free jazz. Skipping ahead,  'Part 7' leads with  disjointed phrasing, free playing, but remains connected through a compositional - or maybe - organizational thread. Later, 'Part 10,' which after some arpeggiated flair from the piano, transitions to an intervallically akimbo melodic statement from brennan that is quickly followed by Groder's own. Other places, like in 'Part 11,' there is jagged but flowing piano work, in which strands of classical leaning passages are augmented and fractalized in the same moment. Greene is featured on the next track in a long bass introduction, which then builds to a modern post/bop cadenza.

That's only the half of it, there is a lot packed into the recording. Tilting Curvaceous, from patrick brennan sOnic Openings is stylistically varied, expansive, expressive, and always engaging. The music pulls from classic free and avant-garde jazz history while digging liberally into further afield rhythmic motives and ideas, resulting in an absolutely delightful and engrossing album. 

 

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Sakina Abdou - Goodbye Ground (Relative Pitch Records, 2022)

By Keith Prosk

Sakina Abdou plays seven saxophone solos for alto, including a five-part suite, on the 43’ Goodbye Ground.

In 2022, the reedist also released their duo with guitarist Raymond Boni, Sources , as well as contributions to Eurythmia as a member of Eve Risser’s Red Desert Orchestra and to a realization of Michael Pisaro-Liu’s Radiolarians as a member of Muzzix. Goodbye Ground is their first solo release.

Conspicuous repetition draws the ear to its variation. Durational trills dwell on different segments of a melodic cycle, each note and set of notes developing interdependently. Intonations shift the shape of lines, in slurs, in stresses, in speeds and volumes, in extended soundings, in the disintegrating wind of overblows which peel apart the monophony to lay bare its many harmonic components rippling in the air like heat would distort it. Melodic permutations transpose the notes and stretch the cadence of sound and silence with syncope for a topological deformation or metamorphoses at scale but smaller moments remain the same enough for the recognition of repetition. While overt variations in intonation color tones in a vacuum their changing neighbors also effect the perception of them. Solo records, especially first ones, commonly present as foundational to instrument/instrumentalist identity, sometimes shorthanded as tone, and here we have a conscious, commanding play with tone itself.

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Brakophonic/Gunnar Backman

By Nick Ostrum

Guitarist, composer and producer Gunnar Backman has been documenting his wide-ranging projects on his Brakophonic label for years now. As far as I can tell, the label has released 60+ albums. Seven from 2022 are briefly reviewed here. Although this is an incomplete account of Backman’s work over the last year, it does shine light on just how curious and diverse his output is.

FLAGolodics (Lars Larsson, Fredrik Lindholm, Gunnar Backman, Anders Berg) – Happy Bappy (Brakophonic, 2022)

FLAGolodics falls on the funkier end of the prog spectrum, though it is still riddled with stutters and warped tempo changes. Driving, stadium rock backbeats and repeating laid-back bass grooves provide the backdrop. Backman and Larsson dance above it, weaving into the fabrics shredded to pieces by the other. Backman really lays in on some of these cuts, including the centerpiece, We Need Happy Peppy People. A few other tracks are more open. All in all, an interesting release that is most engaging when it deviates from the traditional song structures into less rhythmic and melodic realms.

FLAGellation (Lars Larsson, Fredrik Lindholm, Gunnar Backman, Anders Berg) – No Admittance (Brakophonic, 2022) 

Although composed of the same musicians as FLAGolodics, FLAGellation has more edge. The sound is full and, especially with Lindholm’s heavy cymbal work and the omnipresent fuzz and feedback, quite heavy. The funk of FLAGoldoic is replaced by noise rock and some bitingly urgent sax runs. And, of course, there’s Backman, who often fights his way to the front with Larson, where they entangle, squeal, suffocate, shriek and squeeze until the ritual whipping is complete. Some of that violent language may be misleading, but this stands out not only in its Hendrix wonk, but also the drudgery and force that propels this album forward.

Anders Berg, Gunnar Backman - Precipitation (Brakophonic, 2022)

Precipitation is a series of short statements of echoing guitar and bass runs that vine together and diverge into interesting sonic tendrils. Often, these tracks seem like the constituent elements of potentially longer pieces: an interesting melody here, some heated interplay there. Backman and Berg clearly have a special connection, and it shows. Unlike some of the other albums in this set, however, the ideas are tantalizing but terse and beg further realization. Precipitation sounds like a series of intriguing sketches (hopefully) of a promising bigger project to come.

Gunnar Backman – Rooms Inside (Brakophonic, 2022)

As one might expect from a full (48 minute) solo album, Backman extends on Rooms Inside in a way he does not on some the shorter releases in this review. All tracks have some sort of layering and processing beyond just a pedal, but Backman is still able to explore different territories. Corridors, for instance, flirts with feedback noise and dissonance, but keeps returning to a clear guitar jangle that grounds the piece and emphasizes the tension between an almost prog-poppy order and dissolution/noise. I imagine Hendrix, Lou Reed and the show Twin Peaks (Towers, a real treasure on the album) exercised some influence over Backman’s approach to guitar, though he distinguishes himself even more in the production. Apart from a few points where phrases are deliberately clean, much of this has gone through some refraction and layering process that turns what could have come off as onanistic noodling into a glitchy and intriguing set of guitar “solos.” Backman often veers toward noise, but, even at his most disjointed, he always falls back into space rock structures and metal-inflected guitar riffage that add coherence and make this an album very much worth seeking out.

Anders Berg, Peter Uuskyla, Gunnar Backman – View-Master (Brakophonic, 2022)

 This is another succinct on that speaks of a greater opus to come. However, with Peter Uuskyla, even the short pieces seem complete movements and ideas. Interestingly, the addition of a drummer seems to open space for Berg and Backman to diverge into mucky (Berg) and glimmering (Backman) territory. At other times (especially in the titular View-Master) they return to the contending interlace mode they adopted in much of Precipitation, though the machine gun rat-a-tat from the trap set propels them to new, spacey places. Much too short, but one of my favorites.

Dishwasher (Staffan Svensson, Per Anders Skytt, Gunnar Backman) – Layers//Day 1 (Brakophonic, 2022)

Dishwasher (Staffan Svensson, Per Anders Skytt, Gunnar Backman) – Layers//Day 2 (Brakophonic, 2022) 

Layers//Day 1 and //Day 2 move in an even spacier, more atmospheric direction that nods toward Miles’ fusion years, though with the trumpet deemphasized. Tellingly, all members of this trio are credited not only with more standard instruments, but also electronics. Backman takes on the fretted virtual guitar and live loops, as well. The result is foggy, with Per Anders Skytt’s drums dancing in fore and Staffan Svensson’s trumpet muted but fighting its way through the haze in the back. Backman’s performance is understated and almost ambient. Still, the music has a clunkiness that lends it depth and intrigue. Also notable is the length of these releases. Unlike the bagatelles that constitute No Admittance, Precipitation, Happy Bappy and View-Master , these tracks have room to develop. Most push beyond ten minutes, and, despite their improvised nature, never get caught in the guitar-forward doldrums. Rather, they remain engaging throughout and, taken in the context of these other 2022 releases, show that Backman and company do their best when they have the space to stretch out.

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Mette Henriette – Drifting (ECM, 2023)

  

By Troy Dostert

Norwegian saxophonist Mette Henriette released a startling debut album back in 2015, after which she more or less disappeared, at least in terms of recording, until her long-awaited follow-up, Drifting. Anyone figuring that she might use this hiatus to reinvent herself would be mistaken, however. Her sophomore release continues in the same vein as its predecessor, with an elliptical, less-is-more aesthetic in which the silences speak as loudly as the notes that are played. And the chamber trio format also remains, once again with pianist Johan Lindvall, but with Judith Hamann taking over the cello duties from Katrine Schiøtt this time around. This release may be somewhat less ambitious overall, as there is no second disc of material utilizing a larger ensemble, as was the case on the 2015 album. But maybe this is all to the good, as it allows a more concentrated glimpse of Henriette’s distinctive approach to her instrument and her spartan compositional style.

Relying on figures and sketches rather than lengthy, developed pieces, the 15 tracks here clock in at a relatively brisk 43 minutes. Several are shorter than two minutes, such as the captivating opener, “The 7 ^th,” which invites the listener into Henriette’s sound-world in such an unassuming manner that the moment slips past almost too quickly. Just a wisp of melody, delicately traced by all three musicians without adornment or elaboration, and then it’s over. “Cadat” is just as elusive, with Henriette’s fragile, simple phrases floating atop Lindvall’s patient upper-register musings and just the faintest high-pitched textures from Hamann.

The longer tracks do possess a certain appeal as well, especially “Oversoar,” in which Henriette and Hamann’s diaphanous excursions intertwine mysteriously alongside Lindvall’s pointillist accompaniment. And “Indrifting you” also possesses a lovely aspect, as Henriette’s lyricism finds its way above the subtle restraint of her partners. While there is no question this is an ECM recording—one can almost feel the Nordic chill emanating from the austere production only Manfred Eicher can provide—it is Henriette’s underlying warmth, particularly in the lower reaches of her horn, that prevents the music from icing over. While some listeners may have hoped to see Henriette branch out a bit and explore new terrain, Drifting remains an inviting and sometimes entrancing recording.

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The Coal - Recorded Remembered (Shhpuma, 2023)

By Gregg Miller

We have here a very successful, experimental trio sound out of Greece made up of guitarist Giannis Arapis, Dimos Vryzas on violin and effects, and Simos Riniotis on drums and resonant objects. The Coal aims at a rough melodic beauty which remains nonetheless open to the fraying at the edges beyond which lies that vast pool of undifferentiated sound from which it gathers its material. Atop most of Recorded Remembered is Arapis’s electric guitar running through delay, freeze, reverse, and loopers with occasional gain and whammy. To the miscellaneous percussiveness in all those textures and effected sounds, add in Vryzas’s moody effects, his violin, and Riniotis’s creative kit-playing and found-sound palette, and we get a collective outpouring with depth and a certain worldliness. It’s all there, intentionality and a genuine feeling for play. The eighth track, “For Lisa,” is particularly lovely: a longish, singing guitar line is joined by a mournful violin over the sound of crumpling something and asymmetrical cymbal and tom hits. Sonically less refined is track 9, “The Keys I Don’t Use,” which seems to foreground, were I to hazard a guess, the keys they don’t use. Most of the tracks are more concerned with coping than disruption, though they still feast on the entropy of the sonic rather than give in to the impulse to erase it. There are many highlights. Nothing here feels particularly technical. The feelings are all very natural and honest. On the final track, there is briefly some actual chordal work, but pay that no mind, it arrives having weathered what there is to weather. Highly recommended.

Listen and download from Bandcamp:

My colleague Eyal Hareuveni provides some of the context for Arapis’s playing here.

 You can catch a taste of Arapis’s solo electric guitar magic here:

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