Review Archives

J A Z Z

w o r d

This week's
CD REVIEWS
and the archives

Photo of the moment from

Gallery
O

TOP
SITES

J A Z Z W O R D R E V I E W S

Reviews that mention Michael Bisio

Matthew Shipp Trio

Elastic Aspects
Thirsty Ear TH 57202.2

ROVA Saxophone Quartet

A Short History

Jazzwerkstatt JW 099

Ballrogg

Cabin Music

Hubro CD 2515

Albert Beger/Gerry Hemingway

There’s Nothing Better to Do

OutNow Records ONR 007

Something in The Air: New Excitement at the Guelph Jazz Festival

By Ken Waxman

One of jazz’s watershed musical creations, John Coltrane’s 1965 performance of Ascension marked his committeemen to Free Jazz and has since served as a yardstick against which saxophone-centred large ensemble improvisations are measured. On September 7 at the River Run Centre’s main stage, one of the highpoints of this year’s Guelph Jazz Festival is a reimagining of Coltrane’s masterwork by the Bay area-based ROVA Saxophone Quartet and guests. Not only is the ensemble gutsily tackling the suite, but its arrangement take Coltrane’s all-acoustic piece for five saxes, two trumpets and rhythm section and reconfigures it so that ROVA’s four saxes, and one trumpeter interact with two drummers, two violins, electric guitar and bass plus electronic processing.

You can get an idea of ROVA’s style of sonic daring-do on A Short History Jazzwerkstatt JW 099. Referencing all sorts of reed writing from R&B vamps to atonal serialism, the 35-year-old quartet made up of soprano and tenor saxophonist Bruce Ackley, alto and sopranino saxophonist Steve Adams, baritone and alto saxophonist Jon Raskin and tenor and sopranino saxophonist Larry Ochs show its versatility throughout. Especially germane and related to Ascension, is a section on Part 2 of the Ochs-composed Certain Space sequence when he corkscrews an intense, stop-time solo into a strident collection of irregular polyphony and slap-tongue invention from the other saxes with the authority of Coltrane’s sax choir from 47 years earlier. That’s merely one highlight of this tour-de-force which outline’s the band’s other influences with tracks dedicated to improv pianist Cecil Taylor and notated composers Giacinto Scelsi and Morton Feldman. The Scelsi section dramatically contrasts bagpipe-like slurs from the soloists with impressionistic harmonies from the other reeds modulating through different modes and tones. Although other sequences in the Taylor section expose sinewy tessitura and staccato reed bites in call-and-response fashion, Part 3, for Feldman is unsurprisingly moderato and leisurely, introduced and completed by air blown through the horns’ body tubes without key movement, yet lyrically balanced throughout as each saxophone’s timbre is clearly heard within the close harmonies.

That same night, Ascension guitarist Nels Cline and others will join members of the Norwegian Huntsville trio at St. George’s Church for its unique mixture of improvisation tempered with electronic impulses and influenced by folk and rock music textures. Huntsville’s Ivar Grydeland, who plays electric, acoustic and pedal steel guitars plus banjo and electronics with bassist Tonny Kluften and percussionist Ingar Zach in that band, shows off his zesty mix of spidery licks, resonating twangs and droning pulses with Ballrogg, another Norwegian combo on Cabin Music Hubro CD 2515 With that trio filled out by alto saxophonist/clarinetist Klaus Holm, who adds electronics and field recordings to the mix, and bassist Roger Arntzen, the disc is a close cousin to what Huntsville creates, albeit with more overdubbing, and with Grydeland frailing his banjo as often as he strums his guitar, more country-folksy. Probably the most descriptive track is Sliding Doors which manages to deftly balance clarinet glissandi, ringing banjo flanges and a powerful walking bass line. Before the result takes on too much of a rural interface however, the trio’s juddering interaction is meticulously intercut with previously prepared jagged guitar flanges and sluicing bass lines.

There are no guitars in sight the next afternoon at a double bill at River Run Centre’s Cooperators Hall, although Miya Masaoka’s multi-string koto may make up for that as she plays with bassist Reggie Workman and percussionist Gerry Hemingway. A long-time festival visitor, Hemmingway’s recent CD with tenor and soprano saxophonist Albert Beger There’s Nothing Better to Do OutNow Records ONR 007 demonstrates the drummer’s skill in the sort of duo format that Coltrane excelled in during his latter career. The near-naked improvising of this first-time meeting between American drummer and Israeli saxophonist demonstrates the universality of expression, Using his hands as often as sticks and brushes, Hemingway is as likely to come up with a tom-tom rhythm, produce a ratcheting scratch on his kit’s sides or tap a small bell as he is to let loose with full-force ruffs and drags. Beger responds to these understated rhythms in kind, with hoarse-throated vibrations, ragged tongue fluttering or surprisingly aligned trills, which are as often chromatic as cascading. Using both his horns throughout, the saxophonist’s moderate tones can be graceful and emotional as Hemingway’s beats gracefully scurry around them. However elsewhere ragged, altissimo reed bites stridently operate in tandem with the drummer’s blunt flams and tough backbeat. With bravura timing the two show how easily they can move from cacophonous vibrations to an arrhythmic but bluesy output on Missing You or on the title track, speedily layering freak reed notes and circular slurs plus clashing cymbals and incisive shuffle beats into a parallel exposition that is as moving as it is staccato.

Negotiating the tightrope between staccato and lyrical in his playing is the forte of pianist Matthew Shipp, whose duo with saxophonist Darius Jones is the other half of the double bill at Cooperators Hall. Elastic Aspects Thirsty Ear TH 57202.2 with long-time associates bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey however, shows that Shipp’s improvising can be as mercurial in the standard jazz piano trio setting as well. With each of the 13 aspects of this suite stretching so that they adhere to one another, the effect is wholly organic, not unlike the recording of Ascension. With Dickey’s nuanced patterning and Bisio’s buzzing, often bowed, sometimes walking bass lines beside him, Shipp skillfully moves through the piano language. A track like Explosive Aspects balances on ringing, left-handed syncopation, while the subsequent Raw Materials evolves like a baroque invention with leaping, high-pitched notes carefully shaded as they jostle with pedal-point bass line until the theme finally break free into rubato pulsing. There are internal string plucks and harpsichord echoes in Shipp’s playing as well. With tremolo, lyrical and sometimes impressionistic patterning on show, the trio maintains the swinging centre of jazz while subtly or overtly charting new experiments and explorations.

Overall 2012 promises to be a banner year for the Guelph Jazz Festival. And that’s not even mentioning the dark-to-dusk Nuit Blanche late Saturday encompassing more unexpected sounds.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 18 #1

September 6, 2012

Jason Kao Hwang/Spontaneous River

Symphony of Souls
Mulatta MUL 022

Chocolate fetishists often have such a strong attachment to the sweet that to secure their business restaurants will describe a cocoa-infused desert as Death by Chocolate. While those who love stringed instruments as much as others love chocolate will find much to savor on Symphony of Souls, one would hope that the expansive sound picture created by violinist Jason Kao Hwang’s conduction of his composition is appreciated in less thanotological terms. Maybe the most appropriate recasting of the title should be Depth of Strings.

All together 38 string players, including Hwang, are represented, with drummer Andrew Drury alone providing the percussive flow for the 11-movement composition. Including multiple violins, violas, celli, double basses and guitars, the composer takes advantage of the improvisational sophistication of these New York-based players, whose familiarity with Jazz, Blues, so-called Classical and New Music is necessary for appropriate dialoguing and individual sonic actions. Accustomed to moving among these genres, Hwang has also composed a chamber opera as well as being a member of various combos which emphasized the improvisational qualities of Asian music.

Febrile but not particularly formalistic, Symphony of Souls could be described as possessing Klangfarbenmelodie. Propulsive and polyphonic, the themes encompass near-impressionism at points, as well as muscular thumping at others, with the percussive beats coming as much from massed string motions as Drury’s drum kit. Besides the percussionist, notable rhythmic impetus comes from bassist Ken Filiano who often works with the violinist in smaller configurations. Solos per se are few and unidentified, although it’s likely the composer who takes all of the fiddle interludes. With six of the city’s most accomplished six-stringers on board however it’s impossible to single out soloists on that instrument.

Most of the time however the slippery and shuddering created by harmonized string groups are what is showcased. Sprawling violin glissandi, six-part bass slaps, doleful cello pumps and guitar finger plucks and string snaps make their appearance; so do staccato and agitated contrapuntal challenges between the same instruments or among sections. Sometimes individual variants swell to cacophonous, strained atonality that return to legato pacing following cymbal pops or wood-block pumps.

Credibly the climatic sequences arrive with “Movement 3” and “Movement 4” where the timbral development is divided among tremolo motions while the bassist and drummer producing a Jazz-like walking pulse. Interruptions in the form of a solo that has an almost hillbilly fiddle jump to it are later smoothed over as stacked harmonies from the multiple violinists make it seems as if they’re all playing a single mammoth stringed instrument. “Movement 4”, which includes staccato agitation from the celli plus intervallic asides from the violas and violins, includes an extended episode when the massed strings accompany the soloists. Singular guitar strums, sharp spiccato violin pressure with erhu-like timbres and an intense double bass slap move forward, then fade among the sympathetic stopping and pumping from the other strings. With its finale devoted to romantic counterpoint between two violin sequences, the blueprint for ping-ponging between dissonance, expressed in the subsequent suite movement by shakes and stops from many of the strings, and completed by legato concordance is firmly established.

By the ultimate variations, as contrapuntal, sharp dissonance and connective silky glissandi are confirmed as the opposite poles of Symphony of Souls; angled, bowed string motions, rasgueado guitar flails and sul ponticello slides are established as different elaboration formulae. Eventually the polyphonic interface gives way to a final violin solo. Initially sweetly romantic, it shatters into wood clanks, angled stops and staccato jumps before fading away.

Hwang’s Symphony of Souls provides not only mesmerizing listening but also an exemplar for promoting intense improvisations by many multiples of string players

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Movement 1 2. Movement 2 3. Movement 3 4. Movement 4 5. Movement 5 6. Movement 6 7. Movement 7 8. Movement 8 9. Movement 9 10. Movement 10 11. Movement 11

Personnel: Trina Basu, Sarah Bernstein, Charles Burnham, Julianne Carney, Fung Chern Hwei, Mark Chung, Rosi Hertlein, Jason Kao Hwang, Gwen Laster, Marlene Rice, Dave Soldier, Curtis Stewart, Midori Yamamoto and Helen Yee (violins); Leanne Darling, Nicole Federici, Judith Insell, Eric Salazar and David Wallace (violas); Cristian Amigo, Bradley Farberman, James Keepnews, Dom Minasi, David Ross, Tor Snyder and Hans Tammen (acoustic guitars); Martha Colby, Loren Dempster, Daniel Levin, Tomas Ulrich and Shanda Wooley (cellos); Michael Bisio, Ken Filiano, Francois Grillot, Clifton Jackson, Tom Zlabinger and James Ilgenfritz (bass)and Andrew Drury (drums)

April 16, 2012

SKM

Three
Clean Feed CF 189 CD

By Ken Waxman

Stretching herself musically by playing with a variety of local bands, including her own, Canadian-born, New York-based pianist Kris Davis reaches a pinnacle of sorts with this almost completely improvised outing, as part of a co-op trio, whose other member are as busy as she. Luckily bassist Michael Bisio and tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci have developed similarly simpatico interactions, often working as sidemen in each other’s groups.

Still Three is different. Lacking the dominant beats a drummer would bring to the session, the three take turns assaying the rhythm function, with the saxophonist’s harsh vibrations and unexpected chord substations as crucial as the bassist’s string slapping and pumping or the pianist’s jagged percussive patterns. Similarly, bravura technical skills mixed with fearless invention take the place of any expected chord progressions they would rely on in other situations. If weaknesses are exposed, it’s because at times the ad hoc structure prevents at least one of the trio from outputting more than token comping or obbligatos. This is apparent on a tune like the otherwise stellar “Groovin’ for the Hell of It”. Slyly subverting the title’s promise, rhythmic impetus is expressed through foot pedal weight and key banging from Davis that bring the piano’s lowest quadrant into play, plus tremolo vibrations and pressurized reed bites from Gauci. Bisio appears MIA. However he makes up for this elsewhere, when contrasting dynamics are expressed through his step-by-step walking that often shadows Guaci’s jagged saxophone slurs, or when his muscular bass slaps complement Davis’ almost outrageously syncopated lines.

Confirming SKM’s roles as quasi-percussionists is the sardonic “Something from Nothing”. With Bisio’s rubato maneuvers making it appear as if he’s creating tabla-like echoes with his bass, Davis’ rough-edged chording involves the soundboard plus the keyboard in referencing kinetic and a metallic clavichord tone rather than those expected from an acoustic piano. Add Gauci’s discursive and staccato reed bites, and the end result here – and on most other tunes – is both multi-faceted and magisterial.

Tracks: The End Must Always Come; Like a Dream a Phantom; Something From Nothing; Groovin’ for the Hell of It; Still So Beautiful; Now; No Reason to or Not to; Just to be Heard

Personnel: Stephen Gauci: tenor saxophone; Kris Davis: piano; Michael Bisio: bass

--For All About Jazz New York October 2010

October 6, 2010

Connie Crothers-Michel Bisio

Sessions at 475 Kent
Mutable 17537-2

The Frame Quartet

35 MM

Okka Disk OD 12078

Rempis/Rosaly

Cyrillic

482 Music 482-1064

Matthew Shipp

Nu Bop Live

Rai Trade RTPJ 0015

Extended Play: Combos: Ad Hoc and Long Constituted in Toronto

By Ken Waxman

Long-established jazz groups have become as common as pop hits based on Mozart melodies topping the charts – they sometimes exist. But with accomplished improvisers tempted by side projects, bands often reconstitute and sidemen regularly have their own gigs. In most cases, though, this doesn’t affect the music’s quality.

Two bands confirm these realities. Ken Vandermark’s Vandermark5 (V5), which is at SPK (Polish Combatants Hall) June 17, has been together with only one personnel change for almost 15 years. Yet even Chicago-based Vandermark is involved in multiple side projects, as The Frame Quartet 35 mm Okka Disk OD 12078 demonstrates. V5 members, cellist and electronics-player Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Tim Daisy are represented as well. Meanwhile saxophonist Dave Rempis, a V5 fixture for 10 years, shines on Cyrillic 482 Music 482-1064, a duo with drummer Frank Rosaly. New York pianist Matthew Shipp, whose trio plays June13 at Gallery 345 on Sorauren Ave. is similarly part of numberless formations. Nu Bop Live Rai Trade RTPJ 0015) involves some of his cohorts, who won’t be Toronto. For an idea of what piano/bass communication sounds like involving Michel Bisio, the bassist who is in Shipp’s Toronto trio, there’s Sessions at 475 Kent Mutable 17537-2 with Connie Crothers.

The Non-V5er on “35mm” is Nate McBride, whose thick acoustic bass lines, electric bass thumps and manipulated wave forms distinguish this disc. Strident friction from Lonberg-Holm additionally gives the CD’s five long selection a rough-hewn quality, enhanced by Daisy’s reverberating and pinpointed cymbal slaps, not to mention Vandermark’s soloing which encompasses straight-ahead licks or tongue slaps on tenor saxophone and feathery clarinet trills. This is especially notable on Theatre Piece (for Jimmy Lyons) which links decisive sawing from the cellist, restrained plucks from the bassist and clatters, pops and rim shots from the drummer as Vandermark sound ranges from tremolo pitch-sliding on the clarinet to tongue-moistured saxophone flattement, flutters and split tones. Mid-way through, the tempo halves to allegro to expose faux romantic cello sequences that gradually shatters into sul ponticello lines mated with harsh, low-pitched saxophone rasps, balanced on crackling and buzzing electronics. Eventually the piece ends with an exposition of disconnected timbre-shredding from Vandermark and a conclusive string slap from the cellist.

Halve the number of players and double the performance intensity for “Cyrillic”. Completely improvised, the selections include those with cymbal-chiming funk grooves, replete with honking reed patterns plus others featuring smeared double-tonguing from Rempis, where he never seems to stop for breath, matched with rim shots and side spanks from Rosaly. Most impressive are In Plain Sight and How to Cross When Bridges are Out. The former, which could be a deconstructed classic R&B line, gains its rhythmic impetus from Rempis’ guttural baritone saxophone snorts. The later is like a face off between never-ending ratcheting, rolls and ruffs from Rosaly’s Energizer Bunny-like drumming and Rempis’ Eric Dolphyish-alto saxophone with its broken-octave staccato runs and wide split tones. Changing the the agitato tempo to andante, the tune slips into uncharted aleatory territory, echoing with excitement and abandon.

Both those adjectives are also on show on Shipp’s CD, especially on the 26-minute Nu Abstract suite. Putting aside the many-fingered staccato patterning on other tunes, the pianist initially restricts himself to occasional plinks, as drummer Guillermo Brown use electronics to unload crackling signal processing and hissing voice patches. After the pianist constructs a many-layered impressionistic response, he joins with William Parker’s fluid bass line and saxophonist Daniel Carter’s tightened reed snarls, in multi counterpoint. The performance swells to shrieking horn glossolalia, stretched and scattered bass-string movements and the pianist’s cascading note patterns. Climaxing alongside Brown’s explosions of drags and bounces, Shipp’s raw, exposed notes layer the interface alongside Carter’s strident altissimo cries and Parker’s triple-stopping.

Sophisticated piano-bass double contrapuntal interaction get an even better showcase on “Session at 475 Kent” as every tune is a culmination of Crothers’ thickly voiced, chromatic chords working out a challenge or response to Bisio’s chiming, slapping string reverberations. Chamber interludes, the CD’s four lengthy tracks evolve similarly to Resonance, the CD’s climatic finale. With Bisio double-stopping and pulling his strings fortissimo, Crothers’ glissandi and metronomic pumping, gradually give the sympathetic dynamic a novel undercurrent of unrelieved tension – embellished by the pianist’s strumming syncopation and the bassist’s woody string-stopping. Lightening her touch with freer harmonies, Bisio follows and shifts downwards into diminished pulses until the notes from both directions merge into a satisfying, protoplasmic whole.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #9

June 1, 2010

Jimmy Bennington Trio

Another Friend: The Music of Herbie Nichols
That Swan! Records 1006

Rope

Saints and Sinners

El Gallo Rojo 314-31

Trio This

That

GM Recordings GM3050CD

Re-imagining the scope of one of the hoariest of jazz’s traditional formations – the piano trio – demands foresight, guts and technical prestidigitation. This is especially true if the pianist, bassist and drummer involved are going to deal mostly with the standard repertoire.

Two of the three sessions here manage to forge an individualistic path for a combo whose make-up has spurred improvisers as different as Thelonious Monk Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Oscar Peterson – the Italian Rope formation and the trio led by drummer Jimmy Bennington. The third – Trio This – has personality, but an overall listlessness in its performance relegates it here to a lesser rank.

Interestingly enough each group depends on the input of a strong drummer. Chicago-based Bennington, for instance has worked with everyone from veterans saxophonist Rich Corpolongo and vibraphonist Jim Cooper to younger explorers such as trombonist Jeb Bishop and bassist Benjamin Duboc. His associates are just as impressive. New York bassist Michael Bisio is the go-to guy for everyone from multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee to vibist/pianist Karl Berger. Considering that Another Friend is made up of the compositions of idiosyncratic pianist Herbie Nichols, filling the piano chair is crucial. Portland, Oregon-based David Haney is a teacher and composer who often works with trombonist with Julian Priester and bassist Buell Neidlinger

Rope’s pianist Fabrizio Puglisi also teaches in Bologna. Member of the local Bassesfere Collective, he has played with Dutch reedist Ab Baars and been a member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra. Drummer Zeno De Rossi, who also runs the El Gallo Rojo label, is a member of more than a dozen bands ranging from straight-ahead jazz to Klezmer ensembles and also backs rock singers. Bassist Stefano Senni has worked with everyone from Bop clarinetist Tony Scott to young reedist Chris Speed. Rope’s Saints and Sinners is a triumph for a trio faced with the most difficult task here: putting a new spin on ultra-familiar compositions from the likes of Duke Ellington, Monk, John Lewis and even W.C. Handy.

Trio This’ standards include tunes by Wayne Shorter, Henry Mancini and Les McCann. Inventive, Boston-based drummer George Schuller, who wrote two pieces here, has played with stylists as different as saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Burton Greene. Bassist Matt Pavloka has worked with saxophonist Lee Konitz and James Spaulding. Melbourne-born, Brooklyn-based pianist Barney McAll – who composed four of the tunes here and arranged one other – not only gigs with saxophonists Gary Bartz and the JBs, but has also scored award-winning films.

Perhaps that’s why this CD doesn’t quite succeed in transcending its history: McAll has spent so much time involved in background work that it appears he’s forgotten how to be in the foreground. This is especially noticeable on McCann’s “Get that Soul”. A by-rote version of funk, its polite and simple syncopation makes it a foot-tapper, but little else. Pavolka thumps, Schuller clanks and strokes and McAll clinks the keys – then there’s an expected trading of fours.

The same situation arises in McAll originals such as “Where It Stops, Nobody Knows”. Although more processional than some of his other tunes that appear to move with tinkling bounces, despite the pianist’s strummed harmonies and steady chording, it seems as there’s never a note out of place – or any sense of abandon to the improvisations.

More notable are Schuller’s creations, although a tune such as “Nice Exit” finds McAll’s Dave Brubeck-style comping eschewing anything discordant or staccato. Luckily once the bassist’s licks and the drummer’s chinging cymbal lock into place there’s more momentum. Even here though, an idea of how the piece is going to evolve and conclude is evident before the finale.

On the other hand, despite its retro title, “Lava Lamp” may be the only antidote to the tracks that produce more heat than light. On top of chiming bass strings and rim shots from the drummer, the pianist’s chromatic exposition encompasses feather-light sparkling licks and single note emphasis, culminating in low-frequency resounds from the piano’s innards plus patterning and patting drum beats.

As different from This as Bologna is from Boston or Brooklyn, Saints and Sinners explodes with circumstellar energy as early as its first track, Handy’s “St. Louis Blues”, which has probably been covered more times than all versions of Herbie Nichols’ tunes combined. De Rossi’s drag, slap and pseudo-ricky-tick drumming and Senni’s walking bass are the perfect accompaniment to Puglisi’s angled, double-timed and syncopated melody variant. Soon his octave jumps and cascading lines make the piece even blusier without resorting to McCann-like faux funk.

A similar deconstruction occurs on Monk’s “San Francisco Holiday” which weaves bicycle horns beeps, thick bass-string reverb, De Rossi’s rim shots and the pianist pushing and stopping internal string friction into the melody. These zither-like buzzing and bowing strokes from Puglisi meet up with De Rossi’s cowbell clanks plus drum strokes and ruffs, leaving to a skewed exposition that is both fragmented and distinctive.

De Rossi’s extended drum rolls and Puglisi’s stride pacing manage to give Bill Frisell’s atmospheric “Monica Jane” a moodier reading, with guitar-like licks from the exposed strings creating a late-night bluesy mood. Eventually the piece accelerates to backbeat raps from the drummer and exaggerated glissandi from the pianist.

On the downside, the band’s Ellington medley seems pretty standard, but the three handle originals with verve. Puglisi’s “Triogramma” for instance, is rather like a lyrical capriccio toughened with repeated chording. As slippery and sliding high-frequency runs and portamento dynamics from the pianist toughen and intensify the narrative, the drummer’s crackling cymbals add to the fireworks, as the composer slithers from the bottom of the scale upwards before recapping the head.

De Rossi’s “Baron Samedi” too is a memorable exercise in stop-time swing built on clattering ratchets from the composer and waterfalls of descending notes from the pianist. As Puglisi’s circular arpeggios turn to low-frequency, Latinesque flashes, the drummer continues to build on the tensile framing.

Pianist Herbie Nichols (1919-1963) created sophisticated and unexpected themes that were poorly received during his short lifetime. Luckily Bennington – like erstwhile Haney employer Neidlinger – is someone interested in exploring Nichols legacy. Of the six tunes given a more expansive reading than Nichols’ own recordings allowed – only one was recorded by the composer himself.

That one, “House Party Starting” is basically recomposed with the three metaphorically backing into the as-yet-commenced fête. As the drummer’s cymbal resonation and Bisio’s ponticello slices set the scene, Haney’s largo narrative is more crepuscule than commanding. Eventually the theme kicks in, but the pianist takes it andante as Bennington’s circular brush movements and the bassist’s reverberating stops cooperate. Throughout, the pianist moves from harsh-voiced note clusters to a gentling swing to a finale that is almost thematically legit.

Bennington, who arranged all the tunes, also succeeds in furrowing new textures to add to Nichols’ highly original work – and Bisio and Haney contribute as well. On “Old 52nd St. Rag” for instance, Haney is appropriately hesitant and raggy in his interpretation, but there’s an undertow of barely held-back power underneath his notes. As the drummer pats his cymbals and the bassist double stops, Haney turns to low-frequency clipping and strumming, with the narrative expressed in broken chords aided by Bisio’s sympathetic counter-line and Bennington’s press rolls and cymbal socks.

Assertive friction characterizes “Twelve Bars”, with Bisio’s bass stopping, walking and slapping; Bennington’s drums and cymbals stroking, scraping and clattering plus Haney’s key clipping or portamento interpretation evolving at a different tempo than the others. A sprinkling of low-key pulses characterize Haney’s conclusion following thick pumps from the bassist and a mournful arco sweep.

In the right hands, traditional piano-trio music can be given new life. Reinterpretation was tried on each of these CDS, with two out of the three impressively succeeding.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Saints: 1. St Louis Blues 2. 2. San Francisco Holiday 3. Django 4. Medley: Kinda Dukish/Rockin’ In Rhythm 5. Baron Samedi 6. Mamacita 7. Monica Jane 8. Triogramma

Personnel: Saints: Fabrizio Puglisi (piano); Stefano Senni (bass) and Zeno De Rossi (drums)

Track Listing: That: 1. Pug Nose 2. Where It Stops, Nobody Knows 3. Flashback4. Langham 5. Lava Lamp 6. Duke 7. Nice Exit 8. Dreamsville 9. Get That Soul 10. Ten Days of Silence

Personnel: That: Barney McAll (piano); Matt Pavolka (bass) and George Schuller (drums and bells)

Track Listing: Another: 1. Old 52nd St. Rag 2. Another Friend 3. Ina 4. Prancin’ Pretty Woman 5. Twelve Bars 6. House Party Starting.

Personnel: Another: David Haney (piano); Michael Bisio (bass) and Jimmy Bennington (drums)

May 12, 2010

Old Dog

By Any Other Name
Porter Records PRCD-4027

Flow Trio

Rejuvenation

ESP-Disk 4052

John Coltrane dominated the concepts of nearly every young tenor saxophonist between the late 1950s and early 1980s – and his work is still one yardstick against which reedists are measured today. His influence was – and is – so all-pervasive, that even those saxophonists who forged their own identity often referred consciously or subconsciously to Trane’s work.

Oddly enough though the majority of reedists fastened onto Coltrane’s Hard Bop or Modal periods, with very few willing to deal with the timbral and textural achievements the sax man advanced just before his untimely death in 1967. Fearless and individualistic, New York-based Louie Belogenis on the other hand, is someone who has faced that challenge head on.

No Coltrane-clone, he still manages to involve himself in situations where near- transcendental creation is the goal, rather than more mundane considerations. Although over the years, his highest profile affiliation was in a variety of circumstances with the late Rashied Ali – the drummer in Coltrane’s final band – that hasn’t stopped him from collaborating in different circumstances with other players including trumpeter Roy Campbell and percussionist Kevin Norton. Overall there’s no question that his music is alive with excitement and movement witnessed by the performances on these two fine discs.

Recorded within a year of one another, these CDs display Belogenis’ talents in the proper context since his partners are as committed to in-the-moment improv as he. Cohesive and expansive, the Flow Trio is filled out by a drummer who changed his name and a bassist who changed his instrument. As Rashid Bakr, drummer Charles Downs – who has reverted to his birth name – has played with a long list of major musicians including bassist William Parker and pianist Cecil Taylor. Someone who now spends as much time playing the bass as the guitar with which he originally made his reputation, Joe Morris has worked with pianist Matthew Shipp, reedist Ken Vandermark and many others.

Old Dog, which negates the cliché about canines not learning new tricks, includes two veterans; drummer Warren Smith, who has recorded with saxophone stylists as diverse as the late Julius Hemphill and Anthony Braxton; and pianist/vibist Karl Berger director of Woodstock N.Y.’s Creative Music Studio. However, the slightly younger bassist Michael Bisio may be the paramount contributor here. Not only do his thumping string actions circumscribe the group sounds, but the five out of the nine tracks here which aren’t group improvisations are his compositions.

By design organized around his arco and pizzicato strengths, these pieces aren’t solipsistic however. Belogenis’ billowing sound waves and exaggerated reed trills, Smith’s shuffle beats and backbeat plus Berger’s organic patterning with both piano licks and chiming vibes are as important to the exposition and resolution as Bisio’s rhythmic directions.

“Zephyr Revisited” for instance, is an andante piece of FreeBop, with the bassist’s resounding meeting contrapuntal motion involving stop-time reed bites and ringing vibraphone notes. As Belogenis’ flutter tones work up into complex multiphonics, Bisio’s walking anchors the exposition, which is further decorated with descriptive note clusters that elasticize the time, thus allowing the saxman space for wide vibrato dips into basso timbres. Contrast this with “Round and Round” a group instant composition which mulches together reed glossolalia and squealing split tones; contrapuntal friction from the vibes and clanking rim shots and press rolls from the drummer. All the while flow is maintained unconventionally with the bassist’s discordant sul ponticello pedal point.

Meantime, every dog has his day – or is that space – on “Constellation”, with its Trane-echoing title. With each soloist impressive on his own, the group’s collective skills still keep the more than 11½-minute piece from formlessness. For instance, although Smith’s bass drum rebounds and crunching backbeat step up the tempo, the kinetic melody’s architecture is as much a product of Berger’s key fanning, Bisio’s thick strummed line and double-stopping plus the saxophonist’s output. When Belogenis leaps into vibrating false registers with swelling foghorn blares that seem to envelop the entire room, Bisio’s bowed bass line does double duty as coda and summation.

Unsurprisingly Morris’ bass playing includes more arpeggio than Bisio’s work, while Downs’ drumming is more wood-related than Smith’s. However, these two make perfect sonic partners for Belogenis as well. That’s because they vary the rhythmic undertow and constant chromatic motion to construct a bottom that anchors the narrative enough. That means that while the saxophonist’s use of spiky runs, double tonguing and adagio growls may distend nearly every tone to its limit, this happens without splintering the flow or turning the beat around. Examples of this strategy appear on “Pick Up Sticks” and “Two Acts”, the CD’s longest tracks.

The former centres on harsh glottal punctuation and multiphonic emphasis from Belogenis. As his pressured triple-tonguing and onomatopoeic node extensions bounce off the drummer’s strokes and the bassist’s stopping, a characteristic group sound emerges. Lengthened with throat-stretching tension from the saxophonist, the bonding prevents the tune from becoming inchoate. Staccato and with more emphasis on the saxophone’s bottom register, “Two Acts” balances Belogenis’ straining tessitura with a rolling, repeated bass configuration plus opposite sticking from the drummer.

In contrast a tune such as “Unfolding” for instance, is descriptively minimalist, avoiding extremes by layering connective chords and extensions, rather then abruptly breaking off the line for improvisation. Surprisingly enough, this is also where Belogenis’ echoing sax tone at points resembles that of another still-living reed master: Chicago’s Fred Anderson. Like one of the Chicagoan’s notable trio efforts, Downs’ rat-tat-tats and Morris’ cumulative string-stopping emphasize that this moderato piece is a full group effort.

Extending the uncompromising improvisation of Coltrane and others in the new millennium, both these discs confirm that the so-called jazz mainstream isn’t the only tradition that can be expanded.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Rejuvenation: 1. Reflection 2. Slow Cab 3. Pick Up Sticks 4. Two Acts 5. Succor 6. Unfolding 7. Rejuvenation

Personnel: Rejuvenation: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Joe Morris (bass) and Charles Downs (drums)

Track Listing: Name: 1. By Any Other Name (Trio) 2. Endless Return 3. Swa Swu Sui 4. Round and Round 5. Living Large 6. Zephyr Revisited 7. Who Are You? 8. Constellation 9. By Any Other Name (Quartet)

Personnel: Name: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Karl Berger (piano and vibraphone); Michael Bisio (bass) and Warren Smith (drums)

November 7, 2009

Flow Trio

Rejuvenation
ESP-Disk 4052

Old Dog

By Any Other Name

Porter Records PRCD-4027

Extending the uncompromising improvisation of Coltrane and others in the new millennium, both these discs confirm that the so-called jazz mainstream isn’t the only tradition that can be expanded.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Rejuvenation: 1. Reflection 2. Slow Cab 3. Pick Up Sticks 4. Two Acts 5. Succor 6. Unfolding 7. Rejuvenation

Personnel: Rejuvenation: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Joe Morris (bass) and Charles Downs (drums)

Personnel: Name: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Karl Berger (piano and vibraphone); Michael Bisio (bass) and Warren Smith (drums)

November 7, 2009

Ensemble Normand Guilbeault

Hommage à Mingus: Live at Upstairs
Ambiance Magnétiques AM 185

Davis/Ulrich/Baumann/Lutek/Richards/Jefferson

Urs Blöchlinger Tribute

Pet Mantis Records PMR 004

i.overdrive trio

Hommage à Syd Barrett

Imuzzic CRCD 0821

Joe McPhee

Angels, Devils & Haints

CJR 7

Extended Play: Honoring Musical Influences

By Ken Waxman

Mentors and heroes have been celebrated musically for years. In improvised music however, interpretations are more individual, the choice of honorees is quirkier, but the sounds are as impressive – as these CDs demonstrate.

Montreal bassist/composer Normand Guilbeault’s Ensemble has played the music of bassist/composer Charles Mingus (1922-1979) for years. Hommage à Mingus: Live at Upstairs Ambiance Magnétiques AM 185 CD finds the six man – and one woman, vocalist Karen Young – combo preserving Mingus’ purposely jagged stop-time themes and tempo switches. With Jean Derome’s snorting baritone saxophone and the broken phrasing of Mathieu Bélanger’s bass clarinet, the arrangements have more bottom. Young’s delivery adds emotion to a piece like “Weird Nightmare”, which benefits from Ivanhoe Jolicoeur’s whispering trumpet. Pianist Normand Devault consistently lays on the blues notes. Yet these link to the trumpeter’s sometime pre-modern plunger work and the steady pulse of drummer Claude Lavergne. The band proves that homage includes irreverence, when the pianist weaves a pastiche of other Mingus tunes into “Song with Orange”; and on “Passions of a Woman Loved”, the reeds quote “Tequila”

Joe McPhee’s Angels, Devils & Haints CJR 7 re-imagines the work of saxophone avatar Albert Ayler (1936 -1970). Besides two standards, the music is improvised. While Ayler’s themes were driven by thick percussion and raucous horns, McPhee plays alto or tenor saxophone or trumpet, backed by four bassists – Michael Bisio, Dominic Duval, Paul Rogers and Claude Tchamitchian.

Separated by heartfelt saxophone readings of “Goin’ Home” and “Ol’ Man River”, the outstanding originals capture the Ayler persona. “The Gift” is a pointillist exercise divided into saxophone tongue stops, flutter tonguing and frayed trills, while the bassists strike and slap cantilevered timbres, then divide into arco string stretches and pizzicato plinks.

The title tune is the real stunner. As the bassists thump or pluck to unify pedal point undertow, McPhee reed bites, squeals and chirps. When the bassists use tremolo pumps to meet the saxophonist’s slip-sliding smears, multiphonics are exposed.. McPhee then switches to spidery chromatic triplets on trumpet confirming underlying lyricism. Ultimately he returns to saxophone with ceiling-scraping altissimo. The finale finds the bassists’ portamento runs and McPhee’s floating and stuttering trills melding.

Four Torontonian and two Swiss honor Urs Blöchlinger on Tribute Pet Mantis Records PMR 004,The compositions of Blöchlinger (1954-1995) reflect the saxophonist’s sardonic humor and hint at the depression that lead to his suicide. Organized by bassist Neal Davis, plus two Swiss who worked with Blöchlinger – pianist Christoph Baumann and drummer Dieter Ulrich – the horn section is all Torontonians: trombonist Tom Richards plus reedists Peter Lutek and Kelly Jefferson.

Aylerian echoes animate Lutek’s nephritic cries, with Jefferson lyrical and Tom Richards as fond of plunger work as Jolicoeur. This is especially effective on the lurching theme of “King Arthur meets Hans Eisler in Hollywood”. The trombone blats, Lutek’s alto saxophone slithers and Jefferson’s soprano saxophone trills draw out the narrative. Davis’ walking, Baumann’s comping and Ulrich’s ruffs let the horns interject quotes from other tunes which are diaphanous enough to expose a climatic round of honks and peeps. “Kungusische Arbeitslied” layers themes in sequence. Contrapuntally contrasting trombone growls and reed chirps, the group switches to a marching band emulation following a drum roll. Sluicing horn lines quicken the pace as Ulrich nudges the melody with montuno rhythm. Baumann’s sprawling dynamics signal another shift and suddenly roles reverse. Lutek’s nasal alto, Jerfferson’s smooth soprano and Richards’ gutbucket trombone play the melody as the pianist’s key wandering replicate a fantasia. A bass string spank completes the tune.

Strangest acknowledgment is Hommage à Syd Barrett Imuzzic CRCD 0821. The Lyon-based i.overdrive trio honors Barrett (1946-2006), the songwriter/guitarist whose idiosyncratic tunes dominated Pink Floyd’s first LP before he left the group. With guitarist Philippe Gordiani using the pre-eminent rock instrument; trumpeter Rémi Gaudillat representing jazz sophistication; and drummer Bruno Tocanne weaving between the two, Barrett tunes are reinvigorated

“Astronomy Domine” balances Gordiani’s flanged and elongated riffs with melodiousness from Gaudillat and Tocanne’s mid-range banging. Distorted notes from effects pedals and whammy bars, plus prickly guitar licks are in the mix, but so are muted overtones and romantic obbligatos from the trumpet plus the drummer’s crunching rebounds and cymbal-splashes. Deference and deconstruction are realized with “Interstellar Overdrive”. Replicating the familiar riffs, Gordiani’s could be playing two guitars, while Gaudillat’s grace notes include a near-Arabic motif. Slurry brass triplets and staccato strumming combine for final redefinition.

The honorees aren’t around to hear these tributes, but each would be proud.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #2

October 6, 2009

Joe McPhee

Angels, Devils & Haints
CJR 7

Ensemble Normand Guilbeault

Hommage à Mingus: Live at Upstairs

Ambiance Magnétiques AM 185

Davis/Ulrich/Baumann/Lutek/Richards/Jefferson

Urs Blöchlinger Tribute

Pet Mantis Records PMR 004

i.overdrive trio

Hommage à Syd Barrett

Imuzzic CRCD 0821

Extended Play: Honoring Musical Influences

By Ken Waxman

The honorees aren’t around to hear these tributes, but each would be proud.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #2

October 6, 2009

Davis/Ulrich/Baumann/Lutek/Richards/Jefferson

Urs Blöchlinger Tribute
Pet Mantis Records PMR 004

Joe McPhee

Angels, Devils & Haints

CJR 7

Ensemble Normand Guilbeault

Hommage à Mingus: Live at Upstairs

Ambiance Magnétiques AM 185

i.overdrive trio

Hommage à Syd Barrett

Imuzzic CRCD 0821

Extended Play: Honoring Musical Influences

By Ken Waxman

The honorees aren’t around to hear these tributes, but each would be proud.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #2

October 6, 2009

i.overdrive trio

Hommage à Syd Barrett
Imuzzic CRCD 0821

Joe McPhee

Angels, Devils & Haints

CJR 7

Ensemble Normand Guilbeaul
t

Hommage à Mingus: Live at Upstairs

Ambiance Magnétiques AM 185

Davis/Ulrich/Baumann/Lutek/Richards/Jefferson

Urs Blöchlinger Tribute

Pet Mantis Records PMR 004

Extended Play: Honoring Musical Influences

By Ken Waxman

The honorees aren’t around to hear these tributes, but each would be proud.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #2

October 6, 2009

JOE MCPHEE

Remembrance
CJR-5

“We pretty much play whatever we want to play ... and you can call it whatever you want,” declares multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, before he and two cohorts launch into “Remembrance (closing) for Steve Lacy”, which winds up the notable series of improvisations on this CD.

A succinct definition of Free Music, serendipitously the statement also sums up the circumstances of this October 2001 gig in Seattle. Affected by post 9-11 nerves saxophonist Charles Gayle cancelled a scheduled duo performance with bassist Mike Bisio. The last minute solution was adding the bassist to the already touring duo of McPhee, who had often performed with Bisio, and French guitarist Raymond Boni, a musical partner of the reedist for about 25 years. Not only did the three meld into one unit, but one track also involves Boni in an unrehearsed duet with Seattle poet Paul Harding.

Harding, an unreconstructed Beat with a heavy Brooklyn accent, singsongs his way through his own “This Is Where I Live”. It’s a poem replete with pop culture references and lists of Black Music heroes, is interesting rather than profound, and doesn’t detract from the inspired instrumental music on the other tracks.

“Remembrance (closing) for Steve Lacy”, takes its dedication to the then dying saxophonist, and midway into the piece McPhee on soprano feeds fragments of “Blue Monk”, written by one of Lacy’s major influences, into the musical mix. McPhee’s sound magnetism is such – and his improvisation so one of a piece – that you don’t realize that he’s switched to the reed from pocket trumpet until the first choruses have sounded. From then on he carries on with slurry reed spits, split tone patterns and expansive cries that range from shrills to honks and seem to be hollowing out the insides of the horn.

Steady strumming from Boni and solid walking from Bisio are the responses. But earlier, as McPhee sparks fortissimo and discordant brass notes, the guitarist displays concentrated chromatic patterns, until the trumpet’s sinuous melody is matched with flowing chromatic finger picking.

This more-than-16-minute instant composition is a perfect postlude to the almost 23 minute “Remembrance (opening)”. Thick with a patina of peril and anticipation, the exposition evolves into contrapuntal cross strumming from Boni and meditative soprano saxophone vibrations from McPhee. But it’s first defined by a strained timbre that eventually resolves itself as a sul ponticello line from Bisio. Exhibiting commanding rasgueado, the guitarist falls back for the bassist’s arco expanded tones as the reed texture shreds into curlicue slurs and atonal trills and squeaks.

Moving to a keening, scraped metallic tone, which seems to take as much from the ligature and the mouthpiece as from the reed, McPhee separate the nodes into Aylerian bites as ringing finger patterns echo from both string players. Penultimate development features snapping single-string action from Boni as McPhee unveils a fresh counter theme on trilly pocket trumpet, that’s part Andalusian and part Don Cherry, eventually concluding with ney-like rubato glisses from the soprano.

On the evidence of this CD, “… call it whatever you want” must also mean that unplanned accidents can also create great music.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Remembrance (opening) 2. This Is Where I Live 3. In The End There Is Piece 4. Remembrance (closing) for Steve Lacy

Personnel: Joe McPhee (pocket trumpet and soprano saxophone); Raymond Boni (guitar); Michael Bisio (bass); Paul Harding (spoken music)

December 26, 2005

JOHN HEWARD TRIO

Let Them Pass/Laissez-Passer
Drimala DR 04 347-02

MICHAEL BISIO
Composance
Cadence Jazz Records CJR 1173

Held together by the substantial bass playing of Seattle’s Michael Bisio, these trio sessions are still more different than alike.

Led by Montreal-based visual artist and drummer John Heward and featuring the reeds of Joe Giardullo, both of whom have extensive playing history with multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee -- as does Bisio -- LET THEM PASS is an out and out free music session. Recorded 3,000 miles away in his hometown, Bisio’s COMPOSANCE not only features two other Left Coast improvisers, showcasing what he calls improvisers composing and performing simultaneously -- as the awkward title tries to convey -- but is also Freebop. More often than not, echoes of one of the bassist’s admitted influences -- Charles Mingus -- is heard.

All this is done with a substantially smaller band then Mingus ever led, and lacking three instruments that were part of almost every Mingus date: trombone, saxophone and piano. Bisio’s soloing and accompanying takes up part of the slack, as does the varied percussion of young Greg Campbell -- who has played with saxophonist Wally Shoup -- and the under-celebrated brassman Rob Blakeslee. Blakeslee, who plays trumpet and flugelhorn, has been featured to good effect in big bands and small groups led by multi-reedist Vinny Golia.

Oddly enough, “Charles Too!” the composition named in honor of Mingus doesn’t sound as Mingusian in execution as “CRT”, which honors two saxophone giants - - John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins is a guess. On it, as Campbell breaks up the beat with flourishes, Bisio showcases fleet pizzicato finger work, the trumpeter double tongues as he moves up the scale. The bassman’s woody, resonating tone helps as he walks, the drummer showcases proper bop cymbal work and Blakeslee never sounds a sour note at any tempo.

The more-than-10½ minute “Charles Too!” on the other hand, features gamelan-like rebounds from Campbell that mesh with Bisio’s ponticello swipes that echo as they unroll. As the bassist bows, short percussion resonation is joined by sharper vibes-like sounds and a cymbal beat. With two snaking string melodies, it seems as if the bassist is playing two bull fiddles at once -- or at least is manipulating two bows on different parts of his axe. Entering at midpoint, Blakeslee phrases in an unhurried Miles Davis-like manner, quickening his high pitches so that he ends with short strangled toots. Finally emphasizing his bottom tones, Bisio stays andante as Campbell explodes into a multi-rhythmic metal fest. Finally, a near ecclesiastical, arco bass and trumpet intermezzo sums up the melody.

Duke Ellington, another of Bisio’s -- and Mingus’ -- influences gets his due on “Come Sunday”, where Campbell’s melodious and resonant French horn lines split the partials of the tune as do wheezing trumpet slurs and bee-busy bass shuffles.

Many of the other pieces are episodic in nature, with the three displaying polyphonic tonality and distinct interpretations. Bisio strums flamenco-like chords and finger picks, Blakeslee outputs strangled trumpet breaths and a wide rubato tone, and Campbell brings out the metallic qualities of his extended kit with asymmetric drum pulses.

This versatility is especially noticeable on the title track where the percussionist moves sequentially onto the snares, bass drum and cymbals. Hand-hitting the strings, Bisio digs and scratches until he lets loose with a snatch of Mingus’ “Boogie Stop Shuffle”. Soaring, jagged phrases come from the trumpeter until climax is reached. Then, throat-clenching unconnected phrases mix with fingernail scraped bass strings and the resonation of unselected cymbals.

These sorts of unique timbres are more common on LET THEM PASS, which also has Giardullo playing one of four reeds: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo, plus featuring extended percussion and bass techniques from Bisio and Heward. All three reach true concordance on the final three tracks -- of seven -- which unsurprisedly are titled “Let Them Pass Five … Six … Seven”.

“Seven” and “Five” give full rein to Giardullo’s Aylerian tenor saxophone styling which enlivens earlier tracks as well. Making use of flattement and spetrofluctuation, split tones turn to overblowning as timbres morph into extended cries and grainy growls. Double-tonguing, the tenorist produces as much motion as sound, and that sound is a trilling squeal that quickens as the piece go on. Reaching a point where reed variations start shredding the upper partials into honks and exaggerated shrieks, Heward contributes ratamacues and flams from his snares and cymbals, while Bisio’s arco sweeps and pizzicato finger picking complement the others’ output perfectly. Percussion rattles and nerve beats buttress Bisio to produce a sluicing bass solo that resonates outwards from his f-holes. Turning straightahead, the bassist meets tam tam intimations from Heward as the saxman reprises the theme with variations.

Both section men are polyrythmically more inventive on “Five” with the drummer seemingly rubbing his sticks over the heads and cymbals rather than hitting them, and the bassist turning to slurred bowing. Although the reedist begins with squeaky sax runs, a couple of minutes on it sounds as if his (overdubbed?) bass clarinet is there as well, adding great, hollow contrapuntal echoes.

Antithetically “Six” is a showcase for alto flute smudges emanating and sympathetically vibrated ponticello bass strings. Using the space and openness available with dissonance, textures soon meld. When Bisio turns to col legno bow percussion, Giardullo adds piercing trills to occupy the other part of the harmonic concordance.

Earlier on the CD, Heward’s counter rhythm invoke everything from thumb piano textures to Arabic-style ceremonial percussion and Bisio’s wavering tonal rhythms stay focused no matter the surroundings. If Giardullo creates peeping piccolo tones, the bassist answers with slurred bowing; should the reedist’s output spetrofluctuation that really sounds trumpet-like, he accompanies it that way; and when smooth bass clarinet lines take on a Middle-Eastern cast, then Bisio emphasizes oud-like bass gestures.

Depending on your capacity for atonality, you can be satisfied with either of these sessions or both. LET THEM PASS is only available at www.drimala.com but that should be a minor impediment.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Pass: 1. Let Them Pass One 2. Let Them Pass Two 3. Let Them Pass Three 4. Let Them Pass Four 5. Let Them Pass Five 6. Let Them Pass Six 7. Let Them Pass Seven

Personnel: Pass: Joe Giardullo (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo); Michael Bisio (bass); John Heward (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Composance: 1. CRT 2. Refused 3. Charles Too! 4. Less Than 5. Yo’ Mike Kleimo Here 6. Composance 7. Come Sunday 8. Pretty Boy, Pig Face and the Family God

Personnel: Composance: Rob Blakeslee (trumpet and flugelhorn); Michael Bisio (bass); Greg Campbell (percussion and French horn)

December 20, 2004

JOE GIARDULLO 4TET

Now Is
Drimala DR-03-347-02

ALBERTO PINTON/FREDRIK NORDSTRÖM
Dog Out
Moserobie MMPCD 013

Splitting combo leadership between a couple of sax players has been a jazz natural ever since the days of Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt in the late 1940s. With another reedman on side, not only is there a second horn to add polyphonic harmonic and tonal emphasis to a session, but dividing up the front line between two woodwind players seems to free the reed soloist even more than if his running buddy was playing a different instrument.

To prove this, both Italian-born, Stockholm-based sonorous reed specialist Alberto Pinton and soprano saxophonist Joe Giardullo from upstate New York have never sounded so relaxed as on they do on their respective CDs here. Naturally it helps that Giardullo’s front-line comrade-in-arms is veteran Joe McPhee, who is equally proficient on reeds and brass. Pinton’s partner is Fredrik Nordström, a Swedish inside-outside alto and tenor saxophonist, who in his more mainstream offerings almost gives the Young Lions a good name. More experimental here, his reed tones blend well with the subterranean earth shakers from Pinton’s baritone and C-melody saxophones and clarinet.

Linking the two sessions as well is the identical setup of both quartets. Two reeds, bass and drums bring to mind Ornette Coleman’s group with Dewey Redman, while McPhee’s excursions on pocket trumpet -- a dead giveaway -- and flugelhorn, references Coleman’s classic quartet with Don Cherry. Style throughout is definitely Freebop and its derivatives, or what should be regarded as modern mainstream 45 years after Ornette’s initial recording.

More closely linked to that style, and its even more traditional precursor Hard Bop, Pinton, Nordström and company have enough familiarity with these and other aspects of modernity to keep the 11 tracks on the CD percolating at a steady boil. Each tune is short enough so that it doesn’t wear out its welcome. The bari man has created similar programs on his own band’s CDs featuring American trumpeter Kyle Gregory and Italian drummer Roberto Dani. Nordström has record with other Scandinavians like bassist Palle Danielsson and trumpeter Magnus Broo. Bassist Mattias Welin has played with Broo, Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and local twin-neck guitarist Mattias Windemo who also employed drummer Jon Fält, who is featured here.

Interesting enough, although the composer credits are split between the two leaders, it’s Welin’s sluicing, deep-toned bass work that set up many of the tunes. When he does get a solo, as on the title tune, his work is solid, powerful, but not particularly adventurous. Charlie Haden he’s not. Yet his consistent steadfastness here, linked with colorful bounces from drummer, allows the tenor man enough freedom to get into high screech mode and Pinton to double tongue on what sounds like C-melody.

On baritone, as on “TT Rider” a shifting, pseudo-blues, Pinton honks out slurry, staccato timbres like Ur-bopper Leo Parker or Stitt. Still the snaky lines of Nordström, the tune’s composer, soon ratchet up to Albert Ayler-like multiphonics not Ammons-like smoothness. Mellowness is reserved for pieces like “Piece of Change”, featuring Pinton’s light, coloratura clarinet lines that are effectively doubled by Nordström’s alto and advanced by Fält’s irregular percussion accents. This tune could be heard as close cousin to West Coast experimental jazz of the mid-1950s as played by reedman Jimmy Giuffre.

The influence of Eric Dolphy, another Californian, features in Nordström’s playing, especially on alto. This is most apparent on “The Tiny Mite”, where the Dolphyisms even seems to affect Pinton’s baritone runs. Elsewhere the riffing teamwork brings to mind Gerry Mulligan’s band with Zoot Sims, though Pinton is more of his own man than a Jeru follower. His echoing, tart-toned undulations find their outlet in shrilling high notes as well as the more familiar pedal point rhino-like snorts.

On the other session, McPhee’s many instruments means that the Giardullo Four have more colors with which to play, though the leader himself sticks to Steve Lacy-influenced soprano saxophone. The saxman, who has played in Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening Band as well as many times with McPhee, is one of those whose recording career hasn’t kept up with his history. He’s certainly old enough to remember Lacy’s quartet LPs with Cherry in the early 1960s.

Indeed, his and McPhee’s brass work on “Now Is”, the first and longest tune could almost fit onto one of those discs. Inchoate trills and squeals intersect, the two ascend the scales together, then plunge south, as McPhee’s brassy flashes and Giardullo’s honklets define the tune. However bassist Mike Bisio and percussionist Tani Tabbal make up a more sophisticated rhythm section than Lacy and Cherry would have had in 1960.

West Coaster Bisio, whose associations include work with local heroes trumpeter Rob Blakeslee and violinist Eyvind Kang, not only creates pizzicato thwacks behind the soloists, but can just as easily spin out mid-range, cello-like arco figures. Tabbal, who has worked with saxists Roscoe Mitchell and James Carter, not only shows off his press rolls and time-keeping, but off-kilter, mellifluous echoing bounces from the djembe or hourglass shaped West African drum.

“O.A.O.L”, a trio outing for Giardullo, Bisio and Tabbal is introduce by a melancholy bass line with a “Played Twice” inference, barely there brushwork from the drummer and a smoothly accented legato tone from the saxman. Slowly undulating up and down the bridge, Bisio picks carefully selected notes and double stops, linking with Giardullo in such a way that the endproduct sounds like Haden’s duets with Coleman. Not to be outdone, “Close” is a McPhee-Tabbal duet with the later percussively hand drumming and the former producing muted chromatic grace notes.

Other times, triple-tongued trumpet tones and whispery, airy soprano sax trills meet buzzy, rubato fingering. Or with both front liners on sopranos the result resembles two chirping squirrels chasing themselves around the tree that is the darkening and modulated bass line. Tabbal extending the vibrations with wire brushes on cymbals and what sounds like marbles being rolled on drum tops, getting the reedists to breath bent tones that are more dissonant than atonal.

This session can likely only be accessed on the Internet at www.drimala.com, while DOG OUT’s Swedish CD won’t exactly be at your local Wal-Mart either. But both are worth seeking out to hear memorable reed work.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Now: 1. Now Is 2. Spin 3. Conference 4. SCINT 5. O.A.O.L. 6. Spring Theory 7. Close

Personnel: Now: Joe McPhee [except 2 & 5] (pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, soprano saxophone); Joe Giardullo [except 7](soprano saxophone); Mike Bisio [except 8](bass); Tani Tabbal (drums and djembe)

Track Listing: Dog: 1. Cold Talk 2. Dog’s Right 3. The Group 4. Piece of Change 5. The Tiny Mite 6. The Freezer 7. Numerology 8. Even Sven 9. TT Rider 10. For Us Three 11. Wonderland Ballroom

Personnel: Dog: Fredrik Nordström (alto and tenor saxophones); Alberto Pinton (baritone and C-melody saxophones, clarinet); Mattias Welin (bass); Jon Fält (drums)

December 15, 2003

GIARDULLO/MCPHEE/BISIO/TABBAL

Shadow & Light
Drimala DR 02-347-01

Isn’t there some cliché that states that “out of great tragedy comes art”, or something like that? Well that’s only partially true. Art shackled to the reflection of a cataclysmic event is as likely to appear as a polemic or agit-prop. Having the right opinions or feeling strongly about a situation doesn’t automatically elevate your creation to a masterpiece. Any number of folk ditties or punk rock snarls can be cited as evidence.

Sometimes -- though not always -- purely instrumental music will offer enough distance from the event to raise the believability stakes. Certainly the four veteran improvisers represented on SHADOWS & LIGHT show this. Strictly by chance, the recording session for this CD was scheduled for September 11, 2001 in upstate New York. After jazz economics convinced them not to cancel -- bassist Mike Bisio, on tour with other band members, lives in Seattle -- the group went along and recorded some of the most moving, yet joyful music to reflect the events of that day. Yet because these men are thinking improvisers rather than propagandists, the emotions have to be intuited from the impassioned playing, not descriptive titles or shouted slogans.

Like a suite, the almost 55-minute CD starts off with muted, near inaudible exhalation from Joe Giardullo’s bass clarinet gradually turning to rodent-like cries and echoing multiphonics, until snare rattles from drummer Tani Tabbal signal the rest of the band’s entry and the second tune begins.

“Cries, Whispers and Cries” builds up from this near silence to cacophonous lines from each instrument playing at the same time. Giardullo introduces vaguely Oriental-sounding trills on soprano saxophone, Joe McPhee counters with tough tenor asides, Tabbal weighs in with subtle percussion suggestions, as the piece is built around and extended with an extended pizzicato vamp from Bisio.

The bassist, who has recorded duet sessions with both McPhee and Giardullo in the past, gets the spotlight to himself for “In the End There Is Peace”. A continuous arco showcase which begins with him approximating what could be extended reed techniques, advances to a centre section of variegated pitches that sound as many strings as possible, and ends with a mournful bass line that suggests repose.

Subtle too, is the solo work of Tabbal on “Question of Time”. This brief -- a little more than 4½ minute -- percussion workout demonstrates that each part of the kit can be highlighted without appreciably increasing the volume of attack. His playing almost seems to be taking place in slow motion, with each gesture relaxed enough to appear to be recorded underwater, so deliberate and specific does it seem. A Detroit native, who has played in the bands of saxophonists James Carter and Roscoe Mitchell, Tabbal didn’t realize how far from peaceful his personal 2001 would be. A couple of months after this session, he underwent 12 hours of surgery to remove a benign, grapefruit-sized cranial tumor. He is now said to be recovering well with his playing skills undiminished.

McPhee too is the master of oblique references as on “City on the Edge of Forever”, a duet with Bisio at his melancholy best. Here, his choked pocket trumpet tone hangs for a time in the air before detonating into screeching debris. Sadness becomes almost palpable as the bassist’s produces low, legato tones. If he’s ethereal on brass, then elsewhere McPhee can also be hard-bodied and raucous on tenor saxophone, which he plays with a pronounced vibrato. This split-horn personality doesn’t pose a problem for the others, especially Giardullo and Bisio who with bassist Dominic Duval perform regularly with McPhee as Bluette.

Giardullo too is able to represent distinctive differences on each of his chosen instruments. For the day at hand, probably the most appropriate sound appears on “Well of Souls”, where to the accompaniment of Tabbal’s West African percussion, the curving tone of his shenai allude to the ritualistic incantation you may hear on a field recording of Arabic trance music. Despite the blame being apportioned to Muslims during that hysterical day, that timbre should remind everyone that universal music could overcome political and sociological differences.

In the end, while it’s apparent that SHADOWS & LIGHT, which can only be found at www.drimala.com, isn’t program music per se, surely it provides an earnest sound picture of 9-11. Listen to it as an exceptional musical experience, not as anything else.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. One Moment and the Next 2. Cries, Whispers & Cries 3. City on the Edge of Forever 4. Twilight at Noon 5. In the End There Is Peace 6. Well of Souls 7. Question of Time 8. Shadow and Light

Personnel: Joe Giardullo (C flute, bass clarinet, shenai, soprano saxophone); Joe McPhee (pocket trumpet, tenor saxophone); Mike Bisio (bass); Tani Tabbal (drums, percussion, udu drum, djembe)

June 22, 2002

MICHAEL BISIO

Undulations
OmniTone 15001

There's something percolating in Seattle besides coffee. It's a robust, piquant, blend of jazz that's as characteristic of the region as its scenery. Harder-edged than the laid back California brew south of it, but not as off the wall as some of the new music coming out of Vancouver, B.C. to the north, UNDULATIONS is a perfect definition of what you can expect there.

Spearheaded by bassist Michael Bisio, this CD shows off the talents of accomplished musicians able to go their own way outside the usual jazz media spotlight. We shouldn't make too much of the Northwest singularity, through. Bisio is actually a native of Troy, N.Y., who in Seattle, has worked with such present and past East Coasters as saxophonists Joe McPhee and Charles Gayle and trumpeter Barbara Donald.

A fine composer, who wrote four of the seven tunes here, the bassist is an amiable sort, who is just as happy to "walk" as solo. No showoff, he cultivates a deep, woody tone that makes it quite clear he's playing a doublebass, as he demonstrates at the beginning of Blakeslee's "Give Up the Chair". That Portland, Ore.-based brassman has also been associated with another West Coast iconoclast Vinny Golia. Veteran Nell specializes in half florid/half modal solos -- think of McCoy Tyner meeting Sergey Rachmaninoff --, while Pias prefers offbeat patterns to a steady pulse ignoring cymbal hisses and snare hits. Finally Nolet, a frequent Bisio duo partner, plays as if combos featured a viola are an everyday occurrence, letting the fiddle serve the unison frontline function a saxophone would have in a hard bop quintet.

Ear training could be facilitated with this CD. So much is going on at one time that when you start concentrating on any soloist -- say Blakeslee's variations in the middle of "Grimes, Henry Grimes", you often get aurally seduced by, for example, the non-standards inventions Pias is coaxing from his hands and feet. And wait, isn't that Randy Weston's "Hi Fly" sneaking on the bass and horns?

No foot tapper, instead the first track, as the title says, undulates. Alive as it is with hearty bass plucks, curving piano explorations, airy flugelhorn lifts, violin scratches and considered drum rolls, the tune manages to be non-standard without falling into the trap of self-conscious experimentation.

A fresh breath of air from the Northwest, this CD shows how musicians outside major jazz centres are subtly extending the tradition, no matter how static certain generational spokesmen want it to remain.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Doesn't Really 2. Golden Blue 3. Give Up the Chair 4. Injury or Malpractice 5. Grimes, Henry Grimes 6. Undulation Song 7. Legends

Personnel: Rob Blakeslee (trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn); Jim Nolet (viola); Bob Nell (piano); Michael Bisio (bass); Ed Pias (drums)

October 19, 2000