Dom Minasi/Ras Moshe/Blaise Siwula/Jay Rosen/Albey Balgochian

The Bird, The Girl & The Donkey
Re:Konstrukt re:042

By Ken Waxman

Members of New York’s nearly permanent, always vibrant, underground free music scene, the improvisers here not only play in different configurations, but work avidly to promote the music. Tenor saxophonist Ras Moshe and alto saxophonist Blaise Siwula each organize regular improv sessions, while all the players welcome free-form gigs here or overseas, whether it’s with major stylists such as saxophonist Joe McPhee or interesting tyros.

The spectacular result of years of selfless music-making is on this CD. Recorded in guitarist Dom Minasi’s flat, the players take post-Ascension advances as a benchmark and cram as many bent notes, extended timbres and alternate harmonies as necessary into these improvisations. But technical extensions aren’t used as solipsistic showiness but as methods to interact with the ensemble itself or in duo or trio interludes.

Different players step forward at different times. Bassist Albey Balgochian’s scrubbing and splintering stops are showcased on “Hey Cowboy” for instance; others have more space. Beating out rhythmic hooks throughout, drummer Jay Rosen lets loose with focused rim shots, cowbell slaps, cymbal pops plus rebounds on the same track, while Minasi uses slurred fingering to first goose the tempo, then after staccato group variations, prods the others to harmonize.

Staccato and fortissimo exchanges interest both horn players. Moshe for example, studs “Atmospheric Meeting” with irregular diaphragm vibratos, reed stutters and disassociated honks, contrasting with Siwula’s lip-trembling contralto clusters. Nearly continuous in their blowing, the saxes are backed by Rosen’s cowbell whacks and the guitarist’s intricate fills. Meanwhile, on the title track, the tenor saxophonist’s tone shards harden into a “Taps”-like theme, aptly accompanied by the drummer’s martial rat-tat-tats. That intermezzo is followed by layered reed vamps, bass wood creaks and guitar arpeggios, that produce a piece as linear as it is mercurial.

This CD is a first-class essay in the art improvisation that could only be fashioned by musicians with years of similar experiences.

Tracks: Atmospheric Meeting; Stop Ringing Those Dam Bells; The Bird, The Girl and The Donkey; Hey Cowboy; Sonia’s Back, No Really, Her Back

Personnel: Blaise Siwula: alto saxophone; Ras Moshe: tenor saxophone; Dom Minasi: guitar; Albey Balgochian: bass; Jay Rosen: drums

-- For New York City Jazz Record March 2011

March 4, 2011

Michael Jefrey Stevens

For The Children
Cadence Jazz Records CJR 1202

Hubert Dupont

Spider’s Dance

Ultrabolic UBR 0502

Loïc Dequidt Quartet

Nomade

Kopasetic Productions KOPACD 022

Trying to wrest contemporary jazz from the control of the neo-conservatives is as honorable a struggle as any avant-garde exploration. Extending the tradition shouldn’t preclude innovation within set boundaries, and that’s what these three groups attempt with varying success, on their CDs.

Configured as the classic jazz quartet of saxophone-piano-bass-and-drums, each combo performs original compositions, written by the session leader as a challenge to the burgeoning jazz copycat… oops … repertory movement. It’s interesting to note however that only one quartet is all-American.

That’s the one featured on For The Children, a disc recorded back in 1995. The CD also involves three musicians who now often work the more experimental side of the street. Pianist Michael Jefrey Stevens, who composed all the tunes here, is probably best-known for the band he co-leads with bassist Joe Fonda; bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen are the rhythm section of choice for many, most notably partnering multi-reedman Joe McPhee is Trio X. Only tenor saxophonist David Schnitter, who played with Jazz Messengers in the late 1970s, could be considered a bona-fide modern mainstreamer.

Fiery American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa joins forces with powerful French bassist Hubert Dupont’s trio on Spider’s Dance, recorded in 2006. Yet neither the New York-based saxophonist nor the Paris-based bassist has proper mainstream credentials. Part of the Kartet band with pianist Benoît Delbecq as well as in bands that include computers and electric instruments, Dupont isn’t restricted by Bop basics. Neither is Mahanthappa, who frequently plays with pianist Vijay Iyer on sessions that bow to their joint South Asian background as well as jazz. This heritage is something he shares with understated drummer Chander Sardjoe, who has studied South Indian classical music as well as western classical music and jazz. Lyon-native pianist Yvan Robillard often adapts classical techniques to his improvising.

Even more international is the band on Nomade, recorded in 2007. Leader Loïc Dequidt is a French pianist who moved to Sweden in 2003. Bassist Mattias Hjorth and drummer Peter Nilsson are as in-demand as rhythm players in that country as Duval and Rosen are in theirs. Tenor saxophonist Tommy Smith on the other hand is Scottish. He and Dequidt have played together on-and-off since 1994. That was 11 years after Smith made her first record – at 16. Today besides touring with his own group, the saxophonist directs the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO). With this Young Lion background and association with the SNJO, Smith should be a textbook example of a neo-con. Yet at least on one track on Nomade, his improvising is surprisingly free.

That happens on “Nordique” where his split tones and wheezes quicken from a meditative Trane-like groove to discordant fortissimo twists that elongate and distends the theme. Meantime Dequidt builds up swelling tremolo keyboard lines. Eventually the two reach a dramatic concordance of traverse double counterpoint until Smith’s singular reed bites and the pianist’s arpeggiation and single-note clusters knit the interplay closer together.

Throughout this and other tunes, the quartet’s dynamic is steady and unflappable. The rhythm section stays in the background, with the drummer often relying on blunt rim shots and cymbal shivers, while the bassist tries out low-key sliding string resonation. Dequidt’s overall strategy is playing peaceful and moderato runs, with sustained high-frequency arpeggios as well as chiming and clipping key picks marking the time, as Smith flutter tongues and slides out smoothly vibrates tones.

An older hand at this sort of saxophone showcase is Schnitter, whose solos on For The Children exhibit a true professional’s versatility, taking inspiration from John Coltrane, Arnett Cobb, Stan Getz and others without being beholden to any one. This proficiency is shown on “The Hunt”, descried by its composer as “an old blues” and “Graduation” with its modal overtones.

On the former, Schnitter’s riffing and honking veer into “Yakety Sax” territory, although the saxophonist’s downward slurring attack with disintegrating split tones is more sophisticated than that. Additionally Stevens’ quasi-rickety-tick approach to playing sometimes skirts parody, only to right itself into profundity by the tune’s conclusion. To maintain the foot-tapping tempo, Rosen emphasis the backbeat with rim shots, while here and elsewhere Duval holds to a Paul Chambers-like steady groove.

In contrast “Graduation” is based on double counterpoint between broken trills spit out by Schnitter’s sax and Stevens’ blunt yet sluicing piano lines. With cymbal cracks rallying both, the multiphonics cross over until the tempo falls to moderato and andante and the head is recapped by both. Finally a tough strummed bass slap, snorted sax and ruffs from the drummer conclude the piece.

With themes ranging from near waltz to Hard Bop homage, it’s the pianist’s writing, that’s most on display here and Stevens demonstrates this facility on nearly every track. Another standout is “Patato’s Song”, where the montuno rhythms built into the theme that help define the piece. While dynamic glissandi and cross-handed chords from Stevens also contribute to the exposition, it’s Schnitter’s flutter-tonguing that defines the piece itself as half-Latin and half (Sonny) Rollins.

Saxophone improvisation – this time on alto – also coils the tunes there towards multi-faceted interpretation on Spider’s Dance. Overall, the organic layout of the compositions is slightly different then on the other CDs, since a bassist rather than a pianist is the chief composer. Although many tunes float on bull fiddle motifs, Dupont’s erudite strategy doesn’t turn every piece into a bass showcase. If anything in fact, it’s Robillard who gets the most solo space after Mahanthappa.

On “Possib” Robillard sounds out a Latinesque line plus high frequency note clusters; resonates in New music style deep inside the soundboard on “Mars Presque”; and even flirts with boogie-woogie on “Spiders”. Band members’ responses vary from clean obbligatos, note flurries and sluicing tremolo bites from the reedist, to low-pitched sliding arpeggios or standards walking from the bassist.

No false gagaku emulations characterize the “Oreientable” intermezzo either. Instead Mahanthappa slides his timbres upwards with double-tongued pitch modulations on top of flams and bounces from Sardjoe, while Dupont adds guitar-like strums and stop-time interjections.

Still, the CD’s high point is definitely “Moundélé”. A balladic nocturne, it undulates not only on supportive bass slaps but also with the voicing of overlapping piano harmonies and saxophone trills. As the alto man buzzes split tones, Dupont thumps thick stops and the pianist twists out mid-range glissandi and tremolo runs. Building up to a climax of staccato tones the band recaps the head, but leaves the conclusion distinctively post-modern, slicing off the last phrase.

Working within the song form and in standard configuration none of these sessions are really touchstones in jazz history. But each is stretching the mainstream definition in some way to keep the tradition supple – and out of the hands of the neo-clones.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Dance: 1. Spiders 2. Mais Presque 3. Possib 4. Orientable 5. Irid 6. 1010 7. Douj 8. Mondélé 9. Ladies on Board 10. D’Hélices

Personnel: Dance: Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone); Yvan Robillard (piano); Hubert Dupont (bass) and Chander Sardjoe (drums)

Track Listing: Children: 1. Specific Gravity 2. Henderson 3. Sadness of the Madness 4. The Hunt 5. Graduation 6. Sunny’s Song 7. Patato’s Song 8. For The Children 9. Lazy Waltz

Personnel: Children: David Schnitter (tenor saxophone); Michael Jefrey Stevens (piano); Dominic Duval (bass) and Jay Rosen (drums)

Track Listing: Nomade 1. Nomade 2. Final Play 3. Harris Tweed 4. Amhara 5. Nordique 6. Virvel

Personnel: Nomade: Tommy Smith (tenor saxophone); Loïc Dequidt (piano); Mattias Hjorth (bass) and Peter Nilsson (drums)

September 23, 2008

Hubert Dupont

Spider’s Dance
Ultrabolic UBR 0502

Loïc Dequidt Quartet

Nomade

Kopasetic Productions KOPACD 022

Michael Jefrey Stevens

For The Children

Cadence Jazz Records CJR 1202

Trying to wrest contemporary jazz from the control of the neo-conservatives is as honorable a struggle as any avant-garde exploration. Extending the tradition shouldn’t preclude innovation within set boundaries, and that’s what these three groups attempt with varying success, on their CDs.

Configured as the classic jazz quartet of saxophone-piano-bass-and-drums, each combo performs original compositions, written by the session leader as a challenge to the burgeoning jazz copycat… oops … repertory movement. It’s interesting to note however that only one quartet is all-American.

That’s the one featured on For The Children, a disc recorded back in 1995. The CD also involves three musicians who now often work the more experimental side of the street. Pianist Michael Jefrey Stevens, who composed all the tunes here, is probably best-known for the band he co-leads with bassist Joe Fonda; bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen are the rhythm section of choice for many, most notably partnering multi-reedman Joe McPhee is Trio X. Only tenor saxophonist David Schnitter, who played with Jazz Messengers in the late 1970s, could be considered a bona-fide modern mainstreamer.

Fiery American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa joins forces with powerful French bassist Hubert Dupont’s trio on Spider’s Dance, recorded in 2006. Yet neither the New York-based saxophonist nor the Paris-based bassist has proper mainstream credentials. Part of the Kartet band with pianist Benoît Delbecq as well as in bands that include computers and electric instruments, Dupont isn’t restricted by Bop basics. Neither is Mahanthappa, who frequently plays with pianist Vijay Iyer on sessions that bow to their joint South Asian background as well as jazz. This heritage is something he shares with understated drummer Chander Sardjoe, who has studied South Indian classical music as well as western classical music and jazz. Lyon-native pianist Yvan Robillard often adapts classical techniques to his improvising.

Even more international is the band on Nomade, recorded in 2007. Leader Loïc Dequidt is a French pianist who moved to Sweden in 2003. Bassist Mattias Hjorth and drummer Peter Nilsson are as in-demand as rhythm players in that country as Duval and Rosen are in theirs. Tenor saxophonist Tommy Smith on the other hand is Scottish. He and Dequidt have played together on-and-off since 1994. That was 11 years after Smith made her first record – at 16. Today besides touring with his own group, the saxophonist directs the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO). With this Young Lion background and association with the SNJO, Smith should be a textbook example of a neo-con. Yet at least on one track on Nomade, his improvising is surprisingly free.

That happens on “Nordique” where his split tones and wheezes quicken from a meditative Trane-like groove to discordant fortissimo twists that elongate and distends the theme. Meantime Dequidt builds up swelling tremolo keyboard lines. Eventually the two reach a dramatic concordance of traverse double counterpoint until Smith’s singular reed bites and the pianist’s arpeggiation and single-note clusters knit the interplay closer together.

Throughout this and other tunes, the quartet’s dynamic is steady and unflappable. The rhythm section stays in the background, with the drummer often relying on blunt rim shots and cymbal shivers, while the bassist tries out low-key sliding string resonation. Dequidt’s overall strategy is playing peaceful and moderato runs, with sustained high-frequency arpeggios as well as chiming and clipping key picks marking the time, as Smith flutter tongues and slides out smoothly vibrates tones.

An older hand at this sort of saxophone showcase is Schnitter, whose solos on For The Children exhibit a true professional’s versatility, taking inspiration from John Coltrane, Arnett Cobb, Stan Getz and others without being beholden to any one. This proficiency is shown on “The Hunt”, descried by its composer as “an old blues” and “Graduation” with its modal overtones.

On the former, Schnitter’s riffing and honking veer into “Yakety Sax” territory, although the saxophonist’s downward slurring attack with disintegrating split tones is more sophisticated than that. Additionally Stevens’ quasi-rickety-tick approach to playing sometimes skirts parody, only to right itself into profundity by the tune’s conclusion. To maintain the foot-tapping tempo, Rosen emphasis the backbeat with rim shots, while here and elsewhere Duval holds to a Paul Chambers-like steady groove.

In contrast “Graduation” is based on double counterpoint between broken trills spit out by Schnitter’s sax and Stevens’ blunt yet sluicing piano lines. With cymbal cracks rallying both, the multiphonics cross over until the tempo falls to moderato and andante and the head is recapped by both. Finally a tough strummed bass slap, snorted sax and ruffs from the drummer conclude the piece.

With themes ranging from near waltz to Hard Bop homage, it’s the pianist’s writing, that’s most on display here and Stevens demonstrates this facility on nearly every track. Another standout is “Patato’s Song”, where the montuno rhythms built into the theme that help define the piece. While dynamic glissandi and cross-handed chords from Stevens also contribute to the exposition, it’s Schnitter’s flutter-tonguing that defines the piece itself as half-Latin and half (Sonny) Rollins.

Saxophone improvisation – this time on alto – also coils the tunes there towards multi-faceted interpretation on Spider’s Dance. Overall, the organic layout of the compositions is slightly different then on the other CDs, since a bassist rather than a pianist is the chief composer. Although many tunes float on bull fiddle motifs, Dupont’s erudite strategy doesn’t turn every piece into a bass showcase. If anything in fact, it’s Robillard who gets the most solo space after Mahanthappa.

On “Possib” Robillard sounds out a Latinesque line plus high frequency note clusters; resonates in New music style deep inside the soundboard on “Mars Presque”; and even flirts with boogie-woogie on “Spiders”. Band members’ responses vary from clean obbligatos, note flurries and sluicing tremolo bites from the reedist, to low-pitched sliding arpeggios or standards walking from the bassist.

No false gagaku emulations characterize the “Oreientable” intermezzo either. Instead Mahanthappa slides his timbres upwards with double-tongued pitch modulations on top of flams and bounces from Sardjoe, while Dupont adds guitar-like strums and stop-time interjections.

Still, the CD’s high point is definitely “Moundélé”. A balladic nocturne, it undulates not only on supportive bass slaps but also with the voicing of overlapping piano harmonies and saxophone trills. As the alto man buzzes split tones, Dupont thumps thick stops and the pianist twists out mid-range glissandi and tremolo runs. Building up to a climax of staccato tones the band recaps the head, but leaves the conclusion distinctively post-modern, slicing off the last phrase.

Working within the song form and in standard configuration none of these sessions are really touchstones in jazz history. But each is stretching the mainstream definition in some way to keep the tradition supple – and out of the hands of the neo-clones.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Dance: 1. Spiders 2. Mais Presque 3. Possib 4. Orientable 5. Irid 6. 1010 7. Douj 8. Mondélé 9. Ladies on Board 10. D’Hélices

Personnel: Dance: Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone); Yvan Robillard (piano); Hubert Dupont (bass) and Chander Sardjoe (drums)

Track Listing: Children: 1. Specific Gravity 2. Henderson 3. Sadness of the Madness 4. The Hunt 5. Graduation 6. Sunny’s Song 7. Patato’s Song 8. For The Children 9. Lazy Waltz

Personnel: Children: David Schnitter (tenor saxophone); Michael Jefrey Stevens (piano); Dominic Duval (bass) and Jay Rosen (drums)

Track Listing: Nomade 1. Nomade 2. Final Play 3. Harris Tweed 4. Amhara 5. Nordique 6. Virvel

Personnel: Nomade: Tommy Smith (tenor saxophone); Loïc Dequidt (piano); Mattias Hjorth (bass) and Peter Nilsson (drums)

September 23, 2008

Loïc Dequidt Quartet

Nomade
Kopasetic Productions KOPACD 022

Michael Jefrey Stevens

For The Children

Cadence Jazz Records CJR 1202

Hubert Dupont

Spider’s Dance

Ultrabolic UBR 0502

Trying to wrest contemporary jazz from the control of the neo-conservatives is as honorable a struggle as any avant-garde exploration. Extending the tradition shouldn’t preclude innovation within set boundaries, and that’s what these three groups attempt with varying success, on their CDs.

Configured as the classic jazz quartet of saxophone-piano-bass-and-drums, each combo performs original compositions, written by the session leader as a challenge to the burgeoning jazz copycat… oops … repertory movement. It’s interesting to note however that only one quartet is all-American.

That’s the one featured on For The Children, a disc recorded back in 1995. The CD also involves three musicians who now often work the more experimental side of the street. Pianist Michael Jefrey Stevens, who composed all the tunes here, is probably best-known for the band he co-leads with bassist Joe Fonda; bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen are the rhythm section of choice for many, most notably partnering multi-reedman Joe McPhee is Trio X. Only tenor saxophonist David Schnitter, who played with Jazz Messengers in the late 1970s, could be considered a bona-fide modern mainstreamer.

Fiery American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa joins forces with powerful French bassist Hubert Dupont’s trio on Spider’s Dance, recorded in 2006. Yet neither the New York-based saxophonist nor the Paris-based bassist has proper mainstream credentials. Part of the Kartet band with pianist Benoît Delbecq as well as in bands that include computers and electric instruments, Dupont isn’t restricted by Bop basics. Neither is Mahanthappa, who frequently plays with pianist Vijay Iyer on sessions that bow to their joint South Asian background as well as jazz. This heritage is something he shares with understated drummer Chander Sardjoe, who has studied South Indian classical music as well as western classical music and jazz. Lyon-native pianist Yvan Robillard often adapts classical techniques to his improvising.

Even more international is the band on Nomade, recorded in 2007. Leader Loïc Dequidt is a French pianist who moved to Sweden in 2003. Bassist Mattias Hjorth and drummer Peter Nilsson are as in-demand as rhythm players in that country as Duval and Rosen are in theirs. Tenor saxophonist Tommy Smith on the other hand is Scottish. He and Dequidt have played together on-and-off since 1994. That was 11 years after Smith made her first record – at 16. Today besides touring with his own group, the saxophonist directs the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO). With this Young Lion background and association with the SNJO, Smith should be a textbook example of a neo-con. Yet at least on one track on Nomade, his improvising is surprisingly free.

That happens on “Nordique” where his split tones and wheezes quicken from a meditative Trane-like groove to discordant fortissimo twists that elongate and distends the theme. Meantime Dequidt builds up swelling tremolo keyboard lines. Eventually the two reach a dramatic concordance of traverse double counterpoint until Smith’s singular reed bites and the pianist’s arpeggiation and single-note clusters knit the interplay closer together.

Throughout this and other tunes, the quartet’s dynamic is steady and unflappable. The rhythm section stays in the background, with the drummer often relying on blunt rim shots and cymbal shivers, while the bassist tries out low-key sliding string resonation. Dequidt’s overall strategy is playing peaceful and moderato runs, with sustained high-frequency arpeggios as well as chiming and clipping key picks marking the time, as Smith flutter tongues and slides out smoothly vibrates tones.

An older hand at this sort of saxophone showcase is Schnitter, whose solos on For The Children exhibit a true professional’s versatility, taking inspiration from John Coltrane, Arnett Cobb, Stan Getz and others without being beholden to any one. This proficiency is shown on “The Hunt”, descried by its composer as “an old blues” and “Graduation” with its modal overtones.

On the former, Schnitter’s riffing and honking veer into “Yakety Sax” territory, although the saxophonist’s downward slurring attack with disintegrating split tones is more sophisticated than that. Additionally Stevens’ quasi-rickety-tick approach to playing sometimes skirts parody, only to right itself into profundity by the tune’s conclusion. To maintain the foot-tapping tempo, Rosen emphasis the backbeat with rim shots, while here and elsewhere Duval holds to a Paul Chambers-like steady groove.

In contrast “Graduation” is based on double counterpoint between broken trills spit out by Schnitter’s sax and Stevens’ blunt yet sluicing piano lines. With cymbal cracks rallying both, the multiphonics cross over until the tempo falls to moderato and andante and the head is recapped by both. Finally a tough strummed bass slap, snorted sax and ruffs from the drummer conclude the piece.

With themes ranging from near waltz to Hard Bop homage, it’s the pianist’s writing, that’s most on display here and Stevens demonstrates this facility on nearly every track. Another standout is “Patato’s Song”, where the montuno rhythms built into the theme that help define the piece. While dynamic glissandi and cross-handed chords from Stevens also contribute to the exposition, it’s Schnitter’s flutter-tonguing that defines the piece itself as half-Latin and half (Sonny) Rollins.

Saxophone improvisation – this time on alto – also coils the tunes there towards multi-faceted interpretation on Spider’s Dance. Overall, the organic layout of the compositions is slightly different then on the other CDs, since a bassist rather than a pianist is the chief composer. Although many tunes float on bull fiddle motifs, Dupont’s erudite strategy doesn’t turn every piece into a bass showcase. If anything in fact, it’s Robillard who gets the most solo space after Mahanthappa.

On “Possib” Robillard sounds out a Latinesque line plus high frequency note clusters; resonates in New music style deep inside the soundboard on “Mars Presque”; and even flirts with boogie-woogie on “Spiders”. Band members’ responses vary from clean obbligatos, note flurries and sluicing tremolo bites from the reedist, to low-pitched sliding arpeggios or standards walking from the bassist.

No false gagaku emulations characterize the “Oreientable” intermezzo either. Instead Mahanthappa slides his timbres upwards with double-tongued pitch modulations on top of flams and bounces from Sardjoe, while Dupont adds guitar-like strums and stop-time interjections.

Still, the CD’s high point is definitely “Moundélé”. A balladic nocturne, it undulates not only on supportive bass slaps but also with the voicing of overlapping piano harmonies and saxophone trills. As the alto man buzzes split tones, Dupont thumps thick stops and the pianist twists out mid-range glissandi and tremolo runs. Building up to a climax of staccato tones the band recaps the head, but leaves the conclusion distinctively post-modern, slicing off the last phrase.

Working within the song form and in standard configuration none of these sessions are really touchstones in jazz history. But each is stretching the mainstream definition in some way to keep the tradition supple – and out of the hands of the neo-clones.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Dance: 1. Spiders 2. Mais Presque 3. Possib 4. Orientable 5. Irid 6. 1010 7. Douj 8. Mondélé 9. Ladies on Board 10. D’Hélices

Personnel: Dance: Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone); Yvan Robillard (piano); Hubert Dupont (bass) and Chander Sardjoe (drums)

Track Listing: Children: 1. Specific Gravity 2. Henderson 3. Sadness of the Madness 4. The Hunt 5. Graduation 6. Sunny’s Song 7. Patato’s Song 8. For The Children 9. Lazy Waltz

Personnel: Children: David Schnitter (tenor saxophone); Michael Jefrey Stevens (piano); Dominic Duval (bass) and Jay Rosen (drums)

Track Listing: Nomade 1. Nomade 2. Final Play 3. Harris Tweed 4. Amhara 5. Nordique 6. Virvel

Personnel: Nomade: Tommy Smith (tenor saxophone); Loïc Dequidt (piano); Mattias Hjorth (bass) and Peter Nilsson (drums)

September 23, 2008

Ensemble 2 INQ

Rhön
Nurnichtnur 106 02 07

Tammen/Harth/Dahlgren/Rosen

Expedition

ESP Disk 4031

A mid-Atlantic musician by definition, among his infrequent gigs, guitarist Han Tammen is involved with electro-acoustic experiments in his adopted hometown of New York, while keeping up with the improvised music scene in his native Germany.

Using extended playing techniques and electronic hook-ups attached to his table-top, so-called endangered guitar, variations of his style are highlighted on these CDs. Expedition is fiery combo Free Jazz, while Rhön leans more towards group Free Improv, with touches of contemporary notated sounds.

Recorded live, Expedition matches Tammen, with multi-reedist Alfred 23 Hatth, another expatriate German who now lives in Seoul Korea, and two Americans. Chris Dahlgren, now a Berlin resident who has worked with Anthony Braxton among others, is on bass and electronics, while Jay Rosen, an always-busy New York percussionist, is know for gigs with the bands of bassist Michael Bisio and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee.

All 10 members of Ensemble 2 INQ, which has a long – if unrecorded history – are German. Several of the players – such as reedists Joachim Zoepf and Dirk Marwedel, bassists Ulrich Phillipp and Georg Wolf, plus percussionist Michael Vorfeld – have names with some overseas resonance. The others, flautist Margret Trescher, and percussionist Wolfgang Schliemann, electronics manipulator Ulrich Böttcher and vocalist Marianne Shuppe, are unknown qualities – at least outside of Germany.

Belying its numerical membership, INQ’s sound is minimalist and reductionist, somewhat like the Berlin-based King Übü Orchestrü. Containing burbles, whistles, slaps, mumbles, jiggles and quivers, there are no real featured soloists. Each of the numerical tracks reaches its descriptive zenith through a pointillist accumulation of electronically-triggered or acoustically expelled timbres.

That doesn’t mean however, that individual expression isn’t heard. It’s just that, unlike more aggressive music, not one exists in isolation from another. At points Tammen’s strummed reverb hangs in the air, as do hollow, wooden drum clip-clops and cymbal clangs, tough, broad puffs from Trescher’s quarter-tone flute, bowed double bass vibrations and rotating electronic drones. If either Zoepf’s or Marwedel’s wet reed tones, hisses or tongue slaps define some passages, then single word articulation in French and German, as a well as Bedlam style expostulations from Shuppe define others.

At nearly 17 minutes and almost 23 minutes respectively, tracks “II” and “V” give the tentet the broadest field on which to display extended swells and undulations. On the first piece contrapuntal percussion and wavering electronic pulses provide the shifting ostinato for the other players’ sound layering. Among the pitches exposed are irregular drum plops, flams and ruffs; double double bass sul tasto sweeps and spiccato motion; and connective tongue rolls and note swelling with body-tube vibrating from the reeds.

Even longer, and climatically the finale – followed by the nearly-six-minute coda of “VI”, “V” initially balances on reed split tones; tooting flute lines; continuous signals that could arise from Tammen’s, Böttcher’s or even Phillipp’s electronics; and most prominently the vocalist’s throat gargles and phrase-swallowed muttering.

Eventually this inchoate sequencing reaches a crescendo of sorts when Shuppe’s basso tongue rolls unite with Zoepf’s bass clarinet lines and sweeping double-stopping from Phillipp and Wolf. With the massed troops now galvanized for a purported, lower-pitched attack, string swells and echoing percussion thumps harden into battle-ready abrasions. Just when the point-of-no-return appears to have been reached, however, the track dissipates into growling electronic drones and reed gurgles plus double and tripe drum paradiddles. A conclusive reed squawk confirms the finale.

More-in-your-face than Rhön’s evolutionary reductionism, the 10 tracks on Expedition easily reference passionate 1960s Energy Music. If the 10-member Ensemble 2 INQ seems to be holding back, then the Expedition quartet charges forward, symbolically firing on all cylinders.

Especially notable is Harth, who in the years since the set was recorded (2001), has spent a lot of his time dabbling in electronics and sound collages. However, not only does he expose expected serpentine tenor saxophone multiphonics here, but on tunes such as “A Brief Pleasure Trip” and the connective “From One Place To Another” expresses himself with sluicing bass clarinet overblowing and flutter-tonguing, counterbalanced by Tammen’s guitar manipulation. The guitarist’s responses take the form of snapping string distortions and ascending, intensive rasgueado lines on the former and triggered, buzzing sound envelops and machine-gun-like harsh expansions on the later.

Moving from pseudo Free Bop, a near-Aylereian waltz “…Pleasure …” benefits from Dahlgren’s slap bass line and Rosen’s cymbal-clacking cross pulsation. Among the electronic drones on “… One Place…” are shape-shifting dissonant chomps from Tammen’s axe.

Distinctively, the miasmic sound-making serves as prelude to the final two tracks – “A Place That Has Emotional Significance” and the nine-minute “Returning To The Place Where It Began”. With Tammen’s bent notes erupting into sounds that could only come from the converse of a fretless guitar, his carnivorous patterns suggest miscegenation between one million frets and an equal number of passing tones. Meanwhile Harth’s Brötzmannian intensity translates into primitivist cries and altissimo shrieks as bell pealing – either from Rosen’s mallets or Tammen’s tabletop guitar manipulation – are heard. For a finale upward guitar frails accompany unidentified cries and calls, which are as likely to have arisen from samples as from the participants live work.

Suitably cosseted by sympathetic associates, Tammen’s endangered guitar displays its low-key and exuberant qualities on different discs. Either can be profitably investigated by seekers of out-of-the-ordinary sounds.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Rhön: 1. I 1. II 3. III 4. IV 5. V 6. VI

Personnel: Rhön: Joachim Zoepf (bass clarinet and tenor saxophone); Dirk Marwedel (extended saxophone); Margret Trescher (quarter-tone flute); Hans Tammen (guitar and electronics); Ulrich Phillipp (bass and electronics); Georg Wolf (bass); Michael Vorfeld and Wolfgang Schliemann (percussion); Ulrich Böttcher (electronics) and Marianne Shuppe (voice)

Track Listing: Expedition: 1. Setting Out with Aggressive Intent 2. Taken at a Leisurely Pace 3. Many Have Passed Rigorous Courses 4. A Considerable Amount of Time and Distance 5. Retained Notions Of Speed and Purpose 6. A Brief Pleasure Trip 7. From One Place To Another 8. A Long Trip By Water 9. A Place That Has Emotional Significance 10. Returning To The Place Where It Began

Personnel: Expedition: Alfred 23 Harth (bass clarinet and tenor saxophone); Hans Tammen (endangered guitar and electronics); Chris Dahlgren (bass and electronics) and Jay Rosen (drums)

October 26, 2007

Tammen/Harth/Dahlgren/Rosen

Expedition
ESP Disk 4031

Ensemble 2 INQ

Rhön

Nurnichtnur 106 02 07

A mid-Atlantic musician by definition, among his infrequent gigs, guitarist Han Tammen is involved with electro-acoustic experiments in his adopted hometown of New York, while keeping up with the improvised music scene in his native Germany.

Using extended playing techniques and electronic hook-ups attached to his table-top, so-called endangered guitar, variations of his style are highlighted on these CDs. Expedition is fiery combo Free Jazz, while Rhön leans more towards group Free Improv, with touches of contemporary notated sounds.

Recorded live, Expedition matches Tammen, with multi-reedist Alfred 23 Hatth, another expatriate German who now lives in Seoul Korea, and two Americans. Chris Dahlgren, now a Berlin resident who has worked with Anthony Braxton among others, is on bass and electronics, while Jay Rosen, an always-busy New York percussionist, is know for gigs with the bands of bassist Michael Bisio and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee.

All 10 members of Ensemble 2 INQ, which has a long – if unrecorded history – are German. Several of the players – such as reedists Joachim Zoepf and Dirk Marwedel, bassists Ulrich Phillipp and Georg Wolf, plus percussionist Michael Vorfeld – have names with some overseas resonance. The others, flautist Margret Trescher, and percussionist Wolfgang Schliemann, electronics manipulator Ulrich Böttcher and vocalist Marianne Shuppe, are unknown qualities – at least outside of Germany.

Belying its numerical membership, INQ’s sound is minimalist and reductionist, somewhat like the Berlin-based King Übü Orchestrü. Containing burbles, whistles, slaps, mumbles, jiggles and quivers, there are no real featured soloists. Each of the numerical tracks reaches its descriptive zenith through a pointillist accumulation of electronically-triggered or acoustically expelled timbres.

That doesn’t mean however, that individual expression isn’t heard. It’s just that, unlike more aggressive music, not one exists in isolation from another. At points Tammen’s strummed reverb hangs in the air, as do hollow, wooden drum clip-clops and cymbal clangs, tough, broad puffs from Trescher’s quarter-tone flute, bowed double bass vibrations and rotating electronic drones. If either Zoepf’s or Marwedel’s wet reed tones, hisses or tongue slaps define some passages, then single word articulation in French and German, as a well as Bedlam style expostulations from Shuppe define others.

At nearly 17 minutes and almost 23 minutes respectively, tracks “II” and “V” give the tentet the broadest field on which to display extended swells and undulations. On the first piece contrapuntal percussion and wavering electronic pulses provide the shifting ostinato for the other players’ sound layering. Among the pitches exposed are irregular drum plops, flams and ruffs; double double bass sul tasto sweeps and spiccato motion; and connective tongue rolls and note swelling with body-tube vibrating from the reeds.

Even longer, and climatically the finale – followed by the nearly-six-minute coda of “VI”, “V” initially balances on reed split tones; tooting flute lines; continuous signals that could arise from Tammen’s, Böttcher’s or even Phillipp’s electronics; and most prominently the vocalist’s throat gargles and phrase-swallowed muttering.

Eventually this inchoate sequencing reaches a crescendo of sorts when Shuppe’s basso tongue rolls unite with Zoepf’s bass clarinet lines and sweeping double-stopping from Phillipp and Wolf. With the massed troops now galvanized for a purported, lower-pitched attack, string swells and echoing percussion thumps harden into battle-ready abrasions. Just when the point-of-no-return appears to have been reached, however, the track dissipates into growling electronic drones and reed gurgles plus double and tripe drum paradiddles. A conclusive reed squawk confirms the finale.

More-in-your-face than Rhön’s evolutionary reductionism, the 10 tracks on Expedition easily reference passionate 1960s Energy Music. If the 10-member Ensemble 2 INQ seems to be holding back, then the Expedition quartet charges forward, symbolically firing on all cylinders.

Especially notable is Harth, who in the years since the set was recorded (2001), has spent a lot of his time dabbling in electronics and sound collages. However, not only does he expose expected serpentine tenor saxophone multiphonics here, but on tunes such as “A Brief Pleasure Trip” and the connective “From One Place To Another” expresses himself with sluicing bass clarinet overblowing and flutter-tonguing, counterbalanced by Tammen’s guitar manipulation. The guitarist’s responses take the form of snapping string distortions and ascending, intensive rasgueado lines on the former and triggered, buzzing sound envelops and machine-gun-like harsh expansions on the later.

Moving from pseudo Free Bop, a near-Aylereian waltz “…Pleasure …” benefits from Dahlgren’s slap bass line and Rosen’s cymbal-clacking cross pulsation. Among the electronic drones on “… One Place…” are shape-shifting dissonant chomps from Tammen’s axe.

Distinctively, the miasmic sound-making serves as prelude to the final two tracks – “A Place That Has Emotional Significance” and the nine-minute “Returning To The Place Where It Began”. With Tammen’s bent notes erupting into sounds that could only come from the converse of a fretless guitar, his carnivorous patterns suggest miscegenation between one million frets and an equal number of passing tones. Meanwhile Harth’s Brötzmannian intensity translates into primitivist cries and altissimo shrieks as bell pealing – either from Rosen’s mallets or Tammen’s tabletop guitar manipulation – are heard. For a finale upward guitar frails accompany unidentified cries and calls, which are as likely to have arisen from samples as from the participants live work.

Suitably cosseted by sympathetic associates, Tammen’s endangered guitar displays its low-key and exuberant qualities on different discs. Either can be profitably investigated by seekers of out-of-the-ordinary sounds.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Rhön: 1. I 1. II 3. III 4. IV 5. V 6. VI

Personnel: Rhön: Joachim Zoepf (bass clarinet and tenor saxophone); Dirk Marwedel (extended saxophone); Margret Trescher (quarter-tone flute); Hans Tammen (guitar and electronics); Ulrich Phillipp (bass and electronics); Georg Wolf (bass); Michael Vorfeld and Wolfgang Schliemann (percussion); Ulrich Böttcher (electronics) and Marianne Shuppe (voice)

Track Listing: Expedition: 1. Setting Out with Aggressive Intent 2. Taken at a Leisurely Pace 3. Many Have Passed Rigorous Courses 4. A Considerable Amount of Time and Distance 5. Retained Notions Of Speed and Purpose 6. A Brief Pleasure Trip 7. From One Place To Another 8. A Long Trip By Water 9. A Place That Has Emotional Significance 10. Returning To The Place Where It Began

Personnel: Expedition: Alfred 23 Harth (bass clarinet and tenor saxophone); Hans Tammen (endangered guitar and electronics); Chris Dahlgren (bass and electronics) and Jay Rosen (drums)

October 26, 2007

COSMOSAMATICS

Cosmosamatics Three
Boxholder BXH 041

MICHAEL MARCUS TRIO
Ithem
Ayler AYL006-CD

A versatile, but unappreciated multi-reedman, New York-based Michael Marcus proves that he can hold his own alongside Free Jazz legends on these CDs.

Not only that, but a comparison of the two discs -- one recorded in 1993 and the other in 2002 and 2003 -- shows a remarkable consistency in his approach to improvisations. THREE is probably the more challenging, since Marcus, who is part of Saxemble as well as leading his own groups, shares the front line of the Cosmosamatics with Sonny Simmons.

Simmons, a first generation New Thinger, who recorded with Eric Dolphy and for ESP Disk in the 1960s, is a formidable improvising partner. It’s probably a compliment to Marcus that often his saxello lines and Simmons’ alto sax output are very similar to one another. The older man also plays English horn and the younger baritone saxophone. The two challenge themselves even more on this, the Cosmosamatics’ third CD, since the only accompanist is drummer Jay Rosen, though his inventiveness takes up most of the slack.

ITHEM, on the other hand, features a standard rhythm section -- but what a rhythm section it is. Drummer Denis Charles was the drummer with whom Cecil Taylor’s first recorded, and continued playing with musicians on the cutting edge until his death in 1998. Bassist William Parker was one of those improvisers. On his own, the bull fiddler has probably led, organized and/or played on more outside jazz gigs than anyone during the past 15 years.

So how does Marcus fare here? Excellently, as a matter of fact. Although the live sound is a little rougher on ITHEM than on THREE, he, Parker and Charles more than make up for that with creative resourcefulness.

On the first few measures of “Under the Wire”, for instance, with Parker bowing ponticello and Charles sealing the drama with an undercurrent of whirls, Marcus produces pitch vibrations that could come from a bagpipe, even though he’s only listed as playing alto saxophone and bass clarinet. As the bassman languidly voluminously expands his tones, the reedist double-tongues and squeals out harsh palpitations at a quicker tempo. Finally, Marcus’ wavering full vibrato connects with Parker’s arco output for a conclusion that resembles an idyllic tone poem.

This mood is extended on “Secret Oceans”. But three minutes into the piece the balladic line is transformed into a freebop romp with a walking bass, plus Dolphy-like flutter tongued echoes from Marcus. Arched free-flowing reed arpeggios eventually give way to steady rebounds and rim shots on Charles’ part, with the beat kept steady all the way to the thematic reprise.

All three players provide a healthy dose of avant-garde martial music on the two takes of the title tune, with straight snare drum socks providing a nice contrast to the reedist’s emotional overblowing. “Here At!” finds the bass clarinet weaving an Arabic line in high and middle registers, while the rhythm section members enter into an Africanized mode -- sounding as if one is playing a stringed ngoni and the other a bugarabu drum.

Rosen’s percussion collection almost gives him as many textures to play with as the two rhythm partners have on THREE. But he’s not alone in unexpected pulsation. On “Requiem for Anne Frank”, for example, Simmons’ English horn morphs from trumpet [!] suggestions to snake charmer tones as Marcus sounds out the melancholy, accented theme on baritone.

“Avant Garde Destruct” is, true to its title, a note-crammed dissonant romp with pulsating Sunny Murray-like accents and Milford Graves-like bell ringing from Rosen, some chromatic tongue fluttering from Simmons on alto, and baritone output from Marcus that leapfrogs from R&B-inflected honks to freeboppy trills and doits.

Although written by Marcus, “Cool Burn” features an ESP Disk-like lilting lope with almost out-of-tune asides from both saxmen. Rosen shakes his bell tree again, Marcus whoops and snorts on bari and Simmons uses broken octaves to decorates the top line.

On other pieces individual output ranges from Simmons’ accented sax lines that twin Ornette Coleman’s of the 1960s, to wild, rolling paradiddles and flams from Rosen that relate as much to Gene Krupa’s showstoppers as to more modern, post-bop drumming.

Seldom before has Marcus show off his prowess to such an extent as on these two trio CDs. Maybe he needs the right partners to egg him on.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Ithem: 1. Ithem take 1 2. Under the Wire 3. Secret Oceans 4. Here At! 5. Ithem take 2

Personnel: Ithem: Michael Marcus (alto saxophone and bass clarinet); William Parker (bass); Denis Charles (drums)

Track Listing: Three: 1. Furtura 2. Tonal Magnitude 3. Cool Burn 4. Bring On the Funk 5. 12 Seasons of Love 6. Avant Garde Destruct 7. ‘Round Midnight 8. Requiem for Anne Frank

Personnel: Three: Michael Marcus (saxello and baritone saxophone); Sonny Simmons (alto saxophone and English horn); Jay Rosen (drums and percussion)

August 23, 2004

IVO PERELMAN DOUBLE TRIO

Suite for Helen F.
Boxholder BXH 038/039

Strength, stamina and chutzpah are the first three adjectives that come to mind when analyzing saxophonist Ivo Perelman’s performance on this two CD set.

Coming on like a contestant in one of those extreme sports competitions the Brazilian tenor man not only faces off against one bassist and drummer, but also another set at the same time. Similarly his version of a double trio doesn’t involve any slackers. Individually and together, bassists Dominic Duval and Mark Dresser and percussionists Gerry Hemingway and Jay Rosen have worked with nearly every experimental reedist of repute, including Anthony Braxton, John Butcher, Mark Whitecage, Joe McPhee, Oliver Lake and Frank Gratkowski -- to name just a few. Besides Duval, Hemingway and Rosen have recorded with the saxman before.

During the course of the seven part suite here, named for pioneering abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler, Perelman produces as many dense shapes, jagged lines, circular improv, frottage and irregular brush strokes as you can see in seven examples of his paintings which illustrate the booklet. Don’t try to draw too many parallels between the Perelman works in acrylic or mixed media and his reed explosions, though. This isn’t program music, but an aural expression of Perelman’s talents.

In that way he may have attempted to create on too broad a musical canvas by expressing himself over two CDs. Like many gallery collections of a painter’s oeuvre, only some of the note paintings are truly exceptional. Others are more exhausting than exhaustive, though time is on his side. The four compositions on Disc 2 are more varied and more memorable than the three on Disc 1.

Quirkily enough, “Part 4”, the session’s stand-out track, is sketched on the broadest canvas -- it’s almost 21 minutes of seething improvisation. Perelman’s initial reed thrust involves piercing slurs that meet dual bass ponticello. Soon the double bowing turns spiccato, to face the saxman’s upper partials of irregular and fluttering vibrations and split tones. With Hemingway and Rosen accelerating from shuffle rhythms to battering ram strength, Perelman moves his growls into a more comfortable mid-range, that in this context almost sounds like Classic Jazz -- Classic Free Jazz that is. Except for the odd mouthpiece cheep, Perelman begins sluicing out a balladic-type melody, adding various note partials, vibrations and bent notes.

Meanwhile it’s likely Duval who is racing up and down his strings with iron fingers as Rosen manipulates tubular bells and unselected cymbals for carillon-like tones. Perelman suddenly jumps down to the bow of his body tube to spew out growling Ben Webster-like tones that alternate with tiny, altissimo mouse squeaks for a while, then which mould themselves into a new theme for a few minutes, backed only by the bell tree. The saxman’s reed command is such that his shrill screeches can be subdivided into different timbres and with “Part 4” he does the same with abrasive, mulching mumbling grating growling undertones.

Eventually, before the piece fades out with a few bass string strums, the reedist has taken his playing beyond bar lines and compositional inferences into the realm of pure emotion, almost reaching the primitivism of someone like Arthur Doyle. Perelman’s scalpel sharp reed incisions are more deliberate though, a quality he shows on this tune and elsewhere.

Part 7”, for instance, which begins with a renal squeak soon transmogrifies into the saxman sounding out jaunty melodies to the accompaniment of the sort of chinga- chinga cymbal work Hemingway or Rosen would play behind any bopper. Expelling a lone reed fart before he smears burst tremolos all over the tune, Perelman ends it with more mouse-like squeaks as if as if struggling to expel the last bit of sound from his mouthpiece.

Earlier on, a few human throat cries join false registers, gravelly honks and rappelling tones as he works out and expels intense vibrations. Sometimes the result will be a polyphonic melody between the dual basses and the reed man, with them meeting his scream shards with their own dual thumps and double stops.

Most of the first CD pushes the bassists into the background, however, with Perelman honking entire passages altissimo and the drummers making like Rashied Ali and Elvin Jones with Coltrane. More cooperation is exhibited between these two than that ill-matched duo however. Most of the time they divide their parts up equitably, with Hemingway expressing himself in ratamacues, rim shots and press rolls and Rosen finessing clangs and chings out of his bells, cymbals and other percussive little instruments.

Generally the parts of the suite work better if the rhythm section doesn’t have to operate at full force. Give it time to regroup and exhibit say, flat picking, strumming or arco sweeps from the basses or nerve beat emphasis or ruffs from the drummers, then additional, less stark colors are added to the palate from which Perelman is painting.

This is shown in the starkest contrast on “Part 5” where the blizzards of screeching, aviary notes almost make it seem as if the reedist is bending his sax’s goose neck to produce them. Yet the truest sound arrives in the form of human skin hitting the wound steel of bass strings, and which seems to encourages the saxman to exit in a descending arc of reed harmonies.

Although Perelman proves that he can peck notes like John Coltrane, produce Woody Woodpecker-like cries, and move close to ballad territory at various times, this excess of extended techniques isn’t needed any more than excess brush strokes on a canvas. When all the artists exhibit their stylings into a group project as they do on the second disc things are most monumental.

Many times in the past Perelman has recorded his versions of exceptional aural canvases, while outlining an identifiable style. While there is much to like about SUITE FOR HELEN F., there’s also a bit of excess. A smaller canvas would have served his purposes better. Taking this to heart, next time out, he could paint his masterpiece.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Disc 1: 1. Part 1 2. Part 2 3. Part 3 Disc 2: 4. Part 4 5. Part 5 6. Part 1 Part 1 6 7. Part 7

Personnel: Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone); Dominc Duval and Mark Dresser (basses) Gerry Hemingway (drums); Jay Rosen (drums and percussion)

May 31, 2004

AVRAM FEFER

Shades of the Muse
CIMP #286

ROLAND RAMANAN
Shaken
EMANEM 4081

Matching a horn with a chordal instrument, bass and drums has long been an accepted jazz strategy. But as Free Jazz has muted into Free Music, fresh front lines have replaced the horn-and-guitar or horn-and-piano set up. Case in point these two CDs, one British, and one American, both of which feature a cellist upfront.

Firmly in the new tradition that welcomes new sounds, SHADES OF THE MUSE, the Yank disc is the fourth recent session lead by multi-reedist Avram Fefer. Here he’s partnered by cellist Tomas Ulrich plus Ken Filiano on bass and Jay Rosen on drums, all experienced in the karma of exploratory playing. Across the pond, SHAKEN is the debut disc for trumpeter Roland Ramanan, a full-time educator as well as a member of the London Improvisers Orchestra (LIO). His crew of veterans and fellow LIO members is made up of Marcio Mattos on cello and electronics, Simon H. Fell on bass and percussionist Mark Sanders.

Especially when it comes to the understated virtuosity exhibited by the trap men, both sessions are impressive examples of current group improvisation. Fefer’s crew is slightly more palatable though, since its shorter CD has fewer arid spots than Ramanan’s virgin effort.

Unlike some tyros the trumpeter doesn’t try to pack everything he knows into the disc, changing chameleon-like from track to track. Distinctively part of the BritImprov subset, SHAKEN is above all a group effort, with the leader careful to give full scope to the others’ talents. Improvising in different combinations, the disc probably could have been tightened by dropping the one track that features wooden flutes throughout.

One track that’s welcome for its inclusion, though, is literally called “Worth Remembering”. Highlighting a meeting of comparable musical minds, the piece starts with expertly vocalized brassy smears and stresses that meld with solid back up from the plucked cello. Purring brass trills then set up the momentum that welcomes the bass and drums playing an advanced version of jazz time. Soon buzzed rubato output from Ramanan meets long-lined string accompaniment that moves from pizz to arco and back again in split seconds. Finally after he searches his embouchure for le note juste, the brassman ends with high-in-the-valves note scraping mirrored by scratched bird-like whistles from the cello. The triumph here is that it’s often difficult to tell which note arises from the string set and which from the brass bell.

Other all-hands-on-deck pieces don’t reach those heights, as they’re allowed to go on far too long. “Before”, for instance, clocks in at nearly 11 minutes, with part of the space given over to Ramanan’s Amazonian flute intonation, a let down after you hear his brassy, chromatic trumpet lines that are seconded by wiggling drum bits and bell pealing plus legato cello slashes. When the trumpeter introduces half-squealing breaks, cello sutures become more diffuse and dissonant. Like Mikes Davis in the mid-1970s Ramanan holds onto his grace notes as the accompanying undertow from the others becomes wider and more diffuse -- Fell drones out the continuum as electronics apparently extend Mattos’ cello tone.

Experienced in group situations such as pianist Chris Burn’s Ensemble and drummer Eddie Prévost’s quartet, the cellist easily adapts to the unpretentious, jazz-like beat from Sanders, speedily triple-stopping and sounding out short, melodic fills. The trumpeter responds in kind, letting himself go by arching out a brazen, high-pitched solo that includes a screaming, descending pitchslide. There’s no egg shell walking here.

Here and on “The that’s that”, where Ramanan’s instructions direct the number of notes played in a set sequence and how many times the sequence is repeated. Sanders, who has backed up soloists like reedists John Butcher and Evan Parker, shows that he can create polyrhythms as easily from the sides and rims of his kit as the tops. He also colors the proceedings by popping sudden shattering tones from tiny unmatched cymbals, not unlike what Rosen does on the other CD.

On this and other pieces, Ramanan offers up matchless open horned tones, while the others construct irregular pulses around him. Elsewhere his idea pool includes fluttering rubato lines, strangled cries, mouthpiece French kisses and extended Harmon muted tones doubled with arco bass color Of all the musicians, Fell, whose writing includes extended compositions and who has played with most of the major BritImprov stylists, seems the least assertive.

You wouldn’t say that about Filiano on Fefer’s CD. But at the same time SHADES OF THE MUSE is also a group effort, with each man contributing to the overall sound picture. The bassist, whose longtime association has been with California multi-reedist Vinny Golia, easily adapts himself to Fefer’s four horns, providing a jazz-like pulse when needed and more obtuse timbres where they fit. More of a melodist than Ramanan, the reedman has the knack of composing pieces whose themes stay in your head for a while after you’re heard them. He does so in a variety of styles as well, without compromising his playing.

“Gates of Baghdad”, for example, an improvised piece with group notation, relies on the natural mournfulness produced by the arco cello and bass to suggest uncertainty, with the downcast mood commented upon with an irregular pulse and short bell peals from Rosen. As Fefer’s reed intermittently squeals and squawks turn to spetrofluctuation, ghost note vibrations and body tube trills, the percussionist does some of his best work on the CD, with cymbal crashes aimed with the precision of smart bombs and short, swift flams and ruffs. Working with other advanced woodwind players like Joe McPhee and Ivo Perelman has given Rosen a second sense in how to complement such reed flurries.

Ulrich, whose background includes time with Perelman, as well as the likes of drummer Kevin Norton and frequent Rosen partner, bassist Dominic Duval, works in perfect counterpoint to the horn man. By the end his complementary lines ease Fefer’s trills and double tonguing into one intense, elongated note.

“Shepp in Wolves’ Clothing”, honoring saxophonist/educator Archie Shepp, with whom Fefer recorded in Paris, is a buoyant tune linked as much to Shepp’s appreciation of Classic Jazz as his New Thing advances. A nearly 14-minute foot tapper carried on the walking bass and drum’s shuffle rhythm, it features a polyphonic tenor line and blue notes from the cello. Sounding more like Rahsaan Roland Kirk then Shepp at one point, the reedist solos on both his saxophones at once, creating a growly semi-atonal tone from one and a strained, vibrated split tone buzz from the other. With the tempo halved for a sliding bass solo backed by tingles from bells and unselected cymbals, the head is reprised just before the end with the piece going out with a final sax honk.

Cello and reeds voiced together means that a couple of the other tunes resemble the sort of bouncy West Coast pieces turned out in the mid-1950s by drummer Chico Hamilton’s band, the first to feature a cello in the front line. “Oblique Departures” is most notable for Filiano’s solo in a traditional Paul Chambers mode, while the balladic “Love Crept In (Again)” showcases Fefer’s smooth, liquid tone on the clarinet.

Finally Fefer’s versatility comes to the fore on “Brother Ibrahim”, a reminiscence of his trip to Morocco. Mixing Arabic and Eastern European influences, it exhibits a pinched reed tone that could come from a musette that expands to squealing and triple tonguing. It’s as if Booker Ervin had traveled to the Middle East. While Rosen plays a fast shuffle and Filiano navigates the beat, the strings appear to move from oud-like bowed lines to jaunty, freylach-like melodies. Ulrich skims across the strings with a high-pitched whine reminiscent of what Billy Bang can do with a fiddle, and his variations prepare the way for a reprise of the theme.

A fine effort, Fefer is definitely fashioning an unshakable identity. Meanwhile Ramanan’s CD is strong enough to suggest that just a little tweaking and shaping is needed in his concept to turn out as memorable a disc as the other.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Shaken: 1. Before 2. The next 3. Showers 4. Break 5. A kiss 6. Promised 7. The that’s that 8. Of a handshake 9. Worth remembering 10. Forgotten

Personnel: Shaken: Roland Ramanan (trumpet, wooden flutes); Marcio Mattos (cello and electronics); Simon H. Fell (bass); Mark Sanders (percussion)

Track Listing: Shades: 1. Shepp in Wolves’ Clothing 2. Love Crept In (Again) 3. Gates of Baghdad 4. Oblique Departures 5. Brother Ibrahim 6. BC Reverie 7. Sacred Passage (for Syma)

Personnel: Shades: Avram Fefer (tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet); Tomas Ulrich (cello); Ken Filiano (bass); Jay Rosen (drums)

March 8, 2004

TRIO-X

In Black and White
Cadence Jazz Records JR 1144

MARK WHITECAGE TRIO The Paper Trail
Acoustics #ELE 413CD

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s when New York jazzers wanted the perfect rhythm section, they usually made sure it included virtuosic bassist Paul Chamber and inventive drummer Art Taylor, or at least one of them. The same sort of situation seems to exist in advanced improvisational circles today, with bassist Dominic Duval and percussionist Jay Rosen, singly and together contributing their talents to numberless CDs.

Additionally, like Chambers -- linchpin of Miles Davis’ quintet/sextet -- and Taylor -- who frequently gigged with Thelonious Monk -- Duval and Rosen are also charter members of several longstanding bands, two of which are featured here. The CDs show how the two can adapt to the needs of different front-line partners, which in these cases are multi-reedman Mark Whitecage in a studio situation; and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee on two live dates.

Duval and Rosen’s tongue in groove relationship is most noticeable on “Blood at the Root”, the more than 16½-minute climax of a Trio-X performance at Ann Arbor, Mich.’s Edgefest in 1999. A speedy Free Jazz tune that brings out screaming multiphonics, repeated renal smears and mewling split tones from McPhee’s tenor saxophone, these actions never faze the two rhythm players. Even as the saxophonist honks and smears in an almost Aylerian dementia, Duval’s flailing bass line and upfront string bending meld with Rosen’s press rolls, snare tattoo and ride cymbal exercises to hold the beat steady.

Speed and vibrations aren’t all the two can offer either. The three preceding numbers are all in yearning, balladic mode. On the nearly 14-minute “‘Round Midnight and Later,” McPhee elaborates a classic, smooth, swooping Coleman Hawkins/Ben Webster style, breathing out tiny phrases until he starts elaborating variations on the theme. Until then, Rosen has only interposed tiny cymbal shakes and muted snare and tom rumbles. Just before Duval begins a double-stopping variation on “All Blues” -- and he’s never sounded more like Chambers than here -- the saxman works his way up to full, screeching altissimo. As pure glossolalia replace sheets of sound, the other two are on his notes like guard dogs on an intruder. Bombs drop from Rosen’s bass drum and Duval strums as if he was guiding a 12-string guitar. Finally, with no return to the initial theme, the track ends with the bassist’s return to the Chambers-like pizzicato lines.

Duval’s melodic gifts are spotlighted on “Going Home”, famously recorded by Albert Ayler in 1964. Powerfully bowing on the melancholy spiritual’s theme, the bassman’s work is decorated by the percussionist merely touching what appear to be a bell tree and a glockenspiel. Earlier, the saxman’s wheezing thematic exposition becomes secondary once the melody migrates to the bass’s four strings.

Even more spectacular is the trio’s rendition of the nearly 18-minute “Sida’s Song”, recorded two years later at New York’s Vision Fest. Unsheathing his trumpet for the only time on the CD, McPhee’s fanfare of accented notes meets an andante sweep from Duval’s bow. Swapping plunger mute for saxophone, McPhee’s abrasive, Sonny Rollins-like vibrato is met with what appears to be targeted hand drumming from Rosen. As the saxman expels gut vibrations from deep inside his diaphragm, Rosen creates equine clip clops, then enough bass drum pedal action and duple metre snare action to suggest a Frankenstein monster meld of Buddy Rich and Elvin Jones. Downshifting to repeat the same simple six-note theme, McPhee almost literally cries through his mouthpiece, clears out for a Duval pizzicato excursion, then emulates that pattern as a coda.

A different woodwind partner doesn’t lessen the accomplishment of the rhythm duo as you’ll hear on Whitecage’s CD recorded in 1995 and most easily available by e-mail at rozmark@bellatlantic.net. Like McPhee, a frequent visitor to Europe, the Jersey City-based saxophonist and clarinetist is a couple of years older than the other reedist and more pre-Free Jazz statements come out in his playing.

You can hear this most clearly on “The Connecticut Solution”, an almost nine-minute clarinet feature. Sticking mostly to the coloratura register, Whitecage manages to be experimental and traditional simultaneously. Triple-tonguing and bending his output elastically, he moves from proto-bop Tony Scott territory, through more formal Swing era pitches, works for a time in Middle Eastern snake charming mode adds a sad, Klezmer-like tinge and double-times at the end. Duval backs him with understated Jimmy Garrison-like thumps, while Rosen mostly restricts himself to bell ringing.

There’s no such restrain on “Rebate” and the other foot tappers on the CD, Here and elsewhere the percussionist displays his ratcheting cymbals, side of drums rim shots, bass pedal and what’s apparently a bicycle horn (!) and a disco whistle (!!) to direct the tunes. Whitecage’s pinched Ornette-style line on the alto is perfect for these pieces, all of which were composed by him anyway.

At the same time, the saxman’s unique sense of melody -- or is it humor -- asserts itself in his choice of quotes on other compositions. “CHEESE” -- all caps for some unexplained reason -- is a mid-range Coltrane style romp with some exaggerated flurries of notes interrupted by snatches of “As Time Goes By” and “Pretty Baby”, for example.

Then there’s “Like A Spring Day”, which has a theme reminiscent of both R&B sax honkers and “A Love Supreme”. Midway through the altoist comes up with a nearly measureless section of freebop cadenzas that suggest how Eric Dolphy -- one of Whitecage’s admitted influences -- would have sounded had he lived a couple more decades. But that ghostly influence shares reed space with funky tongue slaps straight out of the Hank Crawford/“Fathead” Newman soul school. Here the rhythm section demonstrates its still-maturing empathy by mostly staying out of the way. Duval lets out a few half-hearted plucks and Rosen limits himself to accented percussion.

Interested in some examples of the art of one of the 21st century’s best rhythm teams? How about some tight trio work featuring two experimental, but very grounded sax men? Here are two CDs that deliver all of that and more.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Black: 1. God Bless the Child 2. ‘Round Midnight and Later 3. Going Home 4. Blood at the Root 5. Sida’s Song 6. Wait Until Evening

Personnel: Black: Joe McPhee (trumpet, tenor saxophones); Dominic Duval (bass); Jay Rosen (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Paper: 1. Something About J.C. 2. The Connecticut Solution 3. Rebate 4. High Tech #8 5. Split Personality 6. Like A Spring Day 7. CHEESE

Personnel: Paper: Mark Whitecage (soprano and alto saxophones, clarinet); Dominic Duval (bass); Jay Rosen (drums and percussion)

March 24, 2003

MARK WHITECAGE

Fractured Standards & Fairy Tales: Live on tour in Tours Vol. 1
Acoustics ELE 409CD

MARK WHITECAGE
Fractured Again: Live on tour in Tours Vol. 2
Acoustics ELE 412CD

Jingoistic Yank jazz fans may not believe this, but it still seems that the music and musicians get more appreciation in Europe than North America.

Take multi-reedman Mark Whitecage, for instance. Equally proficient on soprano and alto saxophone and clarinet, The Jersey City, N.J.-resident got his union card long ago, at age 12, in 1949 and since then has played with a whole variety of musicians. While his closest associations have been with musical explorers such as German vibist Gunter Hampel and his Galaxie Dream Band, singer Jeanne Lee and clarinetist Perry Robinson, blues and bebop aren’t that far beneath the surface when he improvises. He also spent several years with bassist Saheb Sarbib’s big band.

However the enthusiastic crowd for the two-night gig in Tours, France captured on these discs assuredly didn’t wait for (American) magazine poll results or the blessings of (American) neo-cons before loudly applauding his art. Whitecage elicits similar responses in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland. Now that the reedman is hooked up with a few touring groups -- most notably this one, filled out by bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen; plus the Nu Band with bassist Joe Fonda, drummer Lou Grassi and trumpeter Roy Campbell -- perhaps local jazzbos will be able to give him the same type of response.

Lacking live exposure, the 141-odd minutes of these two discs can whet the appetite for a performance in the flesh. Consisting of Whitecage compositions, with a couple of exceptions, they show how well the different parts of the trio, which has been together since 1996, mesh. In demand by other soloists like saxophonist Joe McPhee and Ivo Perelman, Duval and Rosen have become the Paul Chambers and Art Taylor of the outside scene, symbols of professionalism and distinction on anyone’s date.

These 1999 live gigs offer another attribute as well. Duval and Whitecage extend their techniques with electronics. Apparent as early as Volume 1’s title track, the loops give the nearly 21-minute piece a resplendent otherworldly ambiance that ripples through Whitecage’s clarinet sounds and the clip-clop of Rosen’s percussion. As Duval’s modulated steady bass work prefaces each section with shifting tones, the reedman, on alto sax produces quasi-bop honks and pliable emphasized lines, sometimes through electronics duetting with himself on his other reed. Snatches of half-remembered themes appear and disappear just as quickly. As reed tones aurally glisten in the background, Whitecage finishes the tune liberally quoting from Randy Weston’s “Hi Fly”.

If boppers like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, whose “Round Midnight” gets a fairly standard reading at the end of Volume 2, influenced a teenage Whitecage, then so, later on, did rule breakers like Albert Ayler, who is celebrated twice on “Suite Albert” and “French Medley”. The later, taken at a jaunty lope, features the rhythm section in full bop mode, with the saxman using split tones and smears to encompass nursery rhyme rhythms, double-timing Kansas City style blues beats and a reading of Ayler’s theme song “Ghosts”, which is a close cousin to “La Marseilles”.

Conversely, the later, despite its title seems to encompass Monk as well as Ayler. With Rosen rolling out ratamacues in a martial tempo, banging away on his ride cymbals or subtly manipulating finger cymbals and Duval stroking his strings to advance the beat while he -- or is it Whitecage? -- mutters and mumbles through the electronic set-up, the saxman squeezes out emphasized reed contortions that at times sound like Ayler’s “Mothers” and “Vibrations” and other times Monk’s “Misterioso” and “Played Twice”. Ingenuity from the three arises from this pastiche which flows smoothly as one composition.

Whitecage’s squeaky, gnarly clarinet tone gets a workout on Volume 2’s “Weeping Willow” -- an allusion to “Willow Weep for Me” perhaps? That occurs at the end of the tune where his legato clarinet line dissolves into cadenzas that migrate up and down the scale. Elsewhere here and on the almost 18-minute “Halfwit”, electronics make it appear as if Whitecage has strapped a Varitone attachment onto his sax. Still it does allow him to play hide-and-seek with different tones. While all this is going on, Duval highlights a shifting rondo of bass resonances. Finally, the tune ends with allusions to “Surrey With A Fringe On Top” and “Lover Man”.

“Halfwit” is one of the few times the band suffers from poor mic placement, with Rosen’s drum kit too far forward. Notwithstanding, electronics allow Duval to approximate a string section, bowing in violin register at one point and fully operational as a walking bassist other places. Overblowing and squealing, Whitecage seems to have internalized the cry that characterized Eric Dolphy and Ornette Coleman, while Rosen works out in crashing, elastic time Sunny Murray mode. Duval’s double stopping keeps the tempo on an even keel. Midway through the piece the saxist downshifts from squeals to balladic and quotes from “Summertime”.

Neither CD is perfect, with the first volume further weakened by a last track that’s a nearly nine-minute Rosen drum solo, which seems to be there to quiet the crowd and reflect how enthused it was.

But until -- we hope not if -- Whitecage comes to your town in some guise, drop an e-mail to rozmark@bellatlantic.net to get these CDs. This will instill an understanding of his style in you and make you more erudite when you see him. You may be able to discuss technique and inspiration intelligently, while the rest of the audience is totally won over by the performance.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Vol. 1: 1. Fractured Standards & Fairy Tales 2. Suite Albert 3. Morbet Mein Beck 4. French Medley 5. Encore

Track Listing: Vol. 2: 1. Prelude to a Fifth 2. Halfwit 3. Can do Kind of Guy 4. Weeping Willow 5. Five O’Clock Follies/Bass Stick Medley 6. ‘Round Midnight

Personnel: Vols. 1 & 2: Mark Whitecage (alto saxophones, clarinet and electronics); Dominic Duval (bass and electronics); Jay Rosen (drums and percussion)

March 10, 2003

Trio X

On tour … toronto/rochester
Cadence Jazz Records CJR 1134

Accurately named, this cooperative group shouldn't be thought of as Joe McPhee's trio. For the contributions of bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen -- the Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones of American new jazz -- are as important to the success of this CD as the work of multi-instrumentalist McPhee.

Recorded live, mostly in Toronto, this nearly 74-minute session shows how the three can transfix audiences by working together to recast what's usually thought of as familiar material in such a way that so-called standards are made new. Plus, at the same time, the original tunes they perform contain enough interlocking compositional edges so that they're easily attached to a musical whole.

The most affecting piece is "Trail of Tears", an almost 22 minute threnody for American Indian saxophonist Jim Pepper (1941-1992) best known for his composition "Witchi-Tai-To". Fittingly, there's no attempt to replicate any of the aboriginal rhythms that enlivened that tune. In fact, the only recognizable line that's introduced at different times, is Stephen Sondheim's bittersweet "Send in the Clowns".

Relating to the jazz and Tin Pan Alley tunes that proceed "Trail", the point is made that every song can be a standard and in the right hands Sondheim's melody is no less legitimate than the Thelonious Monk piece which begins this recital and vice versa.

Meanwhile, in this performance, McPhee's tenor saxophone seems to be going through Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's many states of grief. At first playing quietly and understated like the sniffles of a weeping widow, he's soon biting the reed and heading into altissimo territory, keening like a wailing lover at a public burial ceremony. After literally screaming linked notes through his horn with the sort of intense glossolalia you would expect from an out-of control-mourner, he turns to Sonny Rollins-like swoops that uses "Send"'s distinct melancholic line to signal calm and acceptance.

As all this is going on, Duval has been alternately speeding up and slowing down the beat, constructing a solo out of powerful basso thumps, and generally supplying the combination solo and accompaniment you'd expect from two basses. His screeching arco interlude, heightening McPhee last statement of the Sondheim theme, suggests defiance rather than capitulation. Similarly, Rosen chimes in using cymbal smashes, repeated snare patterns and even a triangle accent to second either the saxophonist or the bassist.

"Try A Little Tenderness" is tweaked in the same sort of way, but the performance suggests that the trio was thinking of Otis Redding's frenzied version rather than Frank Sinatra's more restrained one. Beginning with a tough bass solo extracted from the instruments bowls and extended with echoing electronics, muted percussion response appear long before the familiar melody asserts itself. Throughout Duval's and Rosen's respective pile driver strums and military-style tattoos succeed in kicking away any sentimentality the ballad still possess when played in McPhee's slurred mid range tenor tone.

An introduction of paradiddles, rolls, wood clicks, bass drum whumps and cowbell hits from Rosen that are answered by screams and whistles from the crowd announce that "My Funny Valentine" isn't going to be coddled either. As Duval's fingers work their way from the north to the south and back again on the bass, McPhee begins a saxophone solo that gradually turns into the well-known theme. If the drummer's percussion bombs later upset the equilibrium, then the reedman's pocket trumpet allows him to caress the theme as tenderly as if it was played by Miles Davis.

A non-musical complaint: CJR rightly concerns itself with the music above all else, leaving packaging a bare bones affair. But bare bones shouldn't mean neglecting important information. On the CD McPhee is noted as playing "sax". Actually he uses his tenor saxophone throughout, as well as taking forays on pocket trumpet on two of the five tracks.

Originality, versatility and effortless musicianship add up to produce the entity that's dubbed Trio X. But the three do so much on the session, maybe the band should be renamed Trio X, Y & Z.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Monkin' Around 2. Try A Little Tenderness 3. My Funny Valentine 4. Trail of Tears 5. Old Eyes

Personnel: Joe McPhee (pocket trumpet, tenor saxophone); Dominic Duval (bass); Jay Rosen (drums)

September 3, 2001