Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet

Apparent Distance
Firehouse 12 Records FH12

Jason Kao Hwang/Edge

Crossroads Unseen

Euonymus Records EU 02

Brass man Taylor Ho Bynum and bassist Ken Filiano are the constants in these noteworthy sessions designed to offer glimpses into the improvisational and compositional cores of a clutch of innovating musicians. Anti-establishment without being nihilists, the eight players represented validate the concept of moving forward sonically while preserving parts of the past.

The most obvious tradition linkages are that Bynum’s sextet on Apparent Distance is organized to play his four-part chamber suite. Crossroads Unseen meantime features six compositions by leader Jason Kao Hwang that make ample use of the qualities he can wring out of European music’s most venerable instruments – the violin and the viola. Hwang has worked with experimenters such as bassist William Parker and drummer Vladimir Tarasov. Filiano has become a constant New York presence after an apprenticeship with reedist Vinny Golia. Percussionist Andrew Drury is a composer in his own right, while Bynum has a long association with Anthony Braxton. This CD is the quartet’s third as Edge.

On the other disc, Bynum’s associates includes drummer Tomas Fujiwara, with whom he has often worked in duo and trio; saxophonist Jim Hobbs, who employed him in the reedist’s Fully Celebrated Orchestra; guitarist Mary Halvorson another Braxton associate; and tubaist/bass trombonist Bill Lowe, a veteran player who worked with Henry Threadgill. Overall Apparent Distance deals with abstract concepts in a formal chamber setting, probably appropriate for a work that benefitted from grants from two foundations. Hwang’s hang is more organic and swinging.

With suite transitions on Apparent Distance based on bravura tone extensions from each player, the sequences move from non-figurative motifs that tax the limits of the instruments to sections that meld the players in linear cooperation. During the three section that surround “Source”, the nearly 21 minute defining movement, remarkable sounds are repeatedly created either solo – sometimes a capella – or by instrumental layering. Bynum’s triplet-laden excursions, brass braying or sucked mouthpiece slurs appear even more impressive when coupled with speedy tongue jujitsu from Lowe’s tuba or contrasted with a military-style beat from Fujiwara. Hobbs’ distanced, irregular reed bites meet slurred fingering from Halvorson with with an overlay of distorted picks and plinks. When the processional rhythm and clapping cymbals from the percussionist adjoin the guitarist’s downward strums and note distortion, the effect is that of a psychedelic guitarist filling a seat in a military band.

Although by the narrative’s finale the sextet’s output has quieted down to pointed chromaticism, “Source” and Bynum’s composition as a whole are designed to give everyone freedom of expression. During the exposition walking bass and legato guitar lines soon give way to staccato string snaps and discursive curlicue thumps as the flugelhornist exhibits slippery half-valve effects that throw into bolder relief a cleanly articulated bass trombone solo. Just as agitated split tones and nasal vibratos threaten to undermine the theme, busy brushwork from Fujiwara introduces a swinging pulse that leads conclusively to the final sequence of cymbal resonation and drags.

Swings the thing on Crossroads Unseen, but it flows organically from the writing not as some lumbering recreation. Almost from the first notes, Hwang’s double stopping polytonal stops and staccato plucks put him firmly in the tradition that stretches from Stuff Smith to Billy Bang. Meanwhile Bynum provides a plunger obbligato and Drury’s kit pressure is unique enough in pitch and timbre to suggest he’s playing a cuica. On “The Path around the House” the bassist carves his route by outlining a multi-string stopped, Mingusian solo that ends with magisterial strums and following some triplet tonguing from Bynum and a this-side-of-Buddy-Rich solo from Drury introduces the fiddler’s angled string jumps and plucked polyrhythms.

Bulkier stops and chunkier scrubs characterize Hwang`s playing when he switches to the lower-pitched viola for the final two tracks. Still his technical finesse is as supple as before. Ending “One Day” and the entire CD is a concluding sequence divided between weighty pumps from Filiano and the friction produced by mixing cross tones from Hwang with hand-muted growls from Bynum’s cornet. But as unexpected motifs such as Drury’s gong-like cymbal resonations hover in-and-out of the earshot, the composer manages to impart some romantic motifs as the others combine thematic harmonies.

Concerned with diverse goals, both Hwang and Bynum have created exhilarating sessions which impress in wholly atypical ways despite an overlap of personnel.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Apparent: Apparent Distance 1. Part I: Shift 2. Part II: Strike 3. Part III: Source 4. Part IV: Layer

Personnel: Apparent: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Bill Lowe (bass trombone and tuba); Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Ken Filiano (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums)

Track Listing: Crossroads: 1. Elemental Determination^# 2. The Path around the House^# 3. Transients*# 4. Crossroads Unseen*% 5. One Day*%

Personnel: Crossroads: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet* and flugelhorn^); Jason Kao Hwang (violin# and viola%); Ken Filiano (bass) and Andrew Drury (percussion)

May 16, 2012

Lawnmower

West
Clean Feed CF 178 CD

By Ken Waxman

Architecturally organized into sound blocks, the seven tracks on this quartet`s debut CD bleed one into another to create a distinct aural picture. Mostly mid-tempo and somewhat monochromic, the pieces seem to take as much from shoe-gazer rock and poignant country music as jazz improvisation.

That’s not surprising, considering that two of players – guitarists Dan Littleton and Geoff Farina – are part of indie-rock bands such as Ida, Karate and Secret Stars. Drummer Luther Gray is a former punk-rocker who now plays with improv stylist such as saxophonist Ken Vandermark and guitarist Joe Morris. Leader of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs, having worked with trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum among others, is the jazz spark here.

On ballads such as “Prayer of Death” and “Love”, the guitarists churn out Appalachian-styled twangs and tremolo slides as the saxophonist’s melismatic whines and choked slurs approximate the lonesome timbres of primitivist singers. When his tone isn’t reminiscent of Dock Boggs’ vocals, Hobbs channels Ornette Coleman. On a piece such as “Giant Squid” Hobbs’ creates jaunty, linear solos whose child-like intonation contrast with the guitarists’ crunching reverb and discordant fuzz tones Littleton and Farina only fleetingly differentiate themselves throughout when one vibrates steel-guitar-like licks and the other gashes his strings, producing abrasive rebounds. Meanwhile Gray’s presence is strictly supportive, sticking to bare-bone paradiddles and uncomplicated clatters and rolls.

Even on “Two”, West’s lengthiest track at almost 14¾ minutes, the pause between sections is no drum break, but an opportunity for methodical clunks and rustling raps from Gray. Half-lullaby and half-lament, resonating guitar drones at the top develop into fortissimo string shakes and blurry note sprays by the end, with Hobbs’ pinched reed bites and split tones providing the contrast.

Gray says the band name came from his youth mowing lawns while listening to music through a walkman. As imposing as some of the tracks are, the CD’s underlying melancholy may discourage an identical strategy here: a severed toe may result.

Tracks: One; Glass; Prayer of Death; Giant Squid; Dan; I Love; Two

Personnel: Jim Hobbs: alto saxophone; Dan Littleton and Geoff Farina: guitars; Luther Gray: drums

--For New York City Jazz Record June 2011

June 10, 2011

Fred Ho and the Green Monster Big Band

Year of the Tiger
Innova 789

Italian Instabile Orchestra

Totally Gone

Rai Trade RTP J0021

Pierre Labbé +12

Tremblement de fer

Ambiance Magnétique AM202

Pierre Favre

Le Voyage

Intakt CD 186

Something in the Air: Big Band Redux

By Ken Waxman

More than 60 years after the big band era, improvising musicians still organize large ensembles to take advantage of its wider scope and range of colors. Such is the versatility of the arrangements possible with large bands as these sessions demonstrate, that each sounds completely unique while maintaining the same excellence.

Over nearly 71 minutes on Totally Gone Rai Trade RTP J0021 the all-star aggregation of 17 of the country’s most accomplished players who make up the Italian Instabile Orchestra (IIO) demonstrate the combination of technical skills and rambunctious good spirits that has kept the band going since 1990. Unsurprisingly the climatic track, Ciao Baby, I’m Totally Gone/It Had to be You, is a case-in-point instance of the band’s expansive talents. Switching between timbral dissonance from squeaky spiccato strings and snoring brass slurs on one hand with sibilant, staccato section work that could have migrated from Fletcher Henderson’s band, the IIO’s texture is simultaneously mainstream and avant-garde. This is made clearest when a sequence of pure air forced from Sebi Tramontana’s trombone turns to plunger polyrhythm as he’s backed by harmonized reeds and strings, and ends with him vocalizing the second half of title backed by Fabrizio Puglisi’s key-clipping piano and Gianluigi Trovesi’s undulating clarinet obbligato. This sense of fun is also expressed on “No Visa”, a jazzy hoedown which leaves room for sul ponticello fiddling from violinist Emanuele Parrini, funky tenor saxophone vamping from Daniele Cavallanti, a brassy mid-range fanfare and the entire band vocally riffing in unison. This doesn’t mean that compositional seriousness isn’t displayed alongside the theatricism. The multi-tempo Gargantella, for instance is as much a nocturne as a capriccio. Here closely-voiced and massed horns and strings move adagio beneath strained brass notes and a snorting, altissimo showcase for baritone saxophonist Carlo Actis Dato until the tone poem is completed by polished, string movements given shape by the clattering cymbals and wood block pops of percussionists Vincenzo Mazzone and Tiziano Tononi.

With rock-influenced electric piano and guitar prominent, Pierre Labbé’s 12-piece big band takes a different approach on Tremblement de fer Ambiances Magnétiques AM 202 CD performing a seven-part suite the saxophonist composed for a Montreal festival. A POMO sound essay, the composition is animated by contrapuntal clashes between sections which include four bowed strings, two brass, two reeds, plus guitar, piano, bass and percussion. Although linked, each track can be appreciated on its own. Despite its Arabic title, Le 2e Souk is actually a showcase for Jean Derome’s improvisations on successively, alto saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. Throughout his staccato peeps, sibilant slurs and flutter tonguing are matched by tremolo slides, sawing and scratches from the violinists, violist and cellist. Lavra, on the other hand masses Balkan-sounding string discord with irregular pulses from guitarist Bernard Falaise and drummer Pierre Tanguay as soprano saxophonist André Leroux carries the melody. Resolution comes when trombonist Jean-Nicolas Trottier abandons plunger tones to slurp his way up the scale, accompanied by the strings and pianist Guillaume Dostaler’s steady comping. Tanguay, whose hand taps are suitably exotic when playing darbuka, contributes muscular ruffs throughout. His steadying backbeat is particularly necessary on the final La Fille et la grenouille. Sounding like what would happen if a street-corner Sally Ann band wandered into a country music session, the tune mixes up the bugling from the brass players, rooster crows and spits from the reeds, a bow-legged rhythm with cow-bell pings from Tanguay, and Falaise contrasting his best pseudo-steel-guitar C&W twangs with the somewhat schmaltzy tutti horn lines.

Taking a different tack is percussionist Pierre Favre’s Le Voyage Intakt CD 186 which mutates standard big-band harmonies with unique sound blocks in the drummer’s compositions. Utilizing a saxophone choir of soprano, alto, tenor and baritone to create concentrated organ-like chord pulsations, Favre’s intermezzos parcel the solos out among guitarist Phillipp Schaufelberger, trombonist Samuel Blaser and clarinetist Claudio Putin. With the rhythmic thrust doubled by string bass and bass guitar, the results evoke baroque ballads as certainly as big band swing. An example of the latter is “Wrong Name” where Putin’s florid twitters trill chromatically, while around him harmonized reeds throb in unison, prodded from adagio to andante tempo by cross-patterning cracks and pops from the drummer. “Les Vilains” on the other hand could be modernized Renaissance court music, with the reeds playing formalized close harmonies as if they were a string quartet, with cascading and irregular timbres doled out from Schaufelberger’s harsh, slurred fingering. Favre’s sound architecture is most obvious on “Akimbo” where reed shading becomes sonically three-dimensional as the drummer’s clips emphasize the symmetry between the guitarist’s string snaps plus Blaser’s plunger grace notes.

Practically standing the big band tradition and its head, American gigantism is emphasized on Fred Ho and the Green Monster Big Band’s Year of the Tiger Innova 789 since the Chinese-American composer bursts with so many sociological and musical tropes that a 21 musicians are needed to express them. A Marxist populist Ho packs within 70 minutes, a five-part suite honoring African-American big bands; a trio of Michael Jackson songs; the Johnny Quest TV show theme song; a couple of Jimi Hendrix hits; plus excerpts from his chamber opera featuring the band plus an adult and a children’s choirs. These extracts are notable for how he blends formalist bel canto singing with instrumental looseness from an improvising ensemble, whereas Ho’s arrangement of the Hendrix melodies play up their jazz-rock linkage as tremolo trombone slurs and roistering sax vamps parallel the double-tracked vocals. More seriously, adding an anti-capitalist recitation from poet Magdalena Gomez to Jackson’s Bad and Thriller, already evocatively sung by Leena Conquest, defines the werewolf and zombie sound effects within the context of mindless consumerism, mocked by guffawing brass and a slurping tenor sax solo. The CD’s heart is contained in the six selections of Take the Zen Train, which manages to reference both Pete Seeger and Duke Ellington. Using instrumental pulsations and layering, with bellowing brass reverb and tension-and-release variants plus the vibrancy of frequent tempo changes, Ho composes tonal portraits for his soloists. Outstanding are cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum’s whispering and peeping ballad feature; the stop-time slurs and gutbucket expansions from bass trombonist David Harris; plus an interlude which matches alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs’ reed masticating alongside the composer’s snorting baritone sax runs. Seeger’s left-wing orientation is apparent in some of the tune titles including Quarantine for the Aggressor. Whether used for program music or for timbral amplification, big bands remain a preferred form of expression for players and composers.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 16 #9

June 5, 2011

LAURA ANDEL ORCHESTRA

SomnambulisT
Red Toucan # RT 9322

Occupying that mid-range between jazz and classical music, Laura Andel is a composer to watch, as much for her audacity as for her conception.

Argentinean-born, she’s a woodwind player who first received a degree in tango performance in Buenos Aires, then studied jazz composition and film music in Boston, and has since written for large and small ensembles in Boston, New York, Germany and Venezuela. Cinematic, with swathes of jazz and South American rhythms and quirky orchestral instrumentation, SOMNAMBULIST is a nine-part, 46-minute suite that tries to compress all her influences and studies into a definitive whole.

Disjointed in parts, the ghostly-sounding program music raises the age-old question of how much was actually written and how much improvised by her first-class soloists. With so much happening in this work that depicts a sleepwalker and her dreams, there are times that formalism threatens to outweigh the improvisations. Overall though, the suite manages to resolve as many queries as it raises

By the second track, the Eurocentric conception built on viola, theremin, accordion, electronics and flute meets a heavily rhythmic guitar vamp, an unvarying drum beat, high-pitched strings and harmoniously sonorous bass clarinet and baritone saxophone tones. The sleepwalker’s confusion may then be represented by the insect-like buzzing of voice, electronics and viola, succeeded by plunger trombone, vibraphone pressure and honking woodwinds and brass. Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura’s voice wiggles, burps, screams and cries in a subsequent outpouring that sounds more like the nightmares of the certifiably insane then someone suffering from repose disquiet.

Soon quasi-classical influences predominate, with very legit-sounding viola glissandos, circling, clicking piano keys and ethereal flute tones. As discordant transitions arise, almost too much happens at the same time. The bass trombonist buzzes through the piece with a jet-plane-like drone, the accordionist introduces an expansive tango rhythm manipulating the squeezebox bellows back and forth to maximum expansion. Whistling cuts through all this as the drummer introduces splashing jazz rhythms with echoing percussion lines. Eventually the motif is tossed from one instrument group to the next encompassing muted brass, Sam Furnace’s honking and slurring baritone saxophone and vibes-accordion counterpoint, until it lands in Oscar Noriega subterranean bass clarinet.

Rubbed drum heads introduce overblown saxophone slipsiding and brass flurries, as the vocalized breaths sustain throughout this section, while the strings buzz like worker bees, the accordion squeezes discordantly, the clarinet reed shrieks and the distinctive wavering theremin modulations suggest the cosmos.

Finally, as the horns advance a vaguely Far-Eastern theme on top of ghostly piano chords, a single triangle peal sounds sharply, as if it is an alarm clock bell rousing the sleeper from slumber. Kitamura’s mumbling and murmuring imply the sleepwalker has awakened; though instrumental voices such as high intensity piano tremolos from Ursel Schlicht suggest that the potential for other nocturnal experiences still exist.

From a slightly earlier session featuring a different group and vocalist, the penultimate and final tracks offer small-scale versions of Andel’s preoccupations. With the same mixture of influences and performed in a similar manner, the orchestral condensation merely extend what has gone before.

It will be interesting to see what else Andel can do with her fecund musical imagination. If future releases are as notable as this one -- and she recruits as sympathetic improvisers -- she’ll be definitely move from the promising to the consummate composer category.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: SomnambulisT:[1. Entering 2. Procession 3. Mosca 4. Noise Machine 5. Drops 6. Whale Singing 7. Fugue 8. Breathing Machine 9. Waking Up] 10. In The Midst 11. Murmur

Personnel: Laura Andel Orchestra (New York) [Tracks 1- 9] Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Julie Kalu (bass trombone); Jamie Baum (flute and electronics); Oscar Noriega (clarinet and bass clarinet); Sam Furnace (soprano and baritone saxophones); Ursel Schlicht (piano); Kenta Nagai (fretless guitar); Stephanie Griffin (viola); Carl Maguire (accordion); Reuben Radding (bass); Danny Tunick (vibraphone); Pamelia Kurstin (theremin); Tatsuya Nakatani (drums); Kyoko Kitamura (voice)

JCA Orchestra (Boston) [Tracks 10 and 11]: Keiichi Hashimoto, Scott Aruda [track 10], Mike Peipman [track 11) (trumpets); Bob Pilkington, David Harris (trombones) Jim Mosher (French horn); Jim Gray [track 10] or Ted Skeene [track 11] (tuba); Hiro Honshuku [track 11] (alto flute); Jeremy Stein [track 10] (flute); Jim Hobbs, Jeremy Udden (alto saxophones); Phil Scarff (tenor saxophone); Hans Indigo (baritone saxophone); Art Bailey [track 10] or Jed Wilson [track 11] (piano); Rich Greenblatt [track 11] (vibraphone); Norm Zocher (guitar); Rick McLaughlin (bass); Harvey Wirht (drums); Jerry Leake [track 10] or Taki Masuko [track 11] (percussion); Rebecca Shrimpton (voice)

August 25, 2003

FULLY CELEBRATED ORCHESTRA

Marriage of Heaven and Earth
Innova 567

GOLD SPARKLE BAND
Fugues and Flowers
Squealer Music SQLR 035

Gerry Mulligan may get credit for inventing the so-called pianoless quartet in modern jazz but it was Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz band of the early 1960s that really established it as a viable aggregation.

Having ingenious soloists like cornettist Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell on board, Coleman on his Atlantic LPs proved that lacking a chordal instrument did nothing to weaken a band’s internal dynamics, as long as the mixture of talent and compositions was maintained.

Forty years on, this sound is as familiar as that of a classical string quartet or a rock Power Trio, with literally thousands of groups having embraced it. Two of the impressive younger bands in the style are the represented on these live CDs. Just as instructively, both come from places other than New York’s jazz epicentre.

Boston-based, the grandiloquently named Fully Celebrated Orchestra (FCO) recalls the old jape about the Holy Roman Empire, which, we were told was neither holy, Roman nor an empire. As a quartet -- initially a trio from 1987 until cornettist Taylor Ho Bynum joined in 1999 -- FCO is certainly no orchestra. And considering avant jazz’s limited support, it likely isn’t fully celebrated as well.

Instead, the group, whose repertoire is written by leader/alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs, is a rough-and-ready gang fully in the Coleman mould. Bassist Timo Shanko who also regularly works with local guitar star Joe Morris, has been with the band from its beginnings, while drummer Django Carraza joined in 1991.

Thoughout the writing of Hobbs, who has also played with Morris, not to mention metal band, Death’s Head Quartet, is strongly influenced by Coleman’s compositions. However, here he manages to include enough so-called world melodies and scales plus funk rhythms to attract the rock crowd as well as hardcore jazzophiles. Recently he also received a new work grant from Chamber Music America/the Doris Duke Foundation to create an original piece for the band.

The leitmotif of the tunes is to develop a simple head as a launching pad for heartfelt blowing then restate the head. At times, Hobbs, whose solos are usually made up of repeated note patterns cleaves to the absolute lowest register of his horn, leading to speculation that some of the notes may comes from a tenor saxophone. Other times, as on “Jaya” he produces a high, lonesome, arcing sound as if he was an Appalachian hollerer, which is given added poignancy by minimal bass and drum accompaniment. Drummer Carranza gets to show his stuff elsewhere, however, most notably on the Balkan-flavored “Aware of Vacuity”, where his quirky offside conception manages to simultaneously suggest jazz and Middle Eastern time. Holding to unvarying patterns, Shanko stays in the background as least aggressive member of the group.

Rustic settings and the blues may be brought to mind by “Ol’ Sow Rooted ‘em Up”, which recalls Coleman lines like “Folk Tale” or “Blues Connotation”. But while Hobbs may use smears and trills to try to approximate Hank Crawford-style soul, Bynum, who has recorded impressive sessions with cellist Jeff Song, is a little too sophisticated to get into the alley. In essence his tone suggests Charlie Shavers’ polite approach to blues. He sounds more comfortable melding with the saxophonist on the unison coda, and on other tunes uses techniques like valve shakes to express emotions.

Still, as long as this band of unreconstructed urbanites doesn’t try to don metaphoric overalls, they sound impressive. The overall sound picture here is of a mature band, confident in its role and ready to bring its message to a larger public

This unprejudiced audience FOC attracts often comes from college radio and the uncommitted indie-rock crowd to which Gold Sparkle Band (GSB) also appeals. A tale of two cities, trumpeter Roger Ruzow continues to reside in Atlanta, the band’s initial home base, while reedman Charlie Waters, bassist Adam Roberts and percussionist Andrew Barker now make Brooklyn their home. While Waters and Barker have become part of bassist William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra among other Big Apple aggregations, the quartet still isn’t really a New York band as this CD shows. Lengthy “Motor City Fugue”, for instance, was recorded in Atlanta, while the rest of the tunes were recorded in Chicago.

Paradoxically, GSB seems both more traditional and more outside than FOC. Some of the heads the band plays -- all but two written by Waters -- resemble Jazz Messenger themes, while some of the solos -- again mostly by the reedman -- seem to take as much from the modern, European, so-called classical tradition as jazz.

It’s this tradition which is most apparent in his clarinet playing. On alto, Waters’ vernacular, like that of Hobbs comes mostly from Coleman, with some Eric Dolphy thrown in for good measure. Even more noteworthy, though, is the playing of trumpeter Ruzow, potentially the most interesting brass stylist to come from Georgia since trombonist J.C. Higginbotham in the 1930s. Trained as a bassist, Ruzow only began playing trumpet professionally with the formation of GSB in 1995.

Perhaps it’s this novelty which still enlivens his solos. Certainly his admixture of melodic, open horn forays, muted asides and a repertoire of squeezed out smeary tones, flutter tonguing and whistles creates a unique niche.

These qualities are put to particular use on “Second City Fugue (Subject)”, where his mid-register double-timing suggest Klezmer music -- or perhaps trumpeter Ziggy Elman, who had traces of that style in his trumpet work with Benny Goodman. Unison sounds come from a combination with Waters’ alto, though the duck quacks heard seem to arise from the clarinet reed. Waters also seems to unveil snake-charmer’s flute on “Second City Fugue (Counter-Subject)”, which when mated with Roberts’ quick walking bass suggests Charles Mingus’ 1960 quartet with Dolphy and Ted Curson as much as Coleman’s “Focus On Sanity”.

All techniques are rolled togeher on the almost 25½ minute “Motor City Fugure”. At different times, the band members split into trios, duos (trumpet-drums and clarinet-bass) and even go solo, with Barker finally able to bang different parts of his kit and Roberts given a little more arco leeway and room for some string struming. At one point the saxist introduces reed-biting foghorn squalls from his alto, at another exhbits sweet, almost-traditional New Orleans-style clarinet, while the rest of the group lays out. Not to be outdone, Ruzow exhbits a panoply of effects himself that range from burnished muted lines to military brass band flourishes and rollicking spit tones.

Both FCB and GSB give you new faith in modern improvised music’s consistent rejuvination. Plus each of the eight musicians involved is young enough to get even better in writing and playing. There may be a time, in fact, that singly or together FCB or GSB may be synonymous with A-1.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Marriage: 1. Succubusology 2. The Kelpi 3. Ol’ Sow Rooted ‘em Up 4. Jaya 5. A Tree is Me 6. Aware of Vacuity 7. Reconciliation of Heaven and Earth

Personnel: Marriage: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone); Timo Shanko (bass); Django Carraza (drums)

Track Listing: Fuges: 1. Zodiac Attack 2. Second City Fugue (Subject) 3. Fugues (Answer) 4. Second City Fugue (Counter-Subject) 5. Holiday For Flowers 6. Motor City Fugue

Personnel: Fuges: Roger Ruzow (trumpet); Charlie Waters (alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute); Adam Roberts (bass); Andrew Barker (percussion)

July 13, 2002