Steve Lehman Octet

Travail, Transformation, and Flow
Pi Records P130

James Carney Group

Ways & Means

Songlines SGL SA 1580-2

At least since the flexibility of a little big band was demonstrated in Miles Davis’ 1949 Birth of the Cool sessions musicians have utilized that formation when they want to expand their compositional reach without getting involved in the sometimes ponderous arrangements needed for an official big band.

Two stellar examples of the adaptable colors and rhythms available from seven- or eight-piece bands are these CDs by New York-based improvisers. Although both impressively extend sonic visions through the solos of some of Manhattan’s top players and crafty arrangements, overall alto saxophonist Steve Lehman’s Travail, Transformation, and Flow has the edge. Concerned with displaying the nuanced harmonics and overtones available from an assimilation of spectral music, the freshness of his arrangements and compositions trumps keyboardist James Carney’s scores on Ways & Means. Not that Carney’s conceptions are anyway second rate. It’s just that the compositions are shaped and performed in a contemporary jazz fashion in such a way that the results are expected and almost too familiar. You can almost see the parts clank and shudder into place. Perhaps “see” is the key word here as well, since Carney describes the Chamber Music America-commissioned Ways & Means as designed to be a movie in sound.

Perhaps then “Legal Action”, which is set up as a double concerto for tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and trumpeter Ralph Alessi should be pictured as one of those buddy flicks. Certainly from the first, the trumpeter’s repeated grace notes and rubato harmonies stay close to the slide-slipping split tones from the tenor saxophonist. Additionally, while neither soloist is particularly atonal, the rhythm section, abetted by Carney’s synthesizer buzzes, warrants that the melody remains chromatic during this cinematic intermezzo. Eventually the piece climaxes when Carney’ piano adds choruses of dynamic cadences and note clusters. Speeding up his comping, the pianist meets echoing trumpet bites head on, then wraps up the narrative with sliding key emphasis.

This innate lyricism – the musical equivalent of Technicolor perhaps – floats through nearly all of the CD’s nine selections, with churning horn parts often layered on top of bouncing piano harmonies. The languid “Squatters” for instance, exposes a different style of sonic character development with percussive piano patterns succeeded by quivering electric piano throbs – also from Carney – eventually making way for Peter Epstein’s glossy soprano saxophone tongue flutters. Again while Chris Lightcap’s walking bas and Mark Ferber’s drums combine to goose the tempo from adagio to andante, Epstein appears unperturbed. His timbres turn repetitive, but not dissonant. Josh Roseman’s uncharacteristically glossy trombone slurs surmount the other horns’ harmonies in the tune’s final variation, confirming the swing feeling of the piece – and Carney’s compositional smarts.

If Ways & Means reflects Carney’s background scorning films, then Travail, Transformation, and Flow works from Lehman’s fascination with the physics of sound. The saxophonist, who teaches in New York’s Columbia University’s music department, uses his extensive formal background to divide particularized tones among the eight musicians for harmonic distinctiveness. While computer analysis is often used to assign each instrument’s microtonal spots in the arrangement, happily this doesn’t produce a domineering formalism in the sounds from the ensemble and/or soloists. One overriding leitmotif is the chiming percussiveness of Chris Dingman’s vibes which make their presence felt on nearly every track.

Furthermore a tune such as “Waves”, with its thick percussive rhythms and quivering broken-octave harmonies, is as much shaped by solos as spectralism. While the tonality of the off-kilter, four-horn harmonies that abut clattering bells plus pops and drags from percussionist Tyshawn Sorey may have a technical definition, the piece progresses as much due to

Lehman’s downward tongue fluttering on alto saxophone and Jonathan Finlayson’s distant trumpet tattoos.

Heretical as it may sound conceptually, with committed soloists playing their personal best, “Alloy” – which is described as explicitly less spectral than “Waves” – doesn’t sound that far off from more technical pieces. Polyphony displayed on “Alloy” is as impressive; so are the individual interpolations from sprinkled vibraphone textures, low-pitched tuba burps from Jose Davilia and grace notes from trombonist Tim Albright. Eventually when Lehman’s sharpened alto tone spins out a raunchy vamp, doubled by Mark Shim’s tenor saxophone and an adagio trumpet flourish, melody overcomes methodology.

Additionally, “No Neighborhood Rough Enough”, which modulates through swelling spectral harmonies, may line up as individual parts and verses are fit together with microtonal precision. Yet Drew Gress’s floating bass line, Dingman’s clanking vibe resonation and horn solos predominate. After honking in the exposition, Shim’s sprawling, free-form sax vibrations follow their own logic and easily meld with the trumpeter’s repeated grace notes.

Travail, Transformation, and Flow is memorable because Lehman has managed to wedge an academic concept within a performance of high-class composition and improvisation without flaunting his technical game plan. Ways & Means is also notable. But despite the high level of soloing, its cinematic output comes secondary to Lehman’s tech strategy. That’s because like the whir of a projector in an otherwise hushed movie theatre, Carey’s compositional mechanics are a little too obvious.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Travail: 1. Echoes 2. RudreshM 2. As Things Change (I Remain the Same) 4. Dub 5. Alloy 6. Waves 7. No Neighborhood Rough Enough 8. Living in the World Today

Personnel: Travail: Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet); Tim Albright (trombone); Jose Davila (tuba); Steve Lehman (alto saxophone); Mark Shim (tenor saxophone); Chris Dingman (vibraphone); Drew Gress (bass) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

Track Listing: Ways: 1. Nefarious Notions 2. Squatters 3. Champion of Honesty 4. Onondaga 5. The Business End 6. Legal Action 7. Fallout 8. Pow Wow 9. Gargoyles

Personnel: Ways: Ralph Alessi (trumpet); Josh Roseman (trombone); Peter Epstein (soprano and alto saxophones); Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone); James Carney (acoustic and electric pianos, analog synthesizer and glockenspiel); Chris Lightcap (bass) and Mark Ferber (drums)

January 11, 2010

James Carney Group

Ways & Means
Songlines SGL SA 1580-2

Steve Lehman Octet

Travail, Transformation, and Flow

Pi Records P130

At least since the flexibility of a little big band was demonstrated in Miles Davis’ 1949 Birth of the Cool sessions musicians have utilized that formation when they want to expand their compositional reach without getting involved in the sometimes ponderous arrangements needed for an official big band.

Two stellar examples of the adaptable colors and rhythms available from seven- or eight-piece bands are these CDs by New York-based improvisers. Although both impressively extend sonic visions through the solos of some of Manhattan’s top players and crafty arrangements, overall alto saxophonist Steve Lehman’s Travail, Transformation, and Flow has the edge. Concerned with displaying the nuanced harmonics and overtones available from an assimilation of spectral music, the freshness of his arrangements and compositions trumps keyboardist James Carney’s scores on Ways & Means. Not that Carney’s conceptions are anyway second rate. It’s just that the compositions are shaped and performed in a contemporary jazz fashion in such a way that the results are expected and almost too familiar. You can almost see the parts clank and shudder into place. Perhaps “see” is the key word here as well, since Carney describes the Chamber Music America-commissioned Ways & Means as designed to be a movie in sound.

Perhaps then “Legal Action”, which is set up as a double concerto for tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and trumpeter Ralph Alessi should be pictured as one of those buddy flicks. Certainly from the first, the trumpeter’s repeated grace notes and rubato harmonies stay close to the slide-slipping split tones from the tenor saxophonist. Additionally, while neither soloist is particularly atonal, the rhythm section, abetted by Carney’s synthesizer buzzes, warrants that the melody remains chromatic during this cinematic intermezzo. Eventually the piece climaxes when Carney’ piano adds choruses of dynamic cadences and note clusters. Speeding up his comping, the pianist meets echoing trumpet bites head on, then wraps up the narrative with sliding key emphasis.

This innate lyricism – the musical equivalent of Technicolor perhaps – floats through nearly all of the CD’s nine selections, with churning horn parts often layered on top of bouncing piano harmonies. The languid “Squatters” for instance, exposes a different style of sonic character development with percussive piano patterns succeeded by quivering electric piano throbs – also from Carney – eventually making way for Peter Epstein’s glossy soprano saxophone tongue flutters. Again while Chris Lightcap’s walking bas and Mark Ferber’s drums combine to goose the tempo from adagio to andante, Epstein appears unperturbed. His timbres turn repetitive, but not dissonant. Josh Roseman’s uncharacteristically glossy trombone slurs surmount the other horns’ harmonies in the tune’s final variation, confirming the swing feeling of the piece – and Carney’s compositional smarts.

If Ways & Means reflects Carney’s background scorning films, then Travail, Transformation, and Flow works from Lehman’s fascination with the physics of sound. The saxophonist, who teaches in New York’s Columbia University’s music department, uses his extensive formal background to divide particularized tones among the eight musicians for harmonic distinctiveness. While computer analysis is often used to assign each instrument’s microtonal spots in the arrangement, happily this doesn’t produce a domineering formalism in the sounds from the ensemble and/or soloists. One overriding leitmotif is the chiming percussiveness of Chris Dingman’s vibes which make their presence felt on nearly every track.

Furthermore a tune such as “Waves”, with its thick percussive rhythms and quivering broken-octave harmonies, is as much shaped by solos as spectralism. While the tonality of the off-kilter, four-horn harmonies that abut clattering bells plus pops and drags from percussionist Tyshawn Sorey may have a technical definition, the piece progresses as much due to

Lehman’s downward tongue fluttering on alto saxophone and Jonathan Finlayson’s distant trumpet tattoos.

Heretical as it may sound conceptually, with committed soloists playing their personal best, “Alloy” – which is described as explicitly less spectral than “Waves” – doesn’t sound that far off from more technical pieces. Polyphony displayed on “Alloy” is as impressive; so are the individual interpolations from sprinkled vibraphone textures, low-pitched tuba burps from Jose Davilia and grace notes from trombonist Tim Albright. Eventually when Lehman’s sharpened alto tone spins out a raunchy vamp, doubled by Mark Shim’s tenor saxophone and an adagio trumpet flourish, melody overcomes methodology.

Additionally, “No Neighborhood Rough Enough”, which modulates through swelling spectral harmonies, may line up as individual parts and verses are fit together with microtonal precision. Yet Drew Gress’s floating bass line, Dingman’s clanking vibe resonation and horn solos predominate. After honking in the exposition, Shim’s sprawling, free-form sax vibrations follow their own logic and easily meld with the trumpeter’s repeated grace notes.

Travail, Transformation, and Flow is memorable because Lehman has managed to wedge an academic concept within a performance of high-class composition and improvisation without flaunting his technical game plan. Ways & Means is also notable. But despite the high level of soloing, its cinematic output comes secondary to Lehman’s tech strategy. That’s because like the whir of a projector in an otherwise hushed movie theatre, Carey’s compositional mechanics are a little too obvious.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Travail: 1. Echoes 2. RudreshM 2. As Things Change (I Remain the Same) 4. Dub 5. Alloy 6. Waves 7. No Neighborhood Rough Enough 8. Living in the World Today

Personnel: Travail: Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet); Tim Albright (trombone); Jose Davila (tuba); Steve Lehman (alto saxophone); Mark Shim (tenor saxophone); Chris Dingman (vibraphone); Drew Gress (bass) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

Track Listing: Ways: 1. Nefarious Notions 2. Squatters 3. Champion of Honesty 4. Onondaga 5. The Business End 6. Legal Action 7. Fallout 8. Pow Wow 9. Gargoyles

Personnel: Ways: Ralph Alessi (trumpet); Josh Roseman (trombone); Peter Epstein (soprano and alto saxophones); Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone); James Carney (acoustic and electric pianos, analog synthesizer and glockenspiel); Chris Lightcap (bass) and Mark Ferber (drums)

January 11, 2010

ANDRE VIDA

Child Real Eyes
Vidatone 5

ANTHONY BRAXTON
Quintet (London) 2004
Leo Records CD LR 449

Novelist Christopher Isherwood titled one of his autobiographical volumes “My Guru and his Disciple” and it appears that the majority of musicians who have come into the orbit of multi-reedist Anthony Braxton have the same sentiments.

As one of Free Jazz’s most influential players, composers, orchestrators and, for more than two decades, an educator, guru Braxton has affected two or three generations of improvisers, most of whom take something unique from his teaching. Arguably the most important non-mainstream jazz pedagogue since pianist Lennie Tristano, Braxton’s disciples often play in his ensembles. Furthermore, in contrast to Tristanto, Braxton loves to record, to such an extent, that he can usually be called upon to second his former students on disc. So far he’s lent his talents to CDs featuring among others trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, accordion player Ted Reichmann, saxophonist Scott Rosenberg and Andre Vida, the reedist who leads CHILD REAL EYES.

Released around the same time, QUNITET (LONDON) 2004, is a memorable CD featuring the guru and a group of his former students performing one lengthy –

almost 49½ minute – composition and its encore. An evolution from his repetitive and microtonal Ghost Trance Music, the exhilaration in “Composition 343” is palpable, with the reedist and his four sidefolk recalling the prickly and incisive experimentation of Braxton’s earliest Free Jazz outings.

More mixed is the collaboration with Vida. Not only do both play six reeds each, leading to often similar sounding textures, but when cellist Loren Dempster and drummer Tyshawn Sorey join them, the backing is so obtuse on certain pieces that the words fussy and sombre come to mind before legato.

Vida, who was part of reed section for Braxton’s ninetet and tentet gigs in the late 1990s, makes his best statements by staying away from woodwinds such as alto and sopranino saxophones on which the older musician have evolved his own sound. That said, another drawback is the curiously unfinished quality of some tracks. Like some “Saturday Night Live” skits, you get the feeling that the two decided on what they wanted to say – singly and together – but never worked out a precise sketch ending.

Breaking free of too many horizontal lines, the most memorable tracks such as “Rising”" and “Child Real Eyes II” make their points by completing thoughts and definitively delineating each part. For example, the former is a melodious mix of musette-like Bb soprano saxophone lines from Braxton that trill and vibrate, while Vida’s tenor saxophone holds the bottom firm. By the time Braxton heads into peeping and squealing territory, false fingering and split tones seem as accepted as arpeggios.

On the later track, the two reedists polytonally play off one another’s timbres, with one tongue-slapping and the other squeaking and spewing pointy tones. Then in the middle section, double counterpoint takes on mellow modulations until the theme reappears with Vida playing it straight and the older saxist adding double-tongued roughness.

Similarly, the quartet tunes range from notable to almost-ran. Sadly, because it lacks a true ending, “Tentz ” is one of the later, since the rolls and bounces from Tyshawn Sorey, who now works regularly with pianist Vijay Iyer, balance the cellist’s broken octave line and Vida rugged baritone saxophone color. It’s an instrument he should investigate further, since he manages to create a full, moderato sound without ever resorting to the big horn’s tricks of the trade – bottom scrapping or bass note overemphasis.

Dempster’s effortless bow pressure on “Opening” – strangely placed ninth in the program – uses almost bel canto portamento that meshes perfectly with the harmonic convergence between Vida’s tenor saxophone and Braxton’s alto. The climax features a groundswell of extended slides, slurs and tongue spits from the two saxes, played rubato, but without every one breaking the solid motion of the tune.

QUNITET (LONDON) 2004 features a completely different cast: trumpeter Bynum, who has done notable work with his own bands; guitarist Mary Halvorson, who often works in a duo with another Braxton sideperson, violinist Mary Pavone; bassist Chris Dahlgren, who has recorded in the co-op 3D band; and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, who works with cellist Erik Friedlander. Categorically, it provides conclusive evidence of the composer’s mature talents.

Constructed with a recurring thematic motif, “Composition 343” isn’t controlled by it as some of Braxton’s Ghost Trance compositions were. Showing his faith in the performers, the reedist gives everyone solo space, while dividing the band into smaller groups. When Bynum and Dahlgren improvise together for example, Braxton bounces lines off Halvorson’s guitar runs.

As unobtrusive, but more upfront than Sorey is on the other disc, Takeishi concentrates on rhythmic off-beats, cross handed bounces and cymbals flicks. Meanwhile, the only time the bassist really asserts himself is at the composition’s midpoint when he intermingles dissonant tones with the guitarist to encircle the percussionist’s pummeling that could come from a conga or a log drum.

On their own Halvorson and Bynum are spectacular soloists. At times she fingers multi-effects from her instrument, while the trumpeter slurs buzzy, spittle-encrusted elevated notes from his. During most of the performance, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, Bynum warbles muted timbres, though at one point he answers a section of Braxton’s fleet, reed-biting sopranino trills with whinnying plunger work. Plus he’s not adverse to unleashing a flurry of triplets or undulating grace notes if occasion arises.

Alternately strumming and finger-picking, the guitarist confirms her status as a plectrumist to hear as she showcases tremolo lines behind Braxton’s irregular vibrations, or downstrokes cascading notes in unison with Braxton’s raw shrieks. When Bynum wah-wahs and Braxton outputs a more legato line, she counters with staccato phrasing or with expressions that seem to take their pulsations from the properties of the effects pedals and the amp rather than the guitar’s strings or body.

Compositionally, Braxton combines with one or the other front liners to recapitulate the main theme at interval through the piece. This seems almost conventionally jazz-like. Furthermore, any naysayer hearing his brawny, multi-faceted solos would be hard pressed to explain how the reedist can be characterized as anti-jazz or as a non-swinger. In the piece’s penultimate minutes in fact, he vibrates the sort of pinched split tones that used to characterize Archie Shepp’s work of the 1960s.

Earlier with corrosive cross blowing and a powerful vibrato, he cries and growls simultaneously through his horn, continuously forcing out multiphonic breaths. Then, just before the conclusion, after the final theme variation, his staccatissimo flutter tonguing reaches such a tempo that Bynum’s plunger decorations and Halvorson’s speedy chromatic flanges move from decoration to polyphonic crescendo.

A must-have for those Braxton followers and others looking for a memorable keeper, QUINTET (LONDON) 2004 provides a marker to which Vida can aspire. Nonetheless there’s enough promise on CHILD REAL EYES to make it open to investigation as well.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Child: 1. Purrls 2. Child Real Eyes I 3. Till 4.Gypsy Star 5. Child Real Eyes II 6. Tentz 7. Rising 8. Tentz 9. Opening 10. Gypsy Star 11. Teruglio

Personnel: Child: Andre Vida (tenor saxophone on 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9; Eb baritone saxophone on 6, 8, Bb soprano saxophone on 10; C-melody saxophone on 4 and taragato, tenor saxophone and Bb clarinet on 11); Anthony Braxton (alto saxophone on 1, 2 5, 8, 9, 10, Bb clarinet on 3, Eb sopranino sax on 6, Bb soprano sax on 7, Eb contra-alto clarinet on 11, F-mezzo soprano on 4; Loren Dempster (cello); Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

Track Listing: London: 1. Composition 343 Part 1 2. Composition 343 Part 2

Personnel: London: Taylor Ho Bynum (trumpet); Anthony Braxton (F, alto, B flat soprano saxophones and E flat sopranino); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Chris Dahlgren (bass); Satoshi Takeishi (percussion)

March 13, 2006

SIRONE BANG ENSEMBLE

Configuration
Silkheart SHCD 155

More a series of concertos for four instrumentalists than a relationship or arrangement, CONFIGURATION, recorded live in New York late last year, is a confirmation of the power of three veteran, so-called avant-garde players and the introduction of a talented tyro.

Still vibrant, despite the desires of neo-cons to banish them from jazz history, violinist Billy Bang, 57, bassist Sirone, 64, and saxophonist Charles Gayle 65, are as inventive and technically adroit as they were when they first began making noise –sometimes literally – in the 1960s and 1970s. New kid on the block – who holds his own here – is New Jersey-based drummer Tyshawn Sorey, 22. Although not arranged in the bebop sense, the six pieces on this CD, recorded downstairs at CBGBs, offer a lot more than a customary string of round robin solos. Singularly, or in duos, the four not only exhibit instrumental prowess but link disparate sections without ever losing the compositional thread.

Especially noteworthy are the tunes written by Sirone, still closely identified with the Revolutionary Ensemble. Someone like Charles Mingus or Thelonious Monk, who prefers to constantly discover new tints in his compositional colors, two of his three were also recorded 18 months previously in his adopted hometown by the Berlin resident’s own quartet. His last piece – the title tune – is a typically good-humored, stop-and-go set ending blues with funky solos all around. But “We are not alone, but we are few” and “I Remember Albert” are more profound statements.

Dramatic and atmospheric, they, like most of the other tracks here, feature Gayle on alto sax instead of his customary tenor. Producing undulating timbres on top of quasi-ceremonial drum beats and bowed pedal point from the composer, Gayle’s textures get wider, louder, higher-pitched and more abstract as the piece unrolls. On his side Bang’s lines surge to join in double counterpoint with Sirone’s, at and points it appears as if each is sounding the same note – basso in the bassist’s case and treble in the violinist’s. As Gayle twists and turns out pitch vibrations, Sorey first accompanies him with funeral taps, then the oscillation of a drum stick scraped across the ride cymbal, and finally bass drum whaps and the odd snare flam. Before the morose theme is reprised, the saxman has worked himself into a frenzy of double tonguing.

Appropriately returning to tenor saxophone for “I Remember Albert”, Gayle produces quivering and gritty Albert Ayler-sounding output before working deeper into his body tube with a wide vibrato, irregular pitch and harsh overtones. Sorey exposes his inner Sunny Murray with simple, door-knocking beats as Sirone’s wide harmonic intervals fill up the few spaces left empty. Virtually channeling Ayler, Gayle’s buzzy, flutter tonguing is transformed to unmodified glossolalia. Wavering, buzzing and purring, his quick overblowing brings forth answering bumps and thumps from the bassist and jangled snares and rim tops from the drummer. Diverging from the reedist’s line, Bang’s pizzicato runs – triple and quadruple stopped – ring out with tremolo multiphonics. Following a splashy cymbal touch, the last section of the piece downshifts to a moderato, strumming bass solo, backed by carefully measured flams from the drummer, until the head is recapped for a final time.

The head-solo-head construction on “…Albert” isn’t recapitulated elsewhere, with most of the other compositions relying on audacious unaccompanied sections from each player. This is most elaborately expressed on Bang’s almost 16-minute “Jupiter’s Future”. At one point for instance, the composer produces spiccato harmonies at the top of the violin’s range, rippling, swirling and extending vibrating nodes to such an extent that it sounds like he’s shredding his strings, causing him to shout in elation or frustration. Buzzy alto saxophone lines from Gayle are enlivened by doits, squeaks, extreme multiphonics or pitch vibrations, with these extended techniques exhibited a cappella, or in duet with screechy fiddle or low-pitched bass wing. Sorey’s extravagant solo outing encompasses cymbal shuffles, nerve beats and tattoo on snares and toms until his rumbled cross pulses and accent turn to blunt triplets and rolls.

Whether you’re a longtime follower of any of the old hands or want to discover a new drummer, this CONFIGURATION is a CD worth investigating.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Jupiter’s Future 2. Freedom Flexibility 3. We Are Not Alone, But We Are Few 4. I Remember Albert 5. Notre Dame de la Garde 6. Configuration

Personnel: Charles Gayle (alto and tenor saxophones); Billy Bang (violin); Sirone (bass); Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

August 29, 2005