Living By Lanterns

New Myth/Old Science
Cuneiform Records Rune 345

Mike Reed’s People Places & Things

Clean on the Corner

482 Music 482-1081

Drummer/bandleader Mike Reed has established himself as, among things, a deft interpreter of Chicago’s progressive music history. Nothing like a neo-con however, rather than imitation or emulation he and his People Places & Things create new variations of the city’s rich 1950s and 1960s Jazz heritage. On these exceptional sessions, he, and sidekicks, alto saxophonist Greg Ward – on both discs– and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz – on New Myth/Old Science – have taken the next step: integrated their own compositions with earlier ones.

Recorded a year apart, each session is completely unique. Clean on the Corner for instance integrates six Reed lines with tunes by saxophonists John Jenkins and Roscoe Mitchell and is played by the drummer and alto saxophonist plus tenor saxophonist Tim Haldeman and bassist Jason Roebke with cornetist Josh Berman and pianist Craig Taborn sitting in on two tracks each. Commissioned by Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, the seven tracks on the other CD were composed, arranged orchestrated the vibist and drummer from fragments extracted from a rehearsal tape marked “NY 1961” in the Sun Ra Audio Archive. Approaching the scope of Ra’s Arkestra, the co-leaders constructed pieces for a band made up of cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, guitarist Mary Halvorson, cellist Tomeka Reid, bassist Joshua Abrams, drummer Tomas Fujiwara and electronics manipulator Nick Butcher as well as themselves and Ward.

Cleverly integrating his own concepts with Bebop tropes, Reed’s compositions for People Places & Things are most clearly appreciated when examined next to Mitchell’s “Old” and Jenkins’ “Sharon”. A Bopper of the first magnitude, Jenkins (1931-1993), recorded with heavyweight like tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan and guitarist Kenny Burrell in the mid-1950s then vanished from the scene. “Sharon” is the prototypical Bebop line that echoes “Hot House” and includes gritty reed bites from the saxes, and in the same way as the two reedists suggest Jordan and Jenkins, Taborn, in the Sonny Clark role, takes solos on the Jenkins’ tune that are both chromatic and pulsing. Closer to our time, “Old” has well-harmonized horn parts, a blues sensibility and, following a Malachi Favors-flavored bass solo, a finale of smears and snarls.

Close cousin to that piece and the early Art Ensemble is “The Lady Has a Bomb”, all bent notes and drum pops that balance on shrieks and cries from Ward’s and Haldeman’s flutter-tongued obbligatos. Roebke’s pumping bass line and an unaffected bounce from Reed characterize the slow-paced “Where the Story Ends,” as the altoist’s slurps and slides curve around the theme at the same time as he maintains a linear solo. Berman’s buttery flutter-tonguing at the beginning and end of “House of Three Smiles” adds as much to the performance as the vamping horns.

Confirming the consistency between the two discs, “House of Three Smiles” is a pseudo-contrafact Reed composed based on a solo Adasiewicz once took on one of the vibesman’s own tunes. Appropriately enough it’s the vibraphonist and Bynum’s cornet styling here which help distinguish these Sun Ra reconfigurations from more derivative salutes by other bands. A fast swinger, “2000 West Erie” provides a point of comparison with the other session. Bynum’s high-pitched triplets, Reed’s rugged drum beats and the metal-bar resonation from Adasiewicz, are only slightly distant from the concepts on the Jenkins’ line – 1961 was very close to 1957 after all – however the frenzied multiphonics played by Laubrock relate to free-form conceptions that relate more fully to the advances of saxophonists like Albert Ayler and the Arkestra’s John Gilmore.

Not only do Adasiewicz’s and Reed’s arrangements manage to give the nonet the breath and power of a big band – a quality inherited from Ra – but pointed licks from Mary Halvorson’s guitar, Reid’s string sweeps and the occasional electronic processing confirm historical links to 21st century experimenters. Cascading and agitated sequences outline these connections, but so does the swing sense which Reed and company inherited from Ra. Also demonstrated is instrumental juxtaposition that calls on the older bandleader’s flirtation with exotica. “Shadow Boxer’s Delight” is one instance. Throughout, the horns’ sinewy pitch-sliding abuts sweet cello slides, while vibe, bass and guitar chord harmonies bring forth mysterious tonal implications.

From that point on subsequent tunes appear to meld into one another with the players’ expressive solos and section work exposing as many altissimo and staccato patterns as those which are simple, linear and, in a way, impressionistic. Cross-timbres abound, but very little of the sort of free-for-all tone expansion that would be Ra’s and the Arkestra’s stock-in-trade later in the 1960s and throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Stand-out work still shows up in the form of the guitarist’s colorful tremolo strumming, the cornetist’s low-key flutters, bassist Joshua Abrams’ connective and woody pacing and the cellist’s sul ponticello sweeps.

The 1961 time frame was a little early to fasten onto Ra’s latter quivering space chords or jocular space chants, but the high standard of playing and composing on New Myth/Old Science indicates that other experiments of this nature should be attempted. Not forgetting that Clean on the Corner is another high quality indication of these present-day Chicago musicians’ first-string talent.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Clean: 1. The Lady Has a Bomb 2. Old 3. December? 4. Where the Story Ends 5. Sharon& 6. House of Three Smiles* 7. The Ephemeral Words of Ruth& 8. Warming Down*

Personnel: Clean: Josh Berman (cornet)*; Greg Ward (alto saxophone); Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone); Craig Taborn (piano)&; Jason Roebke (bass) and Mike Reed (drums)

Track Listing: New: 1. New Myth^ 2. Think Tank 3. 2000 West Erie 4. Shadow Boxer’s Delight^ 5. Forget B 6. Grow Lights 7. Old Science

Personnel: New: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Greg Ward (alto saxophone); Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone); Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Tomeka Reid (cello); Joshua Abrams (bass); Tomas Fujiwara (drums); Mike Reed (drums and electronics) and Nick Butcher (electronics)^

March 15, 2013

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

Tomas Fujiwara and Taylor Ho Bynum

Stepwise
NotTwo NW 828-2

By Ken Waxman

Revealing an unusually wide variety of pitches, colors and rhythms in this dual interface, Tomas Fujiwara and Taylor Ho Bynum demonstrate everything that can be expressed in improvisations limited instrumentally to what were likely humanity’s first musical tools: a horn and a drum

Boston-based drummer Fujiwara and New York cornetist Ho Bynum are old friends who often work together in ensembles ranging from big bands to combos. These 10 tracks impressively demonstrate that they have the wherewithal plus the technical and creative smarts to pull off this stripped-down session in such a way that you barely notice they’re alone

Fujiwara, who toured in the percussion-musical STOMP, is never at a loss for rhythmic patterns. His inventions show whether he meets Bynum’s squealing triplets and curved expression on the bop-inflected “Keys No Address”; or are expressed in the coordinated slaps and ruffs he uses to humanize the brassman’s hollers and strident peeps which move into piccolo trumpet range on “Detritus”. Short tracks are more bagatelles than testimonials, but given space, the two not only create numerous sound variations but also suggest jazz’s musical beginning.

Contrast “B.C.” with “Splits” for instance. The former begin with Bynum’s lyrical line nearly replicating a classic jazz head, sliding down to growls and up to slurs. Meantime Fujiwara’s pitter-pattering and press rolls moderate the beat, the better to frame the cornetist’s tongue rasps and hand-muted brays. More abstract, “Splits” is built on harsh triplets and tremolo tones excavated from deep in Bynum’s throat and the irregular thump from Fujiwara’s kit. As the cornetist’s tone shrinks to near silence, the drummer varies thick bass-drum whacks with nearly weightless hand pats and cymbal snaps.

Other players – most notably trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell – earned kudos for challenging themselves in this configuration. This CD can be heard as a further extension of those Cherry-Blackwell classics.

Track Listing: 3D; Keys no Address; Stepwise; Two Abbeys; Comfort; Weather Conditions May Vary; Iris; Splits; Detritus; B.C.

Personnel: Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet; Tomas Fujiwara: drums

-- For All About Jazz-New York July 2010

July 8, 2010

Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet

Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths
hatOLOGY 675

Making the transition from featured sideman to band leader, Brooklyn-based cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum is beginning to preserve the unique sound(s) of his group(s) on record. The (s)s are deliberate, because unlike the fabled jazz combs of the 1950s and 1960s, many of his bands are ad-hoc groupings organized for a specific date or recording project.

Yet as this notable live session indicates, Bynum, who has always been cognizant of career-building, has managed to lure a steady group of up-and-coming players as his first call seconds. The band on Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths is the same one with which he has been gigging since 2005, while he and most of the other members also interact in outside situations, including different Anthony Braxton ensembles. That likely explains the emphatic cooperation among the conetist, his Braxton band pal, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, with whom Bynum has recorded in a duo formation. The additional players – violist Jessica Pavone, who takes another chair in Braxton groups, reedist Matt Bauder, on call for New York and Chicago gigs, and guitarist Evan O’Reilly – add their talents to the three-part “whYeXpliCitieS”, the CD’s centrepiece.

Dedicated to Braxton and composed as a suite of modular inter-locking parts for various sized sub-ensembles, the description of “whYeXpliCitieS”, appears more forbidding than it sounds on CD. The initial variant concerns itself with contrasts between electric and acoustic instruments, as Halvorson’s fuzz-tone distortion builds into a wall of quivering oscillations. Meanwhile Pavone’s splintered and staccato lines carve their own space, as the cornetist releases plunger tones and the bass clarinet burbles in sympathy. Fujiwara’s low-key jangling and solid drags stay the course until rasgueado guitar licks push the theme onto the next track. With the guitar and brass operating in counterpoint, theme elaborations speed up and slow down the tune, despite interlocking vamps from Bauer, which adumbrate the next section with honks and striated note interpolations. Attaining climax in the composition’s third – and lengthiest –section, more guitar legerdemain is on show – probably from both plectrumists. One clinks Scruggs banjo-like runs, while the other could be playing a primitive hurdy-gurdy or a Hawaiian slack-key guitar. On top of these antipodal string clicks, Bynum showcases suction release with only his mouthpiece, then from deep inside his valves gradually constricts his output to strangled cries and horn shakes. As Bauder plays an obbligato of distinct note clusters, finale and fulfillment come with tough, downward slurred fingering from the guitar.

Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths’ first and final tracks show off Bynum’s skills playing unaccompanied, with stylistic tropes that range from Bronx cheers to bubbling lip spews and held notes. Besides “whYeXpliCitieS”, the most memorable track is “Look Below”. Dedicated to brass trombonist Bill Lowe – another influence on Bynum’s career, the short track is all bright and brassy. Encompassing open-horn expression, as well as altissimo squeaks and tongue-busters from the horns, it’s summed up traditionally enough with a shout chorus following a Fujiwara solo which makes prominent use of the bass drum.

Continuing to prove himself as an accomplished soloist, composer and band leader, Bynum’s future seems as assured as that of any contemporary improviser.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Open 2. Look Below 3. whYeXpliCitieS (Part I) 4. whYeXpliCitieS (Part II) 5. whYeXpliCitieS (Part III) 6. Geoffstown 7. Close

Personnel: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Matt Bauder (tenor saxophone and bass clarinet); Jessica Pavone (viola); Evan O’Reilly and Mary Halvorson (guitars); and Tomas Fujiwara (drums)

June 13, 2009

Stephen Haynes-Taylor Ho Bynum

The Double Trio
Engine e026

Mazen Kerbaj/Birgit Ulher/Sharif Sehnaoui

3:1

Creative Sources CS 110 CD

Throughout the history of improvised music and jazz, two-trumpet sessions have never been as popular as duets between saxophonists. Oh there were dates featuring Art Framer and Donald Byrd in the 1950s, for example, and Roy Hargrove and Marlon Jordan in the 1980s, plus a whole collection of Norman Granz-instigated blowing sessions in between. But it seems as if the preferred locus for dual improvising is a commingling of many saxophone keys rather than sets of three valves.

Twenty-first century musicians don’t seem to be limited by these conventions and both of these notable CDs centre on the sounds produced by two trumpets – or a cornet in Taylor Ho Bynum’s case. Each session also includes guitar. Yet the disparity between the discs isn’t that the two brass players – Stephen Haynes is the other besides Bynum – on The Double Trio, are spelled by two guitarists and two drummers, while guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui alone provides the additional sounds besides those exhaled by trumpeters Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher on 3:1.

Rather the reason for the marked divergence in conception and creation between the CDs is that The Double Trio takes its impetus from Free Jazz, while 3:1 is in the Free Music tradition. Furthermore while the players on The Double Trio – note the echo of Ornette Coleman’s double quartet here – are for the most part playing tune-oriented music in its broadest sense, Kerbaj, Ulher and Sehnaoui are manipulating sounds.

Bynum’s seconds are guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Thomas Fujiwara, both of whom have worked with him in other situations, including his stand-alone trio. Meanwhile Haynes, a Connecticut-based arts advocate and educator, who has worked with everyone from Bill Dixon to the Dells, is backed by seldom-heard guitarist Alan Jaffe and veteran percussionist Warren Smith.

Not that the interactive polyphony splits into trio verses trio. For instance on “mm (pf)”, the second part of “Suite Miscellaneous”, both trumpeters squeeze lip-burbling Bronx cheers from their horn as the drums rattle and the dual guitars strum and pick. Progressing in a tempo close to a drunken stagger, the horns parry interjections from the guitars that turn to descending licks while the drummers beat paradiddles and flams. Eventually the brass timbres divide, with one smoothly tattooing the melody and the other ejecting skyscraper-high notes. As the piece turns to diminuendo percussion rebounds, off-centre guitar frailing meld with downward slithering trumpet lines.

In contrast, Bynum’s “YX 6C” comes complete with a rhythmically sophisticated melody, chorded in African High-Life fashion by Halvorson. As the drums roll and rebound, the cornetist’s brassy blasts shape this serpentine construction chromatically, as it’s further decorated by Haynes’ slide-whistle-like discord. While the guitarists conclude by crunching splayed runs together, one plectrumist recaps the initial theme as one drummer continues outputting ruffs.

Even more traditional – in this Free Jazz context – is the six’s treatment of Coleman’s “Broken Shadows”. When one drummer press rolls, the other splashes cymbals, as the guitarists expose a sonic rainbow of finger picking, crossing and re-crossing one another’s lines until the sprightly melody is heard again. Then as the brass players contrapuntally spin out the theme, one guitarist sounds a distorted counter-theme. On other places on the CD, wood-block smacks are heard and one of the brass men –Haynes? – outputs a series of Miles Davis-like smears and slurs on top of booming strumming from the dual guitars.

There’s nothing that overt on 3:1, concerned as it is with textures and tones rather than linear improvisation. With no hierarchical division between the front and backline, each instrument has the same prominence, with Sehnaoui’s playing as obtuse and opaque as the trumpeters’. His looping asides and pedal point string sweeps do however provide a fundamental base on which the tongue slaps, mouthpiece oscillations and spit blows that characterize much of the brass exposition can rest. Discerning Ulher’s singular contributions from Kazen’s is nearly impossible, except for passages on “0:0” where the falsetto yelps are probably from her horn and the basso slurs from his.

Most of the session is concerned with shaping dissonance into movement, with both trumpeters auditioning the results of such extended technique as air-blowing without moving the valves, buzzing the mouthpiece against a solid object, playing quick bursts of concentrated triplets and spluttering and humming through the horn’s lead tube. For his part, the guitarist slides and scrapes along the strings below the bridge and pops the strings head on with mallet-like blows. Piezo pickups may be in use, but if they’re not, somehow Sehnaoui still manages to create oscillating buzzes equivalent to the trumpeters’ droning resonation.

Essentially spherical in construction, the six-track CD is defiant in its staccato dissonance, with no crescendos or diminuendos. Instead chiming friction, yawning echoes, thick, metallic-sounding rotations and jack-hammer like patterns are followed. Tremolo tonguing and a series of onomatopoeic and animal-like tones encompassing dog yelps, feline purrs and woodpecker patterns are more prominent than traditional brass notes.

Considering these sessions plumb the limits of trumpet expression in improvisation without remotely resembling one another, both confirm the versatility of a brass instrument duo.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Double: 1. Hebeshebewebe I 2. YX 6C 3, Broken Shadows 4. Hebeshebewebe II Suite Miscellaneous 5. Triple Duo 6. mm (pf) 7. Miscellaneous 8. Kush 9. Notes from an Autumn Diary

Personnel: Double: Stephen Haynes (trumpet and cornet); Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Alan Jaffe and Mary Halvorson (guitars); Warren Smith and Thomas Fujiwara (drums)

Track Listing: 3:1: 1. 0: 0 2. 1: 0 3. 2:0 4. half-time 5. 2:1 6. 3:1

Personnel: 3:1: Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher (trumpets) and Sharif Sehnaoui (guitar)

November 14, 2008

Mazen Kerbaj/Birgit Ulher/Sharif Sehnaoui

3:1
Creative Sources CS 110 CD

Stephen Haynes-Taylor Ho Bynum

The Double Trio

Engine e026

Throughout the history of improvised music and jazz, two-trumpet sessions have never been as popular as duets between saxophonists. Oh there were dates featuring Art Framer and Donald Byrd in the 1950s, for example, and Roy Hargrove and Marlon Jordan in the 1980s, plus a whole collection of Norman Granz-instigated blowing sessions in between. But it seems as if the preferred locus for dual improvising is a commingling of many saxophone keys rather than sets of three valves.

Twenty-first century musicians don’t seem to be limited by these conventions and both of these notable CDs centre on the sounds produced by two trumpets – or a cornet in Taylor Ho Bynum’s case. Each session also includes guitar. Yet the disparity between the discs isn’t that the two brass players – Stephen Haynes is the other besides Bynum – on The Double Trio, are spelled by two guitarists and two drummers, while guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui alone provides the additional sounds besides those exhaled by trumpeters Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher on 3:1.

Rather the reason for the marked divergence in conception and creation between the CDs is that The Double Trio takes its impetus from Free Jazz, while 3:1 is in the Free Music tradition. Furthermore while the players on The Double Trio – note the echo of Ornette Coleman’s double quartet here – are for the most part playing tune-oriented music in its broadest sense, Kerbaj, Ulher and Sehnaoui are manipulating sounds.

Bynum’s seconds are guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Thomas Fujiwara, both of whom have worked with him in other situations, including his stand-alone trio. Meanwhile Haynes, a Connecticut-based arts advocate and educator, who has worked with everyone from Bill Dixon to the Dells, is backed by seldom-heard guitarist Alan Jaffe and veteran percussionist Warren Smith.

Not that the interactive polyphony splits into trio verses trio. For instance on “mm (pf)”, the second part of “Suite Miscellaneous”, both trumpeters squeeze lip-burbling Bronx cheers from their horn as the drums rattle and the dual guitars strum and pick. Progressing in a tempo close to a drunken stagger, the horns parry interjections from the guitars that turn to descending licks while the drummers beat paradiddles and flams. Eventually the brass timbres divide, with one smoothly tattooing the melody and the other ejecting skyscraper-high notes. As the piece turns to diminuendo percussion rebounds, off-centre guitar frailing meld with downward slithering trumpet lines.

In contrast, Bynum’s “YX 6C” comes complete with a rhythmically sophisticated melody, chorded in African High-Life fashion by Halvorson. As the drums roll and rebound, the cornetist’s brassy blasts shape this serpentine construction chromatically, as it’s further decorated by Haynes’ slide-whistle-like discord. While the guitarists conclude by crunching splayed runs together, one plectrumist recaps the initial theme as one drummer continues outputting ruffs.

Even more traditional – in this Free Jazz context – is the six’s treatment of Coleman’s “Broken Shadows”. When one drummer press rolls, the other splashes cymbals, as the guitarists expose a sonic rainbow of finger picking, crossing and re-crossing one another’s lines until the sprightly melody is heard again. Then as the brass players contrapuntally spin out the theme, one guitarist sounds a distorted counter-theme. On other places on the CD, wood-block smacks are heard and one of the brass men –Haynes? – outputs a series of Miles Davis-like smears and slurs on top of booming strumming from the dual guitars.

There’s nothing that overt on 3:1, concerned as it is with textures and tones rather than linear improvisation. With no hierarchical division between the front and backline, each instrument has the same prominence, with Sehnaoui’s playing as obtuse and opaque as the trumpeters’. His looping asides and pedal point string sweeps do however provide a fundamental base on which the tongue slaps, mouthpiece oscillations and spit blows that characterize much of the brass exposition can rest. Discerning Ulher’s singular contributions from Kazen’s is nearly impossible, except for passages on “0:0” where the falsetto yelps are probably from her horn and the basso slurs from his.

Most of the session is concerned with shaping dissonance into movement, with both trumpeters auditioning the results of such extended technique as air-blowing without moving the valves, buzzing the mouthpiece against a solid object, playing quick bursts of concentrated triplets and spluttering and humming through the horn’s lead tube. For his part, the guitarist slides and scrapes along the strings below the bridge and pops the strings head on with mallet-like blows. Piezo pickups may be in use, but if they’re not, somehow Sehnaoui still manages to create oscillating buzzes equivalent to the trumpeters’ droning resonation.

Essentially spherical in construction, the six-track CD is defiant in its staccato dissonance, with no crescendos or diminuendos. Instead chiming friction, yawning echoes, thick, metallic-sounding rotations and jack-hammer like patterns are followed. Tremolo tonguing and a series of onomatopoeic and animal-like tones encompassing dog yelps, feline purrs and woodpecker patterns are more prominent than traditional brass notes.

Considering these sessions plumb the limits of trumpet expression in improvisation without remotely resembling one another, both confirm the versatility of a brass instrument duo.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Double: 1. Hebeshebewebe I 2. YX 6C 3, Broken Shadows 4. Hebeshebewebe II Suite Miscellaneous 5. Triple Duo 6. mm (pf) 7. Miscellaneous 8. Kush 9. Notes from an Autumn Diary

Personnel: Double: Stephen Haynes (trumpet and cornet); Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Alan Jaffe and Mary Halvorson (guitars); Warren Smith and Thomas Fujiwara (drums)

Track Listing: 3:1: 1. 0: 0 2. 1: 0 3. 2:0 4. half-time 5. 2:1 6. 3:1

Personnel: 3:1: Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher (trumpets) and Sharif Sehnaoui (guitar)

November 14, 2008