Dan Clucas / Rich Halley / Carson Halley / Clyde Reed

Garfo

Garfo

Clean Feed CF 570 CD

Perhaps it was ennui resulting from Covid and subsequent lockdowns, but the contrast in achievement projected by these similarly constituted quartets playing roughly the same number of tunes could charitably be attributed to their recording dates. Garfo, a Lisbon-based band consisting of young players trumpeter João Almeida, tenor saxist Bernardo Tinoco, bassist João Fragoso and drummer João Sousa recorded its session in December 2020 during the midst of pandemic uncertainty, The tunes mostly sound tentative and hesitant. Meanwhile Boomslang, recorded a year previously in Portland by mostly veteran stylists from the Pacific northwest soars with taunt, appealing FreeBop originals. Still considering that tenor saxophonist Rich Halley has been playing with bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley for many decades and Los Angles cornetist Dan Clucas has been involved with creative music for at least that long contributes to the session’s quality.

With most Garfo tracks revolving at moderato tempo, it’s the bassist and drummer who provide continuum, as the horns outline the theme. Yet despite some plunger work, Almeida often appears to be investigating his trumpet innards and Tinoco projecting balanced slurs and lower-case whistles. The overall conception is almost invariably fragile with some themes seemingly on the cusp of disappearing. Only when the band reaches “Piglet” does the program become livelier and more off-kilter, with rips and smears from the trumpeter and peeps and stutters from the saxophonist. Here, as elsewhere though, the default is harmonizing, so that stability trumps stimulation. It’s only on the concluding “Palavas” that the quartet moves into more exploratory territory with both horn pushing out ambulatory slurs in response to Sousa’s durable backbeat. Tossing the narrative between them as it becomes higher-pitched and brassy, and this suggests what the CD could have been,

An idea of what could be in Garfo’s future are the nine tracks performed with élan on Boomslang. Themes are often lopped between the horn players, yet movement is frequently enlivened with jaunty cornet looping from Clucas and scoops and split tones from Halley. Some pieces feature bugling eruptions from the cornetist which are matched by Halley’s harsh reed bites and end up intertwining. This isn’t just a Clucas-Halley show either. Strained, pressurized saxophone vamps are paced by studied bass stings from Reed or focused pitter-patter from Halley’s drums. There’s a point on “The Lean” in fact where the entire quartet amalgamates around a herky-jerky line. Distinctive variety enlivens some of the tunes as well. Native American-like tom-tom pounding defines the beat on “Northern Plains”. But the subsequent altissimo saxophone cries and cornet rips move the narrative away from any idea of musical cultural appropriation. “The Drop Off” works with stop-time rhythms and a merry-go-round-ditty-like head to later fragment with emphasized animal-like reed cries and high-pitched brass flutters. A thick power pump from the bassist and hi-hat pings moves the four back to a sophisticated echoing variant on the head.

The creativity exhibited on Boomslang makes it complete and commendable on its own. Plus it suggests what the Garfo quartet can aspire to and hopefully attain.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Garfo: 1. Quadrado 2. Improv 3. Terminal 4. Ciclo 5. Oito 6. Alderpoint 7. Piglet 8. Giraldo 9. Palavas

Personnel: Garfo: João Almeida (trumpet); Bernardo Tinoco (tenor saxophone); João Fragoso (bass) and João Sousa (drums)

Track Listing: Boomslang: 1. Corroboration 2. Northern Plains 3. The Drop Off 4. Situational 5. Dispholidus 6. The Lean 7. Intermittent 8, The Converse 9. Quintuplify

Personnel: Boomslang: Dan Clucas (cornet); Rich Halley (tenor saxophone); Clyde Reed (bass) and Carson Halley (drums)