François Carrier Quintet

Released 18 years after recording, Openness is three CDs of high quality improvisation and also a historical document. The two Free Jazz pioneers, Polish trumpet Tomasz Stańko (1942-2018) and American bassist Gary Peaccock (1935-1920), with the Québécois, invited by younger Montrealais, alto/soprano saxophonist François Carrier and drummer Michel Lambert to participate in 13 instance of free-flowing sonic exchange, have since died. New York violinist Mat Maneri is still very much alive and the interchange transcended age and geography.

Non-hierarchical, each player gets to originate some tracks, with the Québecois on their own for “Dance”. Otherwise each player sticks to his individual approach, though all bond seemingly seamless throughout. Lambert mostly accents the tracks, the string players move between rugged slices and intricate guitar-like or even sitar-like strokes, while Stańko’s leaps among brassy bugling, grace notes and portamento linearity is heartbeat-quickly matched by Carrier’s double tonguing, flutters and thick smears. One-on-one interaction involves all.

“Wide Awake” is an instance of this where Stańko’s scatter-shot triplets are met by Maneri’s spiccato jabs, then with interactive vamps from Carrier’s ascending smears, with Lambert’s percussion pumps helping to ease the fragments together by the finale. “Insightful” is another example as corkscrew reed tones challenge mewling brass lines as swelling string patterns cushion the turn to horizontal tonality.

With more than three hours of music on Openness it’s best to savor each high-quality disc separately rather than trying to assimilate all in one aural gulp.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: CD 1 : 1. Openness 2. Recreation 3. All is All CD 2: 4. Void 5. Dance 6. Pathless 7. Wide Awake 8. Spirit of Connection CD 3: 9. Come and Go 10. Insightful 11. Disappear Over the Crest 12. Birds 13. Journey

Personnel: Tomasz Stańko (trumpet); François Carrier (alto and soprano saxophones); Mat Maneri (viola); Gary Peacock (bass ) and Michel Lambert (drums)

–for The Whole Note April & May 2024