Ivo Perelman / Matthew Shipp / Whit Dickey

Ivo Perelman & Arcado String Trio

Deep Resonance

Fundacja Sluchaj FSR14/2020

More chapters in the seemingly limitless volumes of improvisation that Brazilian tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman is always updating, these dates find him in recognizable surroundings. Recorded more than two years apart, but in the same Brooklyn studio, the discs express two of the saxophonist’s preoccupations.

A cellist before he was a saxophonist, Perelman had recorded many discs with string players but Deep Resonance is probably the first in which he connects with a regularly constituted string ensemble. The Arcado String Trio of violinist Mark Feldman, cellist William H. Roberts and bassist Mark Dresser has played together on-and-off since 1989, taking into consideration the members’ individual projects which include affiliations with the likes of John Zorn and Tim Berne. A midst-of-Covid session, Garden of Jewels not only reunites the saxophonist with pianist Matthew Ship, who has seconded Perelman on more albums than any other musician, but adds drummer Whit Dickey, who has not played with the saxophonist in nearly a decade, but whose affiliation with Shipp goes back to the early 1990s.

Eschewing any notion of a restrained “with strings” date the saxophonist’s playing is most often disturbing and astringent as he smears, slurs, squeaks and stabs split tone vibrations throughout Deep Resonance’s four selections. There are instances where he adopts a mellow and moderate mid-range tone, as on “Resonance 2”, but those are usually eye-blinkingly brief. Sometimes harmonizing but usually in contrapuntal encounters with the saxophonist and each other, the string players’ sweeps and stops are jagged and confrontational as well. Dresser is the one most likely to create low-pitched continuum pulses. But he also uses rugged col legno techniques as on “Resonance 1” to parry the thrusts from the higher-pitched strings whose spiccato bounces often encompass squeals from the sets’ highest pitches. Feldman especially frequently glides out melodies which supplely challenge the saxophonist’s pinched squeaks and carve a separate line from the two other string players’. Roberts too can pivot to the highest parts of his instrument’s range to squeak out ferocious arco strokes, yet another of his strategies is to link shifting glissandi with those from Dresser to shore up the bottom. Stopping and soaring whether pizzicato or arco, the trio continuously makes a case for its individual identity. Yet by also following or contradicting the saxophonist’s twists and turns, the tension-release involved provides more fascinating aural rubber necking.

Despite the pandemic, the other CD’s program is more simpatico since Perelman and Shipp have worked together in varied configurations for over two decades. As the saxophonist moves from extended altissimo screeches to Bronx-cheer-like splutters, pinched squeaks and buzzing glissandi to extract every tone from all parts of his instrument, Shipp creates the appropriate response or challenge. On the title track he produces Cecil Taylor-like contrasting dynamics with the same finesse in which he creates a Duke Ellington-like introduction and theme elaboration, Equivalent dynamic runs and speedy adjustments are made throughout the eight tracks with “Turquoise” an instance of this as both players move at the same speed in double counterpoint. Despite Perelman emphasizing repeated curlicue slurs and Shipp pounding out discursive low-pitched asides, the sounds end up as mirror images of one another. Carefully measured, Dickey’s contributions, here and elsewhere avoid overt percussiveness, instead concentrating on brightening and extending the narratives. His ruffs, ratamacues and rim shots are sparingly sprinkled like spices to accent fine cooking. The policy is followed whether the exposition involves staccato reed cries and responsive piano comping as on “Sapphire”; or as on the concluding “Diamond”, to provide a slapping response to low-pitched reed emphasis that meets keyboard spanking in the piano’s highest register.

Sure of his own musical ideas, but always willing to amplify them with others, and with the results provided on CDs like these, is there any wonder why Perelman constantly records?

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Deep: 1. Resonance 1 2. Resonance 2 3. Resonance 3 4. Resonance 4

Personnel: Deep: Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone); Mark Feldman (violin); William H. Roberts (cello) and Mark Dresser (bass)

Track Listing: Garden: 1. Garden of Jewels 2. Tourmaline 3. Amethysts 4. Onyx 5. Turquoise 6. Emerald 7. Sapphire 8. Diamond

Personnel: Garden: Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone); Matthew Shipp (piano) and Whit Dickey (drums)