Ivo Perelman Quartet

Kenneth Jimenez
Sonnet to Silence
We Jazz Records WJCD 51

Two approaches to the traditional reeds/piano/bass/drum configuration confirm the ongoing excellence of a quartet of veteran improvisers and the burgeoning skills of four younger creative musicians.

Sometimes it seems that Brazilian tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman has recorded more albums than Donald Trump has told lies  – in actually an impossibility – but why not as he keep maintaining his high standards? Water Music also feature pianist Matthew Shipp, a frequent Perelman collaborator and two other experienced US players, bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey.

Meanwhile, the other musicians on Sonnet to Silence are actually better-known than Brooklyn-based Costa Rican bassist/photographer Kenneth Jimenez, who has worked with the likes of Ingrid Laubrock and Tony Malaby. But everyone’s assured playing on Sonnet to Silence should change that. Also featured are Cuban tenor saxophonist/flutist Hery Paz, pianist Angelica Sanchez and, drummer Gerald Cleaver all of whom have worked with innovators like William Parker, Nate Wooley and Paul Dunmall.

While Jimenez’s brawny string pulse is omnipresent during his seven self-composed selections, it’s more felt than heard. Meanwhile his buzzing arco stretches on tracks like “El Patio” and “Ojo de Buey” are used to add jagged underlining to the upfront story-telling. Cleaver is similarly understated but cadenced. Concurrently while Sanchez opens up “Día Laboral” with reflective and sweetened arabesques and swells, seconded by Paz’s tough flute peeps, she too mostly lays back, letting her decorative slides  clips, bouncy asides and sympathetic comping fill in obvious spaces to move along the proceedings.

That leaves Paz to goose the tunes with his combination of Free Jazz expression and technical audacity. Depending on the situation  he enlivens a track with heavy vibrations, stuttering and altissimo squeezes alongside the pianist’s tinkles and slides (“Mr. Shipping”) or uses double tonguing and smeared stops, mated with the bassist’s laser-focused strums and stop/start pianism to put a figurative bow on the flowing exposition (“Dos Tazas”). Rather brief, the session makes one anxious for more exposure to Jimenez’ music.

This isn’t a problem with Perelman’s oeuvre, although he constantly strives to construct compelling narratives for his go-for-broke improvising. With what’s tantamount to a bugle playing Reveille the saxophonist begins track one, “Entrainment” with a quick reed honk and tongue slide and the four are off and running at a gallop. Shipp adds chord cascades and a crashing  power glissandi; Rainey pushes and thumps all parts of his drum kit; and Helias vibrates his strings from the bottom near the spike up to the top near the tuning peg.

That sets the pace for the remainder of the disc as the saxophonist highlights high-pitched split tones, multiphonic variables, altissimo flattement and mid-range slurs. Control is never lacking though. Those instances when Perelman whines and squeaks upwards past sopranissimo to dog whistle territory connect with consistent piano chording that while maintaining balance, sometimes refer back to tunes’ beginnings. Irregular reed screams don’t exist in isolation. Even the title track which includes all manner of extended reed techniques is paced by Shipp’s piledriver chording and Rainey’s junkeroo-like metallic patterns. When the saxophonist scoops out subterranean sounds during an interlude, Helias responds with double-stopping strokes. The track includes another sequence where alternating between low and high pitched flutters it  sounds like Perelman is playing a “Ghosts” fragment.

A related motif is found on “Fluidity”, one of the assembled musical parts where Perelman pivots to brief moderato lines. Backed by near-formal piano comping, cymbal shakes and double bass pacing, among the saxophonist’s quick sputters, slobbers and slurs, a foreshortened lull includes adding a wisp of “Nature Boy” to an almost straight-ahead reed ramble.

The reason Perelman keeps making albums, and we keep listening to then is that unexpected  and surprising motifs are always present. Water Music is another profound statement by the saxophonist. Using the same instrumentation, Sonnet to Silence suggests that there are more innovations to come from the younger bassist.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Sonnet: 1. Dos Tazas 2. Barrio Sur 3. El Patio 4. Día Laboral 5. Mr. Shipping 6. Ojo de Buey 7. Cañaveral en Llamas

Personnel: Sonnet: Hery Paz (tenor saxophone and flute); Angelica Sanchez (piano); Kenneth Jimenez (bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums)

Track Listing: Water: 1. Entrainment 2. Life Force 3. Sound Essence 4. Human Intuition 5. Boundless 6. Water Music 7. Fluidity 8. Flow

Personnel: Water: Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone and flute); Matthew Shipp (piano): Mark Helias (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums)