Joëlle Léandre/Pascal Contet

Léandre/Harnik/Kaučič
Live in St. Johann
Fundacja Sluchaj! FSR 13/2024

Raucous or restrained, France’s doyen of double bass improvisation, Joëlle Léandre, is constantly prepared for musical challenges – and familiar situations. Working alongside a group of old friends here means that while some sonic tropes may be expected, nothing on these accomplished dates is done by rote.

Descriptively if not always accurately titled since some tracks graze the six-minute mark, Miniatures is another pairing with fellow Gaul, accordionist Pascal Contet. Familiar with each other skills after almost a quarter century of collaboration, Conte’s squeeze box shudders and thumps serve as amplification or contrast to Léandre’s energetic arco swipes. A midpoint of timbral reflections, the bassist’s darkened sul ponticello drags and stops are met by the accordionist’s tremolo shuffles to create proper balance on a track like “Miniatures 2”. Or the squeeze box’s undulating spills elaborate a match for the powerful spiccato pacing the bassist turns to bouncing swing on “Miniatures 4”. In contrast near ecclesiastical, almost pipe organ-like pitches are emphasized by Contet on “Miniatures 3”. This could be an anti-clerical jape, so Léandre’ widening string buzzes extend the theme in a more straight-ahead manner. A similar strategy is revealed on “Miniatures 10”, where speedy accordion pumps are doubled by col legno string knocks into faultless motion from each.

Along with all this and some unexpected flatulent motifs from Contet, there are instances of Léandre vocalizing, with sounds ranging from the rhapsodic to the raspy. Usually expelled alongside equivalent string stretches, these sing-song yodels and murmurs are explored at greater length on the festival date that is Live in St. Johann.

A trio with two musicians with whom Léandre also has a long history, is completed by Austrian pianist Elsabeth Harnik and Slovenian percussionist Zlatko Kaučič. Enthusiasm is already rife even before the first of seven selection is created. Léandre’s authoritative thrusts are divided in two as one snakes upwards, while the other creates mid-range tonal variations. Meanwhile Harnik moves from simple comping to create a fantasia of animated runs as Kaučič’s carpet of metallic clanks and pulses fill the available spaces. As piano comping turns processional,  the bassist further encourages the exposition by mixing her string stops and twangs with volleys of nonsense syllables vocalized with raspberries and growls and ending with variations on “c’est la fin”. And that was just “Live in St. Johann 1”.

The trio maintains that high energy throughout the rest of the concert. Resonant clunks and bongs suggest an idiophone interplay from all three, with hardware scraping and bouncing on the piano’s internal strings, screeching bow pressure on the bass strings and vibrations from wooden boxes and cymbals added to drum patterns. While triple-tandem intensity is heightened, the trio is sophisticated enough to create improvisational motifs that maintain a linear exposition even as dynamics pogo upwards. Reaching the finale of “Live in St. Johann 5” a crescendo of vocalized sighs, squeak and speaking in tongues, sul tasto string bowing, stentorian drum clunks and keyboard clanks connect at the highest level and then subsides following a defining bass string pop. Genial interaction or vigorous creativity, Léandre and associates create magnetic programs no matter the velocity, pitch or intonation.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Miniatures: 1. Miniatures 2. Miniatures 2 3. Miniatures 3 4. Miniatures 4 5. Miniatures 5 6. Miniatures 6 7. Miniatures 7 8. Miniatures 8 9. Miniatures 9 10. Miniatures 10

Personnel: Miniatures: Pascal Contet (accordion) and Joëlle Léandre (bass)

Track Listing: Live: 1. Live in St. Johann 1  2. Live in St. Johann 2 3. Live in St. Johann 3 4. Live in St. Johann 4 5. Live in St. Johann 5

Personnel: Live: Elsabeth Harnik (piano and objects); Joëlle Léandre (bass and voice) and Zlatko Kaučič (drums and percussion)