Nicholas Remondino / Alessandro Giachero / Emanuele Guadagno / Cosimo Fiaschi

Scrambled Harmonies

Stella Art

No Label No #

With divergent approaches these bands from Italy and the Netherlands fall on either side of the composition-improvisation continuum. Yet one of the defining characteristics of each is how they integrate a guitar into their original concepts.

A mixture of younger and veteran players, Stella Art distinguishes itself by adding a light topping of thematic melodies to the six group improvisations. Familiar with one another’s from various other associations, guitarist Henk Zwerver also plays with Edith Steyer, while elder statesman, bassist statesman Raoul van der Weide works with players such as George Hadow. Most travelled of the quintet drummer Onno Govaert has worked across the spectrum with players like Rodrigo Amado, Besides the Dutch-born improvisers, Lithuanian tenor saxophonist Andrius Dereviancenko and Argentinean pianist Nico Chientaroli, who has players with Ab Baars, and others demonstrate how out-of-country talents contribute to Amsterdam’s musical gestalt.

Not that there’s anything particularly geographical about any of the tracks. Instead the five concentrate on extending the forms for maximum integration, with one of the few solo indications, Dereviancenko’s cacophonous colorful squeals and sprawling tongue flutters that aim for New Thing territory on “Skin Tone”. More generic to the session’s evolution is the equivalence between stress and looseness brought to extended tracks such as “Sofa Spud” and “Extended Undertone”. On the first, here and elsewhere when he’s not digging into the piano’s entrails, Chientaroli contrasts high-pitched key clipping with low-pitched bass thumps, which stretch out the exposition to take on thematic armor as reed trills, guitar frails and percussion hip-hops join in. Backed by crackle box crinkling and ringing guitar licks the remainder of the tune sashays between glossolalia from the saxophonist and comforting, though kinetic keyboard echoes. Actually less extended than “Sofa Spud”, “Extended Undertone” preserves a rock-solid groove from Govaert’s ringing cymbals and drum pops, with dissonant permutations from the others. These take the form of the bassist’s rubbing objects; protracted altissimo runs on the edge of stridency from the saxophonist and slurred fingering and backwards-moving twangs from Zwerver. Whether the quintet works at slow shuffle or in speedy territory every piece falls into pace.

It’s a similar story and similar stretch of ages that are involved in Live in Pisa. The Italian Sononia quartet includes soprano saxophone tyro Cosimo Fiaschi as well as more seasoned players pianist Alessandro Giachero, who has worked extensively with William Parker; guitarist Emanuele Guadagno, who has been part of the INCROCI orchestra; and drummer/electronics manipulator Nicholas Remondino who has been involved in multiple electro-acoustic projects.

Perhaps unexpectedly the two extended tracks which make up Live in Pisa only partially reflect those influences. Instead, especially on the more-than 38 minute “Forisportam Church Suite” the intense enhancement and meandering development encompass spaces and swills that suggest microtonal improvisers such as AAM. Commingling in the main bell-ringing and popping percussion accents, the saxophonist’s splattering air plus piano preparation stops and swats and a touch of programmed crackle, the overlay is andante and pointillist. Motion only supersedes minimalism in a sequence that arrive one-third of the way along as Fiaschi’s yowling split tones become more prominent and almost continuous with the formerly thin and obtuse exposition thickened and given warmth from guitar and piano comping. As the needle-thin sax peeps vibrate the theme forward, oscillated wave forms, single note or inner string plucks from Giachero decorate the narrative. Underscored by a gong-like percussion continuum and a conclusive widening of the reed tones, these nestled textures adumbrate the final sequence that startlingly frames acoustic reed and string tones in expansive outer-space-like electronic textures. More extrusive the 13-minute-plus “Elements” concentrates on protruding elements. Its mixture of ring modular gongs, top-of-range guitar plinks, concentrated reed glissando, clock tolling inner piano string plucks and snooker ball-like cracks from the percussionist bring out the macro timbres avoided on the first improvisation.

Hushed or hard core, in quintet or quartet form, there’s much to admire in these well integrated sessions.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Stella: 1. Pointing 2. Sofa Spud 3. Cracklescramble 4. Extended Undertone 5. Skin Tone 6. Didn’t We Do This Before

Personnel: Stella: Andrius Dereviancenko (tenor saxophone); Henk Zwerver (guitar); Nico Chientaroli (piano and keyboards); Raoul van der Weide (bass, objects and crackle box) and Onno Govaert (drums)

Track Listing: Live: 1. Forisportam Church Suite 2. Elements

Personnel: Live: Cosimo Fiaschi (soprano saxophone); Alessandro Giachero (piano and prepared piano); Emanuele Guadagno (guitar) and Nicholas Remondino (drums and electronics)