Plurism

Not many remember, but the first European country that in the 1960s offered steady work to Apartheid-fleeing South African musicians such as Abdullah Ibrahim and members of the Blue Notes was Switzerland. The South Africans’ playing influenced generations of Swiss improvisers, so it’s no revelation to find that this disc by Lausanne-based drummer Dominic Egli is suffused with those sorts of inflections.

Egli, who has also plays in other local bands, first organized Plurism in 2013 with South African trumpeter Feya Faku. Umhlangano, which means the meeting in Zulu, is the band’s fourth disc and also features Swiss bassist Raffaele Bossard as well as South African-based tenor saxophonist Sisonke Xonti and alto saxophonist/flutist Mthunzi Mvubu. Although the drummer composed five of the disc’s eight tracks, the tunes are performed with the same élan and joyous beat if the music was all African-sourced. From “When It All Happened”, the first track, through the end of the disc arrangements based on maintaining a drum groove and call-and-response among portamento trumpet and saxophone vamps as in the heyday of kwela music. Imagine the Blue Notes mixed with the Jazz Messengers.

That doesn’t mean however that the program is imitative however. Each track allows enough space for individual expression. These include the thick bass thump that introduces the Mingusian feel of “Babathane”, with  the story telling directed by Xonti’s deliberate tenor sax sequences, echoed by Mvubu’s melancholy alto sax vibrations that join Faku for a three-part vamp. There’s also the frequent canon-like inferences which are realized in the concluding “Kanon”. That track not only blends brass triplets, saxophone scoops and smears, but also allows Egli to intensify the beat with metallic rim shots and paradiddle ruffs after he’s outlines the head with percussion crackles and crunches. Here and elsewhere Mvubu’s flute overlay adds another texture to the  musical evolution.

Time doesn’t stand still and it would be foolish to compare Plurism to its South African or American group predecessors. However Umhlangano is an exceptional session on its own. It clearly demonstrates how Egli and company have updated the expected motifs to create a 21^st Century variation on an idiosyncratic and distinct musical genre.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. When It All Happened 2. Curved Space-Time; for Peter Frei 3. Trumpets For Captain Rackete 4. iBabathane 5. A Pocket Full Of Cherries For Mongezi 6. Introspection 7. Kanon 8. Children Song

Personnel: Feya Faku (trumpet and fluegelhorn); Mthunzi Mvubu (alto saxophone and flute); Sisonke Xonti (tenor saxophone); Raffaele Bossard (bass) and Dominic Egli drums)