Roswell Rudd / Duck Baker

Samuel Blaser & Marc Ducret

Voyageurs

Jazzdor Series 11

Guitar and trombone aren’t the most logical duet partners, but with the proper accommodating players involved the results while not earth-shaking are certainly absorbing. One of the prime innovators of 1960s Free Jazz, trombonist Roswell Rudd (1935-2017) always experimented with unique sounds, from apprenticing with Dixieland combos to concentrating on Thelonious Monk tunes to late life late collaborations with ethic musicians. Live, recorded in 2002 and 2004 comes from a partnership with expatriate acoustic guitarist Duck Baker, whose string inventions relate as much to America folk music as Jazz. No one would take French guitarist Marc Ducret for an acoustic folkie. His work over many decades has been to stretch electric guitar parameters in many large and small musical contexts. Fellow traveler on Voyageurs is Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser. Another polymath, he too has experimented with combinations, some involving Ducret, like this one from 2019.

Vividly concentrated and intense the Ducret-Blaser duet soars on the edge of atonality with juddering processes uniting Harmon-muted brass chants and plunger slurs with mobilized strokes from the guitar ranging from whammy bar projections to buzzing staccato frails. Although some tracks are more settled and taken andante, the keenest are those which are not only staccato and allegro, but also take full advantage of the guitar’s electric properties. For every brassy shake and vibrato which Blaser tongues, Ducret is there with barbed string thrusts and strident buzzes that advance the narrative linearly, while adding unexpected detours and decorations to the themes. “The Rain Only Drums at Night”, is the finest instance of this. With intermittent clashes in the introduction, brass snarls become more concentrated and guitar flanges looser as the two meet in counterpoint. Breaking apart for sly mouthpiece elaborations and chunky, finger styled vibrations, Ducret and Blaser reverse solo and accompaniment roles many times. Here as elsewhere. crying string slides and plunger expressions help define their roles and later their cooperation. Not all the program is as earnest however. A track such as “Des états lumineux” adds some buoyant jollity to the session. While Blaser’s plunger shatters dig a space within the narrative as Ducret strums connectively. Subsequently his continuous paced twangs ornament the exposition as Blaser’s improvisational displays flow from basement tones all the way up to bugling screeches, sometimes in a single slur. Finally the two unite for a mid-range conclusion.

There’s no lack of jollity and motion on the Rudd-Baker session. Baker’s rhythm guitar beat often lists towards unabashed swing, while and Rudd is as familiar with traditional brass concoctions as modern ones. Add to this the trombonist’s penchant for spicing his improvisations with quotes from tunes as unlikely as “Everybody Loves My Baby” and suggests that the program could be a duet between Josh White and Kid Ory or maybe Lonnie Johnson and Tricky Sam Nanton. At the same time the trombonist is canny enough to use these musical anachronisms as part of a stream-of-consciousness showpieces, not allying himself to the traditionalists. “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Mood Indigo” with plenty of plunger brass work their way into “Melancholy People” with includes harp-like accompaniment from Baker that turns to barbed picking when Rudd exits with a fantasia on ““Melancholy Baby”. “Show” is even looser as Rudd shoehorns in snatches of hoary ditties like “California Here I Come”. “Camptown Races” and “Getting to Know You” with the guitarist’s twangs and frails referencing C&W as well as more strident rhythms.

While Baker’s default is Folk rather than Blues, that doesn’t mean that his and Rudd’s rendition of “Buddy Bolden’s Blues” isn’t moving as well as respectful. Both also add modern touches that wouldn’t heard in any Dixieland revival. Plus, the duo’s reading of “Well, You Needn’t” and “Bemsha Swing” is as quick and swinging as any other track. The quotes here include “Blue Monk” and “Well, You Needn’t”; there’s even a detour into “Ol’ Man River.” Rudd’s slippery tailgate work and Baker’s wood tapping not only double the swing quotient, but confirms that modern-traditional link that makes this session so interesting.

Rudd may be the best-known performer here. But both sessions point out the viability of the guitar-trombone combo.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Voyageurs: 1. The Beekeeper 2. Des états lumineux 3. The Next Morning 4. Dans une certaine mesure 5. Morse 6. The Rain Only Drums at Night 7. Across the Mountain Forest 8. La vie sans toi

Personnel: Voyageurs: Samuel Blaser (trombone) and Marc Ducret (guitar)

Track Listing: Live: 1. The Happenings 2. Buddy Bolden’s Blues 3. A Bouquet For JJ 4. Melancholy People 5. Well, You Needn’t 6. Bemsha Swing 7. Going West 8. Light Blue 9. Show 10. Church

Personnel: Live: Roswell Rudd (trombone) and Duck Baker (guitar)