Rüdiger Carl / Sven-Åke Johansson / Joel Grip

Jörgensmann/Dell/Ramond/Kugel

At the Fields Edge

NotTwo MW 1014-2

Fischer/Böttcher/Schmitz + Mahall

Sizzle Club mit Rudi

Sporeprint 2012-12

Tom Jackson & Vid Drašler

At the Cultural Home

Sploh ZAS CD 23

Finally returned to its Swing Era prominence mostly due to free music reed players searching for a novel color, the clarinet is now appearing on as many improvised sessions as the saxophone. Like other instruments used by free improvisers though, each player usually evolves a singular approach.

Probably the most conventional use of the instrument is on At the Fields Edge with Theo Jörgensmann’s clarinet, Christopher Dell’s vibes, Christian Ramond’s bass and Klaus Kugel’s drums. That’s conventional only in the sense of contemporary, since over the years Jörgensmann has parlayed his reed skills with numerous exploratory players throughout Europe. The other members of this all-German quartet have similar backgrounds, Dell with Christian Lillinger; while both Ramond and Kugel have recorded with Wacław Zimpel. Thoroughly up-to-date the uncomplicated pulse the quartet produces could be linked to the Benny Goodman quartet with a double bass instead of piano or the Modern Jazz Quartet with Jimmy Giuffre if John Lewis sat out.

Jörgensmann’s lower register has a Giuffre feel, but his warm interface with whistling tones and shaking trills confirms his individuality. Throughout his staccato peeps and Dell’s metronomic bounces trade-off between theme elaboration and decoration as Kugel piles on hard rat-tat-tats and Ramond straight-ahead plucks. The bassist also introduces pieces like “Blue Hot – part 2” with solemn stains that soon turn spiccato to blend with the clarinet’s affable tones. The reed tones speed up to match the vibist’s hard reverberations and climax with altissimo-to-sopranissimo squeals before the four attain a final swing pulse. Basic resolved contradiction can be compared as the quartet follows the suite concluding with “Chances Need To Be Taken – part 3” with the first of the three “Blue Hot” tracks. As Kugel ups the gong-like and drum beat attack on the first tune, doubled by vibe smacks Jörgensmann’s reed slurs become harder, introducing laughing trills as tempos move from andante to allegro to presto finally reaching a resolution with clarinet squeaks and idiophones resounds. “Blue Hot – part 1” is its antithesis. Slow-paced with reed slurs and vibe slaps, both Jörgensmann and Dell get ample space to suck and slide or pop and smack amplification and variation of the exposition. Followed closely by Kugel’s rebounds, the conclusion is signaled by a double ruffs and cymbal clatters after the others subside to more refined interaction.

Not exactly refined, but still in quartet form is the group on Sizzle Club mit Rudi. This unconventional line-up is a first time meeting among two improvisers from Wiesbaden – drummer Jörg Fischer, who works with Uwe Oberg and synthesizer player Uli Böttcher, who has played with Roger Turner; their associate from Saarbrücken, guitarist Johannes Schmitz, who plays with Christof Thewes; and Berlin-based visitor Rudi Mahall, who has played with multiple improvisers throughout the world.

With roots in Punk Rock as well, as Jazz, the crunch and squall of that genre is applied to the five instant compositions here especially in the rustling frails and flanging sectional aside from Schmitz. Fischer’s firm drum beats may propel themes with ruffs and rumbles, but they’re as far away from monotonous rock beat as Johnny Rotten is to John Coltrane. Although he occasionally moves it to the forefront with sizzles, boings, suggestions of cartoon music and dot-dash patterning, Böttcher’s synthesizer timbres stick mostly to pointillist flutters letting understated vibrations flow to fill unaccented spaces. Mahall’s twittering trills and smears are projected every which way throughout, often in double counterpoint with guitar twangs, creating polyphonic riffs with the others in a group grope of clustering sound ejaculations from all.

The most elliptical variant of these strategies is on the extended “Bulbous” which surges from bass drum thumps, chalumeau register clarinet slurs and rhythm-guitar-like clunks. As outer-space-like noises emanate from the synthesizer, rugged drum shuffles and guitar string patterning set up the horizontal exposition which is quickly brightened with disconnected reed peeps and beeps. After the reed tones have been stretched to the utmost, and further adorned with wave form splatters, guitar pumps and drum beats drain the cacophony to a logical conclusion. A variant of this in miniature is “Jazz Quiz”. It melds guitar-string pops and intermittent drum patterning with faint electronic hissing, eventually allowing the clarinet part to define the slurring theme.

Paring the interaction to trio form on In Early November, there’s a bit of Back to the Future involved and not just because Swedish drummer Sven-Åke Johansson and German clarinetist Rüdiger Carl are both in their late seventies while Swedish bassist Joel Grip is several decades younger. Instead the stylist duality occurs when sequences of the three-part suite work with an evolved variant of the Free Jazz the drummer and clarinetist helped create with the likes of Irène Schweizer and Peter Brötzmann in the late 1960s with refrains referring to earlier sounds. The primordial drum rat-tat-tats mixed with lyrical clarinet affiliation in the introduction to “In Early November – 3” could very well have been created by Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. These tonal whorls and patterns soon vanish beneath Grip’s steady strumming and more dramatic technique stretching from all. But even as each player at times deconstructs the narrative into upper-register reed bites, jots of beat shattering and slinky string pumps, a basic linear form exists. This is freedom that knows its limit. That philosophy is expressed on the other two lengthy tracks. Grip, who often partners with contemporaries like Bertrand Denzler, maintains a rhythmic pulse along with buzzes and woody rubs up and down the scale. From the beginning Johansson too doesn’t ignore backbeats and shuffles, even as he bounds and batters, clunks and clatters his kit and cymbals. Meantime Carl, especially on “In Early November -1” adopts a Tony Scott/Rolf Kühn fluidity that is just harsh enough to link to more exploratory curlicue vibrations and squeaks. Before the end he throws in a quote from “Reveille” though his presto squalls, Grip’s walking bass line and the drummer’s dedicated rumbles hadn’t lulled anyone to sleep. This balancing act continues throughout, which phrases repeated for extra color or elucidation, the bassist revealing a facility in create mandolin-like twangs from his elevated strings. Meanwhile Johansson alternates a pumping and popping drum solo with Carl’s staccato textures which stretch the reed line thinner and thinner without splintering it. Gentle or harsh, each section and the finale is summed up in a logical faction.

Logic too is brought to one extended improvisation and a much shorter coda that make up At the Cultural Home by British clarinetist Tom Jackson and Slovenian drummer Vid Drašler. The two who have also recorded in a trio with Daniel Thompson strip timbres down to essentials. Maintaining a lyrical bent at the top, reed lines are fragmented into mid-range split tones, whorls, curlicues and flutters, with restrained cymbal pops alongside. Quieter interludes barely glide past sweetness when Drašler’s tough cuffs and clunks from finger or unattached cymbals force jittery blows and plunging tones from Jackson so that the exposition stays linear as well as lyrical. Eventually as bass drum pops and cymbal top tolling move the theme upwards, Jackson joins in with moderated clarion trills that quickens to a resounding repeated dual pattern at the end. That’s “Prej/Before”, with “Potem/After” more of the same stylistically. The interface is still melodic and expressive with reed glissandi and fluid stops, but it also exposes a bit of echoing wood clunks and rim shots.

There’s no likelihood Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw emulation is going to replace reedists’ following saxophone heroes like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. But these four stylists and other confirm that the clarinet has overcome its banishment that last through Bop, Fusion and even Energy Music to regain a place in improvised music.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Fields: 1. Chances Need To Be Taken – part 1 2. Chances Need To Be Taken – part 2 3. Chances Need To Be Taken – part 3 4. Blue Hot – part 1 5. Blue Hot – part 2 6. Blue Hot – part 3 7. Slow No Wake

Personnel: Fields: Theo Jörgensmann (clarinet); Christopher Dell (vibes); Christian Ramond (bass) and Klaus Kugel (drums)

Track Listing: Sizzle: 1. Mubi Hop 2. Bulbous 3. Fast 4. Jazz Quiz 5. Plopp

Personnel: Sizzle: Rudi Mahall (clarinets); Johannes Schmitz (guitar); Uli Böttcher (synthesizer) and Jörg Fischer (drums)

Track Listing: November: 1. In Early November – 1 2. In Early November – 2 3. In Early November – 3

Personnel: November: Rüdiger Carl (clarinet); Joel Grip (bass) and Sven-Åke Johansson (drums)

Track Listing: Cultural: 1. Prej/Before 2. Potem/After

Personnel: Cultural: Tom Jackson (clarinet) and Vid Drašler (drums)