Sewelson/Moses/van Dijk/Holtje

Ava Mendoza/Dave Sewelson
Of It But Not Is It
Mahakala Music MAHA 069

Known for his disciplined work in large and small configurations with the likes of William Parker, New York baritone saxophonist Dave Sewelson is always open for novel sorts of sonic adventures. These discs are a specific examples of those new challenges.

Taken from a Brooklyn loft session, Orca Uprising is a four-track lo-fi unaltered record of a spontaneous improvisation that matches Sewelson’s idiosyncratic reed work with the contributions of three players more often found playing so-called Indie Rock: keyboardist Steve Holtje, electric bassist Jochem van Dijk and drummer Stephen Moses. Of It But Not Is It on the other hand is a straight up duo disc with guitarist Ava Mendoza who also moves in Rock and Improv circles and also highlights some instances of Sewelson’s singing.

Overall the strategy followed on the quartet disc is of the saxophonist thrusting his snarling, low-pitched timbres into the mix as drum accompaniment moves from discontinuous to definite, strings strumming and stopping and keyboard wiggles adding prismatic coloration.  Taken mostly mid-range or slower, it sometimes appears as if there’s a distance between Sewelson and the rhythm section. The gap isn’t resolved until the disc’s final minutes where all turn from a herky-jerky dance rhythm to a solid groove encompassing reed snort, drum pops and keyboard pressure. Earlier on Sewelson out-metals cymbal clanks by unleashing alloy-inflected tones that seems to be scrapped from the bottom of his horn’s s-shaped bow. “Idiot Suavant” (sic) is the track that’s most demonstrate of the group’s talents however. Not only do low-pitch reed snorts register fluidly, but tick-tocking percussion sounds are also livelier, and van Dijk’s string aptitude replicates metallic bass thumps and twanging guitar-like runs.

There’s no mistaking Mendoza’s guitar on the other CD since on her own and in tandem with the saxist, she strums simple rhythmic progressions and pinpoints bottleneck or heavily amped asides with equal facility. Perhaps it’s best to discuss Sewelson’s singing at the top. With those songs actually composed by William Parker,  the saxophonist’s gruff-Tom Waits-like heaves outline the anti-war or fanciful lyrics clearly, but don’t pose challenges to any full-time vocalist. Interestingly enough the backing guitar tones turn more towards Blues-Rock licks or Country picking than anywhere else on the disc.

More generic to the duets, an accelerated tune like “Don’t Buy the Lie” bring out a high-speed chord which echo onto itself with the same whirlwind intensity the saxophonist brings to his strained, stop-time and split tone blowing. Meanwhile the nursery-rhyme-like simplicity of “Scaribari” has Mendoza following the saxophonist scooping out his lowest tones with almost baritone guitar string resonations until the two separate as she works up the scale and he doubles down on heavier reed shakes.

Although both are able to create warmer tones or wallow in technical ones, and Mendoza sometimes turns to simple comping alongside Sewelson’s basement tones, the most exciting sequences are fired up. Primary instance of this is the title tune. The guitarist’s slurred fingering reach such a pitch and tempo that they seemed to be amped enough to come from two guitars. Meanwhile the reverberations, slurs and multiphonics from the saxophonist reach such as level of fervor that they almost sound electrified.

Sewelson has demonstrated his reed adaptability in many other circumstances. Heer are two more eventful instances showing how well he reacts to offbeat situations.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Of: 1. Mangrove Sea 2. Turnip Wine 3. Don’t Buy the Lie 4. Do Nothing Man 5. Dava’s Tune 6. Is It But Not Of It 7. Bill (for Bill Horvitz) 8. Scaribari 9. Where Are You

Personnel: Of: Dave Sewelson (baritone saxophone and voice) and Ava Mendoza (guitar and voice)

Track Listing: Orca 1. Mutual Assured Distraction 2. Idiot Suavant 3. Don’t Talk with Your Mouth 4. Orca Uprising

Personnel: Orca: Dave Sewelson (baritone saxophone); Steve Holtje (electric keyboard); Jochem van Dijk (electric bass) and Stephen Moses (drums)