Xavier Charles / Christian Wallumrød / Ivar Grydeland / Ingar Zach

Louis Sclavis Quartet
Characters on a Wall
ECM 2645

With 21st Century so far characterized by a resurgence of the clarinet in improvised music, sessions with the single reed as the only horn are no longer curious. What is remarkable is the ingenuity that goes into angling the woodwind towards free music. Luckily each of the clarinetists featured here have long been comfortable in these settings, although the sound of the quartets in which they play couldn’t be more different.

Over his more than 30 year career, Lyon’s Louis Sclavis, one of the progenitors of this reed Renaissance has recorded in configurations ranging from duos to large ensembles with everyone from Henri Texier to Ivo Perelman. Characters on a Wall, whose eight tunes again reflect his fascination with the street art of Ernest Pignon-Ernest is actually a rare departure for him because the session was recorded as a standard reed and rhythm section configuration. His Gallic associates are pianist Benjamin Mousse who has worked with him frequently in the past, drummer Christophe Lavergne who has played with Emmanuel Bex and Benoît Delbecq, and bassist Sarah Murcia, who besides playing with Moussay has been in ensembles featuring Marc Ducret, Sylvain Cathala and others. Meanwhile the career of French clarinetist Xavier Charles, the only non-Norwegians element of Dans les Arbres has been even more wide-ranging, featuring collaboration with everyone from Axel Dörner to Terrie Ex. His associates – pianist Christian Wallumrød, guitarist Ivar Grydeland, and percussionist Ingar Zach – move among electronic, pop-connected and pure improvisation with musicians ranging from Philipp Wachsmann and Derek Bailey to the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Burkhard Beins and Kim Myhr.

While there’s no denying the expertise exhibited buy the members of Sclavis’ quartet, at least at first the sweeping romantic program appears a bit too pat. There’s a feeling that every woody reed pitch, keyboard sweep, stirring bass string movement and drum pop has been worked out to harmonize in equivalent time. Happily the chamber-music-styled profundity, especially where the pianist is concerned, loosens up by the disc’s second section. Provocatively this is also when Murcia and Lavergne are most free in their interpretations. “Prison” is enlivened by supple guitar-like strokes from the bassist, who sets up the exposition with an accentuated rhythm. Subsequent chromatic swing from Sclavis reflects this. Furthermore, “Darwich dans la ville” is sophisticated and fast-paced, Introduced by carousing clip clops, double bass plucks and crackling piano clips, it features the clarinetist’s most affecting improvising. Here Sclavis’ clarion line encompasses trills, pinched Balkan-style tinges, dips into the chalumeau register up and altissimo runs. Finally the swift head is recapped by then pianist.

One protracted track that augments and diminishes with elastic facility meanwhile, Volatil depends on ingenious cooperation among the quartet members. Vibrated, mystical and nearly opaque, the narrative line depending mostly on drum echoes and bell shakes, string vibrations and pulls mixed with Charles’ growls and squeaky puffs. Emphasizing exoticism via the clarinetist’s spittle-laced overblowing the improvisation later turns rougher and more ragged via reed vibrations plus gran casa thumps from Zach until at mid-point a crescendo is reached. From then on consistent cymbal raps and irregular reed peeps plus echoing piano rumbles and a single guitar twang haltingly splinter the textures that were combined to create the initial theme. Temple bell-like reverberations, echoing key stops, soundboard suggestions and animalistic reed growls more distinct than upfront, further fragment the narrative. Finally discordant buzzes from the clarinet, intermittent piano shakes and drum stick-against-drumstick patterns from Zach presage the narrative slowly leaking away to silence.

Aiming more to spell-bind than story-tell Dans les Arbres cunningly achieves its program’s goal with minimal variations. With Characters on a Wall, on the other hand, Sclavis and his quartet attempted to paint vaster tonal colors. But the goal is only partially achieved, since the freer second part of the program is more choice than its inception.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Characters: 1. L’heure Pasolini 2. Shadows And Lines 3 La dame de Martigues 4.

Extases 5. Esquisse 1 6. Prison 7. Esquisse 2 8. Darwich dans la ville

Personnel: Characters: Louis Sclavis (clarinet and bass clarinet); Benjamin Moussay (piano); Sarah Murcia (bass) and Christophe Lavergne (drums)

Track Listing: Volatil: Ramure, Brindille, Surgeon, Fléche

Personnel: Volatil: Xavier Charles (clarinet); Christian Wallumrød (piano); Ivar Grydeland (guitar) and Ingar Zach (percussion)