Regenorchester XII

Town Down
Red Note RN 14

Rob Mazurek Quintet

Sound Is

Delmark DE 586

Although these similarly structured quintets play what could loosely be termed electric jazz, the complex patterns and unexpected strategies shouldn’t be confused with clichéd fusion sounds.

For a start the chief protagonists aren’t guitarists, but brass players – Sao Paulo via Chicago’s cornetist Rob Mazurek on one, Vienna’s Franz Hautzinger on the other. Another reason is that the inspiration for these sound-collages was as one way out of a conundrum, not towards fusion. As a matter of fact Sound Is doesn’t even feature jazz-rock’s most distinctive icon: a six-string electric guitar.

Briefly, Mazurek has put together different variations of his Chicago Project to free himself from the constraints of contemporary mainstream jazz. Hautzinger on the other hand, had become so involved in the minutia of unorthodox solo techniques that he almost lost contact with cooperative musicality. He’s trying to work his way towards playing well with others with this band and his trio with saxophonist Bertrand Gauguet and synthesizer player Thomas Lehn.

In truth, both of the discs are fusion efforts relating to the real meaning of the word, since many other sonic currents are present along with so-called jazz.

On Sound Is, for instance, percussionist John Herndon is a member of Tortoise, plus bass guitarist Matthew Lux and bassist Josh Abrams are affiliated with different Midwestern post-rock bands. Vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz has done his share of non-jazz playing as well. Meanwhile The Regenorchester includes bassist Luc Ex, familiar from his appearances with the anarcho-punk-improv band The Ex; turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide, who leads his own New Jazz Ensemble; The Necks drummer Tony Buck; plus guitarist Christian Fennesz better known for his forays into electronica

In short, kinetic string flanges, contrapuntal harmonies and arena rock-style pummeling can’t be escaped on Town Down. However the challenge the five face lies in shaping the material. For instance on “37rd Rainday” the opaque pulses and drones are reconstituted into cross-pulsed sequences while different currents of brass braying are heard – as if an entire trumpet section was present. Moderato and allegro most instruments’ pulses seep into one another as the result is further muddied by agitated loops and guitar distortion. Eventually singular trumpet grace notes materialize out of the sonic mulch.

In contrast to the vociferous percussion rebounds, rasping needle scratches on vinyl and ringing guitar licks that characterize other tracks, “SSS” is built up from nearly inaudible crackles, clinks and cracks from the turntable and blurry electronic loops plus spatial dislocation from one channel to another of Aboriginal-like drum beats. Faint Harmon-muted trumpet slurs become more prominent as Hautzinger’s tonguing is framed by twin guitar frails and delay. Finally dissipating the collective tension, the percussionist introduces gamelan-orchestra-styled pinging that is quickly matched with speedy tongue trills from Hautzinger. Finally programmed tape flanges bury the affiliated note flurries.

No turntables are in use on Sound Is, although as in Town Down some post-production legerdemain is involved. Mazurek does introduce the occasional brass riffs, plus some of the less identifiable tones are from Herndon’s Tenori-on. It’s a matrix instrument whose 16 layers of 16 tracks allow sounds to be input, stored, combined or separated and switched instantaneously.

Nevertheless, the most persistent sound heard are silvery mallet resonation from Adasiewicz’s vibes, Abrams’ or Mazurek’s piano comping or chording and the feathery timbres of Mazurek’s cornet. It may come as a surprise to the brass man, but the performance would probably be described as jazz-like by even the most conservative listener. A track such as “Microraptagonfly”, for instance, taken largo, features lyrical cornet grace notes that float above programmed tone blocks, lazily bringing out sfumato-like timbres without stress. “The Hill” on the other hand, includes a heavy shuffle beat, a contiguous walking bass line plus slurring color waves vibrating, as Mazurek fires off choruses of presto-patterned triplets. Painting the melody in tremolo whorls and circles, the measures advanced by Mazurek are further toughened with rim shots, as simultaneously Lux picks out a counter melody on the strings of his bass guitar.

Finally “Dragon Kites” and “The Star Splitter” which follow one another encompass a catalogue of effects. There are patterns bowed from the bass; the twinge and slides of electronic delay; scattered steel-drum-like rebounds and clicks; plus rococo tonguing from the brass man. As one piece dissolves into the next and the lyricism seems endemic, repeated hand-clapping and vibraphone thwacks toughen the beat and speed the tempo up a half step. Soon ringing bells, slapped bass strings and rhythmic piano comping shove the melody to a higher pitch then down again, with the synchronized climax blending bass and piano timbres.

Both Mazurek and Hautzinger have evidentially worked their way out of their respective sound conundrums. With the exceptional help of equally proficient friends they have done so while producing notable music.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Sound: 1. As if an Angel Fell from the Sky 2. The Earthquake Tree 3. Dragon Kites 4. The Star Splitter 5. The Hill 6. Le Baiser (The Kiss) 7. The Lightning Field 8. Cinnamon Tree 9. The Dream Rocker 10. Beauty Wolf 11. Microraptagonfly 12. Aphrodite Rising 13. The Field 14. Nora Grace.

Personnel: Sound: Rob Mazurek (corner, synthesizer and piano); Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone); Josh Abrams (bass and piano); Matthew Lux (bass guitar) and John Herndon (drums, percussion and Tenori-on)

Track Listing: Town: 1. Town Down 2. Delis 3. 37rd Rainday 4. BBB 5. Sand 6. SSS

Personnel: Town: Franz Hautzinger (trumpet); Christian Fennesz (guitar and electronics); Otomo Yoshihide (turntables and guitar); Luc Ex (bass) and Tony Buck (drums)

December 12, 2009

Rob Mazurek Quintet

Sound Is
Delmark DE 586

Regenorchester XII

Town Down

Red Note RN 14

Although these similarly structured quintets play what could loosely be termed electric jazz, the complex patterns and unexpected strategies shouldn’t be confused with clichéd fusion sounds.

For a start the chief protagonists aren’t guitarists, but brass players – Sao Paulo via Chicago’s cornetist Rob Mazurek on one, Vienna’s Franz Hautzinger on the other. Another reason is that the inspiration for these sound-collages was as one way out of a conundrum, not towards fusion. As a matter of fact Sound Is doesn’t even feature jazz-rock’s most distinctive icon: a six-string electric guitar.

Briefly, Mazurek has put together different variations of his Chicago Project to free himself from the constraints of contemporary mainstream jazz. Hautzinger on the other hand, had become so involved in the minutia of unorthodox solo techniques that he almost lost contact with cooperative musicality. He’s trying to work his way towards playing well with others with this band and his trio with saxophonist Bertrand Gauguet and synthesizer player Thomas Lehn.

In truth, both of the discs are fusion efforts relating to the real meaning of the word, since many other sonic currents are present along with so-called jazz.

On Sound Is, for instance, percussionist John Herndon is a member of Tortoise, plus bass guitarist Matthew Lux and bassist Josh Abrams are affiliated with different Midwestern post-rock bands. Vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz has done his share of non-jazz playing as well. Meanwhile The Regenorchester includes bassist Luc Ex, familiar from his appearances with the anarcho-punk-improv band The Ex; turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide, who leads his own New Jazz Ensemble; The Necks drummer Tony Buck; plus guitarist Christian Fennesz better known for his forays into electronica

In short, kinetic string flanges, contrapuntal harmonies and arena rock-style pummeling can’t be escaped on Town Down. However the challenge the five face lies in shaping the material. For instance on “37rd Rainday” the opaque pulses and drones are reconstituted into cross-pulsed sequences while different currents of brass braying are heard – as if an entire trumpet section was present. Moderato and allegro most instruments’ pulses seep into one another as the result is further muddied by agitated loops and guitar distortion. Eventually singular trumpet grace notes materialize out of the sonic mulch.

In contrast to the vociferous percussion rebounds, rasping needle scratches on vinyl and ringing guitar licks that characterize other tracks, “SSS” is built up from nearly inaudible crackles, clinks and cracks from the turntable and blurry electronic loops plus spatial dislocation from one channel to another of Aboriginal-like drum beats. Faint Harmon-muted trumpet slurs become more prominent as Hautzinger’s tonguing is framed by twin guitar frails and delay. Finally dissipating the collective tension, the percussionist introduces gamelan-orchestra-styled pinging that is quickly matched with speedy tongue trills from Hautzinger. Finally programmed tape flanges bury the affiliated note flurries.

No turntables are in use on Sound Is, although as in Town Down some post-production legerdemain is involved. Mazurek does introduce the occasional brass riffs, plus some of the less identifiable tones are from Herndon’s Tenori-on. It’s a matrix instrument whose 16 layers of 16 tracks allow sounds to be input, stored, combined or separated and switched instantaneously.

Nevertheless, the most persistent sound heard are silvery mallet resonation from Adasiewicz’s vibes, Abrams’ or Mazurek’s piano comping or chording and the feathery timbres of Mazurek’s cornet. It may come as a surprise to the brass man, but the performance would probably be described as jazz-like by even the most conservative listener. A track such as “Microraptagonfly”, for instance, taken largo, features lyrical cornet grace notes that float above programmed tone blocks, lazily bringing out sfumato-like timbres without stress. “The Hill” on the other hand, includes a heavy shuffle beat, a contiguous walking bass line plus slurring color waves vibrating, as Mazurek fires off choruses of presto-patterned triplets. Painting the melody in tremolo whorls and circles, the measures advanced by Mazurek are further toughened with rim shots, as simultaneously Lux picks out a counter melody on the strings of his bass guitar.

Finally “Dragon Kites” and “The Star Splitter” which follow one another encompass a catalogue of effects. There are patterns bowed from the bass; the twinge and slides of electronic delay; scattered steel-drum-like rebounds and clicks; plus rococo tonguing from the brass man. As one piece dissolves into the next and the lyricism seems endemic, repeated hand-clapping and vibraphone thwacks toughen the beat and speed the tempo up a half step. Soon ringing bells, slapped bass strings and rhythmic piano comping shove the melody to a higher pitch then down again, with the synchronized climax blending bass and piano timbres.

Both Mazurek and Hautzinger have evidentially worked their way out of their respective sound conundrums. With the exceptional help of equally proficient friends they have done so while producing notable music.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Sound: 1. As if an Angel Fell from the Sky 2. The Earthquake Tree 3. Dragon Kites 4. The Star Splitter 5. The Hill 6. Le Baiser (The Kiss) 7. The Lightning Field 8. Cinnamon Tree 9. The Dream Rocker 10. Beauty Wolf 11. Microraptagonfly 12. Aphrodite Rising 13. The Field 14. Nora Grace.

Personnel: Sound: Rob Mazurek (corner, synthesizer and piano); Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone); Josh Abrams (bass and piano); Matthew Lux (bass guitar) and John Herndon (drums, percussion and Tenori-on)

Track Listing: Town: 1. Town Down 2. Delis 3. 37rd Rainday 4. BBB 5. Sand 6. SSS

Personnel: Town: Franz Hautzinger (trumpet); Christian Fennesz (guitar and electronics); Otomo Yoshihide (turntables and guitar); Luc Ex (bass) and Tony Buck (drums)

December 12, 2009

ROVA:ORKESTROVA

Electric Ascension
Atavistic ALP159CD

Giving the symbolic finger to the museum-quality preservationists who make up most of jazz repertory companies, Rova, the Bay Area sax quartet, has audaciously created its own version of “Ascension”, John Coltrane’s seminal work from 1965. Then as further nose-thumbing to the crowd that prefers polite Duke Ellington or Miles Davis-Gil Evans style recreations, the band plus eight helpmates, has conflated the piece still further into a noise and electronic extravaganza.

What’s more, this is the second time the Rova crew has honored “Ascension”. In 1995, adding a rhythm section and additional stellar soloists such as trumpeter Raphe Malik and the late tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearman, the band created a lengthy acoustic version of Trane’s original suite. Still convinced that “Ascension” is a master work that deserves to be played even more often, Rova members Larry Ochs and Jon Raskin decided on another go round, radically changing the instrumentation without losing the composition’s essence.

Nonetheless, nay-sayers may wonder why another run at the piece is necessary. No one seems to question the seemingly endless re-recordings of Beethoven symphonies and other classics of so called serious music. Then when it comes to jazz, recording more of Ellington’s, Monk’s Mingus’ or Goodman’s most popular compositions doesn’t seem to bother anyone either. In terms of Coltrane however, while different versions of “Giant Steps” and “Equinox” are de rigueur for many sax men, “Ascension” still frightens.

After all the recording was the only time Trane surrounded himself with a large group of younger Free Jazz improvisers and it signaled for the hard-bop sentimentalists that the John Coltrane of “My Favorite Things” and the BALLADS LP had changed forever.

As unable to remain complacent in its achievements as Coltrane was in his, the four members of Rova – soprano saxophonist Bruce Ackley, alto saxophonist Steve Adams, tenor saxophonist Ochs and baritone saxophonist Raskin – have never shied away from a challenge and they meet this one with skill and equanimity. Replacing Coltrane’s ensemble of five saxes, two trumpets, piano, two basses and drums are Rova, Tin Hat Trio member Carla Kihlstedt on violin and effects; Jenny Scheinman on violin, Wilco and Vinny Golia associate Nels Cline on guitar; Fred Frith, who has worked with Ochs on many projects as a guitarist, on electric bass; and the Bay Area’s paramount Free Jazz drummer Don Robinson, a longtime associate of Spearman. Additional rhythm and noise comes from New Yorker Ikue Mori on drum machines and sampler, Japanese-based electro-acoustian Otomo Yoshihide on turntables and electronics and Chris Brown, Ochs’ associate in the band Room, with electronics.

So what’s the result? Well for a start, Robinson’s offbeat patterning and percussion exploration is as important – perhaps even more important – for this “Ascension” as Elvin Jones’ drumming was for the original. Not a polyrhythmist like Jones, he nonetheless serves as this creation’s heart beat. As distorted echoes from the electronics mix with multiphonic vibratos from the strings and power shifting from the saxophones, it’s Robinson’s accented bounces, ruffs and rebounds that serve as bonding glue.

Another standout is Raskin. With many of the sax passages and solos constituted in screaming altissimo here, his basement tones maintain their individuality, and there’s even a point midway through, when his tremolo snorts mix it up with the rough snickering of Yoshihide’s pulsating sine waves to stretch the sound development. It sort of makes you wish a baritonist like Charles Davis or Pat Patrick had made the original date.

Definitely finding a place for themselves on this one are the violinists. Scratching and side-slipping, both fiddlers make full use of sul tasto and sul ponticello runs to mark their sonic territories, sometime adding to the slurred fingering of the other strings with pizzicato fills. Scheinman has a particularly satisfying exchange with Ackley at one point, as she turns from speedy multiphonic bowing to shrilling upper partials, while he works out sour soprano tone variations. All the while Frith is proffering a thick, steadying bass pulse and Robinson detonating disconnected drum cadences and bell ringing.

Distinctive in a sideman’s role that gives him proper strictures, Cline contributes cascades of slurred fingering and pinpointed tones, infrequently using knob-twisting and whammy bar finesse to cut through the hiss and flutter of the electronics. His judicious use of distortion extends his flat picking, while the final section has him pumping out a melodic line which builds up to Spanish-styled rasgueado before the final appearance of the tune’s head. Instructively, Adams use rapid-fire phrasing and split tones to make his point against Cline’s chromatic picking. But this is merely more double counterpoint, like Ochs’ squealing exchange with scratchy violin jettes.

Ochs himself has some irregular pitched, reed-splitting demonstrative outbursts, emphasizing the honking potential of his axe with glottal punctuation. Together the four saxes push the material every which way, though true to their role as preservationists, theme snippets appear every so often.

Anti-electronic traditionalists shouldn’t despair either, since the most noticeable electronic interface occurs when curved oscillations from either Brown or Yoshihide answers Cline’s quivering semi-tones built up with delay and slurred fingering, or when Mori adds her drum-machine textures to the acoustic ones created by Robinson’s kit.

As a postlude, drums and guitars produce longer and broader strokes, violins and higher-pitched electronics shrill like the missing brass of the original LP, and everyone joins with the sax choir to gather the disparate strands for a climatic finale.

More please.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Ascension, Parts 1 through 13

Personnel: Rova: Bruce Ackley (soprano saxophone); Steve Adams (alto saxophone); Larry Ochs (tenor saxophone); Jon Raskin (baritone saxophone); plus Carla Kihlstedt (violin and effects); Jenny Scheinman (violin); Nels Cline (guitar); Fred Frith (electric bass); Don Robinson (drums); Ikue Mori (drum machines and sampler); Otomo Yoshihide (turntables and electronics) and Chris Brown (electronics)

October 10, 2005

GINO ROBAIR

Buddy Systems
Meniscus Records MNSCS 003

For an artist, putting together a compilation of selected duos and trios over a four- year period can sometimes result in sins of inclusion rather than omission. This 74 minute souvenir of Bay Area percussionist Gino Robair's partnership with 10 local and international improvisers comes awfully close to that weakness a couple of times, but manages to finally negate those flimsy spots with superior execution.

Robair, a long time member of the Splatter Trio, with a hefty background in improv, electronic music and straight composition has amassed so many playing buddies that he apologizes in the booklet for not including more of them here. He made the right choices to maintain the proper variety, though. Additionally, by playing not only what he terms meta-percussion, but also theremin, he can amplify the proceedings past any lesser ideas from his guest(s).

Most of the time, the most powerful work here comes when the percussionist is challenged by equally forceful personalities. For instance, when he joins Bay Area clarinetist Dan Plonsey or British tenor sax explorer John Butcher -- plus computer whiz Tim Perkins -- the results are memorable in different ways. Plonsey's seemingly ceaseless circular blowing sets up a challenge, to which the percussionist responds in kind, bringing out the heavy artillery in terms of cymbals, snare and bass drums so that the reed assault is tempered. On the other hand, Butcher's flutter tonguing and ascending breath control matched with Perkins' whooshes, buzzes and rumbles allows Robair to gently color the outcome.

Nevertheless, the percussionist is too self-effacing on "Tonal Vibrations", recorded with Oakland, Calif.-multi instrumentalist Oluyemi Thomas. Thomas' soprano saxophone and clarinet are so upfront that until Robair finally asserts himself with a steadfast beat, the track begins to more resemble a solo reed(s) showcase than a duo excursion.

A similar conundrum presents itself when Robair, on theremin, begins playing off against the turntables and CD players of Japanese experimenter Otomo Yoshihide. "Inappropriations" allows the two to create an accelerated soundscape of humorous robotic intensity. But "Lead me Lord", which adds Splatter sidekick Myles Boisen on CD player to the duo nearly drowns under a cacophony of sounds which resemble a vacuum cleaner, agitated bird calls, satellite signals and snatches of a religious song. Only when the pre-recorded tune creates a bedrock theme do the instrumental pieces fall into place.

Surprisingly, considering how well the similar, spacey tones of his theremin mesh with the dusky string research of Birmingham, Ala.-violin ace LaDonna Smith on "A Mysterious Vision", their other duet, "Sklarking" ranks as the disc's least successful effort. Throughout, the two seem so intense in hitting the highest-pitched, squeakiest notes in dog whistle territory that listening becomes irritating rather than intriguing.

All in all, though, the few missteps are overcome by the better material. In fact, this disc may lead you to others where Robair plays with the same musician(s) all the way though.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Tangle 2. Inappropriations* 3. Balek Scales 4. Reckless & Sinful Extravagance 5. A Mysterious Vision* 6. Integument 7. Trnava 8.Adytum 9. Sklarking*

10. Tonal vibrations 11.Dark Pleasures 12. Lead Me, Lord* 13. Ceromancy 14. Integumentation

Personnel: Gino Robair (bowed, struck and motorized percussion, theremin*) with Dan Plonsey [track 4](clarinet); John Butcher [track 1](tenor saxophone); Oluyemi Thomas [track 10](soprano saxophone, alto clarinet, percussion); Dave Barrett [track 8] (saxes, saxcello); Carla Kihlstedt [tracks 3, 11] (violin); LaDonna Smith [tracks 5, 7, 9, 13] (violin, viola, voice); Myles Boisen [tracks 8, 12] (doubleneck guitar, bass, CD player); Matthew Sperry [tracks 3, 11] (bass); Tim Perkis [tracks 1, 6, 14](computer, synthesizer); Otomo Yoshihide [tracks 2, 12] (turntables, CD players)

October 29, 2001