Hans Tammen Third Eye Orchestra

Live At Roulette
Innova 225

Expanding his electro-acoustic expertise to a creation for large ensemble, on this CD German-born, New York-based endangered guitarist Han Tammen presents two mesmerizing suites from his 13-piece Third Eye Orchestra.

Apparently unfazed by the superstition about 13, Tammen doesn’t perform, but instead conducts and arranges in real time. Likewise ignoring the superstitious angle, some of Manhattan’s most accomplished and innovative musicians – and one ringer – handle with aplomb Tammen’s creation which calls for equal facility with improvisation and notated music, acoustic instrumental techniques and familiarity with electronic excursions. Although billed as two, six-part versions of the same piece – “Antecedent” and “Consequence” – it’s a tribute to all concerned that neither version mirrors the other. While the separately titled tracks exhibit certain homogeneity, soloists never eschew individuality even while blending with the others in section work or contrasting passages.

The ringer here is trombonist Detlef Landeck, a musical associate of Tammen’s from the Fatherland. Having flown from Germany especially for the concert, his contributions are particularly expressive. On “Antecedent: Part III: Mdina Experience” for instance, the measured dual keyboard pulsations and backbeat percussion cushion a contrapuntal duet between Stomu Takeishi’s thumb-popping electric bass and Landeck’s wide-ranging brays and blurts that finally swell to full-fledged gutbucket slurs. Mixing Trad Jazz-style wah-wahs and New music-like staccato tonguing on “Consequent: Part I: Istres Control”, Landeck matches Briggan Krauss’ baritone saxophone growls which in themselves proceed chromatically with the single-mindedness and strength of a boar searching for truffles. Then as part of Consequent’s finale, the last measures of pitch-sliding strings plus percussionist Satoshi Takeishi’s dense backbeat are superseded by dexterous tongue slaps and unaltered air forced through Landeck’s s horn’s body tube, adumbrating the concluding silence.

Overall nearly every sonic incursion corresponds with Tammen’s game plan, and eventually becomes interlocking parts of the whole. Hear Krauss’ work for other instances. Not just a low-pitched sax specialist, on alto saxophone he contributes jagged glissandi that at times balance the subtle murmuring from Dafna Naphtali’s sound-processed voice and elsewhere provide altissimo comments on metronomic piano chording. Meanwhile, Robert Dick’s sharp flute shrills moderate Krauss’ low-pitched sax lines at points and in another instance operate alongside spiccato slides from the string quartet.

Among the other textures in use by members of the lucky 13 are mercurial pitch-sliding and sharp, dissonant string slices from cellist Tomas Ulrich; zither-like twanging and rebounding from Denman Maroney’s prepared piano; plus Ursel Schlicht double-timed syncopation that expands from pecking, clipping and popping whether she plays acoustic piano or electric keyboard.

Not that some instruments’ traditional tones are neglected either. “Antecedent: Part V: Verrano” for example, begins with a violin solo from Mark Feldman that is almost classically pure in execution. As Maroney’s keyboard contributes further flowing patterns, the result resembles a chamber recital – especially when the other strings join with unison romantic glissandi.

Taken as a whole, both versions of the composition abound with similar connections and contrasts. “Consequent: Part IV: Intentionally Left Blank” for one, layers abrasive and shuddering multi-stops from the strings alongside vamping horn timbres and burbling, motor-driven electronic whizzing, held together by a solid bass line. But to isolate the praiseworthy skill that goes into the band members creating yet another slithering keyboard run or a bit of flying spiccato from a fiddler would be pointless.

More generic to the session is the realization that as a conductor, arranger and conceptualizer, Tammen now appears to have equaled his skill as an instrumentalist. One would hope that more large-scale works are planned for the future.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Antecedent: 1. Part I. Opening 2. Part II. Death Clock I 3. Part III: Mdina Experience 4. Part IV Coup d’Archet 5. Part V: Verrano 6. Part VI: Triadic Closure Consequent: 7. Part I: Istres Control 8. Part II: Subtle Inconsistencies 9. Part III: Zipangu 10. Part IV: Intentionally Left Blank 11. Part V: Treadmill 12. Part VI: Red Eye

Personnel: Detlef Landeck (trombone); Briggan Krauss (alto and baritone saxophones); Marty Ehrlich (bass clarinet, alto saxophone and flute); Robert Dick (flute and, contrabass flute); Mari Kimura and Mark Feldman (violins); Stephanie Griffin (viola); Tomas Ulrich (cello); Stomu Takeishi (electric bass); Ursel Schlicht and Denman Maroney (piano and keyboard); Satoshi Takeishi (percussion); Dafna Naphtali (voice and live sound-processing) and Hans Tammen (concept and real-time arrangement)

December 17, 2009

Ned Rothenberg

The Fell Clutch
Animul 105

Playful and profound at the same time, this CD by multi-reedman Ned Rothenberg’s well-paced trio confirms that the separation between cerebral improvisation and body conscious grooves is narrower than most would imagine – as long as there’s a singularity of purpose.

Usually dedicated to highly technical woodwind explorations and collaborations with the likes of saxophonist Evan Parker, or World music inferences with like-minded players such as tabla player Samir Chatterjee, Rothenberg, the New York-based clarinetist and saxophonist adopts harder beats here. Featuring drummer Tony Buck, of the Australian trance-jazz band The Necks and fretless electric bass player Stomu Takeishi, who is in trumpeter Cuong Vu’s punky jazz trio, plus slide guitarist Dave Tronzo on three tracks, there’s a rock-like sensibility present.

Luckily the excess and irrationality associated with electric instruments and fusion is absent. Instead Rothenberg and company spend time playing with the conventions of tougher, electric-oriented sounds before ascending to out-and-out Free Impov. During his appearances, Tronzo makes the case that flanged, guitar bites, wah-wah pedal tones and fuzz-tone reverb can be legitimate responses to a reed’s portamento and glissandi as long as bass guitar reverb and steady drum beats keep the sound on course. “Paint Drum” in fact, gains its character from Tronzo’s and Rothenberg’s sympathetic double counterpoint. True to form while the reed player’s timbres indicate that he could be playing a musette or a raita, Tronzo’s resonation suggests he’s finger-picking an oud or a shamisen.

On his own Rothenberg adapts such extended techniques as circular breathing to successfully interact with Takeishi’s double stops and string-patting and Buck’s rattles, snaps and foot stomps. The drummer’s most distinctive outing appear on “Brainy and Footsy” when the reedist’s woody tongue slaps and the bassist’s note thumping frame inverse pulsations, cross patterns and hard sticking. These polyrhythms layer additional beats onto the program without negating reductionist scene-setting that lurks beneath the surface.

Both the minimal and maximal impulses get full exposure on the more than 15 minute “Epic In Difference”. Resonating slaps from the bass guitar; clattering beats that could variously come from finger cymbals or tam-tams; and thin, electric shaver-like buzzing from the bass clarinet combine in such a way that hocketing overtones and echoes are exposed as well as primary nodes. Advancing from a series of chalumeau lines, by the conclusion Rothenberg’s continuous, overblowing reed buzzing is replaced by highly rhythmic tongue slaps that meld with bass guitar wallops and cymbal friction.

Commencing with over-riding rhythms and ending with unexpected improvisational ploys, in a way the band reflects the history of jazz. Less metaphorically, the CD satisfies because no member rejects any musical current when it can be meshed with others.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Moment of Reloading 2. Life in Your Years* 3. Food for A Rambling 4. No Memes, Mom* 5. Paint Drum* 6. Brainy and Footsy 7. Dream by Day 8. The Violet Sheds 9. Epic in Difference 10. Ashes+

Personnel: Ned Rothenberg (clarinet and bass clarinets and alto saxophone); Dave Tronzo (slide guitar)*; Stomu Takeishi (fretless electric bass); Joe Williamson (bass) + and Tony Buck (drums)

October 25, 2006

ERIK FRIEDLANDER

Prowl
Cryptogramophone CG 127

MARCIN OLEŒ & BARTOLMIEJ “BRAT” OLEŒ
Chamber Quintet
Fenommedia FM 05 003

By Ken Waxman

Until about 15 years ago the chance of finding a cellist in an improvised music situation was as likely as discovering a banjo in a philharmonic situation. Occasionally bassists would double on the smaller instrument, but that was about it.

Radical changes occurred in the 1990s though and improv cello players are now as common as trombonists. Today, New York’s Erik Friedlander is the pre-eminent American improv cellist, with a C.V. that stretches from work in the Masada String Trio to gigs with Laurie Anderson and with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier. Friedlander’s long suit is his adaptability, and these CDs show off two facets of his skills. CHAMBER QUINTET is just that, a mixing of the cellist’s formalistic timbres, with Belgian Emmanuelle Somer’s oboe and English horn, American Michael Rabinowitz’s bassoon plus bass an drums, the later two instruments played by the highly-talented Oleœ brothers of Poland, who also wrote all 11 compositions in this recital.

Taking a far left turn from the other CD, PROWL, with the cellist own Topaz band, is a compendium of rock music, African rhythms and notated and improvised sounds. It features another brother duo in the rhythm section: electric bassist Stomu Takeishi and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, plus Andy Laster on alto saxophone and clarinet.

Pleasant enough, the CHAMBER QUINTET is essentially a recital, most concerned with the textures and timbres available by polyphonically melding the familiar tones of the traditional European instruments. Thus, although Somer has played improvised music with the likes of American trumpeter Dave Douglas, and Rabinowitz is deeply involved with jazz ensembles, playing with the Mingus Orchestra and bassist Joe Fonda, the compositions and arrangements mostly limit their contributions to traditional sounds; and it’s the same with the cellist.

Furthermore, most of the compositions seem to relate closely to romantic, impressionistic and baroque antecedents. This makes the date retrogressive, considering that the brothers, German clarinetist Rudi Mahall and Romanian pianist Mircea Tiberian improvised on themes written by modern comparers on a superior 2002 CD.

Languid and mellow most of the time, each of the tunes is well modulated, with the bassoon’s velvety richness featured much more than the lower-pitched growls and snorts of which the instrument is capable. His vibrating chest tones make an appearance once, and then only briefly.

It’s the same story with Somer. Her double reed’s ability to produce staccato squeals and tremolo pinched arches are downplayed for a melodious exoticism. Framed in liquid double counterpoint with the bassoonist many times, the serpentine qualities of the oboe are often also voiced to intersect with formalistic lines from the other front-liners. Other times she flutters a speedier line on top of the others, as if she’s playing Dixieland clarinet.

“Brat” Oleœ’ drumming is usually on a steady boil, providing the bottom for his faux 19th century melodies. Cymbal thunder, stallion clip-clops and martial beats add variety to his accompaniment. However, there never seems to be a point where the full extent of his kit command is on display, as it is elsewhere. Ditto for Marcin Oleœ. If his brother’s flams, rebounds and bounces never quite reach transcendence, then Marcin too sticks to basic, low-pitched walking in a straight line. Guitar-like chromatic picking and spiccato patterning are left to the cellist.

Without wanting to cause a Cain and Abel conflict among the Oleœ, “Rien que nous deux…” a composition of the bassist’s designed to feature him and Friedlander, offers more scope than most of his brother’s tunes. A melodious intermezzo, the piece showcases his rubato stroking while the cellist’s spiccato lines quicken to spiraling arpeggios.

Friedlander’s playing is less constrained on PROWL, although the nine compositions, written, except for one, by the cellist, approach another tradition, that of ethno-folk music with Arabic as well as Klezmer associations. These strands are most evident in the clarinet playing of Laster, whose background encompasses big and small bands and a stint with singer Lyle Lovett, but no obvious Jewish soul music.

At the same time, any Eastern European dance rhythms or flamenco-like pizzicato styling on the CD must take into account thumb-popping electric bass work from Stomu Takeishi, moderated by his improv association in bands led by pianist Myra Melford or reedist Henry Threadgill. Meantime Satoshi Takeishi’s percussion is informed by his backing of Brazilian jazz pianist Eliane Elias and Latin rhythm masters like Ray Barretto and Carlos “Patato” Valdes.

Not that there’s anything overly Latin in his performance; most of the time he ignores any sort of overt beat, preferring to hand drum with bongo-like resonation, sizzle thin textures from his cymbals, shake maracas or bluntly strike a surface to create tones similar to a kettle drum. Often when that rhythmic underpinning meets his brother’s vibrated bass lines, adding the cellist’s double-stopping arco plus Laster’s pitch-vibrated and trilling clarinet arpeggios suggests a countrified chamber recital with an undercurrent of primitivism. Sprightly double counterpoint between the reedman’s alto saxophone and the cello turn to R&B-like vamps balancing percussionist Takeishi’s contrapuntal percussion.

Elsewhere, as on “7th Sister”, bassist Takeishi makes a point of creating a pedal- point sliding buzz from his instrument, the better to dovetail with the ratcheting hand percussion from his brother, as Friedlander switches from intricate finger picking to flying staccato phrasing. “Rain Bearers” is a long semi-ceremonial track featuring unattached rhythms from the percussionist, which click together as if he was dancing in tap shoes.

More positively, “A Dangerous Game” is the one time Friedlander seems to put his languid impressionism aside and shrill extended, double-stopping, almost-Billy-Bangish string sawing, while “A Closer Walk with Thee”, the set’s one standard, is given a folksy reading. Here Laster’s double-stopping reed syncopation resembling what you might hear on a 1940s disc by clarinetist George Lewis. Backbeats and cymbal smacks find their way into the familiar melody, confirming Topaz’s individuality, but as in other places, distracting from the main theme.

These CDs may be worth investigating for Friedlander fans, but overall it appears as if too may of the improv elements in both are subordinated to conceits that adhere too closely to folkloric or semi-classical sounds.

Track Listing: Chamber: 1. Abyss 2. Galileo 3. Eternity 4. Enigma 5. Rien que nous deux… 6. Reflection 7. Horror vacui 8. Phoenix 9. Desert Walk 10. Nostalgia 11. Source

Personnel: Chamber: Emmanuelle Somer (oboe and English horn); Michael Rabinowitz (bassoon); Erik Friedlander (cello); Marcin Oleœ (bass); Bartlomiej “Brat” Oleœ (drums)

Track Listing: Prowl: 1. Howling Circle 2. Anhinga 3. Prowl 4. Chanting 5. 7th Sister 6. Rain Bearers 7. A Dangerous Game 8. A Closer Walk with Thee 9. Najime

Personnel: Prowl: Andy Laster (alto saxophone and clarinet); Erik Friedlander (cello); Stomu Takeishi (electric bass); Satoshi Takeishi (percussion)

October 2, 2006

JENNY SCHEINMAN

12 Songs
Cryptogramophone CG125

CUONG VU
It’s Mostly Residual
Artists Share No #

Guitarist Bill Frisell is a featured player on both these CDs, which also include among the personnel a bassist, a drummer and a cornetist or trumpeter. Each is lead by a youngish instrumentalist, brought up on the West Coast and whose talent has subsequently led to high-profile gigs in New York, where both now live. Two more dissimilar sessions you couldn’t imagine.

It isn’t just the personnel, although IT’S MOSTLY RESIDUAL is a quartet date and the group on some of 12 SONGS’ tracks swells to septet size. Rather it’s that the former disc is on this side of frantic, completing trumpet Cuong Vu’s trilogy of almost punk-rock fuelled releases – albeit this time in quartet, rather than trio formation. When the pace slows down the unforced, polyphonic tones resemble some of the hipper lines written by guitarist Pat Metheny, in whose group, the Seattle-raised Vu has been featured the past few years.

Conversely, violinist Jenny Scheinman’s release is mostly folksy and laid back, infused with the rowdy, under-inhabited spirit of the back-to-the-land California commune where she was raised. At the same time, the CD doesn’t the neglect other facets of her experience, which at gigs in the Bay area and then New York, have included membership in the avant-rock band, The Charming Hostesses, backing singers Norah Jones and Elvis Costello, a niche in most of Frisell’s recent projects, part of the Big Apple Circus band and a duo with adventurous pianist Myra Melford.

Vu himself admits that IT’S MOSTLY RESIDUAL is the “last part of a period for me, where [bassist] Stomu [Takeishi] and I stumbled onto an approach and developed it and now we’re pretty much ready to move on to something else.” Not a minute too soon either can be added.

As good as some of the material on the CD is – and some of it is quite exceptional – the freshness behind the concept is beginning to fade. Vu’s idea of recreating power trio energy with his trumpet in the lead guitar role has worked well in the past. But the presence of Frisell’s real guitar unbalances the equation. More than that, as much as the guitarist’s heated flanges, rapid arpeggios and echoing riffs try to approximate energetic soloing, Frisell’s Eddie Van Halen-style licks often muddy the songs. Besides, today it seems, the fretman would much rather be Chet Atkins.

For instance, “Blur” features the guitarist’s chromatic frills that quickly turn to New Country licks, leaving the toughening of the beat to drummer Ted Poor – who also plays with guitarist Ben Monder – as well as dominant organ-like chords modulating from Takeishi’s electric fretless bass. Initially freeing enough space so that Vu can vibrate wall-of-sound radung-like tones from his horn, Frisell’s use of pulsing delays to distort and expand his string palate, makes the backing so dense and crowded that the trumpeting is almost lost.

On the preceding piece, Vu cuts his way through this rococo layering with a set of heraldic rubato notes. There are a few too many spacey Matheny-style echoes throughout, however. In truth, the individuality and palpable excitement of the Vu trio should arise from the trumpeter’s braying timbres extending an improvisation as if he’s scraping the internal metallic finish from his axe. Vu shouldn’t have to, as he does on “Blur” and “Brittle, Like Twigs”, make own his way as the guitarist tries out desultory guitar hero histrionics, and the bassist and drummer chug along like Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker backing Eric Clapton.

More notable, “Patchwork”, an almost 13-minute, long-lined impressionistic piece aims to be a Roots-Americana-style ballad. The guitarist finger-picks a rapid series of reverberating arpeggios as steady beats ease from hand drumming to martial. Finally Frisell and Vu connect in such a way that the Vu’s electronically triggered oscillations nearly replicate a second guitar line. As the two pan across the composition with alternating ratcheting and rippling hard pulses, it’s as if they’re two parts of the same instrument.

Frisell’s dual musical personality flashing between psychedelica and folksy at times undermines what Vu and Takeishi worked so hard to attain. This CD doesn’t impress as much as earlier trio discs.

A similar situation exists with 12 SONGS, but with Frisell apparently more in tune with his erstwhile sideperson’s vibe – and with more players available among which to spread the musical contours – the fissures aren’t as noticeable. However, lesser moments do occur in many of the shorter pieces. Scheinman possesses a sentimental streak as deep as the Mississippi, it seems, and too many of these balladic outings turn syrupy enough to resemble background fodder for oldsters’ dance lesson. Waltz-like and folksy, not only is the fiddler’s output solipsistic, but Frisell’s licks migrate past Atkins’ country-pop into lulling country-pap territory.

An obvious near miss is “Albert”, an adagio hymn dedicated to Albert Ayler. Featuring a meandering melody built around unfocused drumming from Dan Rieser and quivering accordion lines from Rachelle Garniez, it captures the saxophonist’s spirituality, but not his energy. Imagine any Ayler tune played by Fairport Convention and you’ll get the idea.

Luckily there are other more favorable tracks. “Antenna” initially balances on the contrast between country and western guitar lines and Middle Eastern-style bass clarinet riffs before oozing into near-minimalism. Frisell cranks up sharp, dissonant riffs, Scheinman counters with cross pulsations, cornetist Ron Miles spins out tremolo notes and bassist Tim Luntzel and Rieser rustle timbres sympathetically. With its cascading guitar snaps and contrapuntal fiddle swipes “Song of the Open Road” sounds like the kind of hobo song Woody Guthrie would have recorded if he was backed by funk-jazz guitarist Grant Green. And, despite its title, “Little Calypso” is a simple – almost simplistic melody of pumping near circus music that moves in rondo fashion around riffs created by Garniez’s calliope-like claviola, Doug Wieselman’s clarinet and Scheinman emphasizing the deeper, viola-like tones of her fiddle.

Lead off “The Frog Threw His Head Back and Laughed” has some of the guitarist’s best work as he joins with the accordionist to slide bluesy licks behind Miles’ mid-range trills and Scheinman’s fiddle work which calls on both Klezmer and Roma traditions.

An impressive group effort and showcase for Scheinman’s 12 songs, what’s really lacking is more tightening and focus.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Residual: 1. It’s Mostly Residual 2. Expressions of a Neurotic Impulse 3. Patchwork 4. Brittle, Like Twigs 5. Chitter Chatter 6. Blur

Personnel: Residual: Cuong Vu (trumpet); Bill Frisell (guitar,); Stomu Takeishi (electric fretless bass); Ted Poor (drums)

Track Listing: Songs: 1. The Frog Threw His Head Back and Laughed* 2. Song of the Open Road 3. Moe Hawk* 4. Sleeping in the Aquifer 5. The Buoy Song* 6. She Couldn’t Believe It Was True 7. Suza 8. Little Calypso 9. Satellite 10. Antenna 11. Albert 12. June 21

Personnel: Songs: Ron Miles (cornet [all tracks but 4, 6]); Doug Wieselman (clarinets*); Jenny Scheinman (violin); Rachelle Garniez (accordion [1-4, 6, 11-12], piano (5, 9), claviola (7, 8) Bill Frisell (guitar [all tracks but 8, 9]); Tim Luntzel (bass [all tracks but 8, 9]); Dan Rieser (drums [all tracks but 8, 9])

March 13, 2006

MYRA MELFORD’S THE TENT

Where the Two Worlds Touch
Arabesque AJ0159

THE FONDA/STEVENS GROUP
Twelve improvisations
Leo CD LR 394

Building on jazz’s standard two-horns-and-rhythm combo format, these CDs impress by showing how the players manage to make things new by tweaking sounds to match their own aspirations.

A team for over 20 years, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens and bassist Joe Fonda do this by not only insisting that all the sounds on their CD be completely improvised, but by adding another voice to the line-up. French alto and baritone saxophonist Daunik Lazro is one of that country’s foremost experimenters, working in contexts as varied as solo recitals and bands with saxophonist Michel Doneda and Joe McPhee. Here his unique articulation and sound sources add another dimension to that supplied by the pianist, bassist, long-time drummer Harvey Sorgen, and endlessly inventive trumpeter Herb Robertson, who has worked with Fonda and Stevens in various bands, on-and-off for more than a decade.

Pianist Myra Melford approach to the situation is a bit different. Following her Fulbright scholarship-sponsored, nine-month residency in Calcutta, this session finds her integrating the sounds of Northern India on harmonium with her own influences which range from distinctive poetics to salutes to earlier jazz heroes. Furthermore, her band, The Tent, melds sidefolk from her earlier combos. Trumpeter Cuong Vu and bassist Stomu Takeishi -- who are both in Vu’s trio -- join with busy Manhattan reedist Chris Speed and drummer Kenny Wollesen who has played with John Zorn.

Encompassing sampled traffic noises and vocal exhortations recorded in Calcutta, “No News At All” is the only track that directly refers to Melford’s experience on the subcontinent. But the accordion-like repetitive riffs she produces on the harmonium and the drummer’s backbeat color that so-called exotica in a different way. So do Vu’s brassy squeals and Speed’s clarinet trills, both of which end in sibilant whistles. If anything the end product resembles a jolly tarantella more than Hindustani music. Not only that, but any time Takeishi is front and centre, his flat picking, thumb pops and flailing confirms that these are bass guitars he’s playing not a sarod or an acoustic stand up bass.

Harmonium timbres may be on display in a viscous mixture with a clarinet reed on the nearly 12 minute “Where the Ocean Misquotes the Sky”, but that doesn’t stop Melford from eventually switching to high frequency piano tone clusters to emphasize the theme. Shortly after that, her cascading overtones and modal attack introduce pure swing accompanied by press rolls from the drummer and a walking bass line. Earlier, any eclogue resemblance is lost among the trumpeter’s glottal smears and slurs. With the horns playing double counterpoint quietly in background, the pianist gradually gooses the tempo to a satisfactory conclusion.

Or listen to “Brainfire and Buglight” where a jagged swaying and hocketing tenor line mixes it up with irregular note clusters from the piano, electric bass blasts that sound like tuba toots, and rolls and flams from the drummer. As Speed becomes more aggressively abstract, and Vu adds quacking runs and basso pedal tones, Melford keep everything together with glissandi.

Summation of all this is “Hello Dreamers (for Lester Bowie)”, which celebrates the pan musicalism of the late Art Ensemble trumpeter. Beginning with Vu approximating Bowie’s sour tone, varied drum work and a massed polyphonic horn line soon double the tempo to a more ambulatory, almost joyous pace. Following Speed’s exhibition of double tonguing and split tones, Melford turns to key clipping for a spell. Then she slows the tempo down to a two handed quasi boogie-woogie exercise, propelling cascading note clusters into different tempos and harmonies. Enlivened by a splayed Rent Party beat, the piece reaches a galloping climax, then reprises the melancholy section at the top.

At home or abroad, the power of improvised music means that you can be celebratory even in the midst of sorrow.

Alive with a dozen improvisations to Melford’s eight, Fonda, Stevens and crew have more scope in which to exhibit their talents. Additionally, while these may be TWELVE IMPROVISATIONS, they’re definitely not 12 pieces of indulged abstraction. Veterans, each member of the quintet knows what he can do, and gets enough space to do it within a group context.

Take, “Distant Voices,” at almost 9½-minutes the longest track. Here modulated stick pressure and knuckle duster rolls from Sorgen lead into ponticello bowing from Fonda and the continuous spew of accented timbres from Robertson. As Lazro adds harmonic color, the trumpeter’s lines get more expressive and legato. Soon the brassman is chromatically severing single notes as Stevens accompanies him with church-like low frequency chords. Lazro, now on baritone, smoothly resonates underneath, as Robertson decorates the line with stairstep obbligatos.

The Frenchman’s bari can squeal as well as snort as he demonstrates on “Talking Drum”, most of which is taken up by Sorgen doing just that. Lazro double tongues searing altissimo squeaks that are later amplified by Robertson’s quivering valves. Meanwhile the percussionist resonates, rattles and rolls as if he was playing a bata or a darbuka, using his palms, fingers and palms more than his sticks.

Robertson and he exhibit classic teamwork between brassy triplets and pardiddles and flams on the aptly named “Call and Response”. Throughout the CD, the trumpeter seems to be functioning at a level even higher than in years past, having finally exchanged European expatriate life for the United States.

Two example of this are “Extracurricular Activity” and “The Meeting”. The former finds Stevens’ high frequency, circular piano accents succeeded by split-second, tongue stopping blasts from Lazro and exaggerated wah-wah blowing from Robertson in Clyde McCoy mode.

More serious, the latter sets up a series of meetings among the group members. Concerned with cascading chords and right-handed plinking, Stevens pushing broken note patterns into a swinging centre meets rumbles, glances and bounces from Sorgen. Then Harmon-muted tones from Robertson meet sharp slurs from Lazro’s alto, As the trumpeter maintains his feathery timbres, staying concise and concentrated, Lazro moves to split tones and lip vibrations.

Sometimes the sounds move far beyond the expected. Arco bass lines and pronged internal piano string constraint on “In the Distance” are succeeded by what could be electro-acoustic oscillation and distortion mated with buzzing brass tones. As Fonda cushions everyone with arco bustles both high-pitched and lower, Lazro adds altissimo flutter tonguing. Finally the resolution appears in Stevens rubbing the internal piano strings with a light, cylindrical object as Robertson continues twittering short phrases on his own, as if he was a homeless person mumbling to himself.

Improvisations also include variations on jazz’s bedrock, with “Front and Center” a finger snapping blues piano showcase, complete with rolling drumbeats and walking bass. Andante, Stevens reveals his inner Red Garland and Fonda displays a bass line that would do Milt Hinton proud. Only at the very end does Lazro contribute dissonant split tones and irregular vibrated slurs and cries.

If the CD has a weakness, it’s that the final track founders on slow moving hard handed descending piano tones and a whiny, vibrated trumpet egress. Considering what went before the CD should end with a flourish not a whimper.

Still one lapse can be forgiven.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Worlds: 1. Eight 2. Where the Two Worlds Touch (for Andrew Hill) 3. Brainfire and Buglight 4. Where the Ocean Misquotes the Sky 5. Secrets To Tell You 6. Everything Today 7. Hello Dreamers (for Lester Bowie) 8. No News At All

Personnel: Worlds: Cuong Vu (trumpet); Chris Speed (clarinet and tenor saxophone); Myra Melford (piano and harmonium); Stomu Takeishi (electric and acoustic bass guitar); Kenny Wollesen (drums)

Track Listing: Twelve: 1. Ostrich 2. The Meeting 3. Electricity 4.In the Distance 5.Talking Drum 6. Extracurricular Activity 7. Front and Center 8. Call and Response 9. Dante’s Inferno 10. Distant Voices 11. Bariphonics 12. Trance

Personnel: Twelve: Herb Robertson (trumpet); Daunik Lazro (alto and baritone saxophones); Michael Jefry Stevens (piano); Joe Fonda (bass); Harvey Sorgen (drums)

August 30, 2004

ERIK FRIEDLANDER AND TOPAZ

Quake
Cryptogramophone CG 118

PERLIUIGI BLALDUCCI
Il Peso Delle Nuvole
Splasc (h) CDH 852.2

Building an improv band around a cello is no longer the novelty it would have been 10 years ago.

To give some examples: American expatriate Tristan Honsinger is all over European CDs whether they’re by big bands or small combos; Fred Lonberg-Holm seems to turn up on every second session recorded in Chicago; and Vancouver-based Peggy Lee has been a member of different-sized bands throughout North America and Europe.

Two of the most accomplished of this group of low-string benders are New York’s Erik Friedlander, best known for his membership in the Masada String Trio and pianist Myra Melford’s The Same River, Twice bands, and Amsterdam’s Ernst Reijseger, formerly of the Clusone Trio and the ICP Orchestra.

QUAKE gives Friedlander a platform on which to express his compositional ideas, while IL PESO DELLE NUVOLE, makes Reijseger’s cello an important construct in the Italian band of bassist Pierluigi Balducci. With very similar instrumentation, including drums and saxophone, plus Stomu Takeishi on the first CD, and Balducci on his own disc playing both electric and acoustic basses, the sessions offer an unparalleled opportunity to compare different products.

Classically trained Friedlander has packed 12 tunes on his session, which overall could probably have benefited from a bit more musical levity. However, Friedlander, whose other employers have included saxophonist Joe Lovano and classical violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, has plenty of room to express his versatility here.

Meanwhile, Bari-based Balducci, who plays in a world music group, as well as in jazz contexts with the likes of trumpeter Pino Minafra and saxophonist Tino Tracanna, takes more of a lighthearted approach to his nine compositions. IL PESO works best when he gives his ethnic considerations full reign, less so when his tunes replicate wan contemporary jazz.

To begin with QUAKE, “Gol Gham”, from the repertoire of Persian singer Googoosh, becomes a cello fantasia with definite Middle Eastern accents. From a mild beginning, it ratchets up in intensity only to subside into a steady, walking pace.

“Glass Bell”, on the other hand, written by the cellist like all tracks but two, has a sneaky Saturday Morning cartoon feel, fabricated from the cello’s andante pizzicato line. It also echoes some of the rock-improv experiments that the late cellist Tom Cora attempted. Certainly the mallet-driven rattling percussion from Satoshi Takeishi, who has worked with popularizes like flautist Herbie Mann and New Agers the Paul Winter Consort, is no jazz sound. Neither is the bass guitar solo -- all thumb pops, fuzztones and Artrock slides -- from his brother Stomu Takeishi, who improv bona fides include stints with Melford and reedist Henry Threadgill.

Alternately, “Beauty Beauty”, the CD’s longest track, has a burnished classical feel, mostly advanced by legato cello work. That abates mid-way through when Friedlander reenters following the others’ solos and gradually shatters his carefully pitched and modulated tones into first speedy suggestion of a freylach, then staccato triple stopping, slicing out extended slurs.

Alto saxophonist Andy Laster, whose notes bounce around that tune, produces a trilling line on the fast-paced “Biscuits”, that when coupled with the Takeishi brothers’ power groove suggests Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time band. Later, the reedist, who has played with everyone from The Julius Hemphill Sextet, to Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, adds a touch of avant-experimentation that includes octave-spanning blasts and circular twirls around Friedlander’s arco cello part.

Overall, the performers’ flexibility -- which include classical kettledrum pitches, the sound of an African ngoni, low-key reed flutter tonguing and rock-style bass guitar forays -- keeps the CD interesting. But, after a while, you wish there were fewer tunes so that the band could work out a consistent formula instead of parading musical chameleon tricks each time out.

Balducci has a similar challenge. The five Apulian musicians -- including pianist Mirko Signorile, who has played with trumpeter Enrico Rava -- are excellent on the rollicking quicker numbers that make up part of the disc. But when the tempo falls so does the players’ fervor. Legato seems to give way to largo and Roberto Ottaviano’s soprano saxophone lines are so blanched that you fear Smooth Jazz will arrive any minute. That’s particularly odd, since the veteran saxophonist has worked in elevated projects put together by thinkers like Italian pianist Giorgio Gaslini and Swiss drummer Pierre Favre.

Perhaps the shortcoming is Balducci’s. Since a recent film by Catherine Breillat used one of his compositions as its main theme, he may have fallen into the habit of imaging some pieces as accompanying music, rather than as standalone compositions. This is particularly apparent in the middle section of the disc, where a series of episodic, romantic ballads seem to offer up gracefulness and little else. Signorile’s slow, double-timed piano touch starts to sound less than Bill Evans-like expansiveness and more like Peter Nero’s empty facility.

Even the title track -- in two parts -- nearly sinks into lugubrious melancholy until bass guitar plucks, car horn-like sax cadences and some cello whacks on the strings gives it a lift. As drummer Vincenzo Lanzo, who has played with Rava and Minafra produces metallic cymbal chimes and drum rolls, the theme swells and his series of roughs and drags are smoothly answered by a combination of cello and saxophone tones.

The first and final version of “Woland’s Polka” puts one in mind of lively pieces from the Italian Instabile and Globe Unity Orchestra. Here the piano first carries the dance melody before going into right-handed tremolo tinkles, and the 2/4 rhythm is amplified by snaking arco cello lines and finger-picking guitar-like passages from the bassist. Reprised at the end of the CD, the tune is yet more extroverted, even anarchistic. With the theme bouncing along on steady bass guitar runs, Reijseger’s bowing suggests country fiddle hoedowns as much as Bohemian country-dances.

Balducci reserves his versatility for “Milonga Bajo La Luna”, the longest track. Here he shows off fleet passages on bass that could come from acoustic Spanish guitar, while the combination of strings and piano suggest a rural accordion band. Ottaviano squeezes out chirps, while Signorile produces a tango-like beat, until he unveils intersecting rhythms from each hand. Lanzo shuffles out a beat that swings in a non-jazz manner, and Reijseger constructs his solo from that small patch of strings beneath the tuning pegs.

When all five musicians come to a satisfying unison crescendo at the end you can hear exactly what Balducci as a composer, instrumentalist and bandleader is capable of creating. IL PESO DELLE NUVOLE could have used a bit more of that freedom, which hopefully will be on display next time out.

As it stands now, it’s only cellophiles who will probably be most impressed by this album and QUAKE.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Quake: 1. Consternation 2. After Hours 3. Bedlam 4. Gol Gham 5. Wire 6. Beauty Beauty 7. Quake 8. Sainted 9. Glass Bell 10. Biscuits 11. Aap Ki 12. Fig

Personnel: Quake: Andy Laster (alto saxophone); Erik Friedlander (cello); Stomu Takeishi (bass guitar, acoustic electric bass); Satoshi Takeishi (percussion)

Track Listing: Peso: 1. Woland’s Polka 2. Milonga Bajo La Luna 3. Son de la Rosa (intro) $. Son de la Rosa 5. Deviens Ce Que Tu Es 6. Leggero 7. Il Peso Delle Nuvole - part 1 8. Il Peso Delle Nuvole - part 2 9. Woland’s Polka (again)

Personnel: Peso: Roberto Ottaviano (soprano saxophone); Ernst Reijseger (cello); Mirko Signorile (piano); Pierluigi Balducci (bass, electric bass); Vincenzo Lanzo (drums)

August 4, 2003

HENRY THREADGILL & MAKE A MOVE

Everybodys Mouth’s A Book
PI Recordings PI01

HENRY THREADGILL’S ZOOID
Up Popped The Two Lips
PI Recordings PI02

Five years after his unsatisfactory major label dalliance ended, composer/saxophonist Henry Threadgill is back with not one, but two new CDs on a brand-new label. Showcasing one quintet and an almost wholly different sextet performing new Threadgill’s pieces, the sessions are exhilarating and comfortable at the same time. That’s because the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)’s most iconoclastic writer is still finding new ways to express himself while staying faithful to the jaunty compositional system he developed as long ago as the early 1990s.

There are some changes however. With Zooid for instance, he has added an oud -- played by Tarik Benbrahim -- to what now seems to be standard Threadgill instrumentation of acoustic guitar (played by Liberty Ellman), cello (Dana Leong), tuba (Jose Davila), drums (Dafnis Prieto) and his own alto saxophone and flute. Make A Move -- which has existed for some time -- may have Threadgill and the same drummer on board, but the band is filled out by Bryan Carrott’s vibes or marimba, Brandon Ross’s guitars and Stomu Takeishi’s basses.

Threadgill has been quoted as saying that while his music may be “radically different” most listeners don’t cotton on to that “because the difference in approach doesn’t sound radical”. Without construing this as a put down, you can say that he writes easy listening atonal music. Both these CDs reflect the sum total of the reedman’s musical experience. This includes improvisations with his own combos such as Air and Very, Very Circus, stints playing in marching and army bands while in the military, and sounds created when he was jobbing in show bands, pit bands and even funeral bands.

Well, actually, except for the underpinning of a couple of sorrowful ballads, there’s a lot less of the last type of music than any other -- most of the compositions seem pretty upbeat. Plus like Ornette Coleman, Julius Hemphill and other canny creators of his generation, Threadgill knows that most folks will accept all sorts of deviance in the front line just as long as there’s a steady beat in the background.

Cuban drummer Prieto obviously fits the bill as beat master and the only holdover on both discs. And he justifies this faith with the subtle use of Latin accents from his cowbells and wood blocks. The electric pulse of Takeishi’s basses adds to the drum cushion in Make A Move, while Davila near-unvarying brass bottom linked to Prieto’s percussion pushes does the same for Zooid.

Make A Move also gets its shape from Ross’s guitars. A long-time associate of the saxophonist, his bluesy, rock-inflected, definitely electric guitar runs or racing car quick nylon string strums define each composition on which they’re featured. When his electric machine intertwines with Threadgill’s straightforward, miasmic flute it brings to mind those years Sonny Sharrock powered Herbie Mann’s combo. This impression is reinforced when Carrott’s fleet, dancing mallet work partners with Prieto’s tougher approach. Imagine Milt Jackson recording with Pretty Purdie.

Only in existence since 2000, Zooid appears to take variations of Make A Move’s jaunty themes to a Greek wedding through Benbrahim’s oud and Ellman’s nylon string guitar. Of course it’s not a traditional Hellenic celebration, since the overtones that blast out of Davila’s brass beast are heavy enough to accompany themselves. At times, as on “Calm Down” which couples them with the rat-tat-tat of the snare drum, you figure this must be military nuptials.

On the other hand, can “Do The Needful” be a POMO salute to some of those dance tunes like “Walkin’ The Dog”, “Twine Time” or “Do The Funky Chicken” that Threadgill would have had to accompany in a pit band? Certainly there’s potential for some fancy footwork here as motifs are tossed back and forth from reverberating tuba and the cat gut slides of the cello. The saxist even unveils his fruity, vibrato-laden alto sonority that appears to be one part King Curtis to two parts Ornette Coleman.

The only criticism that can be leveled at both discs is the intermediate length of a couple of slower tunes. Had they been cut off after the initial theme statement or left to gather steam at greater length they would have been more effective.

All and all, though, this is a minor caveat. Think of these as quietly subversive CDs that could as easily impress a newbie who thinks jazz began with Medeski, Martin & Wood as a sophisticate who appreciate Threadgill and the AACM’s entire history.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Everybody: 1. Platinum Inside Straight 2. Don’t Turn Around 3. Biggest Crumb 4. Burnt Til Recognition 5. Where Coconuts Fall 6. Pink Water Pink Airplane 7. Shake It Off 8. What To Do,What To Do

Personnel: Everybody: Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone, flute); Bryan Carrott (vibraphone, marimba); Brandon Ross (electric guitar, acoustic guitar); Stomu Takeishi (electric bass and acoustic bass guitar); Dafnis Prieto (drums)

Track Listing: Popped: 1.Tickled Pink 2. Dark Black 3. Look 4. Around My Goose 5. Calm Down 6. Did You See That 7. Do The Needful

Personnel: Popped: Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone, flute); Liberty Ellman (acoustic guitar); Tarik Benbrahim (oud); Dana Leong (cello); Jose Davila (tuba); Dafnis Prieto (drums)

January 24, 2002

CUONG VU

Come Play With Me
Knitting Factory KFW 298

No one is likely to confuse trumpeter Cuong Vu with a neo-con young lion.

Although he’s young enough (28), educated enough (the New England Conservatory) and experienced enough (including a touring gig with the Pat Metheny Group), he doesn’t seem interested in the rote bebop recreations that characterize other young trumpeters. Working with the likes of Laurie Anderson and David Bowie as well as more jazz-oriented types, he’s evolved a distinctive, electronics-influenced style that with this band almost takes on the trappings of a rock power trio.

But that’s where his challenges now lies. Although this leisurely, atmospheric disc is easily the equal of PURE, his first with these two musicians, it also seems to be a continuation of it. Can Vu, in the future be inventive enough to create other different sounding projects?

Right now, he appears to be using reverb and delay to take the muted, electronic trumpet one melodic step beyond electric Miles, with each of these overlong pieces working essentially the same way. Having the technique to make his instrument wiggle out a lead guitar line, with muted wah wahs which reference rock rather than Bubber Miley’s plunger work, Vu will keep an ethereal theme floating along at certain points of the song. Mechanically he’s even able to echo his own solos.

At one point, the heads, which often resemble ambient music, explode into a stratospheric brass vivisection, replete with aviary peeps and reverberating whistles, before calming down again. During that section, drummer John Hollenbeck bears down on his drum kit and crashes his cymbals, while Stomu Takeishi thumps out a steady dinosaur rumble from his bass guitar. There are times when Vu’s interaction with Hollenbeck reminds you of the James Brown’s grunts meeting the beats of JB Clyde Stubblefield. Other times, though, it seems as if a lounge group playing “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” has been joined by a Black Metal combo midway through the tune.

Engineer and co-producer Laurent Brondel’s contribution to “Amniotic” on lap steel guitar doesn’t really alter the equation. Still, the racing car speed lead guitar lines or shimmering organ chords heard on this track are more readily ascribed to his axe than Takeishi’s.

Perhaps the nub of Vu’s task is illustrated on the appropriately titled “Again and Again and Again”, which, just as fittingly, is the final tune. Built around a constantly repeated four-note trumpet pattern, the brassman only occasionally breaks the chain by indulging in some kissing sounds from his mouthpiece or plunging deeper into the valves. Meanwhile the bassist rumbles along and the percussionist, except for a minute triangle-striking interlude, also sticks to a repetitious pattern.

If Vu continues to turn out comparable trio sessions like this one, he’ll come up against the law of diminishing returns. His originality, based on not producing a pastiche of what came before can turn to rote with an always-expected style. Can he follow other visionary musicians like -- to name two trumpeters -- Dave Douglas and Miles Davis and introduce different bands and different musical concepts, or will he get stuck in a rut?

As it stands now, you can only say yes when Vu asks the listener to COME PLAY WITH ME, but the future isn’t that clear.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Come Play With Me 2. Vinna’s Lullaby 3. Amniotic* 4. Safekeepings 5. Again and Again and Again

Personnel: Cuong Vu (trumpet); Laurent Brondel (lap steel guitar)*; Stomu Takeishi (electric bass); John Hollenbeck (drums)

December 24, 2001