Tom Abbs & Frequency Response

Lost & Found
Engine e031

Multi-instrumentalist Tom Abbs is likewise multi-talented, as he demonstrates on the 18 structured improvisations on this CD. But of course, Seattle-born, Brooklyn-based Abbs – who plays bass, cello and tuba – couldn’t go it alone.

Frequency Response is a well-balanced ensemble, which is able to express Abbs’ and others’ ideas through the skills of saxophonist/flautist Brian Settles, who also works with drummer Tomas Fujiwara; violinist Jean Cook, part of the Gena Rowlands band; and especially drummer Chad Taylor. Not only is Taylor, one-third of Triptych Myth with Abbs and pianist Cooper-Moore, but he has also worked with musicians as different as veteran Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ saxophonist Fred Anderson and experimental cornetist Rob Mazurek. With Settles mostly sticking to tenor saxophone, plus Cook’s fiddle fillips, the quartet is still able to express itself in a variety of forms.

“Consolation” for example, backs legato string pulsations with Abbs’ thumping bass lines and rims shots from Taylor. As the strings dialogue in double-counterpoint tremolo, Settles expands his tone with unexpected wiggling timbres. “Cross” on the other hand, chugs along with a balanced, yet off-kilter marching band pulse. Along the way, lowing peal point from Abbs’ tuba harmonizes with the saxman’s mid-range flutters and trills. The finale is a Taylor solo encompassing cross sticking, opposite sticking and rim shots.

Meanwhile “Parse”, with Abbs on cello, is reminiscent of the string-centred dates tenor man Rev. Frank Wright made for ESP-Disk in the 1960s. Abrasive, coloration depends on the pointillism of sul ponticello string dabs ranging across the sound field to hook up with Settles’ intermittent reed honks. Then there’s “Pedestrian”, which is anything but. Instead it’s an allegro showpiece designed to inflate the tonal colors with slinky, effortless reed obbligatos from Settles, arpeggio-rich, guitar-like strumming from Abbs and stop-time percussion from Taylor’s toms, cymbals and whacked wood blocks.

“Tightrope” is a showcase foe the saxophonist. Here subterranean vibrations and flutter-tongued reflux lead to a basso elaboration of the swinging theme. As Taylor strokes and sounds press rolls and Abbs walking bass provide the backing, Settles deconstructs his part down to miniscule air puffs.

If there is criticism that can be directed towards Abbs and Frequency Response, it’s the sheer number of tracks on this CD. Now that band members have confirmed their versatility and responsiveness on this session – their third – it would appear to be time to attempt something lengthier. As good as this CD is, let’s see how the four interact during a composition of 20 minutes or longer.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Lost 2. Static 3. Torn 4. Suspect 5. Lock 6. Tidal 7. Parse 8. Consolation 9. Bars 10. Box 11. Cross 12. Pin Top 13. Pedestrian 14. Strung 15. Tightrope 16. Missing 17. Found 18. Reflection.

Personnel: Brian Settles (tenor and soprano saxophones and flute); Jean Cook (violin [except 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15]); Tom Abbs (bass, cello and tuba) and Chad Taylor (drums)

December 17, 2009

Bass on Top

Yuganaut and the Andrew Lamb Trio
Buffalo, N.Y. April 8, 2008

With a half-sized violin and a didgeridoo strapped onto his double bass, a tambourine stirrup on one shoe and his tuba ready for action beside him, Tom Abbs negotiated the connection between two variants of improvised music during an early April concert at Buffalo’s Halwalls Contemporary Arts Center.

Wrapping up a tour of the co-op Yuganaut band just before recording with tenor saxophonist Andrew Lamb’s trio, a Hallwalls-associated arts grant allowed the Brooklyn-based Abbs to showcase both groups upstate. Completed by Ann Arbor-based Steve Rush playing slinky electric piano riffs, wiggly analog synthesizer oscillations plus trombone, whistles, ratchets and small percussion and Geoff Mann on drum kit, glockenspiel and trumpet, the tri-city Yuganaut expressed its instrumental bravura in jovial, foot-stomping tunes that recalled Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Roscoe Mitchell in their playful moments.

Tapping into the strands of selfless improvisation often expressed by more solemn Kirk and Mitchell pieces – as well as John Coltrane – New York veterans, Lamb and percussionist Warren Smith plus Abbs performed Energy Music that was simultaneously mystical and transcendent.

Often skirting parody with a few of his 1970s Chick Corea-like licks on Fender Rhodes and Moog, Rush was on firmer ground when his rainfall of keyboard arpeggios became gospel riffs or rollicking Professor Longhair-style piano vamps. To keep things moving, the pianist yodeled, gradually let the air out of a balloon, tooted a slide whistle and a kazoo, and manipulated a miniature, bolo-bat-like two-sided drum with string-attached balls thumping both heads. Once Mann joined in with a Second Line backbeat and cow-bell thumps and Abbs stopped alternating fiddle and bass spiccato licks to blast pedal point tuba, the small, but appreciative audience responded with revival meeting-style hand clapping and verbal affirmations.

Melding fun with functionality, at points Yuganaut harmonized horn riffs like an avant brass ensemble, gave Mann solo space for a series of rolls, flams and clip-clop paradiddles, and allowed Abbs to demonstrate that tough walking bass lines or layered sul ponticello string forays are possible, even while sounding stentorian blasts with the didgeridoo.

Limiting his honks on the Aboriginal horn and intensifying his bull fiddle lines – both arco and pizzicato – in the second set, Abbs’ four-square playing vibrated sympathetically along with Smith’s refined accompaniment which emphasized popping cymbals, rim shots, hi-hat taps and resonating glockenspiel chords.

For his part, Lamb lodged his saxophone reed firmly in his mouth, expelling wave after wave of sweeping Coltranesque timbres. Staccato, opaque, as well as emotionally affecting, he built glossolalia, false registers and repeated note clusters into a room-filling resonance. Eventually consisting of speedier trills and riffs, his improvisations were all-encompassing but not alienating. Meditative and gentle they swelled until they teetered on the brink of unbridled ecstasy, but never tumbled into the abyss of incomprehensibility.

Eventually the members of Lamb’s trio attained a climax of interlocking polyphony, with drum backbeat pings, throbbing bass line and mercurial saxophone split tones heard clearly. Then they paused momentarily and concluded with a breath-taking flourish.

Improvised music allows for a variety of strategies through which players can attain high levels of performance and communication. That night Abbs was able to use all his instruments to participate in two of them.

-- Ken Waxman

-- For CODA

September 3, 2008

Bruce Eisenbeil Sextet

Inner Constellation Volume One
Nemu 007

By Ken Waxman

Taking up most of the CD with his almost 47½-minute Inner Constellation suite, Manhattan-based guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil structures his composition to take advantage of the cohesive layered textures available from each section of his mini-orchestra. With the strings Jean Cook’s violin, Tom Abbs’s bass, and his own guitars; the horns trumpeter Nate Wooley and saxophonist Aaron Ali Shaikh; plus Nasheet Waits drums, the through-composed work is properly represented, while individual improvisations are showcased as well.

Most impressive among the contrapuntal theme comments are Cook’s angled, spiccato glissandi, with the flying staccato often straddling a walking bass line – when not creating pedal-point refraction by itself or exposing tremolo palpitations, echoed by unison horns. Wooley’s chortling runs are expressed open horn, while his quivering shakes and distinct multiphonics seem forced from his horn’s deepest reaches. Elsewhere, the brassman contributes heraldic tutti flourishes when needed, or in contrast, makes space for Abbs to discontinue his tandem time-keeping with Waits’ bouncing ruffs or wood-block resonation, for the bassist to showcase double-stopped, beneath-the-bridge scrapes and near wood-cracking slides.

Inner Constellation is resolved when the atmospheric polyphony of stop-time cries from the saxophone and whinnying asides from the trumpet uncover a sprightlier and speedier rhythmic variation from the guitarist’s supple finger styling. As the composition dissolves with a defining rasgueado from the composer, the promise of a Volume Two appears very inviting.

In MusicWorks Issue #100

April 3, 2008

Andrew Lamb Trio

New Orleans Suite
Engine Studios e019

That from tragedy comes great art is a hoary cliché which if true means that the flooding of New Orleans engendered by Hurricane Katrina will provide material for concerned artists for years to come. One of the first responses – recorded three weeks after the natural disaster – is this CD featuring saxophonist Andrew Lamb, bassist Tom Abbs and percussionist Warren. A mixture of aggressive soloing and agitprop, it sets a high standard to which others can aspire.

Among the most arresting features of the date is “Dyes and Lyes”, a sardonic blues rap Smith wrote and recites. Although the drummer’s condemnation of the American government’s inaction and disinterest in the impoverished as well as about the birthplace of 20th century improvised music gives the funky rap extra bite and resonance, the powerful musicianship of all three players is as noticeable here as on the fully instrumental tracks.

Throughout, Abbs, who often pilots other bands like Triptych Myth with pianist Cooper More and drummer Chad Taylor, slaps muscular bass figures to direct the others. Elsewhere in the music he makes a place for curvaceous arco solos on bass and cello, and from time to time sounds vibrating blasts from his didjeridoo.

Smith, whose experience ranges from Motown Records studio work and university teaching to playing with pianist Muhal Richard Abrams and saxophonist Sam Rivers, introduces a panoply of percussion add-ons to uniquely color the CD’s six selections. Meantime, Clinton, N. C.-born Lamb, who came to musical maturity during New York’s Loft Era, appends the sometimes unexpected tinctures of flute, clarinet and harmonica to the compositions. Not surprisingly, these tones are mere interludes among the timbres surging and gushing from his full-bore tenor saxophone work.

“Song of the Miracle Lives” is a particularly egregious example of his art as spacious Coltranesque tenor tones quickly take on to-the-colors-like gravitas. Before concluding with a flourish that could be “Taps”, the saxophonist squeaks elongated cadences and scathing, diffuse rhythmic timbres. Simultaneously Smith modifies the background with dancing clip-clops on wooden temple bells, shimmering cymbal echoes and blunt smacks on un-lathed cymbals.

Similarly, “Back Water” moves along with bell tree, tubular bell and tam tam reverberation plus wood block pitter pattering and chiming pitches from vibrated thunder sheets. Additionally, while Smith ruffs and bounces, Abbs migrates north on his bass strings with an undercurrent of constant guiro-like scratches before thwacking spiccato notes. As for the saxman, he positions himself in the altissimo register with staccato contrapuntal lines that develop into triple tonguing.

In other spots Lamb showcases shill policeman whistles and lip intensity vibrato from his saxophone, chalumeau range clarinet modes and simple in-and-out harmonica breaths. Smith moves among bass drum bomb dropping, chortling choke cymbals and scene-setting rim shots with the same finesse.

Unlike FEMA and the Bush government, Lamb and company appear to have salvaged something positive from the Katrina experience. Too bad so many people had to suffer before this art was made.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Dyes and Lyes 3. Katrina’s Path 3. Rescue Me 4. Back Water 5. Song of the Miracle Lives 6. Aftermath Healing

Personnel: Andrew Lamb (tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet and harmonica); Tom Abbs (bass, cello and didjeridoo); Warren Smith (drums and percussion)

October 27, 2006

GREGG BENDIAN’S TRIO PIANISSIMO

GREGG BENDIAN’S TRIO PIANISSIMO Change
Aggregate AGCD 004

TRIPTYCH MYTH
The Beautiful
AUM Fidelity AUM 035

Triptych Myth and Trio Pianissimo suggest the parameters of these discs – the classic jazz piano trio – but second glances reveal subtle differences. Innately traditionalist projects, the CDs feature two trios putting a POMO stamp on a configuration which has been an unvarying modern jazz staple for at least 50 years.

With seven of the 10 compositions his and his only instrument the 88s, THE BEAUTIFUL seems designed to prove that pianist Cooper-Moore can function in a semi-conventional environment as an equal part of a three-sided equation. Preceding the band’s name with his own on the other hand, percussionist Gregg Bendian gives notice that although oriented around pianist Steve Hunt, CHANGE reflects Bendian’s ideas. Except for Thelonious Monk’s “Gallop’s Gallop” and a brief Hunt-penned prelude, the drummer also wrote all the material.

Both CDs have to be taken on their own merits without referencing the six musicians’ other work. Hunt’s usual milieu is jazz-rock with the Mahavishnu Project and British guitarist Allan Holdsworth; bassist John Lockwood has worked with Boston’s microtonal reedist Joe Maneri and The Fringe; and Bendian has seconded everyone from guitarist Derek Bailey and pianist Cecil Taylor, while leading fusion style band. Still, the output here, except for a couple of memorable tracks at the end, is a throwback to the trio efforts of Ahmad Jamal, Red Garland and Oscar Peterson.

Ditto for Triptych Myth. Although the elasticity of time and architecture in the tunes is less conservative than Trio Pianissimo’s, you wouldn’t know by listening that drummer Chad Taylor often plays with post-jazz-rockers like guitarist Jeff Parker and cornetist Rob Mazurek, not to mention AACM founder saxophonist Fred Anderson; and that Tom Abbs is one of the busiest New York downtowners playing with everyone from the Jump Orchestra to trombonist Steve Swell. As for those familiar with Cooper-Moore’s frenetic soloing on piano and his many home-made instruments, very little of that is in evidence. It’s his Hank Jones, not Jaki Byard personality on show.

As a matter of fact, except for the striking Cooper-Moore line that is “Spiraling Out”, most of the advanced improvisations appear on the three penultimate compositions. Replete with street-drill drumming, cascading arpeggios and double-timed harmonies from the pianist, that tune evolves in two separate lines, as if one of the players was swimming underwater while the others crest the waves. Following dynamic emphasis from Taylor mixed with Monk-like key clipping from Cooper-Moore, the layering gradually dissolves.

“Poppa’s Gin in the Chicken Feed” would have worked better with an organic dissolve rather than a track fade out, however. A blues ballad rather than the down-home lament the title implies, the piece, perhaps celebrating the pianist’s rural Virginia background, encompasses passionate stop-time chording from Cooper-Moore plus cymbal spanks and vibrations from the drummer.

If Abbs seems underutilized he makes up for it on “Last Minute Trip Part One” and “Last Minute Trip Part Two” and his own “Trident”. Native-Indian-like tom-tom sounds from Taylor, and cross-handed, hocketing tones from the pianist, leave enough space for the bassist to output wood-rending bass patterns and scrapping sul ponticello lines on the first two pieces – actually a brief intro and the composition itself. Contrapuntal, the second line contrasts thick abrasive strokes from the bassman with stick shuffling from the drummer and a rippling, understated piano touch.

Considering balladic numbers such as “Frida K. The Beautiful” and “Pooch (for Wilber Morris)”, pay tribute to the deceased Mexican painter and late New York bassist respectively, these and other unassuming pieces often barely skirt conventionality with polyrhythms plus cross-handed paradiddles from the drummer. Overall, as well, except for passages in other tunes where Cooper-Moore’s voicing is staccato and Abbs’ portamento, the images conjured up are those of Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers on a 1950s recording date.

One of the most accomplished trios to see and hear in full-flight, the many exceptional portions of THE BEAUTIFUL call out for a live CD of the band.

Probably too occupied with many other projects to often play live, Trio Pianissimo’s second CD is similarly uneven. For a start, although they may have an ulterior purpose the four, less-then-two-minute interludes, do little but showcase Bendian’s imposing drum skill, which is as obvious on the longer tracks.

A threnody, like Cooper-Moore’s “Pooch”, Bendian’s “To Ben Riley” probably approximates the late drum master’s method. Yet when the three follow that tune with a version of “Gallop’s Gallop”, written by Thelonious Monk – Riley’s best-known employer – the effect is unsettling. Taken at a higher pitch than Monk preferred, the constantly moving bass and drums are more upfront, while Hunt’s smooth arpeggio unrolling is a mite too clean.

Other tracks are more notable. Again, like Triptych Myth, the most outstanding pieces come in the second half of the program. There’s “Sleep & Dream” for instance, where after a vibraphone introduction, Bendian creates contrapuntal echoes from wire brushes, tinkling bells and vibes to encase the bowed bass and atmospheric piano fills.

More Monk-like than the Monk tune, “Knot Grass” features twice-played ascending piano chords, a walking bass and lively harmonies. Steadily diminishing repetitive chords from Hunt make up the finale, which at the turn around modulates downwards, as Bendian’s drumming becomes more ferocious.

Lastly, there’s “Torrents”, the nearly-18-minute final track, obviously designed as a major statement. As exploratory as the earlier pieces are firmly in the piano-trio tradition, it showcases all three players. Demonstrating wooden block pounding, bass drum smacks and hollow resonation from other percussion, Bendian mixes it up with an undercurrent of shuffle bowing from Lockwood and seemingly random note selection from one hand and piston-like pumping from Hunt’s other hand. As his staccato lines congeal into rock-hard chords, the pianist’s outlay turns dissonant. For every high-frequency keyboard pulse there’s an equivalent echoing bass pluck and acoustic resonation from Bendian. When cymbal strokes set up yet another variation, Hunt introduces a speedier, baroque-style mode with concentrated glissandi and splayed notes. The ultimate variation concludes with more bowing bass, ferocious bounces and ruffs from the drummer and descending piano chords, which peter out, only to resurface as a brusque, five-second Monk homage.

Unfortunately, too many of the other tracks appear content to linger in conventional jazz piano-trio territory. A fine, but flawed effort, like the other CD, CHANGES too misses first rank. Perhaps if the tine between the trio’s next effort and this one is condensed from the five years gap between this one and its predecessor that situation could be overcome.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Beautiful: 1. All Up In It 2. Frida K. The Beautiful 3. Trident 4. Spiraling Out 5. Pooch (for Wilber Morris) 6. A Time To 7. Last Minute Trip Part One 8. Last Minute Trip Part Two 9. Poppa’s Gin in the Chicken Feed 10. Robina Pseudoacacia

Personnel: Beautiful: Cooper-Moore (piano); Tom Abbs (bass); Chad Taylor (drums)

Track Listing: Change: 1. Statement 2. Ice Blue 3. Prelude 4. She Knows 5. Glancing 6. Knot Grass 7. Sleep & Dream 8. To Ben Riley 9. Gallop’s Gallop 10. Torrents

Personnel: Change Steve Hunt (piano); John Lockwood (bass); Gregg Bendian (drums and percussion)

February 13, 2006

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

Titration
Delmark DG-547

TOM ABBS & FREQUENCY RESPONSE
Conscription
CIMP #288

Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor: remember those names. One day they may be as familiar as Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones or perhaps Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. For the two young Western-born musicians, who play on both these CDs and lead one each, are prime examples of ascendant thirty-something players who have rejected the false promises of the neo-cons to create their own sounds. Not strident, their compositions and performances, like those created by Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), swing, but also includes the sort of technical and rhythmic advances that didn’t exist in the neo-con favored 1950-1960 period.

Appropriately enough, Temple, Ariz.-born drummer Taylor was brought up in Chicago, although his association with AACM mainstays such as tenorist Fred Anderson didn’t happen until after a sojourn in New York where he met bassist Abbs. Seattle, Wash.-born Abbs stayed put in the Apple after he moved there, eventually organizing the JumpArts Coalition and working in bands with among others, altoist Ori Kaplan, pianist Cooper-Moore and trombonist Steve Swell, the last of whom is featured on TITRATION.

After post-rock and rootsy jazz work with bands led by brassman Rob Mazurek and with tenorist David Boykin, both of whom guest on his disc, Taylor returned to New York. Meeting veteran altoist Jemeel Moondoc, a former Chicagoan, the drummer -- who has since become part of two other trios, Triptych Myth with Abbs and Moore and Sticks & Stones with altoist Matana Roberts -- put together Active Ingredients as a quartet with Swell and Abbs. Taylor is also featured with Abbs’ band Frequency Response on the other CD, as are two still younger players: tenor saxophonist and flutist Brian Settles and cellist Okkyung Lee.

Just as neither band is made up of neo-con retreads, nor are the players exclusively focused on one style either. As a matter of fact there are times on TITRATION’s four quartet tracks that the combo sounds like an updated New York Art Quartet. Swell, who has worked with the older man, is a modern day Roswell Rudd; Moondoc’s alto playing is in the John Tchicai tradition and the dual power of Abbs and Taylor equals that of Reggie Workman and Milford Graves.

“Visual Industries”, for instance has a rubato trombone lead and sideslipping trills and chirrups from the altoist. Subtle to the extreme, Taylor reserves his snares and toms for accompanying Moondoc, and backs up Abbs’ bow stopping and spiccato with a single cymbal run. Following an exhibition of bass drum power, the theme is reprised by the two horns.

Astonishingly enough, one of the few drawbacks of the CD is that the tunes often seem as if they should be longer, which is why at almost 14 minutes “Other Peoples’ Problems” is so welcome. Featuring innards exposing plunger work from Swell, a smeared countermelody from Moondoc and double stopping ponticello vibrato from Abbs, the piece really takes off under Taylor’s shimmering cymbals. With the saxist sluicing up and down the charts and the ‘bone man producing sibilant grace notes, the bassist contributes some adagio arco color with a gruff sound resulting from pressure on all the strings at once.

Adding Boykin to the mix on the title track brings up memories of both Klezmer and the Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC), with a trombone instead of a trumpet in the front line. With the bassist walking and the drummer (press) rolling, Swell and Moondoc again engage in impressive interaction, never losing their way as they blow and overblow phrases at one another. More conventional than the AEC’s Roscoe Mitchell, Boykin produces a honeyed harmonic line, leaving the squealing, double tonguing to Moondoc. After a rumbling thump from the bass and irregular marital pulse from drums, the tenor man reprises the theme and takes it out accompanied by riffs from other horns.

Given three opportunities to make his presence felt Mazurek is most prominent on the too short “Absence”, which gets its title from Taylor sitting out the track -- the rhythm comes from Abbs playing hi-hat. Still, the cornetist’s triple-tonguing pales besides Swell’s spinning corkscrew sounds and fat plunger work. Amazingly enough, as well, the bassist manages to hold the rhythm together with his four strings while sounding the cymbal.

Veteran Chicago percussionist Avreeayal Ra joins the other six players for the Latinesque “Modern Mythology”, giving an Africanized, bata-like bottom to a tune that bounces along with “A Love Supreme” echoes. Again, though, its Taylor’s cymbal work, Moondoc’s gravelly grace notes and Swell’s chromatic tones that set the pace.

An impressive achievement TITRATION calls for an encore, but without the guests.

So does CONSCRIPTION, recorded less than eight months later, which also proves that Abbs, like Taylor, can craft new melodies that are memorable and familiar sounding in a good way.

That’s proved on the title tune. Here Taylor playing both vibes and drums combines with the cello and bass to provide a regular beat that Settles uses as a launching pad to spin out passing tones. As he growls out intensity vibratos and flutter tonguing, the drummer bounces and rebounds the beat and suddenly Abbs’ tuba creates a basso continuum underneath the others. After vibes key resonation and aharmonic cello strokes add to the musical miasma created by bleating scowls from the tenor sax, ringing cymbals presage the cello and tenor reprise of the swinging theme.

Frequency Response can play more outside, as it does on “Anti-torpidity”, and closer to the mainstream as it does on “Redundant Triangulation”. On the former, multiphonics from the cello’s upper partials join with split tone squeals from the sax. Here the vibes’ tones hold things together until Settles snickers out higher-pitched flattement, then spiccato bowing from the bassist brings the piece to a satisfactory conclusion.

On the latter, which has a slight Latin feel mixed with echoes of “Miles Ahead”, Abbs and Lee split the string parts, he with funky low tones and she with screechy shuffle bowing. Settles slurs and growls and Taylor produces rifle-shot-like rim shots which introduces a variation on the theme from the reedist. Finally Abbs’ andante double stopping leads to a reprise of the initial strand.

Despite its title, “Hypertension” is a steady swinger for those prepared to hear grainy overblowing and double tonguing from the tenor saxist and diffuse spiccato bowing from both string players mixed with a boppish drum beat. Cello and saxophone act like a unison horn section at one point and the piece fades out with a rumbling bass line.

More Abbs and more Taylor soon please.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Titration: 1. Song For Dyani 2. Velocity 3. Slate*+# 4. Visual Industries 5. Modern Mythology*+# 6. Absence 7. Titration+ 8. Dependent Origination 9. Other Peoples’ Problems

Personnel: Titration: Rob Mazurek (cornet)*; Steve Swell (trombone); Jemeel Moondoc (alto saxophone) [except 2, 8]; David Boykin (tenor saxophone)+; Tom Abbs (bass and hi-hat); Chad Taylor (drums) [except 6, solo- 8]; Avreeayal Ra (percussion)#

Track Listing: Conscription: 1. Redundant Triangulation 2. Diametric Escalation 3. Conscription 4. Turbulence 5. Dichotomy 6. Hypertension 7. Anti-torpidity 8. Reconciled Dissolution

Personnel: Conscription: Brian Settles (tenor saxophone and flute); Okkyung Lee (cello); Tom Abbs (bass and tuba); Chad Taylor (drums and vibes)

May 31, 2004

COOPER-MOORE/TOM ABBS/CHAD TAYLOR

Triptych Myth
Hopscotch 14

THE NECKS
Drive By
Fish of Milk RER NECKS3

Piano, bass and drums combos have been one of the defining configurations of improvised music for more than five decades. But as these two exceptional trio sessions prove, with the right ideas and techniques, there’s still plenty that can be done with this traditional form.

Microtonalists, Australians The Necks do cheat a little bit on DRIVE BY. Using all the resources of a modern studio, keyboard man Chris Abrahams is able to doubletrack himself on piano, electric piano and organ, while drummer Tony Buck adds different percussion and samples. But seemingly tireless bassist Lloyd Swanton still uses his acoustic model to shape the rhythmic foundation of the one, more than hour-long piece that makes up the CD.

Triptych Myth, a trio of committed New Yorkers doesn’t stray that far out. Although the three -- pianist Cooper-Moore bassist Tom Abbs and drummer Chad Taylor -- have shown off their skills on additional instruments in the past, the instrumentation on their debut CD is as strict as on one of Oscar Peterson’s 1960s LPs.

Hypnotic as all get out, multi layered DRIVE BY begins with a snaking electric piano lines and whistling electronics, succeeded by metronomic, repeated acoustic piano cadenza, a throbbing organ vamp and a kicking drum backbeat. And that’s all in the first five minutes.

Soon, over a background of hollow, echoing tones, the pianist introduces the theme and its ancillary variations, while pulsating Morse code-like organ riffs soon segment the descending piano clusters. As the sounds intensify there’s much tension and very little release. With studio wizardry Abrahams -- and the others -- plays both soloist and accompanist roles.

Masters of understatement, mostly unobtrusive Buck and steady fingered Swanton are able to shift and accelerate the tempo almost inaudibly. That is until you realize that the backing instrumental riffs have become different when the sampled sounds of yelling and shouting children’s voice are added to the mix.

Warmer and still slightly quicker, the kids’ sounds presage intensified rhythmic tautness that accompanies the reoccurring piano motif that holds the piece together. Soon, as Buck begins cross sticking and Swanton’s beat stays forthrightly solid, the pianist redoubles his dynamics and feeds harder organ or electric piano chords into the mix. Oblique and unidentified oscillating waves shoot from one side of the soundfield to the other, as Abrahams ends his solo with repeated right handed piano flourishes. Shortly afterwards the bassist and drummer gear down the rhythm. It’s succeeded by what sounds like some exotic fowl warbling, and that continues for another 30 seconds after the formal music fades away

Listeners should feel as if they’ve gone on a physical journey, and one that is so mesmerizing that it has cleansed them in the process.

If DRIVE BY starts off slowly, then the other CD explodes like a blaze in a firecracker factory. Reminiscent of the go-for-broke rhythmic lyricism of Herbie Nichols, pianist Moore begins with blurred right handed runs that with extra pressure evolve to strummed and cascading chords. Soon he’s covering the keyboard with high- frequency repeated phrases, Abbs counters with a walking bass line and Taylor with flams and ruffs.

At intervals varying the production with reggae backbeats or Monkish runs, the three exhibit their facility with ballads, burners and rhythm tunes. Both the bassist ands the drummer get solo tracks to themselves, but ones which fit in with the overall conception rather than excuses to flaunt technique. Throughout the CD, you hear how Triptych manages to utilize the jazz tradition without being enslaved by it.

On “Spencer’s Eyes”, fort instance, the pianist shows that in spite of his fire elsewhere, he can capably handle a mid- tempo ballad. He plays a simple, light-fingered rondo while most of the action is expressed in Taylor’s busy paradiddles, cymbal smacks and understated mallet work.

“Susan”, on the other hand, is a carefully voiced and modulated swing fest, featuring jaunty interface between the three musicians. Using repetitive chording the pianist hunkers down on vibrating note clusters as he increases his dynamics, piling half-remembered quotes from other tunes into the mix, before cycling back to the main (Herbie) Hancockian theme. Finally this distinctive foot taper ends with drum rebounds and a powerful bass line.

“Spatter Matter” is more exciting still, as Moore, intent on subtle swing, unveils

flashing chords and chiming runs, then after double timing produces a waterfalls of splayed notes. His finger pressure is so fine that high frequency tremolos seem to dance off the black and white keys. Before a quick, to-the-point solo from Abbs, Moore sneaks over to the right hand side for some quick jabs, then using contrasting dynamics, reprises the theme one last time even quicker than before.

Musically there’s practically nothing displeasing on the trio’s debut CD. If there are bungles, it’s that the tracks have been numbered incorrectly, so that a couple of the “Stop Time” minute-long, break tunes appear out of sequence.

Other than that, either of these sessions can be held up as an indication that old forms like piano trios can certainly learn new tricks.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Drive: 1. Drive By

Personnel: Drive: Chris Abrahams (piano, electric piano, organ); Lloyd Swanton (bass); Tony Buck (drums, percussion, samples)

Track Listing: Triptych: 1. Stem Cell 2. Nautilus 3. The Fox 4. Stop Time #1 5. Ricochet 6. Harare 7. Stop Time #2 8. Raising Knox 9. Spatter Matter 10. Stop Time #3 11. Spencer’s Eyes 12. Susan

Personnel: Triptych: Cooper-Moore (piano); Tom Abbs (bass); Chad Taylor (drums)

April 5, 2004

URSEL SCHLICHT-STEVE SWELL 4TET

Poets of the Now
CIMP #272

GARCIA/GEBBIA/WOGRAM
Pronto!
Intakt CD 076

Often awkward and unwieldy to manipulate, the slide trombone attracts fewer sonic explorers than, say, the trumpet or the saxophone. But as these two discs show, committed musicians can still produce convincing improvisations within those limitations.

American Steve Swell (b. 1954) and German Nils Wogram (b. 1972) are two ‘bone men establishing a place for themselves in the expanding jazz/improv traditions. Yet each CD offers a different take on that tradition.

Simplistically, with its piano, bass and drums backing, you could describe Swell’s disc as more “American”, even though leadership of his 4tet is shared with German pianist Ursel Schlicht; while Wogram’s, which finds him improvising alongside an Italian saxophonist and French sampler player is more distinctively “European”. But both call equally upon robust Yank techniques and Continental inventiveness.

After all, it was the German trombonist who studied at New York’s New School, before taking more expected gigs with Swiss drummer Lucas Niggli’s Zoom, Russian-American pianist Simon Nabatov’s bands and Martin Fondse’s Dutch Octet. Moreover, Sicilian alto saxophonist Gianni Gebbia has a history of collaboration with experimental players from the Bay area. Sampler player Xavier Garcia from Lyon, with a background in theatre, dance and New Music, may not fit this equation. But who says the French and Americans get along? Just act George Bush and Jacques Chirac.

Schlicht, who recorded the CD shortly after gaining her green card as an “alien of extraordinary ability”, has moved back and forth to and from the U.S. for years, bringing her experience playing focused EuroImprov with German guitar torturer Han Tammen to situations with Swell among others. Meanwhile trombonist Swell, who often works with drummer Lou Grassi, has also recorded with experimental Portuguese musicians and other Europeans.

As an added fillip, bassist Tom Abbs, whose associations include multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore, brought his tuba to the session, and drummer Geoff Mann, who often works with the bassist as a Paul Chambers-Jimmy Cobb combination in downtown New York, brought along his cornet -- an indirect homage to British improviser John Steven, perhaps?

It’s true that Swell’s plunger work references earlier times, but isn’t it European who pride themselves on remembering their history? Take his tune “Bluesy”, for instance. From its beginning the trombonist slurs dirty, plunger tones all over the place, a lot more Kid Ory than J. C. Higginbotham. Schlicht comes across with some light-fingered, right-handed bop-blues à la Junior Mance or Red Garland and Mann produces breezy swing like a modern day Jo Jones, emphasizing his hi-hat. Growling, Swell exits, reprises the theme first andante, then presto.

Other pre-modern wah wahs vie with off-kilter piano sweeps and intentionally (?) muffled drumbeats and shaking chains or a tambourine outline on “Han Bennink”, which Swell named for the eccentric Dutch drummer. Later on, though the trombonist’s pitch appears particularly elevated as he mixes it up with the unvarying, shofar-like tuba blasts from Abbs.

In contrast, the pianist’s “12/2”, named for its 12:22 length, is a mixture of primitive and modern. Working out pedal pressure high notes with Abbs’ string topping a Henry Grimes-like attack, Swell enters with a Peter Gunn theme-style rhythm that resolves itself in a wiggling beboppy line. More intense than elsewhere, Swell’s Jungle sound splits into smart bomb shards as Schlicht hammers away at the keys, and the bass and drums double the tempo. Reprising the theme in unison the trombonist and pianist leave room for Mann’s drum break filled with rim shots and press rolls.

Other pieces encompass march tempo drum tattoos; near static bone drones or double tongued hearty legato lines; breakaways from the pianist that recall romantic Bill Evans at times and powerful McCoy Tyner modal playing elsewhere; and even a point where the massed brass sounds as if it’s reading “Maiden Voyage” charts. POETS OF THE WORLD is definitely POMO. It’s also an excellent confirmation of the talents of these musicians.

PRONTO! doesn’t come off as well, not so much because of the horns, but because there’s really not enough rhythmic heft from Garcia. Furthermore, while the other band explores only seven tunes, Garcia, Gebbia and Wogram have their way with 13 (!), some of which clock in at little more than one minute and are more a compendium of effects than full statements.

“Bavardage” or “blabbering” in French translation, is one of the two shorties with any real life. Here you find all three players grunting, spitting and gurgling as they produce offbeat instrumental toots, slides and whistles. At one point Garcia sounds like he’s spinning an orchestral LP backwards. The other, “Clonebone”, is unsurprisingly an example of how the sampler can take Wogram’s wide-vibrato metallic tone and multiple it in such a way that his triplets become sextuplets and then mutate and split some more. Both are fun but not exactly notable.

Conversely, “Un peu de doucer dans un monde de brutes” [“A little softness in a world of brutality”] is much more interesting. As the sopranino saxophone slowly advances the fragile melody then turns to circular breathing, Garcia is able to create mewling samples that at one point resemble flute tones and at another vibrate like the metal bars of a vibraharp.

“Street of Shit” [sic], on the other hand, features Wogram’s ghostly plunger tones melding with muted rodent-like squeaks from Gebbia. Garcia replicates the output of both horns, then add a synthetic drone that sounds like the manufactured cries, labored breathing and whispered panting from the couplings in a Triple XXX soundtrack. Maybe the title is best left unexplained.

Finally there’s “A soulful point of view, “ the longest track, at a little more than 11½ minutes. With echoes of the era where Cool jazz met sophisticated, East Coast arrangements, Gebbia, as straightahead as you’ll ever hear him, playing largo, comes up with purring grace notes and is soulful enough to reference “Harlem Nocturne”. Wogram, expels mellow chromatic tones in a burnished, lazy J.J. Johnson-like tone and Garcia’s sampler makes like an entire orchestral string section. Later as the hornmen play higher and are more abstract in their work -- think Frank Rosolino and Art Pepper as experimentalists -- the trombonist sustains two alternating pedal tones for an extended period as the saxophonist squeals his way into an outside Neapolitan boatman’s tune.

Besides that, there are enough reed tongue slaps and tongue flutters from the sax, , growls and air forced through valves from the trombone and sampled bells, drones, sci-fi clamor and even sitar/tabla imitations from the sampler to show the trio’s versatility. The challenges of such experimentation is that some attempts do fall flat.

Gebbia and Wogram have recorded solo sets and both seems to thrive in situations with heartier rhythmic input. Although they hold their own here, it may be that fewer, longer tunes would have provided a better display for their capabilities.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Poets: 1. Poets of the Now 2. 12/2 3. Han Bennink 4. Blusey 5. Barbara Ellen 6. Ursel Surveys the Scene 7. Orbicularis Oris

Personnel: Poets: Steve Swell (trombone); Ursel Schlicht (piano); Tom Abbs (bass, tuba); Geoff Mann (drums, cornet)

Track Listing: Pronto!: 1. Vite, vite, vite 2. Cantus Firmus 3. Sikanex 4. Un peu de doucer dans un monde de brutes 5. Child out 6. Clonebone 7. Marxch 8. Street of Shit 9. Vucciria 10. Eglise Pygmée 11. A soulful point of view 12. Bavardage 13. Morning Raga

Personnel: Pronto!: Nils Wogram (trombone); Gianni Gebbia (sopranino and alto saxophones); Xavier Garcia (sampler)

May 26, 2003

ASSIF TSHAR and the ZOANTHROPIC ORCHESTRA

Embracing the Void
Hopscotch 9

ASSIF TSHAR and the NEW YORK UNDERGROUND ORCHESTRA
The Labyrinth
Hopscotch 12

Different as free jazz and New music, on show here are two distinct manifestations of the composing and arranging skills for larger groups by tenor saxophonist Assif Tsahar. Both are engrossing, remarkably mature, compositional works for someone best known for his impassioned blowing with the likes of bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake.

EMBRACING THE VOID has a slight edge however. That’s because all 14 members of the Zoanthropic Orchestra appear better able to personalize the emotional cauldron of Tsahar avant jazz pieces than the 19 musicians of the New York Underground Orchestra can contour THE LABYTINTH into a more original form.

VOID’s clearest antecedent seems to be The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra (JCO)’s 1968 COMMUNICATIONS LP. Designed by Mike Mantler to showcase New Thing soloists such as cornetist Don Cherry, tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and pianist Cecil Taylor, it proved that heartfelt experimental music wasn’t confined to small groups.

Tsahar, who was born in Israel the year after that JCO session was taped, and arrived in New York in 1990, has the same idea, but his 10-part, personalized suite is much more democratic. Nearly every one of the musicians gets a chance to solo here. More to the point, all of the music written by Tsahar appears to be intricately arranged so that each part meshes with the next.

Framed by squealing, post-Ayler solos by the tenor man in the first and -- in altissimo -or even sopranino pitch -- the final number, the almost 56-minute composition balances elements of jazz and other traditions with expressive atonality. Sometimes, as on “Part 3”, the music will contain Balkan and Klezmer components, mixed with some high frequency piano chording from pianist Craig Taborn, whinnying trumpet from Matt Lavelle and cellar deep blasts from Reut Regev’s trombone.

With the other ‘bone chairs filled by Curtis Hasselbring and Steve Swell, the Zoanthropic has a section reminiscent of Duke Ellington’s famed group, with any of the three able to express the restrained elegance of Lawrence Brown as well as more so-called primitive tones. Swell, a fixture in advanced Manhattan bands, is especially able to slide through a variety of plunger-affixed positions, creating a 1920s “Jungle” sound like a Internet age Tricky Sam Nanton.

Later on, a section with Mingus-like Holiness church boogie rhythm finds Swell and another Israeli-born downtowner, alto saxophonist Ori Kaplan, trading licks after the saxman has finished a screeching, triple tonguing solo, and as the band builds to a crescendo behind him. The piece also gives bassist Tom Abbs, Jump Arts mainman, enough breadth to individually sound out stinging arco notes.

When he wants to, Taborn, who has earned his spurs with reedist Roscoe Mitchell and altoist Tim Berne, can speed skate over the keys like a young Cecil Taylor. Other times he can be overtly bluesy, as on “Part 9” when he sets up tenor saxophonist Aaron Stewart’s floating mid-period John Coltranish solo. Stewart, part of the Fieldwork trio and sideman of choice for veteran pianist Andrew Hill, enlivens his outing with mid-range honks and extended techniques, centred on hissing air through his horn.

Elsewhere on the reed front, baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, a sometime Arkestra member gets to exhibit his dual identities on “Part 4”. At one point his tone is as mellow and well-modulated as Gerry Mulligan in his West Coast days, a few bars later he’s digging up the building’s foundations with his reed, spewing out multiphonics as he smears his notes, nearly duking it out with the brass section.

As the band meanders from Basie to Boulez and back again, often you’ll note meticulously arranged unison passages playing off against a moving bass line, or hear the entire band creeping along behind the soloist. Gold Sparkle Band drummer Andrew Barker creates Sunny Murray-like polyrhythms one minute and produces varsity football half-time marching tempos -- complete with rim shots -- a few tracks later. POMO eclecticism is on tap as well on “Part 5”, which features Oscar Noriega, who has worked with pianist Satoko Fujii producing tongue-slapping Eric Dolphy emulations from his bass clarinet. Meanwhile, Anthony Braxton-associate cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum cuts across the band’s massed stop time tutti with a screeching Cat Anderson-like tone.

Distressingly, a year later when Tsahar relocated from Manhattan to Brooklyn to conduct the New York Underground Orchestra through his sprawling, nearly 72½-minute “The Labyrinth”, it seems that some of these players weren’t available. In addition, three violinists, two violists, two cellists and three bassists joined the band, with the woodwinds confined to flutes and clarinets. The result seems more self-consciously philharmonic than, say jazz-classical. Plus many of the additional tones are muffled in the recording or the mix.

Not that there isn’t impressive work here as well. Early on, trombonist Regev who on the earlier CD seems to be an adherent of the gritty Al Grey school creates some elegant muted passages in front of pulsating strings and horns. This symphonic backing don’t prevent Noriega’s bass clarinet to indulge in enough multiphonics to twist the strings echoing aviary tones. Later on, Charles Waters, another Gold Sparkle Band member, uses the string section sawing in the background to cushion a clean, clear clarinet solo that comes out half-Benny Goodman and half-Ornette Coleman (if the later ever played the licorice stick). And trumpeter Nate Wooley, although surrounded by a larger string section than in some of Stan Kenton’s more bloated orchestras, manages to at least push the orchestra into some conventional swinging passages.

Deficiency doesn’t rest with the soloists. It’s the orchestral passages, that with this string-heavy configuration, seems to meander from Debussy-like preciousness to New music bleakness to near-static minimalism. Tsahar’s conduction and writing on “The 5th Path” tries to work out of this conundrum. Muted -- or is it muffled? -- trumpet passages from Lavelle initially displayed on top of unvarying pizzicato pluck from the strings, are soon joined by Wooley for a dramatic fanfare which encompasses rooster crows and plunger work. As the strings move from diminuendo to crescendo and back, both brassmen create a stop time pulse as Tatsuya Nakatani showcases vibes, wood block and other unconventional percussion sounds.

Another time sweet violin and cello lines follow a brass choir intro that gives way to pealing percussion and the odd bass clarinet accent. Yet the andante motion seems merely movement for its own sake. On the last track are Jonah Sacks’ mournful cello presages, Impressionistic strings, twittering flutes and a clarinet and bass clarinet that seem to be trading fours oblivious of what’s unrolling around them. Finally, an exaggerated, extended pianissimo chord is grasped by the reeds and horns until it fades away.

While re-creators -- read copyists -- like Wynton Marsalis, receive awards for using orchestral resources to calcify the tradition, innovators like Tsahar are trying to do something more with larger ensembles. Obviously he doesn’t succeed every time. Plus there is some inexcusable sloppiness on the first disc’s booklet, where performers’ names are spelled incorrectly. They’re correct below.

However, without trying to be hyperbolic, from the evidence here it would seem that one Tsahar almost-failure could be worth a few Marsalis so-called successes. Despite it’s weaknesses, THE LABYRINTH offers some thought-provoking music and EMBRACING THE VOID is a definite triumph. What more could a musically questing composer want?

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Void: 1. Embracing the Void Part 1 2. Embracing the Void Part 2 3. Embracing the Void Part 3. 4. Embracing the Void Part 4 5. Embracing the Void Part 5 6. Embracing the Void Part 6 7. Embracing the Void Part 7 8. Embracing the Void Part 8 9. Embracing the Void Part 9 10. Embracing the Void Part 10

Personnel: Void: Taylor Ho Bynum, Matt Lavelle, Antoine Brye (trumpets); Curtis Hasselbring, Steve Swell and Reut Regev (trombones); Ori Kaplan (alto saxophone); Aaron Stewart, Assif Tsahar (tenor saxophones); Alex Harding (baritone saxophone); Oscar Noriega (bass clarinet and alto saxophone); Craig Taborn (piano); Tom Abbs (bass); Andrew Barker (drums)

Track Listing: Labyrinth: 1. The lst Path 2. The 2nd Path 3. The 3rd Path 4. The 4th Path 5. The 5th Path 6. The 6th Path 7. The 7th Path 8. The 8th Path 9. The 9th Path 10. The 10th Path

Personnel: Labyrinth: Matt Lavelle, Nate Wooley, Marianne Giosa (trumpets); Reut Regev (trombone); Charles Waters (clarinet); Oscar Noriega (bass clarinet); Sabine Arnaud, Muriel Vergnaud (flutes); Melinda Rice, Jean Cook, Katie Pawluk (violins); Stephanie Griffin, Jessica Pavone (violas); Okkyung Lee, Jonah Sacks (cellos); Terrence Murren, Byrne Klay, Todd Nicholson (basses); Tatsuya Nakatani (percussion); Assif Tsahar (conduction)

May 5, 2003

STARK/PAULSON/ABBS/CORIO

Indoor Record
Rent Control RCRCD 007

Bare bones improv has always been the best way to expose and explore the talents of maturing jazz musicians. The four young, New York-based improvisers represented on this disc prove the truth of this statement and confirm that they’re on their way to make important music.

Fully involved with the DIY ethic, they haven’t waited to be discovered by a major label either. Drummer Paul Corio, trumpeter Andrew Paulsen and reedist Jeremy Stark have recorded two other discs as a trio, while bassist and tubaist Tom Abbs is guiding force behind the Jump Arts Coalition and the Jump Arts label.

As a matter of fact it’s the sonorous tones of Abbs’ brass beast that often gives this fine CD its distinctive colors. Abbs, who has also been featured in bands with trombonist Steve Swell, reedman/trumpeter Daniel Carter and multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore, provides an ever-shifting but steady foundation upon which the others can work. At times, as on “Grouchy and Grumpy”, the higher-pitched horns pirouette among protracted, booming tuba blasts. Elsewhere, his solid bass work, whether bowing at hurricane speeds as on “Fulminating” -- the CD’s longest track -- or holding disparate sections together with a firm pizzicato, make him the perfect playing partners for the others. Interestingly enough, all the instant compositions for the disc were recorded quickly in one session in order that Abbs could make an early gig.

Stark, who along with Corio, has also recorded with Carter, has, perhaps in emulation, expanded his reed repertoire as well. Formerly concentrating on soprano saxophone, which he uses here for solo statements and for harmonically free duets with Paulsen, he debuts his bass clarinet. Another darker hue to add to the musical palate, its earnest tonal qualities give some of the tunes a more serious cast, especially when united with Abbs’ outpourings on either the string or brass bass.

Playing Don Cherry much of the time to Stark’s Steve Lacy, Paulsen’s light, darting cadenzas often supply the pure, nutritious toppings that makes a full meal out of the saxophonist’s reed ingredients. Purring more than growling, here, at least, he comes across as a secondary soloist. When he and the reedman intertwine, he seems to amplifying and decorating the other’s long line and occasional extended reed techniques without asserting himself. Then again it’s this sort of strength in numbers, which defines pieces like “For P & W”, and make them unique.

Corio, who was a visual artist before moving to New York in 1987, and is head honcho of the Rent Control label, expresses new confidence in his playing here as well. Maybe it was because he suddenly had forceful assistance in the rhythm section from Abbs. Whatever it is, he allows himself the space to construct the intro for a couple of the pieces from a combination of snare and toms press rolls and standard time cymbal vibrations, and even indulges in a touch of cymbal scratching behind the hornmen’s more abstract and atonal expressions.

If as the title of track 4 notes, the members of this cooperative band are “Going Through a Phase”, then it’s a meritorious phrase that should be encouraged. Rent Control CDs are available at www.rentcontrolrecords.com. This indoor record is the most impressive the label -- and its constituents -- has yet produced. It suggests as more flesh is filling in on these bare bones improvisations with maturity. So, more exceptional sounds may soon be on the way as well.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Grouchy and Grumpy 2. Indoor Record 3. Guess Again 4. Going Through a Phase 5. Fulminating 6. For P & W

Personnel: Andrew Paulsen (trumpet); Jeremy Stark (bass clarinet and soprano saxophone); Tom Abbs (bass and tuba); Paul Corio (drums)

February 10, 2003

BUTCH MORRIS/JUMP ARTS ORCHESTRA

Conduction 117
Jumps Arts JA002

One of the most discussed, but ultimately unsuccessful, notions of the 1950s and 1960s was the attempted fusion of improvised and orchestral music into the so-called Third Stream. Besides the non-cooperation of most so-called classical types, the main reason this didn’t work was that Third Stream’s most committed composers, like John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, appeared to be trying to put a jazz face on essentially pre-modern serious music. What ended up was a hybrid somewhat like a jet equipped with tricycle wheels.

It wasn’t until the 1990s and the maturity of younger musicians who grew up learning both improvisation and composition that this fusion was attempted again. Not surprising, though, the majority of memorable works by Anthony Braxton, Simon H. Fell and the like have come from those whose primary alliances were with jazz and improvised music.

Initially a cornettist, and a long time conductor of tenor man David Murray’s larger groups, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris has provided the next breakthrough for orchestral improvisation. As he demonstrates on this CD, it involves putting together a group of like-minded improvisers -- 24 in this case -- to follow his codified vocabulary of 18 gestures or hand signals and collectively produce a musical work. Called conduction, or conducted improvisation, his system provides a focus for music making, yet it frees improvisers from the predetermined constrictions of a written score.

Morris has experimented with this technique over the past few years with many groups of North American, European and Asian players. This fairly brief -- less than 36½ minute -- excursion is also one of his most successful, since all the members of The Jump Arts Orchestra are young New Yorkers with few ideological axes to grind -- or play.

Made up of musicians who have experience in rock, classical, jazz and ethnic musics and encompassing members of such cutting-edge bands as The Gold Sparkle, The Transcendentalists and some of bassist William Parker’s bigger projects, this structural flexibility of large-ensemble interaction is used to its utmost.

Most of the aural sparks that fly result from the friction produced when different musical themes come into play. A viola playing in a so-called classical style will be framed against the orchestra’s jazz-like horn section, for instance, or the repeated clawing tones of low-pitched reeds burrowing into the score’s centre will suddenly be replaced by counter motifs from higher-pitched instruments.

Sometimes, a sound like David Brandt’s shimmering marimba aside will make up a continuo beneath the other instruments. Elsewhere a repeated triad from say, John Blum’s piano or produced from one of the clarinetists will define the shape of an ongoing section or underscore the entire work. Alternately, the cushiony blend of Bethany Ryker’s French horn and Tom Abbs’s tuba can prepare the atmosphere for a speedy pinprick of discordant notes from other horns. Other times, reed, brass, string and percussion lines will be built one atop another like the fillings in one of Dagwood’s sandwiches, so the pungent spice of one can only be experienced by tasting all the others.

Occasionally space is made for pure-jazz solos, usually from the reeds or rhythm section. Andrew Baker drum tap dance and Abbs’s low-toned tuba makes impressions that way. Most notable is one trombonist -- very likely Steve Swell -- who is given his head at one point to transforms one section from a protracted group improv with echoes of early Stravinsky to the sort of showcase Charles sounds, perhaps because of musicians’ history or playing experience, recall some of Mingus’ extended large scale compositions or the repeated rhythm of Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music. More pointedly, with the small platoon of players participating -- with some instruments played by more than one person -- naming the individual soloists somewhere on the disc would have been a good idea.

Other than that, Morris’ idea that “musicians [who] communicate from vastly different perspectives” results in a “music of collective imagination” seems to hold true here.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Section 1 2. Section 2 3. Section 3 4. Section 4

Personnel: Matt Lavelle, John Birdsong (trumpets); Reut Regev, Steve Swell (trombones); Bethany Ryker (French horn); Tom Abbs (tuba) Gamiel Lyons (flute); Charles Waters (clarinet); Assif Tshar, Oscar Noriega (bass clarinet); Stuart Bogie (contralto clarinet); Suzanne Chen (bassoon); Chris Jonas (soprano saxophone); Patrick Brennen (alto saxophone); Brian Settles (tenor saxophone); John Blum (piano); Jessica Pavonne, Dylan Willemsa (violas); Shia Shu Yu, Okkyung Lee (cellos); Todd Nicholson, Bernard Rosat (basses); David Brandt (marimba); Andrew Barker (drums); Butch Morris (conductor)

June 15, 2002

THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS

Vision
Jump Arts JA001

THE IMPLICATE ORDER
At Seixal
Clean Feed CF 001 CD

With little fanfare -- which probably reflects his playing style -- New York-based Steve Swell has become one of the most accomplished improvising trombonist. Someone whose experience encompasses stints in aggregations as varied as vibist Lionel Hampton’s swing band and drummer Joey Baron’s hard-hitting Barrondown, Swell has achieved what he has through hard work, not some major label publicity machine.

Swell gives his all in every situation as well; some of his best work has come in sidemen gigs with bassist William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. That’s why it’s not surprising that two of his most recent CDs find him as part of different leaderless collectives. The Implicate Order is filled out by two other seasoned improviders -- drummer Lou Grassi and bassist Ken Filiano -- while The Transcendentalists mixes veterans Swell and multi-reedman/trumpeter Daniel Carter with two younger experimentators -- drummer David Brandt and bassist/tubaist Tom Abbs.

Both sessions offer impresive reports on the state of American outside jazz, paradoxically by showing different approaches to improvisation, only united by exceptional playing. VISION, record live at last year’s Vision Festival in Swell’s familiar Lower East Side stomping grounds, is a rough and tumble affair of screaming intensity reminiscent of the best ESP-Disks of the New York Art Quartet which had a similar line up. AT SEIXAL, recorded much more cleanly in a Portuguese concert hall a couple of months before that, shows exactly what can and can’t be done with a trio of improvisers.

Chief contributors to the fertile improvisational ferment in New York are Abbs and Carter, who, during the course of three long tracks seems to be able to switch instruments at the drop of a semidemisemiquaver note, operating with the timing of The Marx Brothers verbally sparing with an officious authority figure. Carter, whose picture could probably go in the dictionary next to the definition of an underrecognized musician, has been doing this sort of instrumental legerdemain for years. A member of TEST and Other Dimensions in Music, his playing experience goes back to the early days of the New Thing.

Here, you’ll just get used to him on tenor saxophone, engaging in a spritely doe-see-doe with Swell’s tailgate trombone, when the valve man’s sudden plunger mute tones makes Carter opt for delicate flute filigree. A little later on trumpet, Carter will be trading fours with the bassman, then switch to alto saxophone to produce the sort of echoing, wire-sharp line that hasn’t been heard since the heyday of Energy Music. Still later, on a slower tune, his arcing, high-pitched clarinet swells will take centrestage as bass and drum ostinatos follow him.

Traditional enough to parade the constant walking bass lines that provide the forward velocity for each of the tunes, and modern enough to creatie guitar-like strums in his solos, Seattle-born Abbs, who is also driving force behind the Jump Arts coalition, is no slouch on tuba either. Smearing the sound field with what could be the joyful bellows of a dancing rhino, his deep lines sometimes make an interesting contrast to Swell’s avant-jungle band plunger tones. Like Carter, too, there are sometimes places where you’d like to count Abbs’s arms, hands and fingers. While he may give the impression of doing so, surely he couldn’t be playing bass and tuba simultaneously.

Brandt, who is vice president of the Jump Arts coalition, is conservatory-trained, but doesn’t brings any academic habits to his playing. Someone who studied with percussion icons Milford Graves and Alan Dawson, he keeps the rhythm going powerfully, without pulverizizng his kit. His attack is such, in fact that at times he sounds like more than one drummer.

In the Sexial auditorium on the othert hand, Grassi didn’t resemble a bunch of percussionists: just one: himself . He’s someone who has evolved a personal style after years of work with everyone from the freest soloists to Dixielanders. During the more than 76 minutes of this session, he usually stays in the background, contributing where he’s needed, as the lead passes between the other players. With his unobtrusive snare and cymbal seasoning, Grassi’s work is impressive because he doesn’t have to continulaly remind you that he’s there.

A strong Mingusian with a forthright, woody tone, Filiano initially worked on the with West Coast with the likes of multi-reedman Vinny Golia and pianist Richard Grossman. Equally adept at a stuttering arco as well as a masterful pizzicato, and with an ability to speedily slide from one to another, you can often hear each digit’s place on the string when he plays. If there’s a string buzz, for instance, you know, it’s because he wants that sound. Sometimes he uses interjections like that to meld with Grassi’s reverberating little instruments or Swell’s muted smears and growls.

As the seven tunes runs right into the next, each of the three players asserts himself without worrying too much about a traditional front line. As a matter of fact, there’s one point where muted wah wahs from the trombone are used more as background than either of the sounds from the rhythm instruments.

Like his acknowledged model, Rosewell Rudd, Swell, on tunes like “Sunshine in Seixal” produces one of the those lazy, slippery tongued rambles at which Rudd excels, while the slide maintains constant accelerations and decelerations, arriving at the proper place just when the desired note is needed. If necessary, he can accelerate and cycle through a tune like a cybernetic bopper, but he never neglects the colors and vibratos available from exaggerated slide work.

Portuguese guests -- soprano and alto saxophonist Paulo Curado and baritone saxophonist Rodrigo Amado -- join the trio on the final two numbers, but, while they’re good players, threy conform a little too closely to convention to set speaks flying. Curado’s smooth, shaky soprano even causes Grassi to suggest a Latin beat on “Everything is Everything”, while the “Avant Fado Meeting” of Amado and Swell suggests a Gerry Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer collusion more than anything “avant” or “fado”.

All in all, while both CDs offer a bouquet of good music, listening to them back-to-back sugegsts a dream scenerio. Mixing the players representing here could focus the Transcendentalists’ sloppy enthusiasm and loosen up the Implicate Order’s precise pointillism. Don’t worry about the double rhythm section either. Carter and Swell are in good enough shape to hold their own against a double dose of bass and drums.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Vision: 1.Collision 2. Forward Motion 3. Transient

Personnel: Vision: Steve Swell (trombone); Daniel Carter (trumpet, alto and tenor saxophone, flute); Tom Abbs (bass, tuba ); David Brandt (drums)

Track Listing: Seixal: 1. For When Tathagatas Walk The Earth 2. For José Saramago 3. Bohnm’s Ghost 4. Sunshine in Seixal 5. Dance of the Expatriates 6. Avant Fado Meeting 7. Everything Is Everything

Personnel: Seixal: Steve Swell (trombone); Paulo Curado (soprano and alto saxophones)*; Rodrigo Amado (baritone saxophone)*; Ken Filiano (bass); Lou Grassi (drums)

June 7, 2002