Tony Bevan/Joe Morris/Tony Buck/Dominic Lash

Tony-Joe Bucklash
Foghorn FOGCD 016

NoReduce

Jaywalkin’

nWog Records NWOG 005

Pumped up past the expected, despite the common saxophone-guitar-bass-drums configuration are these CDs. Although each features an American playing with a European unit, the path to quality is achieved by different routes.

In one case perhaps visiting Boston guitarist Joe Morris could be the spark plug for the extended go-for-broke improvising on Tony-Joe Bucklash, since the three other British players have singly and together frequently recorded outstanding work in the past. Besides Morris, known for his association with the likes of bassist William Parker and saxophonist Joe Maneri, Oxford-based reedist Tony Bevan is not only one of the (few) masters of the bass saxophone, but equally proficient on tenor and soprano. Berlin-based Aussie drummer Tony Buck is a long-time member of the Necks; while bassist Dominic Lash is busy in both New York and London. Rather than Morris being the only special guest, this CD also marks the first recorded meeting by Bevan with both bassist and drummer.

Co-op band NoReduce on the other hand is a working group featuring three Swiss musicians and a New Yorker drummer, recorded in New York. Again, while drummer Nasheet Waits has gigged with everyone from pianist Jason Moran to saxophonist Sam Rivers, the young Europeans have extensive experience as well. A member of the Lucerne Jazz Orchestra, tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger leads his own bands and works in many others. Bassist Raffaele Bossard has played with alto saxophonist Tobias Meier among others, while guitarist Dave Gisler works in many contexts.

Gisler doesn’t have the distinctive style of a Morris, yet in many ways his plasticity which range from methodical licks to buzzy lead guitar-like motions help the band’s slowly gelling definition. For instance his continuous chording sets the mood on “Playground” along with clip-clop drumming and a walking bass line. By the time Gisler introduces spidery double-string runs, the saxophonist has hardened the tone of his hitherto wispy blowing to expose repeated slurs which are met by guitar fills and cymbal crashes. There’s a similar strategy at work on “The Slope”, but it’s Bossard’s power plucks and Watts’ rolling drags and ratamacues which define the exposition. Meanwhile sharp guitar quivers and saxophone vibratos creating rougher theme variations, until the drummer’s climatic pops plus cymbal slaps propel the improvisation back to the head. On the other hand, “Morningside Road” features near-ethereal guitar and sax harmonies that before they circle back to linear reed sighs and guitar fills at the finale, open up the piece to staccato split tones from Irniger and tough bounces from the drummer.

If the still embryonic NoReduce suggests earlier quartet antecedents from Stan Getz and Jimmy Raney to John Coltrane and Elvin Jones as it defines its identity, the other quartet is fully committed to a Free Music ethos, but constructs an original identity within the genre. Pushing aside a tendency to overdo freneticism with bugle-call-like riffs from Bevan, strained tremors from Morris and protracted percussion emphasis, the four carve a polyphonic narrative from inchoate expansions by blending their parts in parallel patterning.

The quartet attains its most profound confluence on the more-than 35 minute “Out of the Rising Sun”. With Lash’s buzzing string slices and Buck’s crashes and bounces as a backdrop, Morris’ stressed strums test the limits of guitar experience, adding arpeggiated runs and hand pumps to his exposition. Meanwhile Bevan vibrates tenor glisses that are as abstract as they are stressed. Initially in broken octave concordance with the reed man, as the guitarist’s slurred fingering deconstructs his lines so they become narrower and spikier, Bevan counters with his big gun: the bass saxophone. Percussive, persuasive and pummeling his wind-breaking chalumeau and tree-top-high altissimo intensity repeatedly makes anything that could have been output by pioneering R&B honkers Leo Parker or Paul Williams seems like polite background music. Buck’s cymbal shattering and Lash’s brawny pumps join the multiphonic reed-masticator, nearly rendering the guitarist inaudible. When Morris finally asserts himself again his pile-driver plinks add the needed impetus to make the ending distinctive and satisfactorily collegial.

A fine first effort, Jaywalkin’ offer some perceptive tracks and solos, but lacks the self-possessed identity that a veteran troupe would have. If the band members stick together it will come. As for Tony-Joe Bucklash, this meeting is a representative instance of free-for-all improvising. But the same proviso stands. If the four can convene more frequently the result will probably even put this first-rate disc in the shade.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Tony-Joe: 1. Out of the Rising Sun 2. Into the Rising Sun

Personnel: Tony-Joe: Tony Bevan (soprano, tenor and bass saxophones); Joe Morris (guitar); Dominic Lash (bass) and Tony Buck (drums)

Track Listing: Jaywalkin: 1. Endangered 2. The Slope 3. Playground 4. Far Away But Close Enough 5. Dope Factory 6. Jaywalkin’ 7. Morningside Road 8. The Mouse

Personnel: Jaywalkin: Christoph Irniger (tenor saxophone); Dave Gisler (guitar); Raffaele Bossard (bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums)

April 16, 2013

Artist Feature

Agustí Fernández
By Ken Waxman

A complete pianist in every sense of the word who blends exquisite technique with innovative inspiration, Agustí Fernández is arguably Spain’s most accomplished contemporary improviser. This month he’s playing four nights in different configurations at the Stone, a rare series of American dates. “I like all kind of combinations, from duo to big ensembles because each one presents different challenges for a player,” he explains. “Listening, language, instruments, techniques, sound, volume, interplay, etc. will be different in every setting.”

In fact Fernández, 58, who lives in a small town just outside of Barcelona, welcomes all sorts of musical situations. A regular member of The Barry Guy New Orchestra (BGNO), Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble (EAE) and numerous smaller European combos, in NYC he’ll work with guitarist Joe Morris, trumpeter Nate Wooley, multi-reedist Ken Vandermark, bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and other players, some for the first time, some renewing associations. “It's always very inspiring to meet or listen to your colleagues in non-usual combinations,” he adds. I’ve learned something from every musician I’ve ever played with.” The Stone connection came through Morris, who is curating a series at the venue and with whom Fernández, has recorded in the past, in duo, and in a trio with Wooley. “I feel very close to Joe as a musician,” says the pianist.

Born in Palma de Mallorca, Fernández began playing when he was four years old – “I have no memories of not playing the piano,” he muses – studied classical music at the local conservatory, and in 1987 won first prize at the Second Biennale of Young Creators Artists of the Mediterranean, in Thessaloniki, Greece. After that he could have pursued a career in so-called classical music, but had already fallen under the twin influences of pianist Cecil Taylor and composer Iannis Xenakis. Of Xenakis, with whom Fernández studied, he recalls: “I was impressed by the intensity of the music, the lack of romanticism. To me it was more like a natural phenomenon, like the weather let’s say, happening through sounds; a punch in the stomach.” As for Taylor, “I was impressed by his piano improvisations. I had never heard anything like him before. From both Xenakis and Taylor I learned about the decisions you have to make in order to play your own music and not someone else’s. This means mainly learning what not to play, what to leave out”.

Adding that “you don’t learn the most important things at the conservatory, you learn them on stage, or during a rehearsal,” in his formative years the pianist was already been involved with as many musical projects as possible. Starting with teenage rock bands – “I had one foot in classical and another one in rock; Bach and Soft Machine,” he recalls – at 18 he spent a year playing cocktail music in hotels and night clubs. Later he created music for local theatre and dance companies, composed electronic music, co-founded the IBA (Improvisadors de Barcelona) orchestra and taught at ESMUC, the Catalan college of music. “I’ve always been active in many different aspects of music, classical, commercial, avant-garde, rock, jazz, contemporary, film music, music for dance, etc. sometimes with different gigs or recording sessions in the same week. But for the past 10 to 12 years 99% of what I do is improv-related,” he reports.

Among those projects, besides the BGNO and EAE, are the Aurora Trio with drummer Ramon López and bassist Guy; EFG, a trio with trumpeter Peter Evans and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson; and Trio Local with saxophonist Liba Villavecchia and the late sampler player Joan Saura; plus many solo concerts. “I prefer to work in long-term groups because with them you can go deeper in your quest and refine your common artistic approach,” Fernández reveals. His interest in electro-acoustic environments remains as well, which will result in an upcoming CD with electronics manipulator Joel Ryan. Additionally Catalan composer Hèctor Parra is writing a one-hour solo piano piece to feature Fernández, to be premiered in November 2013.

While he concedes that his playing reflects his background he disagrees with those who insist on the demarcation between European and North-American improvisers. “As an improviser, my roots are in what is called the first generation of European improvisers: Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Peter Kowald, Alex von Schlipenbach, Fred van Hove, etc. These are the musicians who invented the music we play nowadays: my tradition. Of course, jazz has been and still is, a big influence, in the sense that I listen to a lot of jazz, old and new. But it’s not the only source, and not the main one. Besides improvisation, I listen to contemporary music, electronic music, ethnic music, popular music, anything. There is something in every music that may influence the way I play, even if unconsciously. The African pygmies or [alto saxophonist] Christine Sehnaoui, there’s no difference for me, it’s just great music.

“I also don’t think there is a significant difference between American and European improv,” he adds. “When I’m playing with Joe Morris or Peter Evans, let’s say, it’s not much different than when I'm playing with Mats Gustafsson or Barry Guy. The music may be completely different, but not because they’re Americans or Europeans, but because they’re different people from different backgrounds, generations, countries and lives.”

Similarly he dismisses the idea of his being a particular Spanish or Catalan style of improvisation. “Only nuances or hues and the way in which I approach the musical fact may relate to that. But I really don't think of my playing as Spanish, or European. It’s just something that I am.”

Recommended Listening:

Agustí Fernández – 1 is not 1 (Nova Era 1998)

Agustí Fernández & Derek Bailey – Barcelona (Hopscotch 2002)

Barry Guy New Orchestra – Oort /Entropy (Intakt 2005)

Agustí Fernández, Barry Guy & Ramón López – Aurora (Maya Recordings 2006)

Joe Morris & Agustí Fernández – Ambrosia (RITI 2011)

Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble – Hasselt (psi 2012)

Agustí Fernández - Pianoactivity – One (Sirulita 2012)

--For The New York City Jazz Record January 2013

January 11, 2013

Joe Morris Quartet

Graffiti in Two Parts
Rogueart ROG-0039

By Ken Waxman

Paradoxically, the overriding fascination of this 1985 Cambridge, Mass. session is with its least-known player. Unlike Joe Morris, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris and Malcolm Goldstein, who have well-charted careers in improvised music, this is only the second record featuring Lowell Davidson (1941-1990). More crucially, Davidson plays percussion and aluminum acoustic bass here, unlike his eponymous 1965 debut as a pianist on ESP-Disk with drummer Milford Graves and bassist Gary Peacock.

Someone who studied biochemistry at Harvard, after the trio date Davidson returned to Boston, where after taking too many chemicals himself, found his increasingly erratic behavior meant few gigs. He met Joe Morris in the early 1980s and played with him on-and-off from then on. Davidson, whose piano styling had quirky Herbic Nichols-early Cecil Taylor intonation, approaches other instruments in a more rudimentary and more abstract manner. His percussion implements here result in off-centre coloration rather than time-keeping, while the aluminum bass, intermingling tones with Morris’ distinctive clinks and flat picking from banjouke and guitar, almost lacks double bass properties and is instead mostly involved with upper-partial tremolos. Frequently it’s also difficult to distinguish the bass work from Morris’ abrasive plucks and pops plus Goldstein’s flying spiccato and other extended string techniques. Flexible playing arco and pizzicato, the violinist infuses the proceedings with staccato lyricism. Meanwhile Butch Morris uses his cornet to flick muted tones or plunger whines into the mix. Among the others’ dense and agitated timbres, his mewling grace notes stand out.

Overall, the textures on “Graffiti-Part I” and “Graffiti-Part II” are sympathetically aligned, but the presentation is nearly opaque. Combining the trumpeter’s ghostly puffs, the guitarist’s sharp twangs and the fiddler’s angled multiphonics with occasional metallic string thumps and irregular drum beats allows for few pauses. One does occur in the final variation of the second track when Davidson reveals an uncommon bass line that’s equal parts rubber-band stretching and agitated string rubs until it’s suddenly cut off by B. Morris’ low-toned brass burbling.

Satisfying enough as this CD is displaying Davidson improvising on his secondary instruments, the answer to how his piano prowess changed over time remains moot. Perhaps the appearance of Graffiti in Two Parts will tempt someone to release those tapes of Davidson’s piano playing that are rumored to exist in the Boston area.

Tracks: Graffiti - Part I; Graffiti - Part II; Tag

Personnel: Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris: cornet; Joe Morris: guitar, banjouke; Malcolm Goldstein: violin; Lowell Davidson: drums, aluminum acoustic bass

--For The New York City Jazz Record January 2013

January 6, 2013

Ivo Perelman/Joe Morris/Gerald Cleaver

Family Ties
Leo Records CD LR 630

The Ames Room

Bird Dies

Clean Feed: CF 231 CD

Free Jazz has no geography or language as these two CDs of outstanding trio improvisation prove. Seemingly any musician(s) from anywhere can organize an exceptional session just as long as the spirit is there. But that’s the key caveat. For unless the performance includes an indefinable helping of inspiration and cooperation, the results is endless blowing.

The younger group of players who make up the Ames Group understand this and, perhaps pointedly don’t make free expression their only methods of expression. Paris-based alto saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet for instance, is not only is involved with electro-acoustic compositions and pieces for organ but he’s one-fifth of Hubbub, France’s most recognizable reductionist band. Confirming the geographic separation, The Ames Room’s other members are Australians who have expatriated to different parts of Europe. Nantes, France-based Will Guthrie, is a percussionist who moves between Rock, Electronica and experimental solo expression; Berlin resident, bassist Clayton Thomas is as likely be found as part of an experimental duo as a big band playing complex arrangements.

There’s no sign of that versatility on Bird Dies, which in essence is 46 minutes of unstoppable, balls-to-the-wall improvisation, with no explanation of whether the deceased bird in question is a fowl or Charlie Parker. Guionnet sticks the horn in his mouth at the beginning, and almost never stops stretching sequences of staccato segmented split tones, slurs, screams and siren-like squeaks throughout. Meanwhile Thomas keeps things together with resonating thumps while Guthrie matches the saxman’s extended glossolalia and tongue jujitsu with cross-sticking counterpoint expressed in ruffs, rolls and bounces.

Building his solos with pointillist intensity so that partials and extensions of individual notes are apparent along with the roots, Guionnet’s altissimo screams and basso honks are anything but out of control. Marking time with repeated phrasing and hooks, his output cunningly mingles with Thomas’ and Guthrie’s pressures and vibrations until the intermingled lines come to a satisfactory end. One would expect that “Bird” Parker would have been impressed with the trio members’ audacity, if not all their methods.

There are similar circumstances in place on Family Ties. But here the slightly older improvisers keep the free-form intensity going for almost 75½ -minutes, albeit among six tracks. Another dual country situation, in this case bassist Joe Morris and drummer Gerald Cleaver are Americans while saxophonist Ivo Perelman is Brazilian. Each has worked with a cross section of advanced stylists in the past, most prominently bassist William Parker and pianist Matthew Shipp.

Cleaver who straddles supposed contemporary and so-called avant-garde Jazz gigs most of the time uses blunt accents throughout; while Morris, equally proficient as a guitarist, has an expected tendency to mix arpeggiated licks with steadying string pops. As for Perelman, his supposed avant-gardism doesn’t preclude involvement in the song form at various junctures. Especially in this classic configuration of saxophone-bass-and-drums, his pacing and timbre intersections often reflect decisions Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins made in corresponding situations. Get an idea of this on “The Buffalo”, the only creature memorialized here.

In effect there are sections in “Love”, the album’s nearly 25-minute climatic showpiece that Perelman’s supposedly irregular reed variations take on lyrical inferences in the Stan Getz-Gerry Mulligan tradition. Bird may figure in too. Mid-range and moderato, Perelman’s sputtering textures are backing by Cleaver’s ratamacues. Soon afterwards though bugle-like spetrofluctuation, pressurized honks and repeated tongue slaps are the order of the day, with the saxophonist blowing several choruses through his mouthpiece alone. The drummer responds with shattering ruffs and cross patterning, while the bassist sprints up and down the strings to introduce the saxophonist`s tongue-stopping and shrilling. As a climax within a climax, Perelman eventually produces two streams of sounds; one which piles shrieks upon shrieks; the other accommodating and mid-range. The later connects to the pseudo-ballad which launched the sequence and appropriately completes it.

Throughout the rest of the session the three engage in more cat-and-mouse-like games and chases, with multiphonics as prominent as American songbook inferences and, in the saxophonist’s case, bitten-off tones and vamping cries that go beyond Rollins-like strategies without being offensive. Tessitura broadening to insinuate lyrical underpinning even lurks in a piece such as the title track. Although Perelman begins his improvisations on kazoo [!], there are still references to simpler pop melodies in the midst of the instrument’s nasal whines. When he switches back to tenor saxophone, his output is initially paced and mellow, until he deconstructs what melody there is with staccato snorts and bell-muting slurs. As Cleaver ruffs and rattles alongside Morris’ stentorian bumps, Perelman uses thick reed pressure to rappel from nephritic sound dislocation to grating altissimo tongue flutters before locking into a chromatic summation punctuated by guitar-like twangs and a concluding thump from the bassist.

Protracted or segmented explorations of the polyphonic limits of concentrated improvisations, both of these Brazilian-American and French-Australian trios offer uncompromising but satisfying CDs.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Bird: 1. Bird Dies

Personnel: Bird: Jean-Luc Guionnet (alto saxophone); Clayton Thomas (bass) and Will Guthrie (drums)

Track Listing: Family: 1. Family Ties 2. The Imitation of the Rose 3. Love 4. Preciousness 5. Mystery in Sao Christovao 6. The Buffalo.

Personnel: Family: Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone, kazoo and mouthpiece); Joe Morris (bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums)

May 21, 2012

Ivo Perelman Quartet

The Hour of the Star
Leo Records CD LR 605

Eastern Boundary Quartet

Icicles

Konnex KCD 5258

Carlo De Rosa’s Cross-Fade

Brain Dance

Cuneiform Rune 317

Of all the formations that have characterized improvisation at least since the Bop era, the most common has been that of one reed player along with piano, bass and drums. Just because it’s unexceptional doesn’t mean every session has to be identical however, especially if the meeting ground is original compositions. As these quartet discs demonstrate, plenty of variations are available, even if the form prods participants towards a mainstream orientation.

Least committed to that concept is Brazilian tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, who is also most closely aligned to what could be called Energy Music. His all-star American quartet includes guitarist-turned-bassist Joe Morris, sought-after and sympathetic drummer Gerald Cleaver, and, on four of the six tunes, celebrated pianist Matthew Shipp. Shipp’s presence is crucial here. For while nowhere does he entertain thoughts of running the changes, the pianist helps create a conventional rhythm section, which steadies the often-abrasive playing of Perelman.

If The Hour of the Star is the most avant-garde session, then Brain Dance is the most conventional. That’s conventional as in normal, not predictable however. Leader/bassist Carlo De Rosa, who has worked with everyone from drummer Jack DeJohnette to Jazz-World Music trumpeter Amir El Saffer, has composed seven high quality tunes, and his Cross-Fade band is made up of top New York players. Vijay Iyer who plays Fender Rhodes and piano here is one of the most celebrated younger keyboardists, mixing Asian inflected concepts with Jazz. Kingston, Jamaica-born tenor saxophonist Mark Shim has worked with the Mingus Big Band and trumpeter Terrence Blanchard; while young drummer Justin Brown’s credits include gigs with Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.

With its music somewhere in between these two previous discs, and with an inside-outside quality, is the aptly named Eastern Boundary Quartet, a working unit since 2007. Two of its members are American veterans and long-time playing partners: bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, who together or alone work regularly with players such as German reedman Gerald Ullman. Their lesser-known – in the West – compadres are Hungarian. Mihály Borbély plays alto saxophone and tarogato and Balázs Bágyi is on drums. Borbély teaches at both the Béla Bartók Conservatory and the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy, and has worked with musicians as different as the ROVA Saxophone Quartet and flautist Herbie Mann. Someone who also works in theatre music and takes Jazz gigs, Bágyi is a mamber of the Magyarvista Social Club, a 31-member Hungarian World Music orchestra.

Working with different line-ups over the years, right now Cross-Fade’s weakest links seem to be in the drum and saxophone chairs, but for different reasons. Brown is an incredibly busy drummer and appears committed to hammering rhythms and licks onto every track –whether they’re called for or not. Shim on the other hand has developed a distinctive, robust tenor sound. Unfortunately it’s nearly unchanging on most tracks, making those few instances where he alters his playing strategy stand out. Additionally, while De Rosa’s centred bass lines holds many of the pieces together, cleverly winnowing or double-timing distinctive solos or accompaniment, Iyer’s touch, so masterful and clear-cut on acoustic piano loses its individuality when he switches to electric.

That’s why the CD’s stand-out tunes are “Headbanger’s Bawl” and “Terrane/A Phrase”. The latter, the nearly 13½-minute lengthiest track, feature a straightforward up-and-down bass line, a similarly unadorned swinging backbeat from Brown, with enough breathing space left for both Shim and Iyer. As Brown moves among wooden clatters, drags and ruffs, the pianist exposes a series of tension-building chords and the saxophonist equally intense snorts plus controlled flutter tonguing. Iyer’s cascades circle around the reedist’s multiphonic expansion, until De Rosa’s atonal string vibrations move all concerned to cross tones and connections. Rhythm on “Headbanger’s Bawl” is properly opaque and Rock-like, with De Rosa adding a bulky pulse, and Brown later breaking up the time with paradiddles and cymbal clanks. Shim’s stuttering tenor line soon escalates to slurs and tongue stops, while the pianist constructs his brooding, multi-fingered sequence out of glissandi and flashing tremolo runs.

Stevens is another commanding piano soloist with the experience that makes him an equally sensitive accompanist. On Icicles he effortlessly slides from the gentle impressionism of his self-composed title tune to tougher syncopation on more blues-oriented material. Furthermore he can offhandedly use slinky tremolos for effect in the piano’s mid-section, without letting the rhythm lag. Fonda too is assured. He quotes Oscar Pettiford’s “Blues in the Closet” in his rhythmic introduction to the band’s treatment of Atilla Zoller’s “Hungarian Jazz Rhapsody”; and on his own “Fish Soup” uses solid thumps and echoing lines to set up Borbély’s double puffing and extended flutter tonguing. Borbély’s reed lines throughout are distinctive, sticking to the alto saxophone’s highest register – or perhaps actually playing soprano saxophone – for melodic interludes. Meanwhile he uses narrowed tarogato tones and frenetic triple-tonguing to keep the momentum going on Balázs’ “Soft BalkanWinds”, which actually is blown along via the drummer’s primitivist beats.

“Borders”, again composed by Borbély is the most fully realized performance. In part it’s a Fonda showcase with the bassist’s runs scurrying from super-speedy to walking to strained strums, as well as exposing additional tones and partials. Still ample room is available for the composer and pianist. Stevens’ muscular patterns, cascading chords and repetitive key clipping pave the way for Borbély’s slithering split tones, as the reed man elaborates a melody which almost sounds Scottish.

Someone whose melodies definitely lack a Scottish – and usually a tonal – tinge is tenor saxophonist Perelman, although after more than 20 years of recording and times changing, his textures sound more tempered than in the past. Not that the Brazilian’s improvisational allegiance is any less to late-period Coltrane. It’s just that in the nearly 50 years since Trane’s death, these concepts are part of many saxophonists’ lingua franca.

Interestingly enough, there’s a portion of “As For the Future” where Perelman’s tenor tone seems to be condensing to approximate that of a tarogato. His tone is just as strident; his pitch is as altissimo, but is that a quote from “Secret Love” that sneaks into his solo? Atop Morris’ ostinato plucks and Cleaver’s restrained rolls and rim shots, Perelman chews on the exposition like a pooch with a meaty bone, using snorts, bites, growls and tongue motions to extract every ounce of protein from the material. Finally he slows the piece down to a Hard Boppish, almost mellow ending.

In such fast, yet encouraging company some of the tenseness that has characterized the tenor saxophonist’s improvising in the past has dissipated. His lines are still harsh, especially when pushed along by Shipp’s metronomic chording. Yet framed among irregular drum beats and adhered bass thumping, even as glossolalia and guttural tones exit his horn, his playing is more focused. Juddering counterpoint from the pianist, mixed with repeated renal cries and sudden descents into the horn’s nether regions from Perelman, create an altogether original take on the material.

One climax occurs on “Singing the Blues”, where the saxman’s approximation of late-period Trane slurs, shakes, snort and timbre-shredding meets Shipp’s expressive kinetic runs until the palpable ferocity is almost visible. Accelerating to fortissimo and seemingly emptying the horn of all its air with diaphragm pressure and note stretching, the addition of Cleaver’s backbeat helps wrap things up so that the saxophonist’s agitated growls find their proper place among the pianist’s downwards punctuation.

No matter the nationality of members of the formations – and no matter how advanced and far-out the improvising may be – these sessions prove that the sax-plus-rhythm- section format is still as viable as it ever has been,

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Icicles: 1. Fish Soup 2. Icicles) 3. Soft Balkan Wind 4. Borders 5. China 6. Hungarian Jazz Rhapsody 7. Transylvania Blues

Personnel: Icicles: Mihály Borbély (alto saxophone and tarogato); Michael Jefry Stevens (piano); Joe Fonda (bass) and Bágyi Balázs (drums)

Track Listing: Brain: 1. Circular Woes 2. For Otto 3. Maja 4. Headbanger’s Bawl 5. Brain Dance 6. Terrane/A Phrase 7. Route 17

Personnel: Brain: Mark Shim (tenor saxophone); Vijay Iyer (piano and Fender Rhodes); Carlo De Rosa (bass) and Marcus Gilmore (drums)

Track Listing: Hour: 1. A Tearful Tale 2. Singing the Blues 3. The Hour of the Star 4. The Right to Protest 5. As For the Future 6. Whistling in the Dark Wind

Personnel: Hour: Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone); Matthew Shipp (piano [except 2, 5]); Joe Morris (bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums)

January 10, 2012

SFE

Positions and Descriptions
Clean Feed CF 230 CD

By Ken Waxman

For the past 20-odd years as “Butch” Morris has demonstrated conduction: structuring free improvisation using a specific series of hand gestures, many improvising ensembles have been created in his its wake. Whether groups use or not signals developed by Morris to rearrange and sculpt notated and non-notated music, conduction is part of their inventory. As these releases demonstrate however, it depends on individual musicians’ skills for a performance to be fully satisfying.

This is apparent on Verona, collecting two Morris-directed conductions from 1994 and 1995. While both involve 11-piece ensembles, the instrumentation in 1995 makes it more satisfying. The three parts of “Verona Skyscraper” vibrate with a lyrical exposition and juddering intensity that upstages the five parts of “The Cloth” from 1994. As two percussionists, a guitarist and two pianists stretch, smack and crunch a pulsating ostinato, distinctive solo interludes interrupt the cacophonous friction. Bill Horvitz’s guitar plinks are contrapuntally paired with one pianist’s key clipping or the aggression of the rhythm section is muted by Stefano Benini’s legato flute tone or contralto wisps from Marco Pasetto’s clarinet. Throughout, Zeena Parkins’ harp plinks are lyrical with a hard edge. As the massed instrumental textures quiver continuously, the stand out soloist is J.A. Deane on trombone and electronics. His braying plunger work cuts through harmonized woodwind extensions or the layered friction of piano strumming cadenzas. Eventually the full-force instrumental bubbles to a crescendo, then ebbs to signal the finale by shrinking to triangle pings and guitar plinks.

Although Deane also solos on “The Cloth”, the minimalist quivers predominating from dual cello string shimmies, low-frequency piano chording and gaunt oboe tones make the themes overly precious. When the downward pinches of Parkins’ harp stand out as disruptively staccato, the textural sameness of the other textures becomes apparent. Luckily by the time the carol-like “Omega” is played, sul ponticello strokes from the celli, and whacks from Le Quan Ninh’s percussion join barking trombone guffaws to angle at least this piece towards concluding excitement.

Flash forward 12 years and bassist/composer Simon H. Fell’s Positions and Descriptions owes as much to juxtaposition as conduction, although Steve Beresford s on hand to bring conduction clues to the 16-piece ensemble. The nine-movement suite is described as “a compilation … incorporating composed, pre-recorded and improvised elements”. With the pre-recorded sequences at a minimum, the tension engendered is between the composition’s notated and free-form sections. Early in the suite Tim Berne’s mercurial saxophone lines create free jazz interludes abetted by drummer Mark Sanders’ rim shots. Later, a chamber ensemble of clarinet and strings echo ornate textures as glockenspiel, vibes and bells jingle contrapuntally and a tubax burps. From a jazz standpoint, “Movt. III” is the most exhilarating track, with Sanders’ bass drum accents and Fell’s pumping strings leading the band though a vamp reminiscent of Count Basie’s 16 men swinging. In counterpoint clarinettist Alex Ward produces reed-biting shrieks and trumpeter Chris Batchelor brassy slurs. Before a cacophonous ending, pianist Philip Thomas and violinist Mifune Tsuji output a faux-schmaltzy tango. Preceding and following this, harp glissandi and baroque-styled trumpet maintain the composition’s formalistic aspects. Fell makes jokes as well. “Plusieurs Commentaires de PB pour DR [Description 5]” described as a “mini concerto for baritone saxophone”, only features the horn’s distinctive snorts when introducing the following “Movt. V”. Before that the piece involves flute whistles, piano key percussion and half-swallowed saxophone tongue slaps. The concluding “Movt. V” gives guitarist Joe Morris a dynamic showcase for kinetic string snaps. At the same time Fell has orchestrated sequences in which staccato string vibrations, woodwind smears and horror-movie quivers from the electronics arrive in sequence. Taken adagio, the finale involves every musician creating snarling dissonance.

Whether that last sequence actually involved conduction, giving top-flight soloists their head is evidentially as good a guarantee of quality music as theory.

Tracks: Positions: Movt. I [Positions 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4; Who’s the Fat Man? [Description 1]; Movt. II [Position 5]; FZ pour PB [Description 2]/Commentaire I de “FZ pour PB” [Description 3]; Movt. III [Positions 6-9]; Graphic Description 4; Movt. IV [Position 10]; Plusieurs Commentaires de PB pour DR [Description 5]; Movt. V [Positions 11-17]

Personnel: Positions: Chris Batchelor: trumpet; Jim Denley: piccolo, concert, alto and bass flutes; Andrew Sparling: Eb, Bb and bass clarinets; Alex Ward: Bb clarinet; Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Damien Royannais: baritone saxophone, Eb tubax; Mifune Tsuji: violin; Rhodri Davies: harps; Philip Thomas: piano and celesta; Joe Morris: guitar; Simon H. Fell: bass and electronics; Philip Joseph: theremin; Mark Sanders: drums; Joby Burgess: percussion; Steve Beresford: electronics and conduction; Clark Rundell: conductor

Tracks: Verona: Conduction No. 43: The Cloth; Via Talciona; Dust to Dust (part 1); Omega; Long Goodbye / Conduction No. 46: Skyscraper Mutiny; Crossdresser; Testament

Personnel: Verona: Conduction No. 43: J.A. Deane trombone/electronics; Mario Arcari: oboe; Riccardo Fassi and Myra Melford: pianos; Brandon Ross: guitar; Bryan Carrot: vibraphone; Stephano Montaldo: viola; Martin Schutz and Martine Altenburger: cello; Zeena Parkins: harp; Le Quan Ninh: percussion/Conduction No. 46: J.A. Deane trombone/electronics; Stefano Benini : flute; Marco Pasetto: clarinet; Francesco Bearzatti: bass clarinet; Rizzardo Piazzi: alto saxophone; Riccardo Massari and Myra Melford: pianos; Bill Horvitz: guitar; Zeena Parkins: harp; Carlo “Bobo” Facchinetti: drums; Le Quan Ninh: percussion

--For New York City Jazz Record January 2012

January 5, 2012

Flow Trio

Set Theory – Live at the Stone
Ayler AYLCD 107

Willi Kellers/Thomas Borgmann/Akira Ando

Boom Box Jazz

Jazzwerkstatt JW 106

Reports of Free Jazz`s death have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the derision, rejection and outright venom that has been directed at it since that musical expression came to the fore in the early 1960s, committed improvisers continue to discover nuances for self-expression unhampered by themes, bar lines or so-called proper instrumental techniques

Consider these discs by the all-American Flow Trio of saxophonist Louie Belogonis, bassist Joe Morris and drummer Charles Downs plus the German/Japanese threesome of saxophonist Thomas Borgmann, bassist Akira Ando and percussionist Willi Kellers. Like the best players in every idiom, each ensemble tackles the challenge of Free Jazz with novel variations on the now venerable sounds.

Belogonis, whose past playing partners have included drummer Rashid Ali and trumpeter Roy Campbell, moves through the three selections on Set Theory with the confidence of someone who have found his milieu. Whether it’s puffing out swathes of dissected and disconnected slurs from his soprano saxophone or expanding flattement from his tenor saxophone, his exposition is welcoming enough to encompass others’ equally distinct contributions. Morris, who recently has become a solid bass player as well as a guitarist, varies his accompaniment among walking lines and thumping arpeggios. Meanwhile Downs, formerly known as Rashid Bakr, proves with his echoing cymbal breaks, and double-timed, ratamacues and pumps why he has been demand in bands such as Other Dimensions in Music and pianist Cecil Taylor’s units. Consisting of three live selections which in parts are as moderato and lyrical as they are violent and emotional, the CD demonstrates how perfect symmetry can enliven performances that from the beginning make no compromises.

Recorded more than a year later, Boom Back Jazz appears to be more melody-driven and even blues tinged. Perhaps it’s because, in contrast to Set Theory’s on-the-spot improvisations, each Boom Boxer composed two tunes, and their elaborations indicates the trio’s different approaches. Additionally, each participant brings a different improv variant to the disc. Münster-born Thomas Borgmann, who plays sopranino, soprano and tenor saxophones and harmonica here, has worked with, among many others, tenor saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and pianist Borah Bergman. Kellers has composed theatre music and worked in a duo with Brötzmann; while Sapporo-born Ando worked with players such as Taylor and Parker during a 1984-1998 New York sojourn.

Certainly the drummer’s “Hey Little Bird” is a far cry from the emotions expressed on the saxophonist’s “Albert & Frank”. Temperate, restrained and almost folk-like, the first piece is built on a constant swirl of drum beats and cymbal pressures plus Ando’s low-pitched tremolo stopping which exposes all string colors. Similarly Borgmann’s output varies from mellow story-telling which could encompass a slice of “Blues in the Night” to tongue-rolling squeals and slurs.

On the other hand, multiphonic expressions are expressed in a stentorian manner on “Albert & Frank”, likely named for pioneering Free Jazz tenor saxophonists Albert Ayler and Frank Wright. Considering Borgmann plays a variant of Ayler’s “Ghosts” on tenor saxophone at the exposition and then lightens the theme with narrowed, shaking soprano flights, adds weight to that supposition. Atop popping bass strings and moderated drum beats, Borgmann runs through every variant of the theme, adding snarling glossolalia and strained reflux, until his playing finally turning legato and gentle at the finale.

A defined Jazz variant like Dixieland or Hard Bop, Free Jazz now has a history and variety of interpreters. If your preference is for Free Jazz straight up, then you’ll probably be drawn to Set Theory. If your preference is for Free Jazz leavened with references to earlier as well as other congruent styles, than Boom Box Jazz will likely be more to your tastes.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Set: 1. Set Theory 2. InfinTrinty 3. The End of Certainty

Personnel: Set: Louie Belogonis (tenor and soprano saxophones); Joe Morris (bass) and Charles Downs (drums)

Track Listing: Boom: 1. Little Birds May Fly 2. How Far Can You Fly? 3. Hey Little Bird 4 .And To Where? 5. Albert & Frank 6. Only For Dörte

Personnel: Boom: Thomas Borgmann (sopranino, soprano and tenor saxophones and harmonica); Akira Ando (bass) and Willi Kellers (drums and percussion)

October 15, 2011

Taylor Ho Bynum/Joe Morris/Sara Schoenbeck

Next
Porter Records PRCD-4058

Bill Dixon

Envoi

Victo cd 120

Pink Saliva

Pink Saliva

& Records &11

Starlicker

Double Demon

Delmark DE 2011

Something In The Air: Trumpeter Bill Dixon’s Lingering Influence

By Ken Waxman

Praised and reviled in equal measure during his 40-year career, Vermont-based trumpeter Bill Dixon was finally recognized as one of improvised music’s most original stylists and theorists before his death at 84 in June 2010. Fittingly his final concert took place a mere three weeks previously at Quebec’s Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, where a hand-picked octet played this composition under his direction. Luckily the performance has been released as Envoi Victo Records Victo cd 120. Not only do the two sections illuminate Dixon’s particular mixture of formalism and freedom, but with a horn section of four playing cornet, bugle and flugelhorn, Envoi also demonstrates Dixon’s influence on a younger generation of brass players.

Famously prickly and opinionated, Dixon organized The Jazz Composers Guild, one of jazz musicians’ first self-help organizations in the mid-1960s. A long-time professor at Bennington College in Vermont, Dixon recorded sparingly over the years, which makes this session doubly valuable. Impressionistic and dramatic, “Envoi” is organized with classical precision in varied sequences. Most involve muted, shaded bent notes from the brass players in counterpoint to the spiccato string swipes of cellist Glynis Loman and bassist Ken Filiano, or, in the first section, tart slurs from Michel Côté’s bass clarinet. Additional unifying motifs come from Warren Smith’s resounding kettle drumming, and, in the second section, his ringing vibes, which soften the interface as it moves forward. In that same section the unison strings maintain a menacing undertow, breached only occasionally by heraldic brassiness or dissonant grace notes, plus at one point echoing stillness from Graham Hayes’ bugle. True to Dixon’s style, most of the brass tones are segmented sound shards which waft pure air through the horns. Following nearly 40 minutes of quivery tremolo theme variations, a spectacular example of the trumpeter’s measured art arrives near the end. After one cornetist sounds heraldic tones at a higher pitch among the others’ capillary whispers, all harmonize for a protracted section of legato impressionism, only scattering at the end as one puffs quietly while another exposes plunger tones. Finally, call-and-response vamping from all marks the climax.

New York’s Taylor Ho Bynum and Chicago’s Rob Mazurek, both featured on “Envoi”, have been marked by Dixon’s compositional and improvisational skill, as has Montreal’s Ellwood Epps. On his own, Bynum is probably closest to Dixon when it comes to voicing. Atmospheric textures on the six instant compositions that make up Next Porter Records PRCD-4058 are built up from his cornet, flugelhorn or trumpet, Sara Schoenbeck’s bassoon and Joe Morris’ guitar. With no instrument in the so-called front-line, and each player capable of extended techniques, it’s often difficult to separate timbres. Schoenbeck may use her burbling pedal-point as the tunes’ foundation, but on a piece like Next, she splinters her tone into tiny reed bites, and later harmonizes intense growls with Bynum’s triplet patterns. On Next the guitar texture is all bottleneck licks. Yet on tracks such as Consensus Struggle Morris’ percussive strumming emphasizes the beat, allowing the bassoonist to solo with hoarse multiphonics, and giving the cornetist room for peeping squeals and trippy tongue flutters. The trio’s interface is most appealing on Fireside. Morris’ below-the-bridge plinks are further colored by Schoenbeck’s burbling bluster as Bynum’s staccato, off-centre trills soar upward to lip-twisting brassiness.

Someone who took lessons with Dixon and – at least in choice of band name – has inherited the older man’s impudence, is Epps, whose Pink Saliva trio & Records &11, is filled out by Alexandre St-Onge on electric bass and laptop and Michel F Coté on drums, microphones and lap steel guitar. Although Dixon only dabbled in electronics, Epps, a Toronto native, and his Québécois confreres, embrace it wholeheartedly, adding oscillated wave forms and crackling drones to everything they play. Negotiating the line between indie-rock and jazz-improvisation, the CD is studded with irregular ruffs and drags on Coté’s part, rumbles and pops from St-Onge’s string set and dial-twisting buzzes. At points overdubbed, Epps’ trumpet soars over these wiggling sequences, repeatedly shifting from low-pitched inner-horn gurgles to piercing trills, adding additional touches of soaring lyricism.

A similar brass lyricism is evident on Starlicker’s Double Demon Delmark DE 2011 featuring Mazurek. Instructively it’s also the cornetist who impels the tunes towards jazz improvisation, while John Herndon, of the Tortoise rock band, concentrates on gutsy backbeats. Meanwhile the six Mazurek compositions are given distinctive shape by mallet-driven staccato juddering from Jason Adasiewicz’s vibraphone. With the vibist’s ringing gamelan-like tones a constant leitmotif, whether playing in ballad time or much speedier, Starlicker’s appeal lies in continuous contrast among three intense instrumental textures. The title track finds the vibist’s blurred tremolo lines matching the cornet’s strident brays; whereas the brass man uses finesse and moderated splutters to create a chromatic line alongside Herndon’s ratcheting and discordant pops on Triple Hex. However on Skull Cave , the cornetist’s Dixon-like melodic release which recaps the initial theme, moderates sequences of metal bar smacks and a thick drum backbeat.

Regularly operating outside of jazz’s mainstream, Bill Dixon’s brass sound and ideas actually influenced more musicians than is generally acknowledged. It’s both ironic and appropriate then, that it was an experimental Canadian festival which gave him a platform for his final performance.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 17 #2

October 5, 2011

Joe Morris/Agustí Fernández

Ambrosia
Riti CD11

Agustí Fernández & Joan Saura

Vents

psi 11.01

Evans/Fernández/Gustafsson

Kopros Lithos

Multikulti Project MP 1013

Augustí Fernández/Barry Guy/Ramón López

Morning Glory

Maya Records MCD 1001

By Ken Waxman

Over the past 15 years Catalan pianist Augustí Fernández has become the most celebrated pianist – if not complete improviser – from his part of the world. In many ways he’s the successor to pianist Tete Montoliu (1933-1997). But while Montoliu was a bopper, Fernández doesn’t limit himself to one style, as this quatrtet of memorable discs makes evident.

A frequent associate of experimental improvisers from Parker (William) to Parker (Evan), the pianist also has a neo-traditional side, reflected by Morning Glory. Recorded in Spain and New York, this two-CD set is a spiky take on the jazz piano trio, with Fernández’s partners British bassist Barry Guy and Spanish percussionist Ramón López. More atonal is Kopros Lithos, whose experimental textures arrive courtesy of the pianist, American trumpeter Peter Evans and the baritone saxophone and alto fluteophone of Swede Mats Gustafsson. As founders of the Improvisadors de Barcelona Orchestra, Fernández has often worked with live electronics and sampler player Joan Saura. Vents is a rare duo session from the two.

Created in studio over an eight month period, Vents’ tracks are so much a part of the electro-acoustic world that it’s difficult to remember that Fernández is playing acoustic piano. Then again the keyboardist is a master of the timbres that can be bowed, plucked and strummed from internal strings, usually prepared with vibrating objects, and his expressions mate perfectly with the austere flanges and oscillations shrilled, reverberated or crunched by Saura’s electric implements. Throughout the performances onomatopoeically reflect both meaning of vent: an expression of pent-up emotion and an opening for the escape of gas to release pressure.

Although reductionist and disconnected, most of the tracks are remarkable in the way that Fernández’s tough keyboard pressure and popping internal strings add a needed humanity to Saura’s radiator-like hisses, motor-driven grinding and crackling sound patches. This is easily demonstrated on a track such as “Llevant”, with its shifting tonal centres.

On the other hand, Ambrosia is not your parents’ guitar-piano duo. It put a post-modern cast on the proceedings as Fernández matches wits with guitarist Joe Morris. Morris, who now often works as a bassist, at times manages to translate the low timbre of the four-string to his six-string. That means that echoes of double bass accompaniment is present while the guitarist showcases spiky, single-string action. On a tune such as “Ambrosia 1”, the two languidly complement one another even while distending the theme. Morris’ frails speed up to the point that they’re eventually bouncing from strings below the bridge and on the neck, while Fernández concentrated in swirling and contrasting dynamics à la Cecil Taylor.

Even though legato passages and harmonies are at a minimum, some of the tracks on this magisterial six-part suite don’t turn away from unintentional delicacy. “Ambrosia 3”, for instance, is built on gentle single-note clicking from the pianist, amplified by palm-pumps which create vibes-like tones from the guitarist. However, if some tracks come across as a discordant aural version of greyhound racing with Fernández chord-spraying as quickly as Morris string snaps, the two are able to intermingle such tactics as soundboard echoes from the pianist and slurred fingering from the guitarist to promote sophisticated parallel improvising.

Morning Glory is also wedded to acoustic expression. The CD’s 19 tracks, especially those recorded live at Jazz Standard, could be an updating of Bill Evans’ celebrated Village Vanguard sets. With his perfectly formed notes, Fernández makes his composition “David M” a piano showcase with deep ruminations in the instrument’s middle register. A swinging, near lullaby, it’s also notable for Guy’s slippery modulations that are unabashedly tonic. Barely there, with understated bounces on this track, López further exhibits his sensitive touch throughout. He confirms it on a tune such as “Don Miquel”, where his nervy tom-tom pulse and cymbal scrapes unite with the pianist’s methodical keyboard strumming to gorgeously frame Guy’s solo. Almost so-called classical in execution, the bassist manages to create two different sounds with his bow, before exciting with hand-pinched lines.

There’s a faint Latin tinge to “Don Miquel”, carried over from Fernández’s “Aurora” on the other CD. An Iberian take on Hispanic rhythms, the tremolo patterns reveal many notes in rapid succession, yet the line stretches enough to keep the impressionistic theme chromatic. Guy’s retort features scrapped and stropped strings, while the percussion undertow is mostly rim shots and what sounds like the hand-crushing of crisp paper.

Other pieces expose more abrasive back-and-forth group impov, often at lightning-quick speeds. At points Fernández’s choruses echo from the piano’s lower quadrant or he jabs at the keys while Guy bows. A perfect example of this strategy occurs on “Pepetuum Mobile” as the pianist’s chording evolves in double counterpoint with either Guy’s dobro-like twangs or bow taps against his instrument’s wood. As in most other instances, the drummer’s accompaniment is understated.

There’s no percussion on Kopros Lithos, but that doesn’t stop it from being the most stentorian of the three sets. Between Evans’ flighty squeals and wide-bore grace notes plus Gustafsson’s verbal shouts, tongue slaps and growls from his baritone sax, there’s enough discordance to go around. On a track such as “You displaced me by your singing”, Fernández adds to the general din by continuously rubbing and plucking his piano strings as well as clattering various objects placed upon them. At the same time it’s his methodical key-stopping which guides the trumpeter’s tongue fluttering and the saxophonist’s metal-scrapping honks to a more melodic interface.

Perhaps those connective timbres from the keyboard also define the message behind another track title: “My fingers were glue”. Certainly Fernández’s pressure firmly shapes the parallel improvising from the horns. Here Evans buzzes and whinnies as if a metal sheet is pressed against his horn’s bell, while Gustafsson contributes high velocity snorts and brays.

Fernández’s pianistic control while improvising in a non-conventional manner is a tribute to his skill. It’s also another indication why any and all of these discs are satisfying listens.

Tracks: Tramuntana; Gregal; Garbí; Migjorn; Xaloc; Mestral; Ponent; Llevant

Personnel: Agustí Fernández: piano; Joan Saura: sampling keyboard and live electronics

Tracks: You displaced me by your singing; My ears were ringing!; My fingers were glue; As each note rang true

Personnel: Peter Evans: trumpet; Mats Gustafsson: baritone saxophone and alto fluteophone; Agustí Fernández: piano

Tracks: CD1: Morning Glory: La niña de la calle Ibiza; Morning Glory; Unfinished Letter; Zahorí; An Anonymous Soul; Perpetuum Mobile; Benito (Jordi Benito in absentia); The Magical Chorus; Glade; Mourning; A Sudden Appearance; Belvedere; CD2: Live in New York: Don Miquel; Odyssey; Can Ram; David M; Aurora; No ni Nó; Rounds

Personnel: Agustí Fernández: piano; Barry Guy: bass; Ramón López: drums and percussion

Tracks: Ambrosia 1; Ambrosia 2; Ambrosia3; Ambrosia 4; Ambrosia 5; Ambrosia 6

Personnel: Augusti Fernandez: piano; Joe Morris: guitar

--For New York City Jazz Record July 2011

July 7, 2011

Joe Morris/Luther Gray

Creatures
NotTwo MW 840-2

Joe Morris

Camera

ESP-Disk 4063

By Ken Waxman

Confidently inventive on these CDs, Boston-based guitarist Joe Morris demonstrates that he’s lost none of his facility or individuality despite a decade also working as a bassist. Overall, it’s hard to choose between these two releases, recorded approximately one year apart in different Massachusetts studios.

While Creatures, a duo with Washington-based drummer Luther Gray, is a high-class examination of how many notable improvisations can be produced by only two musicians, it also suffers from its virtues. There are only so many ways to voice four strings and a drum kit. Camera on the other hand adds the additional textures – one is tempted to say perspective and contrast – that are filmically available with the addition of Cambridge-based cellist Junko Fujiwara Simons and Stockholm-resident Katt Hernandez on violin. Intentionally or not, the line-up conjures up memories of similarly constituted ensembles from The Revolutionary Ensemble to the String Trio of New York.

With all the tunes named with photographic allusions, the quartet builds up to top-quality portraiture on the CD’s final tracks, “Patterns on Faces” and “Reflected Objects”. Benefitting from the presence of four potential soloists, the first tune is angled around a legato and tremolo cello lead, accompanied by Gray’s muted pops and drags. The latter piece’s duet of Hernandez and Morris moves with enough complex yet unforced licks to suggest what may have happened if Jim Hall at his most adventurous had recorded with Leroy Jenkins at his most traditional. Added is low-pitched shuffle bowing from Simons, who eventually also involves the fiddler in some mutual sul ponticello string-scuffing. Also showcased are sharp licks from Morris and an episode of rattled cymbals and thumped snares from Gray that resembles a standard jazz drum break.

Simons’ two-handed bowing and plucking on “Patterns on Faces” bonds with slurred fingering and emphasized fills from Morris, as well as spicatto pumps from Hernandez. With the three operating in multiphonic counterpoint, the final theme variation reaches its climax with intermittent string falters from the violinist, who by not completing her licks, leaves the ending purposely hanging.

Analogous stop-start strategies are avoided on the other CD, since it appears that Morris is unwilling to stop playing. It isn’t much of a hardship considering that his soloing throughout is swift, diatonic and unusually lyrical. At the same time Gray is one of the least flamboyant percussionists, pacing himself with light flams and drags.

The two attain a significant sound-meld on “Creature Proportion” as Morris’ multi-fingering story-telling runs sizzle alongside the drummer’s rebounds, hammering tones and final polyrhythmic paradiddles. Nonetheless, the guitarist’s superfast, though sympathetic licks put what is produced by showier plectrumists to shame. The same unforced lyricism is part of the defining “Creature Outlook”, as Gray’s cymbal shudders, ratamacues and taps intricately outline the guitarist’s taut, single-string frails. Morris’ perfectly shaped tones play tag with the drummer’s bounces and rim shots until the fleet interaction brings the performance to a satisfying end.

Whether you prefer Morris and Gary in duo or quartet form, each CD is an axiomatic example of the guitarist’s – and the drummer’s – subtle art.

Tracks: Creatures: Creature Emotion; Creature Adventure; Creature Proportion; Creature Influence; Creature Outlook

Personnel: Creatures: Joe Morris: guitar; Luther Gray: drums

Tracks: Camera: Person in a Place; Street Scene; Angle of Incidence; Evocative Shadow; Patterns on Faces; Reflected Objects

Personnel: Camera: Joe Morris: guitar; Katt Hernandez: violin; Junko Fujiwara Simons: cello; Luther Gray: drums

-- For All About Jazz New York January 2011

January 8, 2011

Joe Morris

Camera
ESP-Disk 4063

Joe Morris/Luther Gray

Creatures

NotTwo MW 840-2

By Ken Waxman

Confidently inventive on these CDs, Boston-based guitarist Joe Morris demonstrates that he’s lost none of his facility or individuality despite a decade also working as a bassist. Overall, it’s hard to choose between these two releases, recorded approximately one year apart in different Massachusetts studios.

While Creatures, a duo with Washington-based drummer Luther Gray, is a high-class examination of how many notable improvisations can be produced by only two musicians, it also suffers from its virtues. There are only so many ways to voice four strings and a drum kit. Camera on the other hand adds the additional textures – one is tempted to say perspective and contrast – that are filmically available with the addition of Cambridge-based cellist Junko Fujiwara Simons and Stockholm-resident Katt Hernandez on violin. Intentionally or not, the line-up conjures up memories of similarly constituted ensembles from The Revolutionary Ensemble to the String Trio of New York.

With all the tunes named with photographic allusions, the quartet builds up to top-quality portraiture on the CD’s final tracks, “Patterns on Faces” and “Reflected Objects”. Benefitting from the presence of four potential soloists, the first tune is angled around a legato and tremolo cello lead, accompanied by Gray’s muted pops and drags. The latter piece’s duet of Hernandez and Morris moves with enough complex yet unforced licks to suggest what may have happened if Jim Hall at his most adventurous had recorded with Leroy Jenkins at his most traditional. Added is low-pitched shuffle bowing from Simons, who eventually also involves the fiddler in some mutual sul ponticello string-scuffing. Also showcased are sharp licks from Morris and an episode of rattled cymbals and thumped snares from Gray that resembles a standard jazz drum break.

Simons’ two-handed bowing and plucking on “Patterns on Faces” bonds with slurred fingering and emphasized fills from Morris, as well as spicatto pumps from Hernandez. With the three operating in multiphonic counterpoint, the final theme variation reaches its climax with intermittent string falters from the violinist, who by not completing her licks, leaves the ending purposely hanging.

Analogous stop-start strategies are avoided on the other CD, since it appears that Morris is unwilling to stop playing. It isn’t much of a hardship considering that his soloing throughout is swift, diatonic and unusually lyrical. At the same time Gray is one of the least flamboyant percussionists, pacing himself with light flams and drags.

The two attain a significant sound-meld on “Creature Proportion” as Morris’ multi-fingering story-telling runs sizzle alongside the drummer’s rebounds, hammering tones and final polyrhythmic paradiddles. Nonetheless, the guitarist’s superfast, though sympathetic licks put what is produced by showier plectrumists to shame. The same unforced lyricism is part of the defining “Creature Outlook”, as Gray’s cymbal shudders, ratamacues and taps intricately outline the guitarist’s taut, single-string frails. Morris’ perfectly shaped tones play tag with the drummer’s bounces and rim shots until the fleet interaction brings the performance to a satisfying end.

Whether you prefer Morris and Gary in duo or quartet form, each CD is an axiomatic example of the guitarist’s – and the drummer’s – subtle art.

Tracks: Creatures: Creature Emotion; Creature Adventure; Creature Proportion; Creature Influence; Creature Outlook

Personnel: Creatures: Joe Morris: guitar; Luther Gray: drums

Tracks: Camera: Person in a Place; Street Scene; Angle of Incidence; Evocative Shadow; Patterns on Faces; Reflected Objects

Personnel: Camera: Joe Morris: guitar; Katt Hernandez: violin; Junko Fujiwara Simons: cello; Luther Gray: drums

-- For All About Jazz New York January 2011

January 8, 2011

Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp/Joe Morris

Night Logic
Rogueart Rog-0028

More like a cozy song-swap around the campfire by a trio of equals than an intergenerational showdown or torch passing, Night Logic still offers 10 real-time improvisations between of representative of today’s advanced music and a musician who has trawled the sonic spaceways for many decades.

Pianist Matthew Shipp, 49, epitomizes the contemporary multi-directional explorer, at home playing in advanced Free Music situations with bassist Mike Bisio and saxophonist David S. Ware, to cite two, as he is involved in synthesizers and programming with Chris Flam or the Anti-pop Consortium. Joining him here is multi-instrumentalist Marshall Allen, 86, who has been part of Sun Ra’s Arkestra since 1956 and led the large improvisational ensemble since Ra’s death 16 years ago. Backing both with stops and strokes that are usually more felt than heard is bassist Joe Morris, 54, equally renown for his guitar playing.

Oddly – or perhaps appropriately, considering the Arkestra’s futuristic bent – it’s Allen who brings the electronic sounds to the date, playing an EVI or electronic valve instrument as well as his customary alto saxophone and flute. Recorded in real time at New York’s Roulette, the date really takes off in its second half as the two main men finally realize exactly what each can contribute to the session.

For instance, Shipp’s relaxed and definitely Jazz-like introduction to “Star Dust Splatter” is quickly deconstructed with stops, chordal voicing and measured glissandi, as Allen enters on alto with characteristic flattement, squeezed refractions and split tones. With Morris plucking and pumping his strings, dynamic strums and pressured crescendos from the pianist match the saxophonist’s gurgles and squeals, eventually calming both sides of the equation so that the results are melodic inventions that are both languid and moderato. The finale consists of a series of rebounding strums from the bassist.

Alternately, as on the title tune, when Shipp chimes sharply across the piano’s inner strings in repetitive syncopation, it’s Allen whose gentling flute flight moderate the mood. Of course being the trickster he has been for years, once Morris’ arco sweeps and the pianist’s restrained plinking join him in near-bucolic repose, Allen pulls out his saxophone for a series of reed-biting slurs and irregular vibrations.

Even the EVI with its almost signal-processed squeaks and buzzes as exhibited on “Particle Physics” doesn’t upset the sonic connection. Faced with this sequence of outer-space-like interjections, it’s Morris whose speedy staccato runs pulls the reedist back from the cosmos, ending the piece by uniting his walking bass line with near-rococo phrasing from Allen’s flute.

Elsewhere, when the reed man creates discordant slide-whistle-like toots from his EVI, Shipp impels the momentary disconnect into tripartite tonal cooperation with a variety of strategies. It could be metronomic key pounding, fungible block chords or even a detour into what could be “Chopsticks”. Without compromising any of the players’ exploratory impulses, consonant interludes trump disharmony with the musical result as satisfying as it is high class. Depending on the time frame all of this might not have unrolled within night logic, but it was the right logic for this CD.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Ark of the Harmonic Covenant 2. Bow In the Cloud 3. Night Logic 4. Heart Aura 5. Star Dust Splatter 6. Cosmic Hammer 7. Particle Physics 8. Harmonic Quanta 9. New Age for the Milk Sea Nightmare 10. Res X

Personnel: Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute and EVI [electronic valve instrument]); Matthew Shipp (piano) and Joe Morris (bass)

October 17, 2010

Dennis González

A Matter of Blood
Furthermore Recordings 003

Dennis González Connecticut Quartet

Songs of Early Autumn

No Business Records NBCD 6

One of those unifying figures who maintains an enthusiasm for pure improvised music and encourages others, trumpeter Dennis González has been following this path towards experimentation almost single-handedly for over 30 years in his hometown of Dallas.

An artists and educator with a home studio, over time he has established links with similarly inclined players in New Orleans, California and in Europe. Recently in fact his gigs in the Eastern United States have become more frequent. These notable CDs, for instance – featuring two different sets of playing partners – are the results of the trumpeter’s recent eastward treks.

Although González brings the same distinctive mixture of melodic invention, high-class technique, contrafact creation and quote elaboration to both sessions, each is oriented towards a different configuration. It may be that A Matter of Blood has deeper Free Jazz blood lines, since one of the participants is bassist Reggie Workman, whose associations include membership in an early John Coltrane quartet. Pianist Curtis Clark spent time in Amsterdam and has recorded with everyone from fiddler Billy Bang to saxophonist Sean Bergin. Meanwhile drummer Michael T. A. Thompson has recorded with González in the past, as well as with bassist William Parker and saxophonist Kidd Jordan.

If Brooklyn-recorded A Matter of Blood is a Free Jazz variant on the Miles-Davis-with-rhythm-section concept, then the Connecticut-created Songs of Early Autumn relates to the two-horn-two-rhythm dates that became legion after the New Thing emerged in the mid-1960s. Among the other players here is Joe Morris, a long-time advanced guitarist who has turned himself into an estimable bassist. Saxophonist Timo Shanko was part of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, while drummer Luther Gray has worked with pianist Steve Lantner and saxophonist Rob Brown.

On A Matter of Blood, the trumpeter’s lyrical qualities are brought out by the pianist’s light-fingered, romantic tendencies. But Workman’s powerful strumming as well as Thompson’s mixture of regular time-keeping plus bravura manipulation of various parts of his kit keeps any softening slides in check. The bassist’s double-stopped and carefully angled bass lines are most likely to set the scene, while octave jumps, key slides and tremolo invention are exhibited throughout.

González’s “Arbyrd Lumenal” for instance evolves in such a way that Clark’s patterning cadences are hardened with key fanning and picking so as to extend Workman’s muscular chiming and González’s double-tongued slurs. As the trumpeter moves up the scale chromatically he’s chased by cascading piano lines plus shuffles and bounces from the drummer. Workman’s ability to keep the beat while also creating sul tasto rubs are also highlighted. But this discordance leaves ample room for the trumpeter’s grace notes to sound with maximum lyricism.

“Chant de la Fée” in contrast is taken andante and fortissimo, built around stabbing piano keys, spiccato bass strings and brass reverb. As the composition’s evolving color scheme shifts, Clark’s pianism involves parallel construction where nearly every stroke is matched by another in a complementary key. Making his own way among this undertow of ringing arpeggios and reverberating soundboard textures, Thompson shakes and quivers small percussion implements as well as crash cymbals.

Collective culmination, each quartet member distinguishes himself on the title track. This collaboration involves Thompson’s thick rim shots and bass drum pumps; Workman’s doubled picking and carefully measured strokes; Clark’s cross-pulsed riffs which work up to sharp and kinetic chording; as well as González’s plunger riffs and undulating mellow timbres. Before the finale of downward shifting piano arpeggios mixed with flowing bass strokes, the trumpeter fires off triple-tongued, tremolo tones backed by the drummer’s opposite sticking and cymbal snapping.

Quixotically more atonal, yet more obviously wedded to the tradition, Songs of Early Autumn subtly bows to the song form as Energy Music. “Loft”, the very first tune, for instance, may balance on sharpened reed bites, screams and honks from Shanko; rebounds and ratamascus from Gray; and triple-tongued connections from the trumpeter, but González also manages to repeatedly work a few quotes from “April in Paris” into his solos.

In a similar fashion “Those Who Came Before” – how’s that title for a clue as to the musicians’ sentiments? – includes a hint of Spanish melancholy in the midst of Morris’ solo. Expanding verbal yodeling with mocking cries and dense reed-biting from his tenor saxophone, earlier on Shanko harmonizes his reed phrasing with smooth, grace notes from the trumpeter. When the tonal centre shifts to ragged-and-rough contrapuntal horn blowing during the instant composition’s mid-section, the two echo one another’s cries on top of triple-stopping from the bassist plus cymbal cracks from Gray. Moving into the home stretch, the piece is divided between double-stopped, bent and strummed notes from Morris and echoing flutters from both horns. The rubato and rococo concordance worked up by the saxophonist and trumpeter finds Shanko growls and flutter-tonguing paying homage to Albert Ayler, while González’s capillary narrative is more technically sophisticated than anything played by Donald Ayler.

Shanko’s frequent reaffirmations of Ayler’s influence throughout are tempered by his chromatic forays into perpendicular Latinesque runs – encouraged by rough tonguing from the trumpeter as on “Bush Medicine”. Completing the improvisations so that the tune ends up being more variations then theme Gray’s snare strokes and cross-sticking precede surging flutters from the trumpeter before the saxman snorts the head one final time. “Lamentation” is a group improv that slides from mellow to mercurial as González’s whinnies and tongue slaps and Shanko’s wiggles and slurs. After the horns circle each other concentrically they attain harmonic unison.

González’s more frequent forays away from his home base are beginning to produce a series of memorable collaborations with other players. On the evidence here, add two more dates to that collection.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Songs: 1. Loft 2. Acceleration 3. Bush Medicine 4. Idolo 5. In Tallation 6. Lamentation 7. Those Who Came Before 8. Loyalty

Personnel: Songs: Dennis González(C trumpet); Timo Shanko (tenor saxophone); Joe Morris (bass) and Luther Gray (drums)

Track Listing: Matter: 1. Alzar La Mano 2. Interlude: Untitled 3. Arbyrd Lumenal 4. Interlude: Fuzzy's Adventure 5. A Matter of Blood 6. Anthem for the Moment 7. Interlude: 30 December 8. Chant de la Fée

Personnel: Matter: Dennis González (C trumpet and B cornet); Curtis Clark (piano); Reggie Workman (bass) and Michael T. A. Thompson (drums)

December 27, 2009

Dennis González Connecticut Quartet

Songs of Early Autumn
No Business Records NBCD 6

Dennis González

A Matter of Blood

Furthermore Recordings 003

One of those unifying figures who maintains an enthusiasm for pure improvised music and encourages others, trumpeter Dennis González has been following this path towards experimentation almost single-handedly for over 30 years in his hometown of Dallas.

An artists and educator with a home studio, over time he has established links with similarly inclined players in New Orleans, California and in Europe. Recently in fact his gigs in the Eastern United States have become more frequent. These notable CDs, for instance – featuring two different sets of playing partners – are the results of the trumpeter’s recent eastward treks.

Although González brings the same distinctive mixture of melodic invention, high-class technique, contrafact creation and quote elaboration to both sessions, each is oriented towards a different configuration. It may be that A Matter of Blood has deeper Free Jazz blood lines, since one of the participants is bassist Reggie Workman, whose associations include membership in an early John Coltrane quartet. Pianist Curtis Clark spent time in Amsterdam and has recorded with everyone from fiddler Billy Bang to saxophonist Sean Bergin. Meanwhile drummer Michael T. A. Thompson has recorded with González in the past, as well as with bassist William Parker and saxophonist Kidd Jordan.

If Brooklyn-recorded A Matter of Blood is a Free Jazz variant on the Miles-Davis-with-rhythm-section concept, then the Connecticut-created Songs of Early Autumn relates to the two-horn-two-rhythm dates that became legion after the New Thing emerged in the mid-1960s. Among the other players here is Joe Morris, a long-time advanced guitarist who has turned himself into an estimable bassist. Saxophonist Timo Shanko was part of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, while drummer Luther Gray has worked with pianist Steve Lantner and saxophonist Rob Brown.

On A Matter of Blood, the trumpeter’s lyrical qualities are brought out by the pianist’s light-fingered, romantic tendencies. But Workman’s powerful strumming as well as Thompson’s mixture of regular time-keeping plus bravura manipulation of various parts of his kit keeps any softening slides in check. The bassist’s double-stopped and carefully angled bass lines are most likely to set the scene, while octave jumps, key slides and tremolo invention are exhibited throughout.

González’s “Arbyrd Lumenal” for instance evolves in such a way that Clark’s patterning cadences are hardened with key fanning and picking so as to extend Workman’s muscular chiming and González’s double-tongued slurs. As the trumpeter moves up the scale chromatically he’s chased by cascading piano lines plus shuffles and bounces from the drummer. Workman’s ability to keep the beat while also creating sul tasto rubs are also highlighted. But this discordance leaves ample room for the trumpeter’s grace notes to sound with maximum lyricism.

“Chant de la Fée” in contrast is taken andante and fortissimo, built around stabbing piano keys, spiccato bass strings and brass reverb. As the composition’s evolving color scheme shifts, Clark’s pianism involves parallel construction where nearly every stroke is matched by another in a complementary key. Making his own way among this undertow of ringing arpeggios and reverberating soundboard textures, Thompson shakes and quivers small percussion implements as well as crash cymbals.

Collective culmination, each quartet member distinguishes himself on the title track. This collaboration involves Thompson’s thick rim shots and bass drum pumps; Workman’s doubled picking and carefully measured strokes; Clark’s cross-pulsed riffs which work up to sharp and kinetic chording; as well as González’s plunger riffs and undulating mellow timbres. Before the finale of downward shifting piano arpeggios mixed with flowing bass strokes, the trumpeter fires off triple-tongued, tremolo tones backed by the drummer’s opposite sticking and cymbal snapping.

Quixotically more atonal, yet more obviously wedded to the tradition, Songs of Early Autumn subtly bows to the song form as Energy Music. “Loft”, the very first tune, for instance, may balance on sharpened reed bites, screams and honks from Shanko; rebounds and ratamascus from Gray; and triple-tongued connections from the trumpeter, but González also manages to repeatedly work a few quotes from “April in Paris” into his solos.

In a similar fashion “Those Who Came Before” – how’s that title for a clue as to the musicians’ sentiments? – includes a hint of Spanish melancholy in the midst of Morris’ solo. Expanding verbal yodeling with mocking cries and dense reed-biting from his tenor saxophone, earlier on Shanko harmonizes his reed phrasing with smooth, grace notes from the trumpeter. When the tonal centre shifts to ragged-and-rough contrapuntal horn blowing during the instant composition’s mid-section, the two echo one another’s cries on top of triple-stopping from the bassist plus cymbal cracks from Gray. Moving into the home stretch, the piece is divided between double-stopped, bent and strummed notes from Morris and echoing flutters from both horns. The rubato and rococo concordance worked up by the saxophonist and trumpeter finds Shanko growls and flutter-tonguing paying homage to Albert Ayler, while González’s capillary narrative is more technically sophisticated than anything played by Donald Ayler.

Shanko’s frequent reaffirmations of Ayler’s influence throughout are tempered by his chromatic forays into perpendicular Latinesque runs – encouraged by rough tonguing from the trumpeter as on “Bush Medicine”. Completing the improvisations so that the tune ends up being more variations then theme Gray’s snare strokes and cross-sticking precede surging flutters from the trumpeter before the saxman snorts the head one final time. “Lamentation” is a group improv that slides from mellow to mercurial as González’s whinnies and tongue slaps and Shanko’s wiggles and slurs. After the horns circle each other concentrically they attain harmonic unison.

González’s more frequent forays away from his home base are beginning to produce a series of memorable collaborations with other players. On the evidence here, add two more dates to that collection.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Songs: 1. Loft 2. Acceleration 3. Bush Medicine 4. Idolo 5. In Tallation 6. Lamentation 7. Those Who Came Before 8. Loyalty

Personnel: Songs: Dennis González (C trumpet); Timo Shanko (tenor saxophone); Joe Morris (bass) and Luther Gray (drums)

Track Listing: Matter: 1. Alzar La Mano 2. Interlude: Untitled 3. Arbyrd Lumenal 4. Interlude: Fuzzy's Adventure 5. A Matter of Blood 6. Anthem for the Moment 7. Interlude: 30 December 8. Chant de la Fée

Personnel: Matter: Dennis González (C trumpet and B cornet); Curtis Clark (piano); Reggie Workman (bass) and Michael T. A. Thompson (drums)

December 27, 2009

Old Dog

By Any Other Name
Porter Records PRCD-4027

Flow Trio

Rejuvenation

ESP-Disk 4052

John Coltrane dominated the concepts of nearly every young tenor saxophonist between the late 1950s and early 1980s – and his work is still one yardstick against which reedists are measured today. His influence was – and is – so all-pervasive, that even those saxophonists who forged their own identity often referred consciously or subconsciously to Trane’s work.

Oddly enough though the majority of reedists fastened onto Coltrane’s Hard Bop or Modal periods, with very few willing to deal with the timbral and textural achievements the sax man advanced just before his untimely death in 1967. Fearless and individualistic, New York-based Louie Belogenis on the other hand, is someone who has faced that challenge head on.

No Coltrane-clone, he still manages to involve himself in situations where near- transcendental creation is the goal, rather than more mundane considerations. Although over the years, his highest profile affiliation was in a variety of circumstances with the late Rashied Ali – the drummer in Coltrane’s final band – that hasn’t stopped him from collaborating in different circumstances with other players including trumpeter Roy Campbell and percussionist Kevin Norton. Overall there’s no question that his music is alive with excitement and movement witnessed by the performances on these two fine discs.

Recorded within a year of one another, these CDs display Belogenis’ talents in the proper context since his partners are as committed to in-the-moment improv as he. Cohesive and expansive, the Flow Trio is filled out by a drummer who changed his name and a bassist who changed his instrument. As Rashid Bakr, drummer Charles Downs – who has reverted to his birth name – has played with a long list of major musicians including bassist William Parker and pianist Cecil Taylor. Someone who now spends as much time playing the bass as the guitar with which he originally made his reputation, Joe Morris has worked with pianist Matthew Shipp, reedist Ken Vandermark and many others.

Old Dog, which negates the cliché about canines not learning new tricks, includes two veterans; drummer Warren Smith, who has recorded with saxophone stylists as diverse as the late Julius Hemphill and Anthony Braxton; and pianist/vibist Karl Berger director of Woodstock N.Y.’s Creative Music Studio. However, the slightly younger bassist Michael Bisio may be the paramount contributor here. Not only do his thumping string actions circumscribe the group sounds, but the five out of the nine tracks here which aren’t group improvisations are his compositions.

By design organized around his arco and pizzicato strengths, these pieces aren’t solipsistic however. Belogenis’ billowing sound waves and exaggerated reed trills, Smith’s shuffle beats and backbeat plus Berger’s organic patterning with both piano licks and chiming vibes are as important to the exposition and resolution as Bisio’s rhythmic directions.

“Zephyr Revisited” for instance, is an andante piece of FreeBop, with the bassist’s resounding meeting contrapuntal motion involving stop-time reed bites and ringing vibraphone notes. As Belogenis’ flutter tones work up into complex multiphonics, Bisio’s walking anchors the exposition, which is further decorated with descriptive note clusters that elasticize the time, thus allowing the saxman space for wide vibrato dips into basso timbres. Contrast this with “Round and Round” a group instant composition which mulches together reed glossolalia and squealing split tones; contrapuntal friction from the vibes and clanking rim shots and press rolls from the drummer. All the while flow is maintained unconventionally with the bassist’s discordant sul ponticello pedal point.

Meantime, every dog has his day – or is that space – on “Constellation”, with its Trane-echoing title. With each soloist impressive on his own, the group’s collective skills still keep the more than 11½-minute piece from formlessness. For instance, although Smith’s bass drum rebounds and crunching backbeat step up the tempo, the kinetic melody’s architecture is as much a product of Berger’s key fanning, Bisio’s thick strummed line and double-stopping plus the saxophonist’s output. When Belogenis leaps into vibrating false registers with swelling foghorn blares that seem to envelop the entire room, Bisio’s bowed bass line does double duty as coda and summation.

Unsurprisingly Morris’ bass playing includes more arpeggio than Bisio’s work, while Downs’ drumming is more wood-related than Smith’s. However, these two make perfect sonic partners for Belogenis as well. That’s because they vary the rhythmic undertow and constant chromatic motion to construct a bottom that anchors the narrative enough. That means that while the saxophonist’s use of spiky runs, double tonguing and adagio growls may distend nearly every tone to its limit, this happens without splintering the flow or turning the beat around. Examples of this strategy appear on “Pick Up Sticks” and “Two Acts”, the CD’s longest tracks.

The former centres on harsh glottal punctuation and multiphonic emphasis from Belogenis. As his pressured triple-tonguing and onomatopoeic node extensions bounce off the drummer’s strokes and the bassist’s stopping, a characteristic group sound emerges. Lengthened with throat-stretching tension from the saxophonist, the bonding prevents the tune from becoming inchoate. Staccato and with more emphasis on the saxophone’s bottom register, “Two Acts” balances Belogenis’ straining tessitura with a rolling, repeated bass configuration plus opposite sticking from the drummer.

In contrast a tune such as “Unfolding” for instance, is descriptively minimalist, avoiding extremes by layering connective chords and extensions, rather then abruptly breaking off the line for improvisation. Surprisingly enough, this is also where Belogenis’ echoing sax tone at points resembles that of another still-living reed master: Chicago’s Fred Anderson. Like one of the Chicagoan’s notable trio efforts, Downs’ rat-tat-tats and Morris’ cumulative string-stopping emphasize that this moderato piece is a full group effort.

Extending the uncompromising improvisation of Coltrane and others in the new millennium, both these discs confirm that the so-called jazz mainstream isn’t the only tradition that can be expanded.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Rejuvenation: 1. Reflection 2. Slow Cab 3. Pick Up Sticks 4. Two Acts 5. Succor 6. Unfolding 7. Rejuvenation

Personnel: Rejuvenation: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Joe Morris (bass) and Charles Downs (drums)

Track Listing: Name: 1. By Any Other Name (Trio) 2. Endless Return 3. Swa Swu Sui 4. Round and Round 5. Living Large 6. Zephyr Revisited 7. Who Are You? 8. Constellation 9. By Any Other Name (Quartet)

Personnel: Name: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Karl Berger (piano and vibraphone); Michael Bisio (bass) and Warren Smith (drums)

November 7, 2009

Flow Trio

Rejuvenation
ESP-Disk 4052

Old Dog

By Any Other Name

Porter Records PRCD-4027

John Coltrane dominated the concepts of nearly every young tenor saxophonist between the late 1950s and early 1980s – and his work is still one yardstick against which reedists are measured today. His influence was – and is – so all-pervasive, that even those saxophonists who forged their own identity often referred consciously or subconsciously to Trane’s work.

Oddly enough though the majority of reedists fastened onto Coltrane’s Hard Bop or Modal periods, with very few willing to deal with the timbral and textural achievements the sax man advanced just before his untimely death in 1967. Fearless and individualistic, New York-based Louie Belogenis on the other hand, is someone who has faced that challenge head on.

No Coltrane-clone, he still manages to involve himself in situations where near- transcendental creation is the goal, rather than more mundane considerations. Although over the years, his highest profile affiliation was in a variety of circumstances with the late Rashied Ali – the drummer in Coltrane’s final band – that hasn’t stopped him from collaborating in different circumstances with other players including trumpeter Roy Campbell and percussionist Kevin Norton. Overall there’s no question that his music is alive with excitement and movement witnessed by the performances on these two fine discs.

Recorded within a year of one another, these CDs display Belogenis’ talents in the proper context since his partners are as committed to in-the-moment improv as he. Cohesive and expansive, the Flow Trio is filled out by a drummer who changed his name and a bassist who changed his instrument. As Rashid Bakr, drummer Charles Downs – who has reverted to his birth name – has played with a long list of major musicians including bassist William Parker and pianist Cecil Taylor. Someone who now spends as much time playing the bass as the guitar with which he originally made his reputation, Joe Morris has worked with pianist Matthew Shipp, reedist Ken Vandermark and many others.

Old Dog, which negates the cliché about canines not learning new tricks, includes two veterans; drummer Warren Smith, who has recorded with saxophone stylists as diverse as the late Julius Hemphill and Anthony Braxton; and pianist/vibist Karl Berger director of Woodstock N.Y.’s Creative Music Studio. However, the slightly younger bassist Michael Bisio may be the paramount contributor here. Not only do his thumping string actions circumscribe the group sounds, but the five out of the nine tracks here which aren’t group improvisations are his compositions.

By design organized around his arco and pizzicato strengths, these pieces aren’t solipsistic however. Belogenis’ billowing sound waves and exaggerated reed trills, Smith’s shuffle beats and backbeat plus Berger’s organic patterning with both piano licks and chiming vibes are as important to the exposition and resolution as Bisio’s rhythmic directions.

“Zephyr Revisited” for instance, is an andante piece of FreeBop, with the bassist’s resounding meeting contrapuntal motion involving stop-time reed bites and ringing vibraphone notes. As Belogenis’ flutter tones work up into complex multiphonics, Bisio’s walking anchors the exposition, which is further decorated with descriptive note clusters that elasticize the time, thus allowing the saxman space for wide vibrato dips into basso timbres. Contrast this with “Round and Round” a group instant composition which mulches together reed glossolalia and squealing split tones; contrapuntal friction from the vibes and clanking rim shots and press rolls from the drummer. All the while flow is maintained unconventionally with the bassist’s discordant sul ponticello pedal point.

Meantime, every dog has his day – or is that space – on “Constellation”, with its Trane-echoing title. With each soloist impressive on his own, the group’s collective skills still keep the more than 11½-minute piece from formlessness. For instance, although Smith’s bass drum rebounds and crunching backbeat step up the tempo, the kinetic melody’s architecture is as much a product of Berger’s key fanning, Bisio’s thick strummed line and double-stopping plus the saxophonist’s output. When Belogenis leaps into vibrating false registers with swelling foghorn blares that seem to envelop the entire room, Bisio’s bowed bass line does double duty as coda and summation.

Unsurprisingly Morris’ bass playing includes more arpeggio than Bisio’s work, while Downs’ drumming is more wood-related than Smith’s. However, these two make perfect sonic partners for Belogenis as well. That’s because they vary the rhythmic undertow and constant chromatic motion to construct a bottom that anchors the narrative enough. That means that while the saxophonist’s use of spiky runs, double tonguing and adagio growls may distend nearly every tone to its limit, this happens without splintering the flow or turning the beat around. Examples of this strategy appear on “Pick Up Sticks” and “Two Acts”, the CD’s longest tracks.

The former centres on harsh glottal punctuation and multiphonic emphasis from Belogenis. As his pressured triple-tonguing and onomatopoeic node extensions bounce off the drummer’s strokes and the bassist’s stopping, a characteristic group sound emerges. Lengthened with throat-stretching tension from the saxophonist, the bonding prevents the tune from becoming inchoate. Staccato and with more emphasis on the saxophone’s bottom register, “Two Acts” balances Belogenis’ straining tessitura with a rolling, repeated bass configuration plus opposite sticking from the drummer.

In contrast a tune such as “Unfolding” for instance, is descriptively minimalist, avoiding extremes by layering connective chords and extensions, rather then abruptly breaking off the line for improvisation. Surprisingly enough, this is also where Belogenis’ echoing sax tone at points resembles that of another still-living reed master: Chicago’s Fred Anderson. Like one of the Chicagoan’s notable trio efforts, Downs’ rat-tat-tats and Morris’ cumulative string-stopping emphasize that this moderato piece is a full group effort.

Extending the uncompromising improvisation of Coltrane and others in the new millennium, both these discs confirm that the so-called jazz mainstream isn’t the only tradition that can be expanded.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Rejuvenation: 1. Reflection 2. Slow Cab 3. Pick Up Sticks 4. Two Acts 5. Succor 6. Unfolding 7. Rejuvenation

Personnel: Rejuvenation: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Joe Morris (bass) and Charles Downs (drums)

Track Listing: Name: 1. By Any Other Name (Trio) 2. Endless Return 3. Swa Swu Sui 4. Round and Round 5. Living Large 6. Zephyr Revisited 7. Who Are You? 8. Constellation 9. By Any Other Name (Quartet)

Personnel: Name: Louie Belogenis (tenor saxophone); Karl Berger (piano and vibraphone); Michael Bisio (bass) and Warren Smith (drums)

November 7, 2009

Steve Lantner Trio

What You Can Throw
hatOLOGY 641

Reconfiguring the classic jazz piano trio, Boston-based pianist Steve Lantner tosses many of its conventions into the air but catches enough of them with both hands to create a fully satisfying CD.

Superlative when the tracks are kinetic and contrapuntal, the trio’s sole miscue is dawdling over Ornette Coleman’s “Broken Shadows”, scaling it back so that it resembles a late-night ballad. Other tracks make up for this with a focused time sense and rhythmic clarity. Drummer Luther Gray outputs power while sensitively advancing the tunes with syncopated pumps, pops and wire-brush grazing. Bassist Joe Morris vamps strongly when he’s not intricately strumming – no surprise for someone who also gigs as a guitarist.

Always careful to recap the head in accepted Freebop fashion, Lantner is most imaginative when the group outlines his own compositions – “What You Can Throw” and “All Around”. Built on high-frequency arpeggios and doubled vamps, the former incorporates swirling runs and flashing chords from the pianist that rub against drum rolls and thick bass patterns before concluding with an uncompleted-on-purpose thematic variation.

Strict in note choice and placement, Lantner hunts and pecks on the keys, progressively stretching the knitted-together arpeggios and note clusters further and further without rupturing the melody. Answering soundboard ripples are soon mated with snare ratamacues and cymbal ratcheting and mirrored by dynamic string pumping from Morris on the second piece. Finally turning onto itself the rondo theme is reasserted but with enough variation to bring out new, secondary sound coloration.

Throughout, the CD is simultaneously thoughtful, exciting and rhythmically satisfying.

-- Ken Waxman

-- MusicWorks Issue #103

March 23, 2009

Daniel Levin Quartet

Blurry
hatOLOGY 653

Drummer-less chamber-improv without compromise, this CD is more lucid than Blurry. Cellist Daniel Levin, trumpeter Nate Wooley, vibraphonist Matt Moran and bassist Joe Morris clearly and resourcefully demonstrate how extended techniques can be interlaced with shaded pointillism to create a satisfying group effort.

Throughout the cellist’s multi-toned arches and spiccato interjects plus the trumpeter’s smeary growls and plunger excavations are as germane for the evolution of the eight tracks as the bassist’s stolid thumps and the vibist’s shimmering key bounces. Encompassing smooth transitions from one instrument’s contributions to another’s, these mostly Levin-composed lines, feature uncommon exchanges involving say a splintered chromatic aside from Wooley, supported by fundamental connective plucks from Morris. Frequently polyphonic, the tunes are melded and molded using note clusters that move them through quasi-romanticism, stark improvisation and luminescent vibrations.

If Wooley’s muted purring plunger work and Levin’s pizzicato rhythms suggest Cootie Williams and Jimmy Blanton when “Sad Song” begins, then tonal dislocations attain English garden delicacy rather than Ellington’s robust depictions by the finale. Yet Morris’ striated double-stopping halts the slide to gentleness. Crackling brass flanges perform the same function on “Cannery Row” balancing too lustrous reverberations from the vibraphone.

Most distinctive is “209 Willard Street”, a gently shaded piece that could be defined as impressionism with prickly asides. Moderato and andante, the theme is depicted by the cello’s sonorous tones, yet the rubato exposition is cycled through enough excursions in double counterpoint from muted trumpet and staccato vibe smacks that sentimentality is leeched from it.

-- Ken Waxman

-- In MusicWorks Issue #102

November 20, 2008

Matthew Shipp Trio

Piano Vortex
Thirsty Ear THI 57180

Undeniably confirming that he can easily make an unhyphenated jazz album, Matthew Shipp puts aside the studio processing and remixing he’s used on sessions with electronica duo Spring Heel Jack or DJ Spooky for a standard jazz piano trio with notable results.

Filled out by the pianist’s long-time associates – drummer Whit Dickey and bassist Joe Morris – the New York-based combo runs through eight Shipp compositions, lodged so firmly in the tradition that the CD could be slotted alongside 1950s’Red Garland LPs with Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. Shipp quotes “Giant Steps” in the middle of one number and his unaccompanied track could be an offbeat variant on “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. No Taylor, Dickey snaps his cymbals and finesses the beat, leaving the heavy lifting to the others. Morris sticks mostly to low pitches, thumping or pumping behind Shipp’s bouncy runs and flashing cadenzas, rarely unveiling squat arco runs.

“Nooks and Corners”, one of the tunes on which he does so, is also the CD’s most incandescent track. Taken mid-tempo, the cooperation between the bassist and pianist is most evident on the tune when the later’s low-frequency octaves are extended with pedal work into flashing runs after the former’s legato bowing turns to sul ponticello squeaks then thick thrusts. Idiosyncratically, the pianist’s concluding statements are in the form of baroque-like pitter pattering.

Elsewhere Shipp’s skittering note clusters or whorl-like connections and Morris’ measured walking decisively situate the performances within the contemporary jazz framework. At least here, whirlwind-like creations lead to first-rate modern music.

-- Ken Waxman

-- For CODA Issue 337

January 15, 2008

Daniel Levin Quartet

Some Trees
Hatology 632

Near flawless chamber jazz, cellist Daniel Levin’s quartet inhabits eight unforced improvisations without ever turning effete or enervated.

Inspired soloing from all concerned – especially the leader, and trumpeter Nate Wooley – provides some of the session’s impetus, while the remainder comes from the powerful rhythmic thrust of Joe Morris’ bass and Matt Moran’s vibes. Morris – a dual threat, best-known as a guitarist – provides the ostinato underpinning for many tunes; while Moran, a member of the Claudia Quintet, sounds quivering key vibrations as often as accompanying wallops, especially when playing in unison with Morris.

Levin, who also works with drummer Whit Dickey and alto saxophonist Rob Brown, uses this session to showcase his compositions plus pay homage to such jazz elders as Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and Steve Lacy. Throughout, the delicate balance between formalism and freedom is maintained, without falling definitely either way. New to this band is trumpeter Nate Wooley. But the innovative brassman, who partners trombonist Steve Swell among others, brings memorable flair to the proceedings.

Establishing his presence from the first, Wooley’s slurred half-valve work on the lead-off track “It’s For You”, marks his accommodation to the already existing combo with less experimental playing than his solo sessions. Throughout, however, he easily links Levin’s sawing strokes and Moran’s moderato quivers, while on the atmospheric title tune he adopts sequenced grace notes à la mid-period Miles Davis. Often his chromatic obbligatos are matched in double counterpoint by splayed shuffle bowing from the cellist that’s both lyrical and legato.

Careful linear vibe reverberation adds another facet to the interplay as Moran’s pitter-pattering joins the others in polyphonic expression on Lacy’s “Wickets”. With Morris stroking traffic-directing pulses on the bottom, the brass man and the cellist extend themselves still further. Wooley narrows his exhalation to squeal narrowed timbres and Levin amplifies this outpouring with spiccato patterns. Metaphorically adapt, he skims his strings from sul ponticello to sul tasto tones.

Memorably impressive throughout, the only time Some Trees loses a bit of momentum is when Moran lays out on Coleman’s “Morning Song”, the final tune. Interlocking musical alliances which have worked so well until then suddenly reveal a deficiency with one voice subtracted.

Other than that minor caveat, the CD satisfies on all counts.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. It’s For You 2. Out To Lunch 3. Some Trees 4. Sitting On His Hands 5. Zolowski 6. Wild Palms 7. Wickets 8. Morning Song

Personnel: Nate Wooley (trumpet); Matt Moran (vibes [except 8]); Daniel Levin (cello); Joe Morris (bass)

October 17, 2006

STEVE LANTNER TRIO

Blue Yonder
Skycap CAP 018

BRIAN WILLSON/YUKO FUJIYAMA/DOMINIC DUVAL
Things Heard Unheard
Deep Listening DL 31-2005

Breathing life into the standard piano trio, these innovative CDs approach the familiar piano-bass-percussion grouping from different perspectives.

Veteran Brooklyn-based drummer Brian Willson, on his first CD as a leader, builds the trio’s 10 improvisations from bottom up, while Boston-based pianist Steve Lantner’s five tracks work outwards from the keyboard.

Democratically there’s no space hogging here, with each leader intent on framing his work as an interlocking piece of a three-sided equation. Their names may be first in the personnel listing, but they’re first among equals. Willson – who shouldn’t be confused with the Beach Boy who spells his name with one “l” – for instance, features in his trio, Dominic Duval, the sympathetic bassist who has worked with most important Free Music stylists from pianist Cecil Taylor to multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee; and Sapporo, Japan-born pianist Yuko Fujiyama has played with violinist Mark Feldman and bassist William Parker among others during his 20 years in the United States.

On the music faculty of Brooklyn College’s Conservatory of Music, percussionist Willson has played for Broadway shows, in chamber music settings, with minimalist composer Pauline Oliveros and leads a jazz band with saxophonist Salim Washington.

Lantner, whose playing and recording experience includes sessions with violinist Mat Maneri and soprano saxophonist Joe Giardullo, fills his drum chair with tyro Luther Gray, a member of indie rock group Tsunami and the Stone House trio with alto saxophonist Rob Brown and bassist Joe Morris. Morris, also featured on BLUE YONDER, is best known as a guitarist whose associates have ranged from Parker to pianist Matthew Shipp.

Although age differences exist between Willson and Gray, both are sensitive listeners, and if the older man is cognizant of the subtle uses of additional percussion, neither overloads the rhythm’s role. It’s the same with the two double bassists – each provides a steady foundation on which the other musicians work and both impress with their supple soloing. This is some compliment for Morris who is a bass beginner compared to Duval’s decades of experience with the four strings. As for the pianists, Fujiyama holds her own, but her asides on the shorter tracks don’t come near the spectacular key manipulation of Lantner.

Although she unleashes some piano lines with the strength of a coiled spring, Fujiyama needs more space in which to romp. On “To Remember” for instance, her understated interlude turn to cascading waterfalls of off centre and quick patterning notes, linking up with Willson as he pops singular sounds from his kit and constructs shape-shifting rhythms. But that happens infrequently.

With the percussionist applying the timbres available from a singing bowl and Korean temple bells to augment the rhythmic landscape, the two most comprehensive pieces are “Constellations” and “Bit by Bit”. Pretty and purposeful, the former begins with unhurried impressionistic chording from the pianist plus sonorous and harmonically advanced bowing from Duval. But midway through Wilson picks up the shuffled tempo with press rolls and double-timed side cymbal clips. Answering are high-frequency cadences from Fujiyama and steady plucks from the bassist. Padding her accompanying cadences in the final section, the pianist allows Duval to bow resonant notes that lead into a series of shrinking vibrations from the pianist.

Finally given enough time – almost 10 minutes – “Bit by Bit” is the most overtly jazzy composition with Duval climaxing his solo and the tune with a Paul Chambers-like quick-finger summation. At the top, his tremolo voicing and the pianist’s corkscrew runs complement one another as they’re super-glued by Willson’s bonding bounces and rolls. Space freed up and initiated with a tambourine shake, the percussionist accordingly displays a kinetic series of snare rat-tat-tats, tom thumps and cymbal ratchets, but with such subtlety that Duval’s subsequent pizzicato musing is easily heard. Fujiyama delineates the finale with a series of uncomplicated but assiduous plinks.

Similar teamwork is showcased on BLUE YONDER, which at times puts you in mind of those classic advanced trio sessions of the ill-fated of Herbie Nichols. In a similar vein, Lantner treats every note as if it could be his last – which, sadly, in Nichols’ case wasn’t far off. Adroit and dexterous, Lantner approaches nearly every improvisation with the ferocity of a starving wolf. While he may tear great chunks of arpeggios and cadenzas away from the keys, somehow – to mix a metaphor – he doesn’t destroy or overpower the basic thematic elements contributed by the other members of his pack.

From the beginning, the pianist injects a nearly effortless swing into his soloing, with right-handed sluices meeting flashing cross chords. Added to this are steady wallops from Morris and lightly patterned flams from Gray. Although he may play indie rock, Gary’s rhythm is subtle here as the experienced Willson’s is on the other CD, yet strong enough to hold its own against the Lantner’s kaleidoscopic note placement and percussive key clipping.

“Hold On To” is Gray’s showcase, where a quasi-martial beat from snares, cymbals and toms, pulsates with Art Blakey-like reverberations. Vibrating notes off the drums’ wood as much as the skins, Gary seems to be leaning his elbows and palms into his solo as much as he uses his hands and wrists. Lantner’s response is a marvel of full- fingered, lively harmonies that ring as much as they reverberate then climax with right handed tremolo shakes.

Two-fisted, with the suggestion of walking bass from one hand, Lantner’s extensive reach produces bluesy accents from the other side of the keys on “Three or Four”. But his reach doesn’t exceed his grasp as he assembles a mound of polyrhythmic textures, and then breaks them down into accented runs as well as guitar-like arpeggios.

Although “Long Last”, the appropriately titled final track is the only one taken at a slower-than-ballad tempo, dynamic patterning allows the pianist to outline a complementary secondary melody in broken octaves. Bisected by a commanding walloping solo from Morris, Lantner wraps up the tune with unforced key movements.

Proving once again that conventional instrumentation doesn’t have to result in conventional music, both CDs are worthy of exploring. BLUE YONDER may have an edge, but only because it’s extended tracks allow more freedom for exploration.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Things: 1. Yuko I 2. Bird in the Temple 3. Fractals 4. Tibet 5. To Remember 6. Dear Charlie 7. Yuko II 8. Constellations 9. Bamboo 10. Bit by Bit

Personnel: Things: Yuko Fujiyama (piano and percussion); Dominic Duval (bass) and Brian Willson (percussion)

Track Listing: Blue: 1. Blue Yonder 2. If It Really Don’t 3. Three or Four 4. Hold On To 5. Long Last

Personnel: Blue: Steve Lantner (piano); Joe Morris (bass); Luther Gray (drums)

December 12, 2005

WALLY SHOUP

Fusillades & Lamentations
Leo LR 364

STONE HOUSE
Likewise
RITI CD008

Distinctive differences between East and West Coast improvisers vanished around the time 40 years ago when Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins helped make the sax/bass/drums trio a common configuration among jazzers.

Today when an improv trio can consist of any three instrumentalists from just about anywhere, threesomes like the two featured on these CDs mainly announce a commitment to unfettered jazz-based experimentation. Coming from a similar source, the differences aren’t geographical but creative, and this time out, surprisingly, the West has the edge.

The surprise appears partially because two of the Easterners in Stone House, alto saxophonist and flutist Rob Brown from New York and Connecticut bassist Joe Morris -- in his capacity as a guitarist -- are two of the best-known exponents of so-called ecstatic jazz. Experienced stylists, the two have been playing together since 1993.

Conversely, the leader and alto saxophonist of the other band, Seattle’s Wally Shoup taught himself how to play the saxophone when he was nearly 30 years old. A visual artist and new music cheerleader, he’s often thought of as an advocational player, if he’s known at all. Furthermore his band here was an on-again/off-again proposition, with bassist Rueben Radding since moving back to New York.

The reason for the imbalance may rest in the fingers and mouth of Brown. With Stone House filled out by new drummer Luther Gray, who is also a member of indie rock group Tsunami as well as Morris’ guitar trio, and Morris moving away from the foreground to play bass, the balance among the collective trio’s members is shifted, with Brown’s contributions overweighed. Unfortunately, as the dominant lead voice, his tendency to be shrill and frankly long-winded is unchecked. At 69 minutes the CD never seems to end.

Only four minutes shorter, but with one more track, FUSILADES & LAMENTATIONS appears to have more breathing space. Abstract, but not abrasive, Shoup takes things at a measured pace. Furthermore, the saxman gives his sidemen enough room to be creative. And the bassist plus drummer Bob Rees -- a classically trained percussionist, who has also performed with New York multi-reedist and Radding associate Daniel Carter and British bassist John Edwards -- use the space to great advantage.

Key techniques on show are pacing and sense of dynamics, with many of the tunes taking on balladic properties. Even when Shoup overblows and flutter tongues he makes sure you know his reed is permeable, as on “Black Tusk”. Moving from simple tones to rooster-crowing expostulations, he seems to be able to widen his vibrato to such an extent that it spurts out colored air before subsiding again. Meanwhile Rees is accompanying all this with a regular pattern from his mallets on the tom toms, some cymbal slaps and an ascending press roll that gathers power until he abruptly snaps it off.

Radding double and triple stops, then holds the pace with strong arco movements on “The Sacrificial Lion”, the CD’s longest track. Not that this slows down the piece’s adagio momentum, nor does the percussionist’s bell tree tingling, snare and cymbal work. Burred and buzzed trills make up Shoup’s contributions, as his irregular vibrations help him sideslip into another key. Soon klaxon-like cries create even more momentum as he slows down his output for an a cappella circular breathing exercise, soon overblowing to get two reed sounds at once.

Despite Shoup’s smaller horn, the three come closest to Rollins’ most experimental bands on “The Slammer”, a dissonant cantata of squeals, squeaks and slurs in the alto’s highest register with the widest vibrato possible. Soon the saxman is buzzing from within his horn’s body tube mixing intimations of a Middle Eastern ney and Western extended techniques. Rees’ steady, near-boppish beat and rattling sticks is reminiscent of what Billy Higgins could bring to situations with both Rollins and Coleman, while Radding’s bowed asides and time keeping situate him midway between David Izenzon with Coleman and Bob Cranshaw with Rollins. Shoup achieves his climax with a giant high-pitched honk that works its way up from the saxophone’s bow with great ferocity.

Prone to add the odd duck quack, Bronx cheer, pattern of staccato honks and extended altissimo squeaks, Shoup still manages to avoid grating harshness, even at his most dissonant. Low key, Rees adds what’s needed from his kit or extended percussion. When he’s not plucking and stroking or bowing and picking. Radding’s tone often combines with Shoup’s so that it sounds like two closely allied reed instruments.

You couldn’t say the same about LIKEWISE. In contrast to his distinctive guitar playing, Morris is a rock steady, but rather conventional, accompanying bassist who seems to be holding back throughout. Meanwhile Brown’s keening tone seems fully divorced from any bass timbre.

Even when Morris does assert himself more loudly, as on “Lifelike”, with steady fingering, some double stopping and a good tone, and Gray shows some percussive power from his snares and toms, the result is anticlimactic. The piece appears to fade, rather than end, as well. Did everyone get bored?

Elsewhere it’s Brown’s show all the way with the saxman honking and squealing in the most frenzied and least appealing fashion possible. Triple tonguing and screaming at the top of his horn’s register, he appears to be rehashing his licks every chance he gets. Unlike earlier admirable sessions with guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil, many of bassist William Parker’s groups and Morris, his finesse seems to have exited, replaced by unreconstructed moaning and whining.

Even when he sideslips into sharp Eric Dolphy-like trills and reed bites as on the title track, this variety doesn’t add much. Even with the rhythm section producing a conventional drum roll and walking bass continuum throughout and the drummer and saxist trading fours at the end, it appears something is missing. A flute feature, made up of nearly endless, lethargic toots and whistles is just as mundane.

That said, the only time Brown can be said to rouse himself is on “Turning”, the set’s shortest track. With a steady plucked bass line and smashing, rumbling drums behind him, the reedist’s disintegrating sax line has some heft and strident power, though a variation in tone and timbre would have helped.

With all the talent, technique and power available in Stone House, it can only be hoped that the band heads into the studio again soon and produces the session of which its members are obvious capable. But right now, when it comes to comparing these trios in terms of in dexterity, subtlety and inventiveness, the West is the best and deserves your time.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Fusillades: 1. The Sacrificial Lion 2. Peloria 3. CorkSkrewed 4. Black Tusk 5. Lament 6. The Slammer 7. Laying Low 8. Kiss Off

Personnel: Fusillades: Wally Shoup (alto saxophone); Rueben Radding (bass); Bob Rees (drums)

Track Listing: Likewise: 1. Meet Me in Another Reality 2. Likewise 3. Emotion of Space 4. Turning 5. Lifelike 6. Ground Truth 7. Open Oblique

Personnel: Likewise: Rob Brown (alto saxophone, flute); Joe Morris (bass); Luther Gray (drums)

February 9, 2004

YVES ROBERT

In Touch
ECM 1787

DANIEL LEVIN QUARTET
Don’t Go It Alone
RITI CD009

Brass, percussion and cello are the points of symmetry between these sets of modern, improvised chamber music. Atmospheric IN TOUCH, helmed by veteran French trombonist Yves Robert, features his longtime associate cellist Vincent Courtois as well as drummer Cyril Atef. DON’T GO IT ALONE is an appropriate title for the debut release by young American cellist Daniel Levin, whose brass input comes from cornetist Dave Ballou. Vibraphonist Mat Moran adds subtle percussion, and the session is anchored by Joe Morris, who proves that his convincing guitar techniques can be transmitted to double bass playing.

Replete with suggestive titles, IN TOUCH seems ever so French with Robert’s trio liming what could be the soundtrack for a seduction or perhaps coitus. Not that anything as crude or sweaty as the later is suggested by the disc. Impeccably recorded and abstruse, it’s also in the French tradition of similar recorded exercises in so-called imaginary folklore organized by tubaist Michel Godard -- featuring Courtois -- or clarinetist Louis Sclavis -- with both Courtois and Robert. Vichy native Robert has a solid jazz grounding as well, with stints in Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath and the first edition of the Orchestre National de Jazz.

While many would associate an expression of the commodification of desire with New Orleans bordellos, the three only approximate Dixieland excitement on “L’air d’y toucher”. Atef, who divides his time between work with the trombonist and French funksters Bum Cello, would never be mistaken for George Wettling or Robert for Jack Teagarden. However, the former’s shuffle beat and the latter’s wheezing plunger trombone jabs are approximated in the sound, filtered through the mindset of modern, trained Europeans, that is. Cowbell whacking and tambourine shaking even appears at one point, although Courtois’ cello fantasia is about as far from slap bass as you can imagine. Still the polyrhythmic movement that encompasses consistent string slides and ‘bone yelps recalls that New Orleans had a French history, but one that was truncated. At least it never reached the modernity of the piece’s ending that exhibits pure air being forced through the horn.

By contrast, the other jazz musician’s work which the CD echoes is that of arranger Gil Evans, especially with Robert’s solo showcase on “Let’s lay down” [sic]. With its irregular Afro-Cuban style percussion, suggestion of a ghostly string section from Courtois and tempo-changing, muted ‘bone fantasia, you’re reminded of how Evans framed Jimmy Knepper on OUT OF THE COOL.

Elsewhere, Robert is very much his own man, purring where Knepper and other Americans would have been braying. This is especially apparent on pieces like “Basculement du désir” and “La tendresse”. On the former the trombonist’s command of pedal point makes it sees like his tones are arising at far away on the horizon and gradually coming into focus. Pizzicato, Courtois’ cello reconstitutes itself into an acoustic guitar, speeding up the tempo as Robert majestically maintains his line and Atef accompanies with obtuse cymbal and maracas resonation.

On the later, and very much longest, track, the cellist and trombonist take turns caressing the vaporous theme, while the other plays a counterline. Exceptionally quiet, but doing his job with offbeat and rumbles, plus the hitting of sticks against one another, the drummer gives the others plenty of space to indulge in twisting tones. That involves a muted buzz from the brassman and multi-string, arco double-stopping expanding into power thrusts on all strings simultaneously from the cellist.

More boisterous and more abstract as the CD revolves, DON’T GO IT ALONE also could have an antecedent: trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith’s RASTAFARI session from 1983, with his axe framed by violin, cello or bass and vibes as well as light reed playing. Vibes in a chamber-like setting also bring forth echoes of the Modern Jazz Quartet and Red Norvo’s trios. However some of the lines probably reflect Moran’s background with the New music/improv Claudia Quintet and playing ethic percussion with The Slavic Soul Party.

This reaches a climax on “Bronx No. 2”, the final composition, which highlights polyrhythms going every which way. Over a steady walking pulse form Morris, Levin’s cello lines speedily twist and sprawl, Moran makes leprechaun leaps onto his metallic bars and Ballou produces half-valve, weeping horn flourishes that are strangely legato compared to the full body English the string players are putting into the performance. Eventually the brassman opens up with a heart-felt growl.

Ballou, who has been aptly represented as a mainstreamer on CD, and who produces hushed, Joe Wilder-like peeps at times here, mostly plays more freely than usual. But then again his non-recorded gigs include some with violist Mat Maneri’s quintet and hyperpianist Denman Maroney’s group. He can also morph from one roll to another, as he demonstrates on “Interlude”, where his romantic, but sour-sounding cornet tone faces low-pitched, almost marimba-like slides from Moran and portamento cello loops.

Classically-trained since he was six, Levin has his technique down pat, yet in his compositions and playing is also able to innovate, occasionally plucking the cello guitar-like, as Courtois did on Robert’s CD. Someone who has also performed with Morris associates such as alto saxist Rob Brown and Maneri, the cellist doesn’t play second fiddle to anyone here. There is a time on “Underground”, though, that his sharp, sprayed arco slides and long lined repetitions almost make it sound like he’s playing a fiddle at a hoe-down. But this fits well with the cornetist’s scowling rubato grace notes and Moran’s ringing vibe attack.

What defines the session in toto though, is the tension that exists between the chamber music poses and the jazz/improv impulses. The first work when, say, the vibe motor is slowed down so the peal of the bars melds appropriately with the bass liming of an atmospheric theme, or when shaded cello lines meet plunger expressions and flutter- tongued murmurs from the cornet. But the second is just as prominent on a piece like “In Parts”. Here whizzing, stroking, pizzicato lines from the cello are seconded by a double- stopping bowed triumphant bass line, while speed demon, elemental vibe excursions make time with plunger brass work, modernizing the barnyard sounds that go back to the Original Dixieland Band and the origins of so-called Classic Jazz.

Don’t be frightened by the chamber trappings of these sessions. With dead-on technique and historical allusions, both bands can produce unfettered ferment without raising their collective voices.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Touch: 1. In touch 2. Let’s lay down 3. La tendresse 4. In touch (var. 1) 5. L’air d’y toucher 6. Basculement du désir 7. L’attente reste 8. In touch (var. 2)

Personnel: Touch: Yves Robert (trombone);Vincent Courtois (cello); Cyril Atef (drums)

Track Listing: Don’t: 1. Unfortunate Situation 2. Underground 3. 17th Street 4. In Parts 5. Interlude 6. Non-sense 7. Sad Song 8. Nervous 9. Fleeting 10. Bronx No. 2

Personnel: Don’t: Dave Ballou (cornet); Daniel Levin (cello); Joe Morris (bass); Matt Moran (vibraphone)

December 29, 2003

WHIT DICKEY/TRIO AHXOLOXHA

Prophet Moon
RITI CD 006

TONE DIALING
Elektrodoki
No Label No #

Putting together an improvising trio featuring saxophone and drums with guitar as the only chordal instrument creates a combination rife with potential hazards. Luckily Trio Anxoloxha includes Joe Morris, an inventive artisan, whose skills encompass knowledge of bass and banjo techniques, while Tone Dialing extends its musical menu with electronic attachments.

Ahxoloxha is a palindrome invented by its leader, drummer Whit Dickey to describe how the group works together, balanced on all sides. Dickey, whose experience encompasses the bands of pianist Matthew Shipp and tenor saxophonist David S. Ware; and alto saxophonist Rob Brown, who has also played extensively with Shipp and bassist William Parker, come to the drummer’s project from the core of New York’s so-called ecstatic jazz movement. Connecticut-based, Morris may not live near Ground Zero, but much of his playing history is with similar experimenters there and in Boston.

His separation may account for the CD’s only drawback. Morris is such an original player that his creativity outranks what comes from the other two. Each is a fine musician, but unlike the guitarist, their solos fit securely into the niche of what paradoxically could be described as traditional experimental sounds.

More prosaically named, the Amsterdam-based Tone Dialing trio also seems more evenly balanced. However like the division in Ahxoloxha, two of its members are from one place, the third from elsewhere. Reedman Jorrit Dijkstra has been an active Amsterdam improviser for almost 20 years. He has worked with locals bandleader Willem Breuker and pianist Guus Janssen, as well as American trumpeter Herb Robertson and Vancouver-based Talking Pictures. Also from the Netherlands, Paul Pallesen often combines banjo and guitar with electronics and works in folk-oriented groups as well as in improv outfits with Dijkstra, pianist Cor Fuhler and others. Australian percussionist Steve Heather arrived in Amsterdam from Melbourne in 1995. Since then he used his drums, triggered samples and a junkyard full of percussion in groups with Fuhler, soundsinger Jaap Blonk and violinist Jon Rose.

Dealing first with the five tracks recorded in the centre of the universe, you find Dickey, Brown and Morris pursuing different stratagems over the course of shorter or longer pieces. Oddly enough, although his tone appears to be an amalgam of late bebop and Ornette Coleman, Brown’s attack here is reminiscent of the work of a non-sax-playing jazzer. Swing trumpeter Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge -- who come to think of it did record with Eric Dolphy and once jammed with Coleman -- always had a pugnacious side to him, often expressed in a melodramatic, screechy tone. Although a much more linear player, Brown’s vibrato seems to head skywards with the same regularity as “Little Jazz”’s, whether he’s playing a quasi-ballad like “Telling Moment” or exercising his reed on the nearly 19-minute title track.

Beginning a cappella, Brown trills and smears his notes with a real fury, moving ever upwards with shaking, renal squeals. Busy on snare and cymbals, Dickey is unobtrusive however. Throughout the CD he never asserts himself, although he wrote all the tunes. In contrast, Morris definitely sounds like Morris, first constructing carefully emphasized fills and relying on straightahead comping. His entire mid section output is constructed in stop time, lazily appearing to move at half-speed as Brown huffs, puffs and tries to blow the tune down around him.

Later on “Riptide” the fret man appears to be flat picking in such a way as to tie a circular knot around Brown’s histrionic tone. As Dickey bangs out a few bass drum pedal accents and the saxophonist’s playing gets denser, Morris improvises in parallel lines that seem to progress without crossing or melding with the others’ sounds. Although at one point he does produce chicken scratches at warp speed, most of time he’s content with single-note pinprick overtones, occasionally sliding into the space beneath the bridge. This one and other tracks fade out as the three are still playing, leading to the suspicion that conclusive endings were lacking.

On other CDs Morris has begun using acoustic bass, banjo and banjouke, and while none of these instruments are present here, such techniques as lower-paced rhythms or high-pitched flailing torque up his performances on PROPHET MOON.

Meanwhile, a continent away, Pallesen brings his banjo, plus guitar and effects to ELEKTRODOKI. It’s all the better to mate with the sounds emanating from Heather’s percussion and sampler collection and Dijkstra’s alto sax and lyricon, an analog electronic wind synthesizer.

Both bizarre -- for improv at least -- axes get a workout as early as track #1, with tremolo distortion and tongue slaps meeting stuttering electronic fuzz and the intermittent pluck of bass strings. Lyricon-created duck quacks vie with straight, theme-advancing lines, while effects allow Pallesen to alternately showcase harsh, lofty electric guitar notes and what appear to be high-frequency pressure fingering from an electric piano. Sounding at times like he’s rolling dice on his drum heads, Heather also triggers samples from his kit, which produce paper crinkling tones and percussion-like clatter. Lyric tones are smeared out by the sax man before the ending, with a 30-second coda that replaces intermittent machine-like buzzes with spacey floating tones.

While the sounds on other tracks suggest that a rock band -- or maybe a highly electrified version of Aussie improvisers The Necks -- have made it to outer space, most of the music is more earthbound. On track #5, for example, the flailing tones of a tenor banjo meet manipulated lyricon squeaks, as what sounds like the echoes of a chugging toy locomotive provides the percussion element. Elsewhere the drummer smashes his cymbals with blacksmith’s strength, while what could be tones from manhandled chopsticks, sea shells, garbage can lids and mushroom boxes are overlaid on corpulent, funky electronic pulses. As finger picking emphasizes the guitar line, the music builds up in intensity, appending lighter-than-air alto effects and off-kilter, drum patterns. Before it ends with an intermittent buzz, you hear chiming guitar lines and clinking synthesizer wiggles.

Another aural metaphor appears at the end of track #4 with what sounds like a motor running down. Before that sharp metallic sounds -- from percussion samples? -- chirping corkscrew twists -- from a reed? -- and pulsating static resolve themselves into a simple beat.

Although merely LP length -- 34:09 -- this disc is worth investigating. But one would hope Tone Dialing gets a larger scope to express its ideas in future. As for Ahxoloxha, its CD will no doubt attract Morris fans. Too bad his soloing couldn’t have inspired the other trio members to more inventive work.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Prophet: 1. The Word On The Street 2. Prophet Moon 3. Trial By Fire 4. Riptide 5. Telling Moment

Personnel: Prophet: Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Joe Morris (guitar); Whit Dickey (drums)

Track Listing: Elektrodoki: 1. #1 - 11:25 2. #2- 3:44 3. #3 - 1:19 4. #4 - 5:15 5. #5 - 8:05 - 6. #6- 3:58

Personnel: Elektrodoki: Jorrit Dijkstra (alto saxophone, lyricon, analog electronics) Paul Pallesen (guitar, banjo, effects); Steve Heather (drums, percussion, sampler)

May 19, 2003

GARY LUCAS/JOZEF VAN WISSEM

Diplopia
BVHaast 0103

WILLIAM PARKER/JOE MORRIS/HAMID DRAKE Eloping With The Sun
RITI CD 007

String-driven, these CDs work with the idea of adapting traditional plucked instruments to new roles, new sounds and unusual additions. Thus, on one disc, the country bluesman’s favorite National steel guitar and the Renaissance minstrel’s lute are mixed with electronics and percussion for futuristic versions of 16th century airs. On the other, three free jazzers use instruments rescued from the stringband and world music ghettos to create some highly rhythmic improvised sounds.

A follow-up of sorts to NARCISSUS DROWNING, Dutch lutanist Jozef Van Wissem last CD which featured downtown New York guitarist Gary Lucas on three tracks, this short (31½-minute) disc has Lucas on board for all nine tracks.

Designated as DIPLOPIA or double image, the idea seems to be that Lucas’s National steel and acoustic guitars complement Van Wissem’s lute and electronics so well that they seem to be joined at the frets. Indeed on the seven songs -- two appear both in studio and live versions -- the duo seems to be extending the fingerpicking instrumental tradition of John Fahey and Leo Kottke. Most tunes find the lutanist advancing the sounds, which range from near gavottes to Renaissance processional themes to something that sounds suspiciously like “Ode to Joy”, with passing chords tossed out to the guitarist. The crash of percussion and suggestions of droning electronics further dislocate the melodies from four centuries-old histories.

For the most part eschewing strumming folkie accompaniment, Lucas either constructs underlying flat-picking as a continuum or uses the sort of lancet-sharp whine Bukka White or Son House could draw from their strings to comment on the proceedings. Operating in tandem or counterpoint, the two pickers often pass floating motifs back and forth, but with a single exception, have stalled the presentation on virtuosity rather than resolution.

Although it’s just as pleasant as the duo’s previous CD, DIPLOPIA is also very similar sounding. Unless some fresh input is added to their sound, the two may find themselves trapped in a medieval ghetto waiting for a musical Renaissance.

One tune, “The Mirror Stage” does offer some hope for a rebirth, though, with the allusion to sprightly Aegean dance music tossed into the mix. Interestingly enough it’s the same sort of Greco-Turkish rhythm that enlivens some of the sounds on ELOPING WITH THE SUN.

On the final and penultimate tunes of that session, for instance, the trio appears to lock into suggestions of Greek Rebetika music, harsh, urban dance rhythms played by violin, guitar oud, cenbalo and lyre. Those ethnic axes aren’t in evidence, but the three musicians are playing what is for them unusual instruments. Bassist William Parker keeps the hypnotic beat going with the zintir, a Moroccan bass lute usually associated with Gnawa music. Drum kit master Hamid Drake confines himself to creating counter rhythms on a frame drum that looks like a giant tambourine. And Joe Morris puts aside his guitar to play banjo and ukulele hybrid, the banjouke.

“Stepdance” features those Greco-Turkish suggestions unrolling over the sort of repeated bass patterns popular in Africentric jazz-funk of the 1970s and, to be honest, the Newbeats’ hit “Bread and Butter”. Drake bangs his hand drum and Morris introduces some flailing commentary with his banjo.

Gus Cannon-like chromatic blues banjo comes to the fore on “Dream”, as Drake and Parker are able to use their acoustic instruments to lock into a repetitive groove as if they were the electric bassist and drummer in a crack rhythm team from the golden age of Motown. Probably switching to the banjouke, Morris alternates the Rebetika echoes with first speedy finger picking then slurred fingering with an eccentric choice of notes.

Earlier there have been sections where it has sounded as if some Scruggs-style bluegrass banjo picking had been mixing it up with African and Middle Eastern drones. That’s because Drake seems to be able to produce snare and bass drum sounds from his one percussion implement. “Hop-kin”, the longest tune at nearly 17 minutes, finds clawhammer banjo licks facing what could be a walking jazz bass and Native American tom toms at one point. Another section turns vaguely North Indian, with the strings and percussion instruments implying the sounds of a sarod and a tabla. Wonder if Old Joe Clark ever met Ravi Shankar? Meanwhile, as Morris’s decorations on the basic tune ascends and descends the chord structure, Parker’s finger patterns don’t slacken in intensity.

An interesting experiment, this CD would probably have been better if it was one long, but more condensed track, rather than one divided into five shorter parts. It’s a disc that will be sought out by followers of any of these experimenters to see how they transfer their unique technique(s) to other instruments. Whether this total instrumental cross-dressing should be tried again may be open to argument.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Diplopia: 1. Sick 2. If it doesn’t fit, thou must acquit 3. For whom the bell tolls 4. Will o’ the Wisp 5. Diplopia 6. The Mirror Stage 7. Brethren of the Free Spirit 8. If it doesn’t fit, thou must acquit (live) 9. The Mirror Stage (live)

Personnel: Diplopia: Gary Lucas (National steel and acoustic guitars); Jozef Van Wissem (10-course Renaissance lute, electronics, percussion)

Track Listing: Eloping: 1. Sand Choir 2. Dawn Son 3. Hop-Kin 4. Stepdance 5. Dream

Personnel: Eloping: Joe Morris (banjo and banjouke); William Parker (zintir); Hamid Drake (frame drum)

April 14, 2003

JOE MORRIS

Age Of Everything
Riti CD 004

Joe Morris has a unique challenge. As one of the few guitarists who has

achieved a post-Coltrane approach to the six-string he must ensure that the dense flow of swirling motion he produces doesn’t overpower the tunes and/or his sidemen.

Luckily, on this CD, his first in a long time on his own newly reactivated label, he seems to have brokered a compromise between technique and emotion. Not unrelated to this achievement is that the masterful guitarist has two accomplished players at his side here and as his working group. Additionally, this CD showcases some of his most fluid, elegantly inventive -- and non frightening for mainstreamers -- playing. If anything, his cleanly articulated approach appears to be a modern variation of the sort of licks Barney Kessel or Tal Farlow produced in abundance.

Now Connecticut-based, Morris has been playing since he was 14 and, with the exception of a few lessons is self-taught. Recording for more than 20 years, he established himself in both New York and Boston at different times and has performed with other exploratory musicians ranging from saxophonists John Butcher and Ken Vandermark to violist Mat Maneri and bassoon player Karen Borca. His preference has been for trio playing and this CD demonstrates why.

Morris has said that he tucks and turns his licks to construct something new out of the old. And there are times on the aptly titled “Telepathy” that you have the nagging feeling that he’s quoting some half-forgotten standard mid-way through his solo. Backed by the strummed, guitar-like lines of bassist Timo Shanko, who does double duty as a member of Boston’s Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Morris takes the bass-introduced theme and elaborates it with skipping bent notes, skidding up the fret board and sliding down onto the bass clef. Often he uses both hands in the centre of the guitar strings, with the finger tips of one hand darting onto the strings that are being plucked with a plectrum held in the other. Never orotund, jagged single notes are played staccatissimo, as if he were Coltrane at his most instrumentally verbose.

Intervals are wider on the title track, with the melody slower and bluesier. Playing andante, Morris seems to be working in a circular motion, though every note is bell clear. Here, as elsewhere on the disc he appears to be dipping more into the darker bass regions during his solo, perhaps because he’s following a parallel career as an acoustic bassist in a standard piano trio configuration. On this tune, though, it’s Shanko, playing adagio, whose work relies on the constant repetition of undersea low notes.

While Morris may prefer to play staccato, often slurring his attack and spearing aerial notes out of the atmosphere, there are times, as in one passage in “Way In” where he seems to be quoting “Let’s Face The Music and Dance”. No matter, Shanko’s bull fiddle stays restrained, mirroring the mellow portion of the guitarist’s work, while drummer Luther Gray, who also works in guitarist Mitch Seidman’s trio and in duo with woodwind player Daniel Ian Smith appears unfazed. An effects man, rather than a beat maniac, Gray appears to be hitting on the wood and sides of his kit as much as the drum skins. And he also weaves his cymbal patterns in and out of the tune.

Morris has faced the guitar challenge by flat-picking and finger pressing as he downplays amplifier and pedal effects. Whether he unleashes an accelerated blizzard of tones or produces a simple flow of pinpointed single notes, he proves equal to every task here. What this means is that he’s created his most distinctive CD to date.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Tree Branch 2. Way In 3. Age Of Everything 4. Telepathy

Personnel: Joe Morris (guitar); Timo Shanko (bass); Luther Gray (drums)

December 16, 2002