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Reviews that mention Benoît Delbecq

Benoît Delbecq

Crescendo in Duke
Nato 4375

François Houle

Genera

Songlines SGL 1595-2

François Houle/Benoît Delbecq

Because She Hoped

Songlines SGL 1592-2

By Ken Waxman

Paris-based, but as likely to turn up on North American as European sessions, pianist Benoît Delbecq is the very model of a cosmopolitan improviser. Often working with prepared piano and/or electronics, Delbecq specializes in cutting-edge interpretations, but his limpid playing also relates to a tradition that takes in Steve Lacy and through him Duke Ellington.

Delbecq has worked with Vancouver-based clarinetist François Houle since the mid-‘90s and the temperate Because She Hoped is their third duo disc. Houle is the perfect match for the pianist. Dazzlingly interactive here, both allow sounds to evolve organically rather than calling attention to their prodigious techniques.

For instance, a live and a studio version of “Pour Pee Wee” are distinct. Houle smears intense reed variations atop Delbecq’s echoing key clicks during the 120-second studio piece. Three times the length, the live version is buoyant and swinging, even though the pianist includes staccato asides and Houle’s part encompasses astringent glissandi. The CD’s title tune demonstrates that interactive romanticism can arise from an exposition featuring tongue slaps and key clipping, while “Le Concombre de Chicoutimi” expresses a mood rather than a melody, with the clarinetist’s almost pure tones uniting with the pianist’s impressionistic harmonies. Paying homage to their ancestors, Lacy’s “Clichés” finds Delbecq’s marimba-like string pops perfect accompaniment to the jaunty theme elaborated by Houle. Ellington’s “The Mystery Song” is restructured with the clarinetist’s expressive glissandi paired with clavichord-like plinks. Houle’s fluid squeaks then confirm the piece’s airiness.

The hints of Ellingtonia displayed on Because She Hoped become a commitment on Crescendo in Duke. With a dozen participants besides Delbecq, Europeans such as clarinetist Tony Coe and percussionist Steve Argüelles, plus Americans, including saxophonist Tony Malaby and bass guitarist Yohannes Tonam, help honor jazz’s most celebrated canon. Rather than a program of greatest hits however, the pianist proclaims his individuality by concentrating on later period material, mainly taken from Ellington’s many suites.

While the featured soloists are often clarinetists – Kenni Holmen and Kathy Jensen as well as Coe – confirming the pianist’s links with Houle, Tona’s choice of instruments provides a clue to how Delbecq reconstitutes the Ducal charts. A veteran of Minneapolis’ funk scene, Tona plus acoustic bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel, Argüelles and drummer Michael Bland ensure the backbeat is powerful, confirming Ellington’s influence on R&B.

Those links are fundamentally emphasized during a performance of “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue”, famously played at Newport 1956 and the “Get with itness” sequence from The Goutelas Suite. A marvel of quickened tension, “Diminuendo…” is piloted by swaying, near-stride piano and a walking bass line, as Coe and Malaby alternate flutter-tongued solos and polyphonic obbligatos. Group hand-clapping heightens the pressure until harmonized horn lines provide the release. Stop-time excitement, “Get with itness” is notable for a saxophonist’s howling slurs and corkscrewed shrieks. Overall these frenetic interludes nicely contrast with the treatment of the suite’s other themes divided among fanfares, swing sequences and processional marches. Still, the only notable expression of Delbecq’s own expressive playing appears on interludes like “Fontainbleau Forest”.

A sideman rather than a partner on Genera, consisting of 10 Houle compositions, Delbecq’s presence confirms the sextet’s internationalism. Although New Yorker residents, bassist Michael Bates and drummer Harris Eisenstadt are Canadian like Houle. Trombonist Samuel Blaser is Swiss; while the sole American is cornetist/ flugelhornist Taylor Ho Bynum. Dedicated to group expression Houle’s writing, like Ellington’s, also aims to emphasize each soloist’s personality.

The title tune is a perfect instance of this, as the measured composition makes room for idiosyncratic expression without losing the harmonic thread. On it Blaser spews out sinewy multiphonics, Bates’ pulse includes guitar-like twanging and Eisenstadt hand pats reflect his study of African percussion. “Le Concombre de Chicoutimi” reappears twice. First it’s briefly heard as a study for piano key-clipping blended with cornet and clarinet slurs; secondly it grows to intermezzo length, as Ellington would often do with his sketches. Embellished with electronic quivers and string buzzes from Delbecq, Houle’s flutter-tongued reed lines gust upwards backed by ecclesiastical piano chords.

Accommodating in his writing, Houle balances interludes of extended techniques with sequences that are more formally organized to maintain pacing. Exclamatory expositions can include discordant reed variations or jabbing keyboard pulses, while other themes approach bop, with Delbecq sprinkling arpeggios like Hank Jones and Bates’ producing a steady Mingus-like pulse. Displaying all Houle’s influences “Sulfur Dude” features an infectious head that keeps reappearing. Throughout the stacked horn harmonies and tremolo piano movements retreat so that Bynum’s cornet is showcased echoing repeated trills that are both hard-edged and exotic.

Tracks: Because: The Mystery Song; Pour Pee Wee; Le Bois Debout; Because She Hoped; Clichés; Le Concombre de Chicoutimi; Binoculars; Ando; Nancali (live); Pour Pee Wee (live)

Personnel: Because: François Houle: clarinet; Benoît Delbecq: piano

Tracks: Genera: Le Concombre de Chicoutimi I ; Essay #7; Guanara; Albatros; Le Concombre de Chicoutimi II; Old Paradigm; Piano Loop (for BD); Punctum II; Sulfur Dude; Mu-turn Revisited

Personnel: Genera: Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn; Samuel Blaser: trombone; François Houle: clarinets; Benoit Delbecq: piano; Michael Bates: bass; Harris Eisenstadt, drums

Tracks: Crescendo: Bateau; Portrait of Mahalia Jackson; Portrait of Wellman Braud; The spring; Acht O’Clock Rock; Whirlpool; Goutelas Suite: Fanfare; Goutelas Suite: Goutelas; Goutelas Suite: Get with itness Goutelas Suite: Something; Goutelas Suite: Having At It; Blue Pepper; Tina; Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue; Fontainbleau Forest

Personnel: Crescendo: The Hornheads: Steve Strand and Dave Jensen: trumpet and flugelhorn; Michael Nelson: trombone; Kenni Holmen: tenor saxophone; Tony Coe: clarinet, soprano saxophone; Kathy Jensen: clarinet, baritone saxophone; Tony Malaby: soprano, tenor saxophones; Antonin-Tri Hoang: bass clarinet, alto saxophone; Benoît Delbecq: piano, prepared piano, electronics; Jean-Jacques Avenel: bass; Yohannes Tona: bass guitar; Michael Bland: drums; Steve Argüelles: drums, timbales, percussion, electronics

--For New York City Jazz Record November 2012

November 6, 2012

François Houle/Benoît Delbecq

Because She Hoped
Songlines SGL 1592-2

François Houle

Genera

Songlines SGL 1595-2

Benoît Delbecq

Crescendo in Duke

Nato 4375

By Ken Waxman

Tracks: Because: The Mystery Song; Pour Pee Wee; Le Bois Debout; Because She Hoped; Clichés; Le Concombre de Chicoutimi; Binoculars; Ando; Nancali (live); Pour Pee Wee (live)

Personnel: Because: François Houle: clarinet; Benoît Delbecq: piano

Tracks: Genera: Le Concombre de Chicoutimi I ; Essay #7; Guanara; Albatros; Le Concombre de Chicoutimi II; Old Paradigm; Piano Loop (for BD); Punctum II; Sulfur Dude; Mu-turn Revisited

Personnel: Genera: Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn; Samuel Blaser: trombone; François Houle: clarinets; Benoit Delbecq: piano; Michael Bates: bass; Harris Eisenstadt, drums

--For New York City Jazz Record November 2012

November 6, 2012

François Houle

Genera
Songlines SGL 1595-2

François Houle/Benoît Delbecq

Because She Hoped

Songlines SGL 1592-2

Benoît Delbecq

Crescendo in Duke

Nato 4375

By Ken Waxman

Tracks: Because: The Mystery Song; Pour Pee Wee; Le Bois Debout; Because She Hoped; Clichés; Le Concombre de Chicoutimi; Binoculars; Ando; Nancali (live); Pour Pee Wee (live)

Personnel: Because: François Houle: clarinet; Benoît Delbecq: piano

Tracks: Genera: Le Concombre de Chicoutimi I ; Essay #7; Guanara; Albatros; Le Concombre de Chicoutimi II; Old Paradigm; Piano Loop (for BD); Punctum II; Sulfur Dude; Mu-turn Revisited

Personnel: Genera: Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn; Samuel Blaser: trombone; François Houle: clarinets; Benoit Delbecq: piano; Michael Bates: bass; Harris Eisenstadt, drums

--For New York City Jazz Record November 2012

November 6, 2012

Benoît Delbecq/François Houle

Because She Hoped
Songlines SGL 1592-2

Dazzlingly interactive, this third duo disc by Vancouver clarinetist François Houle and Parisian pianist Benoît Delbecq exposes rugged as well as impressionistic textures. Delbecq, who often prepares his strings with implements, and Houle whose extended techniques include circular breathing and split tones are modest as well. They allow the improvisations to evolve organically rather than calling attention to their skills.

Yet two versions of the clarinetist’s Pour Pee Wee end up being completely distinct. Houle smears intense vibrations atop Delbecq’s uninterrupted wooden key clicks in 120 seconds during the first variant; the second, three times as long, finds the pianist’s sour and percussive motifs enlivened by passing chords and staccato asides, as circling glissandi and tremolo flattement presage a final swinging pulse from Delbecq. This unforced jauntiness is also expressed on the un-clichéd Clichés, composed by saxophonist Steve Lacy who influenced them both. Delbecq’s marimba-like string pops are perfect down-to-earth accompaniment to the concentric and jaunty melody elaborated by Houle. When reed squeaks and syncopated lines unite for the finale the textural release illuminates the note-perfect, yet moderated playing of both.

Throughout, unmatched textural command from the two maintains a melodic flow. Whether the base performance encompasses atmospheric liquid clarinet runs and sympathetic keyboard chording on Duke Ellington’s The Mystery Song, or turns Houle’s castanet-like polyrhythms plus Houle’s tremolo pitchslides on the pianist’s Ando atonal, a final variant reveals an innate modern tonality. The reedist’s title tune similarly demonstrates that sympathetic romanticism can eventually result from a narration that begins with tongue slaps and key clipping.

--Ken Waxman

-- For Whole Note Vol. 17 #7

April 11, 2012

Benoît Delbecq

Circles and Calligrams
Songlines SGK 1583-2

Albert Van Veenendaal

Minimal Damage

Evil Rabbit ERR 13

Park Chang Soo

Infinite Finitude

Audioguy Records AGHSCD0001

More than four centuries after the invention of the piano-forte, new possibilities for its role as a solo instrument continue to exist. This trio of discs demonstrates that with a caveat: As the 21st Century deepens, it’s evident that the most popular innovation involves preparing the strings and treating the box so that the piano becomes as much a percussion instrument as a stringed one.

Certainly that’s how Amsterdam-based Albert Van Veenendaal operates on the 16 improvisations that make up Minimal Damage. Someone interested in the epic and cinematic qualities of improvisation – note the track titles – he has worked with writers, painters, actors and dancers as well as fellow musicians such as pianist Fabrizio Puglisi, bassist Meinrad Kneer and percussionist Yonga Sun. Parisian Benoît Delbecq on the other hand, who plays a 92-key Bosendorfer on Circles and Calligrams, moves between the instrument’s conventional timbres and the polyrhythms available from preparing the instrument. Conversant with modern notated as well as improvisational strategies, he has frequently recorded with the likes of drummer Steve Argüelles and bassist Hubert Dupont plus a duo piano disc with Andy Milne. Least-known of the three keyboardists is Seoul-based Park Chan Soo, who by necessity and as the result of running his own house concerts, has since 2002 has created a unique take on conventional and prepared piano, distinctively demonstrated on Infinite Finitude. Over the years Park, who is also music director for the Kim Young-hee MUT dance company, has played with international improvisers such as saxophonist Alfred 23 Harth and pianist/violinist Helmut Bieler-Wendt.

Most wedded to the possibilities of the prepared piano, Van Veenendaal presents a hodge-podge of intonation and resonations that could as easily arise from the thumbtack-altered hammers of a honky-tonk piano or from a souped-up clavichord abrasively rasping and reverberating in a fashion scarcely imagined in earlier centuries. High-frequency coloration mixed with chordal percussiveness on “Mechanic Mushroom” for instance has resonations that recall a harpsichord’s plucking feathers. “The Spy and the Vampire” on the other hand develops with funk-like rhythms that are further bifurcated among right-handed stride echoes, near bottleneck guitar-like slides and what could be an alarm clock ringing in the background.

Elsewhere effects on pieces such as “Sea Monkeys” encompass vamps that suggest there are two pianists in the studio: one playing a clavichord whose interchangeable runs create an underlying beat; and the other plucking string timbres at a tempo that moves from presto to staccatissimo that could come from a kalimba. Then there’s “Slow Boat”, which despite being taken adagio, opens up the keyboard expression with positioned plucks and stretched vibrations that rapidly succeed one another, culminating in centred note cascades.

Other scenes set in this aural cinemascope collection encompass staccato, fortissimo and dramatic overtones; hurdy-gurdy-like multiphonics; buzzes and stops possibly produced by knives or bars dragged along the strings; and almost never-ending syncopated and agitato tones that play up the wooden quality of the capotes, soundboard, back frame and action. Appended at least subliminally to these tropes are the sonically brutal mechanized concepts of the Futurists.

Moving even further into the future with contemporary techniques is Delbecq’s CD, crafted following a month-long residency at Civitella Ranieri Centre near Perugia. One instance is a remix by sound artist Nicolas Becker of “Mille Nandie”, and earlier composition by the pianist. Another is “A Lack of Dreams” where Delbecq mixes staccato secondary line and skipping andante changes. “BioBeat” mixes an angular Monk-like rhythm on top plus wood-clanking internal string strums with sharp peal point that becomes infectious at the turnaround.

The larger-than-usual keyboard exposes additional between-the-key timbres as well as intonation from beneath the fallback. Together they multiply his ability to blend advanced Jazz piano strategies with those inherited from the so-called classical avant-garde plus West African inflected grooves and polyphony. Like Van Veenendaal at points, the contrasting dynamics of cascading chords and woody strokes on “Ando” make it appear as if two pianos are in play. In contrast Delbecq’s tremolo treatment of “Fireflies” references a Europeanized version of the Blues that moves without ever touching Soul or Swing. Instead the narrative mixes clipped legato measures and heavily syncopated passing chords and note clusters.

Even more removed from western influences, except by osmosis, is Park, whose dramatic improvisations use protracted pauses and unconventional strategies to display his ideas. By the same token, alternating kinetic and staccato runs, tremolo pacing or nearly inaudible key palming follow earlier antecedents from both eastern and west.ern musics.

For example “Take #4” works its way from repetitive low-frequency bass notes to a variant of triple reverb so that the bottom board and capotes ring with heavy-handed pressure. As this orchestral-styled coloration intensifies, Parks exposes Cecil Taylor-like note cascades, adding pedal-point pressure and intense staccato timbres. By the finale when these gouts of sound diminish to isolated clanging notes, a sonic afterimage of swelling piano tones remains.

Other tracks such as “Take #8” and “Take #5” present other challenges. On the latter for example, before the reductionist performance disappears, largo attributes have been exposed. Following a single foot stomp, ringing piano chords vibrate for several seconds before being choked off, while a recital-like overlay advances one or two notes at a time with pregnant pauses left for suitable ringing resonations. The former tune is played out like a ball of wool, as solitary fortissimo timbres are worried for many seconds until kinetic jumps introduce a variant consisting of high-frequency chording from one hand and key clipping from the other. Nearly two minutes of silence presages a coda of constantly plucked key tremolos.

Without taking refuge in low-key impressionism or gratuitous beat-milking, each of these pianists has evolved an individual take on unaccompanied piano playing. Each one is also worth investigating.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Circles; 1. Circles and Calligrams 2. Ando 3. Meanwhile 4. A Lack of Dreams 5. Alpha 6. Flakes 7. BioBeat 8. Le Sixième Saut 9. Fireflies 10. Mille Nandie Remix

Personnel: Circles: Benoît Delbecq (prepared piano)

Track Listing: Minimal: 1. The Spy and the Vampire 2. Tear Dance; 3. Frog Song 4. Mechanic Mushroom 5. Pirouetteke 6. Daily Values 7. Sea Monkeys 8. Minimal Damage 9. Old Frogs 10. Histoire Pneumatique 11. Whales 12. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat 13. Dark Days & the Moon 14. Transition 15. Zen Gardening 16. Slow Boat

Personnel: Minimal: Albert Van Veenendaal (prepared piano)

Track Listing: Infinite: 1. Take #1 2. Take #2 3. Take #3 4. Take #4 5. Take #5 6. Take #6 7. Take #7 8. Take #8

Personnel: Infinite: Park Chang Soo (prepared piano)

April 18, 2011

Andy Milne-Benoît Delbecq

Where is Pannonica?
Songlines SGL SA-1579-2

Harris Eisenstdat

Guewel

Clean Feed CF 123 CD

RIDD Quartet

Fiction Avalanche

Clean Feed CF 121 CD

Michael Bates’ Outside Sources

Live in New York

Greenleaf Paperback Series Vol 4

EXTENDED PLAY: Canadians at Home and Aboard

By Ken Waxman

Ancient but apt, the saying “you can take a boy out of the country, but can’t take the country out of the boy” is more accurate if the country is Canada and the “boys” are male and female musicians in the United States. No matter how busy they are, improvisers are always ready to play north of the border. Last month, for instance, Toronto-born, Brooklyn-based drummer Harris Eisenstadt played two Toronto shows in one day before continuing an American tour.

Being Canadian doesn’t mean cutting yourself from other interests as Eisenstadt demonstrates on Guewel (Clean Feed CF 123 CD. Named for the Wolof word for griots, the band – cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpeter Nate Wooley, French hornist Mark Taylor and baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton – plays the drummer’s arrangements of West African pop music and ceremonial rhythms which he learned overseas. The tunes contain elements of southern dance tracks and brass band marches. Each horn man has the melodic smarts to meld with Eisenstadt’s multi-faceted drumming, producing catchy yet non-simplistic tunes. With his hunting horn sonorities, innate lyricism and pumping vamps, Taylor is a standout. The sympathetic arrangements stack horn parts atop one another in such a way that every solo becomes almost three-dimensional. Should a tune like Rice and Fish/Liti Liti begins mellow and impressionistic, then a drum beat signals a timbral shift with Taylor’s jujitsu tongue-fluttering matched with near Mariachi-styling from the other brass players. N’daga/Coonu Aduna transcends its marching band flavor as Sinton riffs harshly, accelerating to whoops and brays, while the meandering brass trill rococo detailing around him and Eisenstadt clatters, pops and ruffs.

Another notable reedist is Canadian turned Brooklynite Quinsin Nachoff, featured on bassist Michael Bates’ Outside Sources Live in New York (Greenleaf Paperback Series Vol 4 Another Brooklyn-Canadian, Bates studied double bass at Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Toronto. Other players are trumpeter Russ Johnson and drummer Jeff Davis. Playing all Bates compositions, the band is straight-ahead enough to maintain a swinging pulse, yet imaginative enough to give everyone free range for creative expression. Nachoff for example, punctuates one tune with gradually accelerating glissandi; Johnson another with high-pitched triplet tonguing. A bravura performance on Damasa finds everyone discovering theme variants. Johnson offers tremolo vibrations; Nachoff snuffled and exhaled split tones; Bates chiming runs and Davis opposite sticking plus blunt backbeats.

Davis is also part of the RIDD Quartet on Fiction Avalanche (Clean Feed CF 121 CD with CanCon provided by his spouse Kris Davis, who studied at the U. of T, and the Banff Centre. Outstanding on 10 group compositions, solos are weighed among Davis’ sensitive drumming, sweeping colors from distaff Davis, Reuben Radding’s tough, but restrained bass, and the kinetic runs of saxophonist Jon Irabagon. On Fiction Avalanche, the pianist percussively chords a counter melody that extends rasping bass slides and flattened reed vibrations. Monkey Catcher is a screaming blues expanded by Irabagon’s fortissimo split tones, yet tamed by Davis’ chord progression, key-clipping and flailing. Sky Circles is both atmospheric and lyrical. In unison the saxophonist’s buzzy trills and the pianist’s comping outline the theme. Segmented by winnowing squeals from Irabagon, the pianist moors the improvisation while advancing the theme chromatically.

Double the number of pianos appears on Where is Pannonica? (Songlines SGL SA- two1579-2 It was recorded at the Banff Centre by Paris-based Benoît Delbecq who also participates in Vancouver’s Creative Music workshop, and Torontonian Andy Milne, who studied at York and Banff before heading south. Delbecq admits that he couldn’t always distinguish his touch from Milne’s during the playback, but the usual division of labor finds him manipulating inside strings and using electronic loops, while Milne’s stays the acoustic course. Bouncing off each other’s ideas, the impression the two give is of subtle invention. Still each can surprise with the use of spiky patterns and percussive note clusters. Dividing the composing chores as well, the molded and layered tunes are paced so that when they unwind the polytonal qualities available from the soundboard and other innards decorate the keyboard’s strums and resonations. Probably the best number is Milne’s two-part Water’s Edge. Demonstrating quick-moving, overlapping tremolo lines, the piece modulates from andante to allegro and is harmonized by default. Spacious with cascading portamento, sharpened key jabs glance off bell-pealing-like string plunks.

Fine efforts all, these CDs preview what you’ll hear next time one of these expatriates gigs in Toronto.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #3

November 2, 2009

RIDD Quartet

Fiction Avalanche
Clean Feed CF 121 CD

Harris Eisenstdat

Guewel

Clean Feed CF 123 CD

Andy Milne-Benoît Delbecq

Where is Pannonica?

Songlines SGL SA-1579-2

Michael Bates’ Outside Sources

Live in New York

Greenleaf Paperback Series Vol 4

EXTENDED PLAY: Canadians at Home and Aboard

By Ken Waxman

Fine efforts all, these CDs preview what you’ll hear next time one of these expatriates gigs in Toronto.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #3

November 2, 2009

Harris Eisenstdat

Guewel
Clean Feed CF 123 CD

RIDD Quartet

Fiction Avalanche

Clean Feed CF 121 CD

Andy Milne-Benoît Delbecq

Where is Pannonica?

Songlines SGL SA-1579-2

Michael Bates’ Outside Sources

Live in New York

Greenleaf Paperback Series Vol 4

EXTENDED PLAY: Canadians at Home and Aboard

By Ken Waxman

Fine efforts all, these CDs preview what you’ll hear next time one of these expatriates gigs in Toronto.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #3

November 2, 2009

James Carney Group

Green-Wood
Songlines SGL SA 1566-2

Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode

Reg Erg

Red Toucan RT 9332

Kartet

The Bay Window

Songlines SGL SA 1560-2

Carl Ludwig Hübsch

Primordial Soup

Red Toucan RT 9331

Butcher/Muller/van der Schyff

Way Out Northwest

Drip Audio DA 00272

By Ken Waxman

Music transcends borders, and so does music distribution in the Internet age. Couple this with the maturation of the Canadian improvised music scene and a new phenomenon is visible: CDs recorded elsewhere, but released by Canadian labels for international distribution.

This set of recent CDs recognizes the situation. Reg Erg and Primordial Soup, respectively recorded in Milano and Köln are on Montreal’s Red Toucan label. The Bay Window and Green-Wood, recorded in Paris and Brooklyn are products of Vancouver’s Songlines imprint. Way Out Northwest characterizes a similar trend. With Canadian musicians operating at high standard, foreign players come here to record. This CD captures London-based saxophone explorer John Butcher at a Vancouver gig with German bassist Torsten Muller, a British Columbia resident since 2001 and local drummer Dylan van der Schyff.

Free improv at its finest, Way Out Northwest highlights the simpatico interaction among the three that extends to mirroring of each other’s timbres. During the unbroken improvisation you wonder if certain sounds arise from the saxophonist’s sibilant vamps, the drummer’s friction against unyielding surfaces or the bassist’s sul ponticello movements.

While van der Schyff’s smacks, rebounds and struts evolve in parallel with Muller’s unconventional tuning that makes bass movements agitato and contrapuntal, Butcher uses tongue slaps, continuous breathing and glottal punctuation for a spiky reed recital. Multiphonics arise from both soprano and tenor saxophone, as key percussion and constricted snorts pushed through his horn’s body tube meld with the bassist’s wood-bending multiple stops and the drummer’s smacks and bounces. Although a composition like “magiC CloCk maCHine” evolves as a polyphonic cloud of cymbal slaps, multiple bass stops and a humongous sax vibrato, the three conclude this recital with a legato romp encompassing pulsating bass lines, press rolls and sibilant growls.

Expanding the musical palate by adding a piano, The Bay Window deals with shorter, less atonal compositions. North American connections exist for this Paris-based band as well. Pianist Benoît Delbecq recorded his solo CD in Vancouver, while bassist Hubert Dupont and Chander Sardjoe are in a quartet with New York saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.

Over 14 tracks, each member of the quartet impresses, with Dupont’s melodious note placement and tolling stops establishing the mood. Clattering and pumping cymbals, cowbell, snare and toms, the drummer keeps the saxophonist and pianist’s romanticism in check. Sequential organization makes “Chrysalide/Imago” a notable admixture of rondo and rhythm, as the saxman’s a capella intro gives way to the pianist’s impressionistic flourishes. “Y” proves how piano chording decorated with rolling cadences, note clusters and unexpected voicing can intersect with slices of flutter-tongued reed power.

Halving the personnel, but doubling the interplay, Italian pianist Alberto Braida and Dutch bassist Wilbert de Joode are equally expansive on Reg Erg. De Joode has recorded with van der Schyff. Braida, recorded with Canadian bassist Lisle Ellis and plays with Butcher. Both have manifold technique that negates this reduced instrumentation, as their 10 duets show them systematically following each others’ impulses with radar-like communication.

On one nocturne for instance, Braida assembles low-frequency note clusters as de Joode bows intermittent tremolo runs; on another, thick bull fiddle intensity causes the pianist to octave jump into the darker textures of his instrument. Elsewhere Braida exposes key clipping and flowing arpeggios, while the bassist constructs solos from rubber band-like plucking or by tightening and loosening his strings.

Reg Erg’s climax is “Wadi”, where the pianist escalates from pedal-muted single notes to fanning chords that emphasize the instrument’s back frame and dampers. Compatible, de Joode’s buzzing arco lines are shaped sul ponticello so that his splayed, staccato dynamism meets Braida’s near-kinetic runs.

There’s no bass or piano on Primordial Soup. Instead this potage contains ingredients from four German improvisers – trumpeter Axel Dörner, reedist Frank Gratkowski, tubaist Carl Ludwig Hübsch and percussionist Michael Griener. Compositions snake from dodecaphonic to Dixieland with variations in-between.

Take “NCG 2270 Terrier”, for instance. Painted in broad strokes, it’s a half-Swing-half-march with a sharp tempo that features Gratkowski’s clarinet riding atop Hübsch’s pedal-point blasts, while Griener rattles and slap. Dörner’s legato counterline prods Hübsch to speed up the tempo until the reverberating line descends into cymbal resonation, trumpet grace notes and chalumeau reed slithers.

Collective and organic, the quartet’s massed improvisations occasionally foreshadow later tune development – with breaths, whines, pops, growls, crackles and brays on display. Gratkowski’s alto saxophone performs tongue jujitsu, while Dörner’s half-valve reverberations create double counterpoint with the reedist or peeping contrast to the drummer’s nerve beats.

Occasional cymbal raps and sandpaper-like scrapes from Griener enliven “NGC 2276 Inspektion”. Rubato and abstract, the composition surges rhythmically due to subterranean burps from Hübsch. Although the other horns appear to be vibrating underwater textures without valve or key movements, metallic cymbal friction and low-brass rumbles solidify the tune’s airiness.

Standing apart is keyboardist James Carney’s CD. The only American session, it features the largest band – a septet – and is the most committed to melody.

Coherent and episodically thematic, there’s also sameness to the eight tunes. Dependent on looping interface and head recapitulation, many call for a tough backbeat from drummer Mark Ferber, buttressed with Latin motifs. Some display an overabundance of California cool, especially when the sweetness of Peter Epstein’s soprano saxophone lacks contrast. Moving among acoustic and electric pianos and analog synthesizer, Carney’s versatility sometimes detracts. At points he key clips, at others outputs legato pianism or gospel-like runs. His comping is fine, if anonymous, but his voicing on electric piano, leans towards instrumental rock.

With his playing sometimes masked by tutti horns, bassist Chris Lightcap is prominent when he plucks excessively powerfully. Tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby’s chesty runs are put to their best use on the aptly named “Power” and “Half the Battle”, whereas trombonist Josh Roseman’s extended glissandi enliven “Willwaw”, making common cause with thumping bass and Carney’s piano, rife with short runs and trailing left-handed jumps

A microcosm of all that’s good and bad about Green-Wood is encapsulated on the melancholy “It’s Always Cold When You’re Leaving”. Trumpeter Ralph Alessi brings understated emotion to his solo, while Roseman’s chromatic plunger tones and strengthening piano chords force Ferber to apply calming cymbal expansions. Before the vamping horns introduce the climax, Carney’s light touch alters the theme with elongated or contracted notes, scrambling the original syncopation, without straying from tonality.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #7

April 1, 2008

Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode

Reg Erg
Red Toucan RT 9332

Kartet

The Bay Window

Songlines SGL SA 1560-2

James Carney Group

Green-Wood

Songlines SGL SA 1566-2

Carl Ludwig Hübsch

Primordial Soup

Red Toucan RT 9331

Butcher/Muller/van der Schyff

Way Out Northwest

Drip Audio DA 00272

By Ken Waxman

Standing apart is keyboardist James Carney’s CD. The only American session, it features the largest band – a septet – and is the most committed to melody.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #7

April 1, 2008

Carl Ludwig Hübsch

Primordial Soup
Red Toucan RT 9331

Kartet

The Bay Window

Songlines SGL SA 1560-2

James Carney Group

Green-Wood

Songlines SGL SA 1566-2

Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode

Reg Erg

Red Toucan RT 9332

Butcher/Muller/van der Schyff

Way Out Northwest

Drip Audio DA 00272

By Ken Waxman

Standing apart is keyboardist James Carney’s CD. The only American session, it features the largest band – a septet – and is the most committed to melody.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #7

April 1, 2008

Butcher/Muller/van der Schyff

Way Out Northwest
Drip Audio DA 00272

Kartet

The Bay Window

Songlines SGL SA 1560-2

James Carney Group

Green-Wood

Songlines SGL SA 1566-2

Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode

Reg Erg

Red Toucan RT 9332

Carl Ludwig Hübsch

Primordial Soup

Red Toucan RT 9331

By Ken Waxman

Standing apart is keyboardist James Carney’s CD. The only American session, it features the largest band – a septet – and is the most committed to melody.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #7

April 1, 2008

Kartet

The Bay Window
Songlines SGL SA 1560-2

James Carney Group

Green-Wood

Songlines SGL SA 1566-2

Alberto Braida/Wilbert de Joode

Reg Erg

Red Toucan RT 9332

Carl Ludwig Hübsch

Primordial Soup

Red Toucan RT 9331

Butcher/Muller/van der Schyff

Way Out Northwest

Drip Audio DA 00272

By Ken Waxman

Standing apart is keyboardist James Carney’s CD. The only American session, it features the largest band – a septet – and is the most committed to melody.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #7

April 1, 2008

SONGLINES

Challenging Sounds from Canada’s West Coast
for CODA

“I love the challenge of producing records well, and I try to keep up with technology,” states Tony Reif, owner of Vancouver, B.C.’s Songlines Recordings.

Now in its 13th year, the West Coast-based label has 56 CDs in its catalogue, many of which mix jazz with World and so-called classical music. Besides recording projects from Canadian, American and European musicians – sometimes in international groups – every Songlines CD since 2002 has been released as a hybrid SACD.

Although he admits “the discs are about twice as expensive to manufacture as regular CDs, without being able to be sold at a comparable premium”, as an audiophile Reif says, “I look at high-res as an investment in the future of this music.

“If people still want to hear my CDs 10 or 20 years from now, I want them to be as vivid and powerful as whatever technology is being used for new recordings. If what one hears in the mastering studio could be conveyed to the home listener in all its glory for a reasonable financial outlay in a playback system, there isn't a music lover on earth who wouldn't want SACD,” he adds

At the same time, Songlines isn’t neglecting the non-audiophile market or the possibilities of the Internet. All of its CDs are playable on non-super-audiophile systems; Songlines discs can be bought as digital downloads; and the label’s Website offers interviews with the artists that provide more detail than in the CD booklets.

Songlines is financed by Reif’s inheritance. Someone whose background is in English literature and film, he gained an appreciation for what he calls “left-of-centre jazz” during graduate studies in Toronto and California. Initially he planned to document Vancouver jazz through live concert recordings. “But soon, I realized that if I was going to get Vancouver music to a broader, international audience I would have a better chance if I diversified a bit.”

Over the years, Songlines’ first CD by local clarinetist François Houle has been joined by CDs recorded in and featuring musicians from Seattle (Babkas), New York (trumpeter Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio), Paris (pianist Benoît Delbecq) and Amsterdam (Aros). “Challenging but accessible" was the catchphrase I used then,” says Reif. “I think it still applies.”

Today he adds, “I look for music that has a balance between improvisational and compositional elements, though perhaps I've moved more towards the compositional, because improv can be very hit-and-miss. I like music that has a strong sense of form and that can’t be ‘used up’ in one or two listenings. The musicians and I put a lot of thought into making each record work as an overall experience.”

Songlines’ three newest CDs do just that. Saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli’s Phoenix leans towards ambient/modern classical music; drummer Dylan van der Schyff’s The Definition of a Toy towards avant jazz; and Lingua Franca, with saxophonist Peter Epstein, guitarist Brad Shepik and drummer Matt Kilmer towards jazz mixed with World music.

The three sessions use different levels of technology. Phoenix for example went through five different digital editing, mixing and mastering stages; Lingua Franca was recorded 16-track analog and mixed in analogue to DSD; while The Definition of a Toy was recorded to eight-track DSD and mixed in analogue back to DSD. “I always prefer to be in the studio, to offer another set of ears, help the artists get what they want musically and help the engineer get the best possible sound,” states Reif.

The label’s musical leanings are even broader. Releases include pure World music (Amir Koushkani’s Quest), avant-folk (Poor Boy: Songs of Nick Drake), avant-improv-electronics (Hilmar Jensson’s Tyft), and jazz and spoken word (Jerry Granelli’s Sandhills Reunion). “The typical Songlines release probably ‘leans’ in more than one direction, or if it’s incontrovertibly jazz, it includes a lot of variety,” suggests Reif. “Maybe I get bored easily, or maybe I just like to shake things up.”

As for the future, among the six CDs Songlines tries to releases each year will be a live trio session with local pianist Chris Gestrin, New York guitarist Ben Monder and van der Schyff; Seattle pianist Wayne Horvitz recorded with cellist Peggy Lee, trumpeter Ron Miles and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck; a New music/World music record, featuring Vancouver composer and piper Michael O’Neill’s compositions involving up to four bagpipe lines and percussion; and – in a rare foray into Eastern Canada – a CD led by Toronto reedist Quinsin Nachoff. This classical-jazz hybrid features Americans, bassist Mark Helias, drummer Jim Black and a string quartet.

With Songlines essentially a one-man operation, Reif admits “there’s plenty to keep me busy for the future”.

-- Ken Waxman

November 15, 2005

Benoît Delbecq Unit

Phonetics
Songlines

Defoort/Turner/Thys/Black
Sound Plaza
W.E.R.F.

By Ken Waxman
February 14, 2005

Jazz’s universality now means that having Americans record with a European leader is no novelty. In the 21st Century, the match-up isn’t like those LPs of the 1950s and 1960s that featured Bud Powell playing with no name sidemen or Zoot Sims “visiting Paris”.

Today if “foreigners” are on a date, it’s because the leader figures they’ll add something unique to his vision. Which is what happens on these two discs by pianists, that serendipitously both feature tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, putting him in unexpected situations for a California-raised so-called young lion.

Brugge, Belgium-born, Brussels-based pianist Kris Defoort, who studied music in New York on a Fulbright scholarship in the late 1980s, also calls on the talents of a second Yank, drummer Jim Black, plus bassist Nic Thys, a Belgian who lives in New York. His CD, Sound Plaza, is pretty much state-of-the-art advanced modern mainstream.

Paris-based Benoît Delbecq, who sometimes plays prepared piano and more probing sounds with experimenters like Canadian clarinetist François Houle and British drummer Steve Argüelles, goes one step further on Phonetics both musically and geographically. For his astringent program of eight compositions, he’s not only recruited Americans -- Turner and veteran bassist Mark Helias -- but also violist Oene van Geel from the Netherlands and drummer Emile Biayenda from Cameroon. Beefed up Africanized rhythms are more prevalent here than on Defoort’s session. So are European New music inferences, especially from van Geel, who leads the improv-oriented String Quartet and has played with such sophisticated Dutch rule-breakers as pianist Guus Janssen and cellist Ernst Reijseger.

Still, unless you’re a raving musical antiquarian, you’ll soon realize that the sound coloration from the quintet members only slightly distorts the contemporary improv tint on Phonetics, perhaps only as much as a phoneme.

New York-based Turner, whose usual playing partners are certified neo-cons like pianist Brad Mehldau and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, does have an affinity for the gnomic compositions of pianist Lennie Tristano and his acolytes, tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. In contrast to most contemporary mainstream tenormen, Turner usually plays with a light, alto-like sound, close to Marsh. He seconded Konitz on a tour a few years ago, both played with Defoort at that time, and the pianist has arranged the altoist’s “Subconsciouslee” for this quartet.

Perversely this is one of the few times that Turner operates almost completely in his horn’s lower register, producing dark-pitched variations on the theme. Inventively as well, this is a roadhouse version of “Subconsciouslee” with Black supplying a heavy backbeat plus sock cymbal pops and the pianist walking bass runs that bear down hard with thick chords and portamento slides. Finally the piece is taken out with unison double counterpoint between the saxophonist and Defoort.

That double motif is a common stratagem here. It’s especially noticeable on tunes like the leader’s “Tranen”, which may or may not be a salute to John Coltrane. If it is, it’s actually Defoort who produces the double-timed sheets of sound, often blended and contrasted with Turner’s winnowing light-toned slurs and trills. The piano man’s flowing dynamics turn to chiming chords by the end -- the better to mesh with Black’s ratamacues and cymbal rebounds.

Almost 15 minutes of polyphonic elaboration, the title tune is Defoort’s keyboard showcase. Leaving the buoyant melody to Turner, he hits notes in quick succession from one side of the soundboard to the other, leaving space for internal musings and metronomic note placement. While the polytonal piano accents and Turner’s melodic chest tones seem perfectly attuned, this is one time the rhythm section is particularly overpowering. Thys’s thumb pops on electric bass, and Black’s slapdash beat mongering almost push the saxist into a showboating James Carter groove, until formerly disconnected piano harmonies link up first with trilling sax obbligatos, then soothe the bass and drums into a more relaxed rhythm.

Other compositions encompass languid impressionism. Oddly unfocused the timbres encourage Defoort to try to produce patterns of almost equal temperament that only rarely coalesce into proper harmonic colors. Two versions of “Blues is on the Way” aren’t that memorable either, since the four try to make something more of a tune based on the “London Bridge is Falling Down” riff. On the second run through the pianist contributes repeated tremolo voicing and Black diffuse rebounds, but polyrhythmic variations on such a simple theme expend an awful lot of effort to inflate what could be a throwaway.

None of the Delbecq compositions are that simple, though luckily they also skirt excessive formalism for multi-cultural invention. The most prominent example of this is “Pointe de la courte dune”, where lush, romantic string overtones strive for space among polyphonic and contrapuntal rhythm patterns at a quicker tempo, while the composer sounds out a fidgety, high frequency line.

More generic to the program is “Au Louvre” a mutating and recasting of an earlier Delbecq quartet piece. With different themes proclaimed in a cycle, extended techniques come into play. The piano seems to be at least semi-prepared, as what appears to be stopped action irregularly mutes parts of the soundboard. Helias’ slinky bowed bass line rhythmically brushes against these tones, while van Geel’s magnified viola stops soon are pushed into higher partials by the other strings. Biayenda, who leads his own percussion ensemble Les Tambours de Brazzal, cross sticks on his cow bell and floor tom in such a way that he could be playing a djembe and a batá.

Double-stopping ponticello jettes from the fiddler then soar sinuously on top of Turner’s reconstitution of the theme with his characteristic light-toned tone, only occasionally dipping to lower pitches. Climax is a combination of the Africanized rhythms, European legato string runs and contrapuntal piano patterning. Coda is a final cadenza of double-stopped fiddle timbres.

Other tunes like “Multikulta” and “Zao Wou-ki” may have title far removed from continental Europe, but his étude-like note choice and placement expose Delbecq as a European. It’s a good thing too, since the CD is concerned with interpreting compositions, not replicating so-called World music. On these tunes, Biayenda strokes steady throbs from his drum kit, while Helias strums as if he was accompanying an American folk ballad. Discordant pizzicato runs from van Geel then meet broken note patterns from Turner and the pianist. While there is some definite concordance here, the endings on both seem curiously forced.

Not so with “Multikulta” which quickly turns from glowing high-pitched partials from an unaccompanied Turner to bouncy cadenzas from the pianist. The drummer’s diffuse, contrapuntal beat again suggests African percussion, but here it melds with an keening, Arabic tint from the violist. Soon spiccato multiphonics are goosing the tempo until a strident, pressured fiddle line bring the whole staccato outbreak to a satisfying conclusion.

Sadly also lacking a final resolution is “4MalW”, Delbecq’s threnody to his mentor, American pianist Mal Waldron. In it, the astringent weeping partials from the strings that suggest melancholy fail to connect the compositional thread leading up to the finale. Although descending col legno techniques from van Geel, and a resonating double stopping from Helias’ low bass strings add to the quirky memorial, both Delbecq’s pitter-patter cadences and Turner’s upper register trills seem to be more about broken chords, than an intermingling of commiseration.

Overall, however, both CDs prevail more often than they misfire. They provide another glimpse into Euro-centered creativity and demonstrate how the talents of selected outsiders can be properly integrated into the overall sound fabric.

February 14, 2005

TIM BERNE

The sublime and. Sciencefrictionlive
Thirsty Ear RHI 57139.2

MARC DUCRET
Qui parle?
Sketch SKE 333038

Leaving well enough alone has never had particular appeal to those involved in creating electrified jazz/rock fusion music. Why keep the volume control knob turned to nine when it can reach 10? And why play for a few minutes when a half-hour or so is available?

Alto saxophonist/composer Tim Berne -- who has proven his talents in many situations ranging from working in standard-size jazz combos to writing for a classical sax quartet -- flirts with excess on this two-CD set, recorded live in Switzerland. While he and drummer Tom Rainey stick to acoustic instruments, the allure of showing off the textures available from Marc Ducret’s guitar(s) and effects and Craig Taborn’s electric piano, laptop computer and virtual organ evidentially prove too seductive. Although in total the Science Friction band session clocks in at 109 minutes, it includes three tunes in the 20-minute range and one that rocks on for more than 30.

Sure the guitarist, keyboardist and saxist are impressive soloists in many contexts, but the acres of aural space seem to encourage combative immoderation, Because of this, Rainey, who is the most understated percussionist in other groups led by Berne or bassist Mark Helias, comes off best here. While his beat is as unflagging as it is inventive, he keeps his kit action under control, wallowing for only split seconds in the sort of jarring John Bonhamism that seem to be stock-in-trade for authentic fusion drummers.

Rainey may avoid Bonham comparisons, but there are points here that with his distortion phasers and flangers turned on full blast that Ducret appears to be trying to trump not only Bonham’s Led Zepplin partner Jimmy Page, but the effects master Page replaced in the Yardbirds: Jeff Beck.

The situation is slightly more balanced on the guitarist’s solo disc, QUI PARLE? But as hinted at by the title, there are often times you wonder just who is speaking ... or improvising. Featuring more than a dozen additional musicians in various combinations working with Ducret and his usual rhythm section of bassist Bruno Chevillon and percussionist Éric Échampard, the guitarist seems intent on existing as musical fish, fowl and most mammals in between somewhere on the 10 tracks. There are plenty of examples of the rock-jazzer who loves Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, but more impressively there are also bouncy gigues, flirtations with electronica and musique concrète, plus voices weaving in and out of several tracks as sound sources or reading excerpts from French literature.

On THE SUBLIME, Ducret restraint means that “Jalapeño Diplomacy/Traction” comes across as the best selection. Even at 20 minutes plus, he fittingly restricts himself to merely showcasing his effects rather than trumpeting the wretched excess of which his axe is very capable. A groove tune with a freer tempo, it features a guitar showcase that include reverb lines morphing into duple picking in both treble and bass registers, steady flat picking in an almost Country music style and Ducret flailing away on portions of the strings below the bridge. Here, Berne, who earlier plays at the top of his range, then takes off on a stop time display of slurred reed biting, split tones and irregular vibrato, with only Rainey’s pounding behind him. When he introduces brassy spetrofluctuation and textures seemingly pushed out of the sax bow, these mix with Taborn’s flashing octaves and are given an organ vamp from his electronics and nerve beats from the drummer. Finally the tempo slows to chiming chord patterns with a rolling backbeat shading Berne’s almost endlessly repeated lines.

On the other hand, at more than 30 minutes alone -- the length of some single LPs -- “Mrs. Subliminal/Clownfinger” unrolls at an excessive length and is literally exhausting. Maybe live the vibe was more exciting. On disc though, the tune starts off slowly with chirruped a cappella sax notes, then as the tempo gradually picks up, keyboard continuum and double time rattles and cymbal reverberations appear. Soon Ducret takes over, introducing loud, pulsing sequencer delays that turn to resonating, Sputnik-type signals. Sounding out abrasive, bottleneck tones, the guitarist seems to be using a phaser to double and triple his feedback. Taborn wedges in fleet, but fleshy electric piano timbres and Berne sounds out a repeated 15-note pattern, that is given added weight by Ducret’s flanging. Rainey tries to move the piece away from onanism by playing a broken rhythm tattoo on his rims, which encourages more assured and abstract smeared tones from Berne. But with Ducret reentering with the volume and protrusion of a jet plane landing, the guitarist’s arching feedback and quivering wah-pedal distortion encourages more sax squeaks and surmounted keyboard electronic impulses. Soon the droning pulses and lead guitar shimmies coalesce into a mass of chunky strums and pinched reed trills.

“Stuckon U” -- semi-balladic, but “not the Elvis version”, according to Berne -- at least gives Taborn some space for faint organ-like tremolos, some outer-spacey oscillating distortions from the electronic parts of the keyboard and some high-pitched celeste-like sounds. But again his two hands, Rainey’s tick-tock drumming and Berne’s rounded tones are no match for Ducret’s reverb or fuzztones that seem to have migrated over from a Yardbirds’ session.

“The Shell Game” at a tich below 24 minutes, is more of the same, with Taborn’s harpsichord approximations and Berne’s relaxed chirps and breezy lines intermittently audible among Ducret’s chiming, echoing riffs. In response to an irregular drumbeat, at the point when Berne introduces rough reed-biting tones and doits, Ducret turns up his volume knob and almost doubles the tempo. Riffs flash through the amplifiers as if the guitarist was channeling Alvin Lee’s speedy performance at the Woodstock Festival, and Taborn vamps organ-like chords. Even Rainey begins hitting parts of his kit individually, working out on the rims for a time, pounding the bass drum at another and coming up with what sounds like a whirl drum at another juncture. Heavy as a metal band’s output, the sounds reach a crescendo than fade away without resolution.

On his own Ducret has created a 75-minute CD that gets progressively more impressive as it goes along. Yet the convincing experimentation of the disc’s second half may not be enough to negate the self-indulgence that mars first few tunes.

Starting form the top, “Double Entendre” is nearly 12½ minutes of bouncy syncopation along the lines of what you’d expect from Continental little big bands. With both Échampard and second percussionist François Verly laying down what could be two-beat Dixieland drumming, the guitar licks and electric piano vamps from Benoît Delbecq and Allie Delfau float along on a continuum provided by Chevillon’s slap bass and Michel Massot’s huffing tuba. Then, while the snaking tempo speeds up, trumpeter Alain Vankenhove waves his plunger mute and bends his notes. Soon as the oral instruments unite in the approximation of a 19th century brass choir, the pianos stay in the 21st, creating off-centre, high frequency glisses and slides. Above all, with percussion ratcheting behind him, Ducret buzzes out some distorted lead guitar riffs.

Also impressive are the two time-traveling versions of “Emportez-moi”, which clock in at more than 11 minutes each. The first features Chevillon’s low-tone arco inventions that are amplified with cello-like legato lines from second bassist Hélène Labarrière. With simple drum and cymbal patterns in the background, Ducret picks out a simple folkloric melody made up of finger patterns and near blues tones on his acoustic. The pre-suicide correspondence of Henriette Vogel and Heinrich von Kleists from 1811 is read in French by Leslie Sévenier and Philippe Agaël to the melancholy, pedal point accompaniment of Thierry Madiot’s bass trombone, ending the piece with a brass respiration and a bass pluck.

In contrast, the composition’s second run through is definitely POMO. Beginning with Anne Magouët singing the poem of Henri Michaux (1899-1984), a Belgian-born, experimental painter, journalist, and poet, dual acoustic pianos spin out accompaniment potentially designed for plainsong. Then the piece opens up to showcase contorted electronic guitar riffs. As a secondary theme is sounded by bass trombone, double-stopping bass and shaded electric piano ostinato, a dramatic male voice reads an existential passage from Dans la labyrinthe, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s nouveau roman.

Somehow linked to buzzing rhythm box textures courtesy of Verly, mirrored electric piano tone and a cowbell emphasized montuno rhythm, another labyrinthe passage appears on “Ce sont les noms des mots”. But what it has to do with buzzing, sampler sine waves, pinpointed flat-picking from Ducret and a harsh syncopated melody is anyone’s guess.

Then there’s “Double, Simple”, where Ducret, playing simple rhythm guitar licks and Dominique Pifarély playing highly amplified, near-operatic violin glissandos prove that amplification and good ideas don’t make them Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli. Plus there’s “L’Annexe (rural)”, which simply proves that Ducret can produce a bottleneck blues solo.

That’s not the least of the downhill turns. Abrasive guitar chording, artillery battalion drumming and slushy keyboard fill that role on other tracks, often appearing as if they migrated in from a 1970s Herbie Hancock session. Longest piece, “L’Annexe” evidentially tries to squeeze almost every influence together at once; the result is similar to trying to shove an elephant through a meat grinder. Africanized hand percussion, rock-style drumming, thumping bas guitar and riffing Stax-Volt horns make their appearance, with the guitar so abusing the pulsating delay effects and extended fuzztones that he almost drowns out everyone else. When the counter theme twists itself into a boogaloo, the brass and reed players contort themselves into retching out fowl (sic) cries and monkey gibbering. The end finds Ducret abusing his delay pedal to outline some cavernous, echoing solid state color.

Excess may succeed in limited situations like live concerts or truncated single releases. But, while no one is disputing their talent, technique or leadership, both Berne and Ducret could have stripped away surplus sounds and notes to produce more satisfying outings instead of the results here.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: sublime: CD1: 1. Van Gundy’s Retreat 2. The Shell Game 3. Mrs. Subliminal/Clownfinger CD 2 1. Smallfry 2. Jalapeño Diplomacy/Traction 3. Stuckon U (for Sarah)

Personnel: sublime: Tim Berne (alto saxophone); Marc Ducret (guitar); Craig Taborn (electric piano, laptop computer and virtual organ); Tom Rainey (drums)

Track Listing: Qui: 1. On new peut pas dancer, là-dessus*+ #& 2. Le menteur*+ 3. L’Annexe (rural) 4. L’Annexe*+ 5. Qui parle?~ 6. Emportez-moi*#&^~$ 7. Double Entendre*+#& 8. Ce sont les noms des mots*#^$ 9. Double Simple 10. Emportez-moi#&^$

Personnel: Qui: Alain Vankenhove (trumpet, bugle)*; Yves Robert (trombone track1); Michel Massot (tuba, serpent, trombone)+; Thierry Madiot (bass trombone [tracks 6 ands 8]); Julien Lourau (tenor saxophone [tracks 1 and 7]); Christophe Monniot (alto and baritone saxophones [tracks 1 and 4]); Marc Ducret (six and 12-string electric, fretless, soprano, baritone and acoustic guitars); Dominique Pifarély (violin [track 9]); Benoît Delbecq#; Allie Delfau& (piano, electric piano, sampler)&; Hélène Labarrière (bass)^; Bruno Chevillon (bass and electric bass [all tracks but 3, 5, 9 and 10]); Éric Échampard (drums and percussion [all tracks but 3, 5, 9 and 10]);); François Verly (percussion and rhythm box [track 8]); Anne Magouët (vocals [track 10]); Leslie Sévenier~, Philippe Agaël$, Laurence Blasco [track 1] (voices)

January 26, 2004

BENOÎT DELBECQ

Nu-Turn
Songlines SA 1543-2

HANS FJELLESTAD
33
Accretions ALP 032

Preparing or doctoring the strings of the piano with different objects, then playing them using uncommon techniques has been part of contemporary music since composer John Cage came up with the idea in the 1940s.

Free improvisers of every stripe have also adapted the technique to a greater or lesser extent without making too much of a fuss about it; the originality of their creation is usually apparent without artificial means. Here are two completely different approaches to the method.

Although the final track of NU-TURN is a computer-created remix of earlier solos, the playing of French keyboardist Benoît Delbecq recorded in a small Vancouver, B.C. concert hall is almost traditional in a Novelle Vague sort of way. Over the course of the other eight improvisations, Delbecq -- known for his duets with Canadian clarinetist François Houle and for his band The Recyclers with drummer Steve Argüelles and guitarist Noël Akchoté -- may have prepared the instrument with different items, but he also plays straight, unadorned piano.

Naked pianism appears a couple of times on Californian Hans Fjellestad’s disc as well. But most of the time he seems to be having too much fun altering its sound with, among other articles, -- synthesizers, computers, bows, sampled voices and sounds, feedback, an accordion and a knife -- to play it straight. But this fits in with the oeuvre of Fjellestad, who is a filmmaker as well as a musician. A member of San Diego’s Trummerflora Collective, who has also worked with players like trombonist George Lewis and the late bassist Peter Kowald, he’s interested in the strange structures that can arise from unexpected juxtapositions.

Take “El Cavernario” and “Smoke Shank” for instance. On the later the hints of a female voice gasping and breathing fades into a double keyboard sound. With dampers on the instrument’s action, a toy piano pitch appears in the treble keys with a counterline of regular chords below. As a legit-style double fantasia of many notes and their vibrations resonates, voicings become more expansive, until processional chording is almost lost in silence.

On the former, feedback and prepared samples that sound like motors and a conveyer belt make it appear that sharp objects are being dragged along the piano’s soundbed and keyframe, manipulating the copper and steel strings. This is followed by what sounds like a voice sampled from a radio broadcast, shrilly orating in Spanish facings a percussion melody of scratched piano keys.

Then there’s “Phone Damage”, where computer-created, wiggling electronic tones meets up with a percussive drone that gets louder with vibrating overtones, sine- wave oscillation and the strum of piano strings. In and out of the soundfield move approximations of human footfalls, competing with what appears to be airplane cockpit communication interrupted by static and a mechanized roar.

Fjellestad can create a piece like “Harsh Knife”, where his superfast Conlon Nancarrow-like piano chording gives way to string stroking by that knife, as easily as “Sult” which mixes ghostly tumbleweed sounds and accordion vibrations that soon expressively expand and rumble like a church organ. Elsewhere his prepared piano and samples replicate the high intensity rhythm of an African balophone or squeaking and abused fiddle strings more closely related to Jack Benny’s than Jascha Heifetz’s technique.

“Pica” and other singular piano showcases are less impressive, though, since his simple, romantic, but random Keith Jarrett-like syncopated fantasia, only showcase the sort of double time tremolos that many other pianists create.

One who can so is Delbecq. His CD -- except for the final track -- is more concerned with the capabilities of the piano and its alterations, in contrast to the extra components Fjellestad adds to alter the piano’s sound.

“Into White”, which is also the longest track on NU-TURN, is described as a “computer created remix of the solo material”. At points, inside the piano, he create impressionistic legato phrases in high tones and discordant wooden percussive notes on the bottom that not only ring out, but also seem to vibrate. In the end the mbira-like sounds end and there’s a coda of romantic timbres that finally vanish into the piano like the March Hare down the rabbit hole.

Earlier, between his classical techniques and improv experience, Delbecq seems intent on creating self-contained and expanded melodies rife with more timbre and texture than Fjellestad’s. During the course of improvisations, looping complementary lines often come to the fore, although many of the pieces seem to begin with low energy before finally perking up. With his preparations he too can suggest the sounds of a woody marimba or a gamelan, but even polyrhythmically there’s never any doubt he’s playing a piano. On “In Lilac” for example, he comes out with a perfectly respectable near-swing line, mixing prepared keyboard-rolling arpeggios with a right hand that keep the rhythmic impetus going.

“On Laterite” Delbecq even goes Fjellestad on better, with an invertible counterpoint making it sound as if two pianos are playing at once -- one wound-up like an ancient player piano and the other a conventional model producing classical cadenzas.

Then there’s “On ne dit pas regarder la lune, on dit ‘luner’”, which has the oddest -- or is it the most specifically “French”? -- title of the set. Here his plucked tones sound midway between dampened action and the wooden flippers of an old tabletop hockey game. As that beat snakes its way through the piece, tinkling, right-handed notes arise, creating a strange primitivism, almost as if you’ve stumbled on a Yoruba ceremony being performed by a bunch of toy instruments.

In contrast the atmospheric title track features passing tones and the overall impression of a blizzard of notes falling like so many snowflakes, producing tones that are always legato and low frequency, never sharp and staccato.

Like many other instruments touched by the improv impulse, prepared pianos can be utilized in many satisfying ways for new ideas. Both Fjellestad and Delbecq have done this with their individual keystrokes.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 33: 1. San To San 2. Hash Knife 3. Don Garlica 4. Kylling 5. El Cavernario 6. Smoke Shank 7. Sult 8. Wriggling Call 9. Pica 10. Phone Damage 11. Cabrito 12. Mink Eyed 13. Pacifico

Personnel: 33: Hans Fjellestad (piano, sampler, Nord Lead 3 synthesizer, sequential circuit pro-one synthesizer, sampled voices, sampled sounds, feedback , a computer, a megaphone, a harsh knife, an accordion, a bow, an e-bow)

Track Listing: Nu: 1. In Rainbows 2. In Lilac 3. On ne dit pas regarder la lune, on dit “luner” 4. On Laterite 4. Into Neon 5. On Embers 6. Nu-Turn (Étude de Nu) 7. In Funfairs 8. Into White

Personnel: Nu: Benoît Delbecq (piano and piano prepared with eraser bits, carved wooden twigs etc.)

November 10, 2003