Living By Lanterns

New Myth/Old Science
Cuneiform Records Rune 345

Mike Reed’s People Places & Things

Clean on the Corner

482 Music 482-1081

Drummer/bandleader Mike Reed has established himself as, among things, a deft interpreter of Chicago’s progressive music history. Nothing like a neo-con however, rather than imitation or emulation he and his People Places & Things create new variations of the city’s rich 1950s and 1960s Jazz heritage. On these exceptional sessions, he, and sidekicks, alto saxophonist Greg Ward – on both discs– and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz – on New Myth/Old Science – have taken the next step: integrated their own compositions with earlier ones.

Recorded a year apart, each session is completely unique. Clean on the Corner for instance integrates six Reed lines with tunes by saxophonists John Jenkins and Roscoe Mitchell and is played by the drummer and alto saxophonist plus tenor saxophonist Tim Haldeman and bassist Jason Roebke with cornetist Josh Berman and pianist Craig Taborn sitting in on two tracks each. Commissioned by Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, the seven tracks on the other CD were composed, arranged orchestrated the vibist and drummer from fragments extracted from a rehearsal tape marked “NY 1961” in the Sun Ra Audio Archive. Approaching the scope of Ra’s Arkestra, the co-leaders constructed pieces for a band made up of cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, guitarist Mary Halvorson, cellist Tomeka Reid, bassist Joshua Abrams, drummer Tomas Fujiwara and electronics manipulator Nick Butcher as well as themselves and Ward.

Cleverly integrating his own concepts with Bebop tropes, Reed’s compositions for People Places & Things are most clearly appreciated when examined next to Mitchell’s “Old” and Jenkins’ “Sharon”. A Bopper of the first magnitude, Jenkins (1931-1993), recorded with heavyweight like tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan and guitarist Kenny Burrell in the mid-1950s then vanished from the scene. “Sharon” is the prototypical Bebop line that echoes “Hot House” and includes gritty reed bites from the saxes, and in the same way as the two reedists suggest Jordan and Jenkins, Taborn, in the Sonny Clark role, takes solos on the Jenkins’ tune that are both chromatic and pulsing. Closer to our time, “Old” has well-harmonized horn parts, a blues sensibility and, following a Malachi Favors-flavored bass solo, a finale of smears and snarls.

Close cousin to that piece and the early Art Ensemble is “The Lady Has a Bomb”, all bent notes and drum pops that balance on shrieks and cries from Ward’s and Haldeman’s flutter-tongued obbligatos. Roebke’s pumping bass line and an unaffected bounce from Reed characterize the slow-paced “Where the Story Ends,” as the altoist’s slurps and slides curve around the theme at the same time as he maintains a linear solo. Berman’s buttery flutter-tonguing at the beginning and end of “House of Three Smiles” adds as much to the performance as the vamping horns.

Confirming the consistency between the two discs, “House of Three Smiles” is a pseudo-contrafact Reed composed based on a solo Adasiewicz once took on one of the vibesman’s own tunes. Appropriately enough it’s the vibraphonist and Bynum’s cornet styling here which help distinguish these Sun Ra reconfigurations from more derivative salutes by other bands. A fast swinger, “2000 West Erie” provides a point of comparison with the other session. Bynum’s high-pitched triplets, Reed’s rugged drum beats and the metal-bar resonation from Adasiewicz, are only slightly distant from the concepts on the Jenkins’ line – 1961 was very close to 1957 after all – however the frenzied multiphonics played by Laubrock relate to free-form conceptions that relate more fully to the advances of saxophonists like Albert Ayler and the Arkestra’s John Gilmore.

Not only do Adasiewicz’s and Reed’s arrangements manage to give the nonet the breath and power of a big band – a quality inherited from Ra – but pointed licks from Mary Halvorson’s guitar, Reid’s string sweeps and the occasional electronic processing confirm historical links to 21st century experimenters. Cascading and agitated sequences outline these connections, but so does the swing sense which Reed and company inherited from Ra. Also demonstrated is instrumental juxtaposition that calls on the older bandleader’s flirtation with exotica. “Shadow Boxer’s Delight” is one instance. Throughout, the horns’ sinewy pitch-sliding abuts sweet cello slides, while vibe, bass and guitar chord harmonies bring forth mysterious tonal implications.

From that point on subsequent tunes appear to meld into one another with the players’ expressive solos and section work exposing as many altissimo and staccato patterns as those which are simple, linear and, in a way, impressionistic. Cross-timbres abound, but very little of the sort of free-for-all tone expansion that would be Ra’s and the Arkestra’s stock-in-trade later in the 1960s and throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Stand-out work still shows up in the form of the guitarist’s colorful tremolo strumming, the cornetist’s low-key flutters, bassist Joshua Abrams’ connective and woody pacing and the cellist’s sul ponticello sweeps.

The 1961 time frame was a little early to fasten onto Ra’s latter quivering space chords or jocular space chants, but the high standard of playing and composing on New Myth/Old Science indicates that other experiments of this nature should be attempted. Not forgetting that Clean on the Corner is another high quality indication of these present-day Chicago musicians’ first-string talent.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Clean: 1. The Lady Has a Bomb 2. Old 3. December? 4. Where the Story Ends 5. Sharon& 6. House of Three Smiles* 7. The Ephemeral Words of Ruth& 8. Warming Down*

Personnel: Clean: Josh Berman (cornet)*; Greg Ward (alto saxophone); Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone); Craig Taborn (piano)&; Jason Roebke (bass) and Mike Reed (drums)

Track Listing: New: 1. New Myth^ 2. Think Tank 3. 2000 West Erie 4. Shadow Boxer’s Delight^ 5. Forget B 6. Grow Lights 7. Old Science

Personnel: New: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Greg Ward (alto saxophone); Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone); Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Tomeka Reid (cello); Joshua Abrams (bass); Tomas Fujiwara (drums); Mike Reed (drums and electronics) and Nick Butcher (electronics)^

March 15, 2013

Tom Rainey Trio

Camino Cielo Echo
Intakt CD 198

Ingrid Laubrock/Javier Carmona/Olie Brice

Catatumbo

Babel BDV 12103

Well-travelled, Münster-born saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock is now a Brooklyn resident, but spends time in London, where she was based for two decades, to maintain involvement in bands on both sides of the Atlantic. Recorded six months apart with closely allied personnel, these CDs demonstrate her trans-oceanic skills.

A live date from London’s Vortex club, Catatumbo matches Laubrock with two high-class improvisers with plenty of other axes in the fire. Madrid-born percussionist Javier Carmona spent seven years in London before settling in Barcelona. Besides membership in the London Improvisers Orchestra, he was in a duo with tenor saxophonist Mark Hanslip. UK-native, bassist Olie Brice’s affiliations include a duo with veteran flautist Neil Metcalfe and a band with Hanslip. Meanwhile in a Brooklyn studio, Camino Cielo Echo unites the saxophonist with her husband, drummer Tom Rainey, a Santa Barbara-native now one of New York’s busiest percussionists, who is also part of a Laubrock trio with British pianist Liam Noble. String strength comes from Boston-born guitarist Mary Halvorson, who works with everyone from drummer Weasel Walter to trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum.

Despite the names above the titles, both groups are essentially co-ops. Rainey, the most generous of percussionists, gives both his partners plenty of solo space; plus writing duties for his CD’s 13 tracks are split three ways. Each of the five tracks on the other disc is an instant composition, involving all participants.

Brice’s solid string pumping and angled spiccato work from the back or in the foreground are continuing characteristics of the tunes on Catatumbo. Stretching but never breaking the chromatic interface is a common strategy throughout, especially when the band’s more pensive dialogues come to the fore. Isolated, Brice’s double-gaited pacing, Carmona’s ringing cymbal work and Laubrock’s tongue pops plus choked-air exhalation may be distracting, combined they blend into concentrated narratives. As an individual, Carmona’s percussion on a track like “Ribbons and Beads” consists of cowbell pops, asymmetrical rim and side slapping plus resonating patterning. Climax is reached when his staccato slaps with wire-brush-handles meet up with the bassist’s sul ponticello lines and Laubrock’s jagged eviscerating reed cries. By “Vientos Alisios”, the final track, as the drummer’s bounces plus bass-string sprawls pace her, Laubrock’s sprawling Dolphyesque snarls slide from sharp, altissimo to dampened vibrations. The resulting triple timbres from all are conclusive and calming.

Calm is certainly not the first adjective one would apply to the Rainey trio. With Halvorson in full flight the number of fuzz-encrusted distortions, gnarly and ringing string tones and jagged runs proliferate. Not to be outdone, Laubrock screeches, squeals and splinters pressurized tones from her saxophone, and at times Rainey unleashes a barrage of drags, strokes and flams. His decisive taste prevents that from happening too often however. Nonetheless some of these drum explosions take place, but also in the context of an up-tempo tune such as “Leapfrog”. Simultaneously as the guitarist snaps and vibrates her strings while the saxophonist’s reed biting mutates the theme.

This doesn’t mean that every track is sonically zealous. “Arroyo Burrow” for example features low-key, flute-like glissandi from Laubrock on soprano saxophone, colored by near-folksy plinks from the guitarist and Rainey rolling his sticks on top of his drums and punctuating the exposition with bass drum bangs. Following it, “Strada senza nome’ is a simple tune where the guitarist’s repetative strums could come from a ukulele, and are met by chain-shaking and other percussion vibrations from Rainey. The atmospheric title track outlines a similar sentiment.

Meanwhile cuts such as “Mental Stencil” – as would be expected – and “Two Words” – which may be all of a Metal band’s vocabulary – highlight rougher stances. The latter which binds together pressurized drones from Laubrock, flashing flanges and bent notes from, Halvorson and constant tapping from Rainey, pumps up to further oscillated buzzing from the guitarist and swelling screams from the reedist. A little more restrained, “Mental Stencil” has an exposition divided between intermittent guitar strums and bubbling reed puffs until Rainey’s subtle jabs and cymbal pops pacify first Laubrock into displaying polished tones that are almost cello-like, then encourage single licks from Halvorson, that in context are dance-like. Harmonizing individual outputs, the trio members’ lines eventually and mutually fade to muted interaction.

Significant in trio circumstances, as these CDs confirm, Laubrock’s verve and intelligent improvising serves her in good stead no matter the band size or the improvising context.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Catatumbo: 1. Darkness Rarely Lasted Long 2. Ribbons and Beads 3.The Fabric of Air 4. Cocuyos 5. Vientos Alisios

Personnel: Catatumbo: Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone); Olie Brice (bass) and Javier Carmona (drums)

Track Listing: Camino: 1. Expectation of Exception 2. Mullet Toss 3. Mr and Mrs Mundane 4. Corporal Fusion 5. Arroyo Burrow 6. Strada senza nome 7. A third line into little Miss Strange 8. Leapfrog 9. Camino Cielo Echo 10.Fluster 11. Mental Stencil 12. Two Words 13. June

Personnel: Camino: Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano saxophones); Mary Halvorson (guitar) and Tom Rainey (drums)

November 21, 2012

Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet

Apparent Distance
Firehouse 12 Records FH12

Jason Kao Hwang/Edge

Crossroads Unseen

Euonymus Records EU 02

Brass man Taylor Ho Bynum and bassist Ken Filiano are the constants in these noteworthy sessions designed to offer glimpses into the improvisational and compositional cores of a clutch of innovating musicians. Anti-establishment without being nihilists, the eight players represented validate the concept of moving forward sonically while preserving parts of the past.

The most obvious tradition linkages are that Bynum’s sextet on Apparent Distance is organized to play his four-part chamber suite. Crossroads Unseen meantime features six compositions by leader Jason Kao Hwang that make ample use of the qualities he can wring out of European music’s most venerable instruments – the violin and the viola. Hwang has worked with experimenters such as bassist William Parker and drummer Vladimir Tarasov. Filiano has become a constant New York presence after an apprenticeship with reedist Vinny Golia. Percussionist Andrew Drury is a composer in his own right, while Bynum has a long association with Anthony Braxton. This CD is the quartet’s third as Edge.

On the other disc, Bynum’s associates includes drummer Tomas Fujiwara, with whom he has often worked in duo and trio; saxophonist Jim Hobbs, who employed him in the reedist’s Fully Celebrated Orchestra; guitarist Mary Halvorson another Braxton associate; and tubaist/bass trombonist Bill Lowe, a veteran player who worked with Henry Threadgill. Overall Apparent Distance deals with abstract concepts in a formal chamber setting, probably appropriate for a work that benefitted from grants from two foundations. Hwang’s hang is more organic and swinging.

With suite transitions on Apparent Distance based on bravura tone extensions from each player, the sequences move from non-figurative motifs that tax the limits of the instruments to sections that meld the players in linear cooperation. During the three section that surround “Source”, the nearly 21 minute defining movement, remarkable sounds are repeatedly created either solo – sometimes a capella – or by instrumental layering. Bynum’s triplet-laden excursions, brass braying or sucked mouthpiece slurs appear even more impressive when coupled with speedy tongue jujitsu from Lowe’s tuba or contrasted with a military-style beat from Fujiwara. Hobbs’ distanced, irregular reed bites meet slurred fingering from Halvorson with with an overlay of distorted picks and plinks. When the processional rhythm and clapping cymbals from the percussionist adjoin the guitarist’s downward strums and note distortion, the effect is that of a psychedelic guitarist filling a seat in a military band.

Although by the narrative’s finale the sextet’s output has quieted down to pointed chromaticism, “Source” and Bynum’s composition as a whole are designed to give everyone freedom of expression. During the exposition walking bass and legato guitar lines soon give way to staccato string snaps and discursive curlicue thumps as the flugelhornist exhibits slippery half-valve effects that throw into bolder relief a cleanly articulated bass trombone solo. Just as agitated split tones and nasal vibratos threaten to undermine the theme, busy brushwork from Fujiwara introduces a swinging pulse that leads conclusively to the final sequence of cymbal resonation and drags.

Swings the thing on Crossroads Unseen, but it flows organically from the writing not as some lumbering recreation. Almost from the first notes, Hwang’s double stopping polytonal stops and staccato plucks put him firmly in the tradition that stretches from Stuff Smith to Billy Bang. Meanwhile Bynum provides a plunger obbligato and Drury’s kit pressure is unique enough in pitch and timbre to suggest he’s playing a cuica. On “The Path around the House” the bassist carves his route by outlining a multi-string stopped, Mingusian solo that ends with magisterial strums and following some triplet tonguing from Bynum and a this-side-of-Buddy-Rich solo from Drury introduces the fiddler’s angled string jumps and plucked polyrhythms.

Bulkier stops and chunkier scrubs characterize Hwang`s playing when he switches to the lower-pitched viola for the final two tracks. Still his technical finesse is as supple as before. Ending “One Day” and the entire CD is a concluding sequence divided between weighty pumps from Filiano and the friction produced by mixing cross tones from Hwang with hand-muted growls from Bynum’s cornet. But as unexpected motifs such as Drury’s gong-like cymbal resonations hover in-and-out of the earshot, the composer manages to impart some romantic motifs as the others combine thematic harmonies.

Concerned with diverse goals, both Hwang and Bynum have created exhilarating sessions which impress in wholly atypical ways despite an overlap of personnel.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Apparent: Apparent Distance 1. Part I: Shift 2. Part II: Strike 3. Part III: Source 4. Part IV: Layer

Personnel: Apparent: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Bill Lowe (bass trombone and tuba); Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Ken Filiano (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums)

Track Listing: Crossroads: 1. Elemental Determination^# 2. The Path around the House^# 3. Transients*# 4. Crossroads Unseen*% 5. One Day*%

Personnel: Crossroads: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet* and flugelhorn^); Jason Kao Hwang (violin# and viola%); Ken Filiano (bass) and Andrew Drury (percussion)

May 16, 2012

Weasel Walter-Mary Halvorson-Peter Evans

Electric Fruit
Thirsty Ear THI 57196

By Ken Waxman

Probably one of the few instances in improvised music where a powerful drummer often has to play more assertively to be heard amid the virtuosic and fortissimo sounds from the guitarist and trumpeter, Electric Fruit is a different take on the a jazz trio conception.

For a start the instrumentation is unusual. More distinctively the six tracks here aren’t designed as chops displays but as a way for three talented free-form improvisers to investigate the tonal possibilities of their instruments while aiming for a tripartite blend. Progenitor of aggressive rock-inflected improv with everyone from bassist Damon Smith to saxophonist Marshall Allen, drummer Weasel Walter is more than a backbeat specialist. Guitarist Mary Halvorson flits from folksy duets with violist Jessica Pavone to sophisticated contributions to composer Anthony Braxton’s ensembles. Known for his spectacular work with saxophonist Evan Parker and Mostly Other People do the Killing, trumpeter Peter Evans can apparently play anything and frequently does.

As a result most tunes here feature some variant of Halvorsen’s intense, distorted fills, near-psychedelic thumping and horizontal twangs, matching Evans’ top-of-range brassy trills or growly inner-horn tone evacuations, as Walter ruffs, rolls and drags. At the same time this mixture of the frenetic and the pointillist promotes unique linkages. “The Stench of Cyber-Durian” for instance finds the guitarist’s strumming so rococo that she could be playing a gavotte, and is sympathetically backed by the drummer’s clunks and rat-tat-tats. Meanwhile the trumpeter’s heraldic crescendos provide contrapuntal commentary. Walter solos most extensively on the more than 15½-minute “Metallic Dragon Fruit”, with hollow shell whacking, clave-like concussion, plus bell and snare popping. But his showcase is firmly in sync with Halvorson’s simple flat-picking which splinters and distorts as it climaxes; and Evans’ stentorian snarls, which bring out multiphonic tone extensions and a texture virtually indistinguishable from guitar intonation.

Less frantic interludes would have been welcome. But for spectacle and musicianship, this CD is a stunning debut.

Tracks: Mangosteen 3000 A.D.; The Stench of Cyber-Durian; The Pseudocarp Walks Among Us; Scuppernong Malfunction; Yantok Salak Kapok; Metallic Dragon Fruit

Personnel: Peter Evans: trumpet; Mary Halvorson: guitar; Weasel Walter: drums

-- For New York City Jazz Record March 2011

March 4, 2011

Tom Rainey Trio

Pool School
Clean Feed CF 185 CD

Owen Howard

Drum Lore

BJU Records BJUR 017

Harris Eisenstadt

Woodblock Prints

No Business NBLP 18

Heinrich Köbberling

Sonnenschirm

Jazz Werkstatt JW 093

Extended Play: Drummers as leaders and composers

By Ken Waxman

Constantly the brunt of other musicians’ jokes for their supposed fixation on rhythm, over the years drummers have actually proven themselves as organized band leaders and sophisticated tunesmiths. Edmonton-born, Brooklyn-based percussionist Owen Howard strikes a blow for his stick-wielding brethren with Drum Lore BJU Records BJUR 017 as he leads a sextet through compositions by 11 different drummers. including himself. His notable CD, along with others by drummer/leaders, demonstrates these players’ overall improvisational and compositional smarts.

Howard proves his percussion adaptability with strategies ranging from understated paradiddles and pops backing muted trombone and slurry bass clarinet on Shelly Manne’s “Flip”, to cross pounded bounces and clattering opposite sticking that adds an undercurrent of gravitas to Alan Ferber’s trombone ostinato and call-and-response patterns from the three saxophonists on Ed Blackwell’s “Togo”. He’s even more impressive guiding the slinky polyrhythms of Jack DeJohnette’s “Zoot Suite”, as clattering cymbals and popping bass drum subtly shifts tempos from andante to moderato as the layered horn riffs expand in scrappy, cascading counterpoint. The drummer’s own Roundabout vibrates with shifting pulses as alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher’s refracting flutter-tonguing alters the melody already trilled by soprano saxophonist Adam Kolker. Howard’s blunt rebounds and splashing cymbals keep things moving until pianist Frank Carlberg’s wide-spaced comping signals the finale.

Howard’s CD shows jazz percussionist’s compositional versatility, while the six compositions on Woodblock Prints No Business NBLP 18 presents a singular vision by another drummer, Toronto native-turned Brooklynite Harris Eisenstadt. Program music based on celebrating the art of Japanese wood bock prints, this chamber-improv is played by a brass-heavy nonet. What isn’t expected is that Mark Taylor’s French horn and Jay Rozen’s tuba are frequently lead voices, with the burbling timbre crepuscule of Sara Schoenbeck’s bassoon often used for its unique tincture. Most demonstrative of Eisenstadt’s skills as a colorist is “Hokusai”, energized by his bell-tree shaking and tambourine smacks. Meanwhile hoarse, stuttering, bassoon patterns deconstruct the slow-gliding theme alongside Jonathan Goldberger’s guitar licks. Following Michael McGinnis’ squealing clarinet trills backed by the drummer’s ruffs and drags, Rozen’s extended tremolo line shepherds the variants towards Eisenstadt’s conclusive cymbal shimmies. Similarly on “The Floating World”, the narrative is defined as much by waddling tuba slurps plus diffuse French horn brays as liquid clarinet runs and pumping unison horns. The tubaist’s penultimate snort dissolve into pitch-sliding polytones as the drummer outlays shuffles, ruffs and bell-pings.

Less upfront as a performer, but responsible for all compositions on Sonnenschirm Jazz Werkstatt JW 093 is Heinrich Köbberling, a professor of percussion at Germany’s Leipzig University. He’s content using his cross strokes, opposite sticking, drags and rebounds to keep the session moderato, but with infectious, flowing rhythms. Rather than taking solos, Köbberling’s compositions and accompaniment give full reign to bassist Paul Imm, piano/accordionist Tino Derado and especially bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall. An unflappable tone explorer, Mahall adds sonic vitality to the often-jaunty tunes. “Zahlen Bitte” is a particular example of the reedman’s skills. Here his coloratura slides and tongue-stuttering face chiming piano lines. Circling around one another, all the textures then join to complete the melody. Meanwhile the drummer rolls and pumps in the background. Built on light-fingered piano harmonies, “Konbanwa” is another standout as the repeated theme variants are expressed sequentially by lyrical reed voicing and cascading piano chords.

Completely antithetical to the preceding discs is Pool School Clean Feed CF 185 CD is the first disc under the leadership of busy New York percussionist Tom Rainey. Consisting of 12 instant compositions, the CD depends as much on the inventiveness of guitarist Mary Halvorson and tenor and soprano saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock as Rainey’s drum dexterity. Yet as low-key and unforced as Rainey’s rhythms are, it’s their unruffled surge which keeps the dozen tracks moving. “More Mesa” for instance is taken agitato and moderato, with Laubrock’s pressurized vibrations as intense as the angled crunching runs from Halvorson. Yet the piece’s atmospheric identity is maintained through Rainey’s rim shot accents, hi-hat strokes and cymbal slaps. The drummer’s swirling cauldron of broken-octave rebounds and solid ruffs also create a subversive swing rhythm by the finale of “Semi Bozo”. Earlier, his ratcheting clicks and drum-top pops, the guitarist’s disconnected chording and slurred fingering plus the saxophonist’s rasping, low-pitched warbles appear to evolve in parallel rather than connective lines, until Rainey’s inverted sticking pushes them into harmonic concordance.

As these sessions prove, giving a sophisticated drummer freedom to innovate, results in much more than a rhythmic free-for-all.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 16 #2

October 12, 2010

Fred Ho and the Green Monster Big Band

Celestial Green Monster
Mutable/Big Red Media 001

A Brooklyn-based revolutionary Socialist and baritone saxophonist, Fred Ho can express himself as well in polemical prose as musical compositions. Dedicated to creating Asian-American improvised music that is both true to the jazz tradition and relevant to those committed to social change, his work incorporates Oriental and African-American vocalists, heavy rock rhythms and unexpected textures of specific ethnic instruments.

By any standards Celestial Green Monster is a major statement from Ho, with his compositions and others interpreted by a crack 17-piece band plus guests. It’s especially notable however, because, unlike some other politically oriented contemporaries, Ho has latterly developed a sense of humor to go along with his values. At least that’s what one can ascertain from the CD cover featuring an unclothed Ho – baritone saxophone placed strategically in front of him – colored a Martian-styled green. As well there’s the inclusion of such non-agitprop material as “Spiderman Theme” and “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” at the beginning of the album.

Actually, while the former is a barely two-minute trifle given a fairly straight reading, the later is a 16-minute extravaganza which manages to pile Arabic-styled keening vocals and contrapuntal guitar licks on top of the already overwrought psychedelic theme. Here, Haleh Abghari’s Adhan-linked murmuring and throat twisting contrasts telling with Abraham Gomez-Delgado’s histrionic rendition of the tune’s original lyrics. Meanwhile guest guitarist Mary Halvorson’s echoing reverb, distorted riffs and fragmented down strokes add instrumental gravitas to a performance that otherwise rests on block chords plus fortissimo pulses from keyboardist Art Hirahara, muted brass stops and contrapuntal reed vamps that purposely reference early Jazz-Rockers Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears. After a shout chorus, the climax mates whinnying baritone sax lines and an ejaculating crescendo of organ licks.

Other tracks like “Liberation Genesis”, “Blues to the Freedom Fighters” and the six-part, more-than-38-minute “The Struggle for a New World Suite” are more overtly political. But – especially in the extended composition – the dialectical profundity of the concepts isn’t hamstrung by ponderous music.

Measured and linear in performance, the instrumental work is secured within a compositional framework of layered and interlocking textures and tones. While most of the writing evidentially refers to Swing and smooth Ellington-like languid interludes, echoes of Beatnik-era soundtrack material is present as well. Subverting the conventions of commercial Hollywood scoring to progressive ends, it’s as if Peter Gunn’s gun has turned into a rifle used by a cadre during the Cultural Revolution.

Drummer Royal Hartigan’s back-beat ratcheting and the power-plucks plus the slurred fingering of Wes Brown’s electric bass are important part of this subversive strategy. So are the cleanly outlined solo sections, which encompass double-tongues, stuttering bass trombone grace notes, brassy triplet blares from the trumpet, honking squeals from the alto saxophone plus keyboard clinking and chiming. Varying the suite development with interpolated layers of reed and brass smears, space is also made for rubato patterning and color from the saxophonist, plunger pumps from the trumpets and reflux ruffs and native Indian-styled pounding from Hartigan.

The percussionist’s command of unconventional rhythm instruments also means that timbales and clavés are as valuable to Ho’s compositional vision as Hirahara’s discursive, two-handed piano lines, which concerto-like sometimes move from kinetic cadenzas to portamento note placement. Unconventional enough to refuse to recap the head, the final section of this extended suite at least suggests the exposition, with penultimate variants given over to snorting split tones from one tenor saxophonist and massed flutter-tonguing and overblowing from the other horns to intensify tension. On top of a snazzy Latinesque beat, the finale features a Stan Kenton-like spectacle of blaring brass.

Whether the Socialist Revolution will actually erupt in North America is no way a certainty – in spite of the ill-informed ravings of most right-wing politicians. But while he waits for its arrival, Ho can be assured that with this disc he has created first-class, social democratic if not revolutionary music.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Spiderman Theme 2.-6. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (in the Garden of Eden)* 7. Liberation Genesis 8. Blues to the Freedom Fighters 9.-15. The Struggle for a New World Suite

Personnel: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Stanton Davis, Brian Kilpatrick, Samir El-Amin (trumpet); Robert Pilkington, Marty Wehner, Richard Harper (trombone); Earl MacIntyre, David Harris (contrabass trombones); Bobby Zankel, Jim Hobbs (alto saxophones); Hafez Modirzadeh, Salim Washington (tenor saxophone); Fred Ho (baritone saxophone); Mary Halvorson (guitar)*; Art Hirahara (piano, keyboards); Wes Brown (bass and electric bass); Royal Hartigan (drums) and Abraham Gomez-Delgado and Haleh Abghari (vocals)*

June 6, 2010

Mary Halvorson/Reuben Radding/Nate Wooley

Crackleknob
hatOLOGY 662

Tetuzi Akiyama/Éden Carrasco/Leonel Kaplan

Moments of Falling Petals

Dromos Records 001

Hautzinger/Okura/Akiyama

Rebuses

MonotypeRec. mono027

Combined, contrasted and contrapuntal guitar and trumpet textures – plus those of another instrument – are what tie together these notable sessions. Yet even though only a trio of instruments is involved on each – and Tokyo-based On-kyo guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama is present on two of the three CDs – the overall performances can readily be distinguished from one another.

More obviously separate is Crackleknob, the collaboration among three New York-based players: guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Reuben Radding and trumpeter Nate Wooley. Each has worked with a cross-section of other progressive players including composer Anthony Braxton (Halvorson), pianist Denman Maroney (Radding) and cellist Daniel Levin (Wooley). Not only that, but Wooley has also recorded in the past with Leonel Kaplan, a trumpeter from Buenos Aires with similar understated tendencies, featured on Moments of Falling Petals.

Kaplan’s associates on that disc are Akiyama, whose interests range across the electronic, improv and notated scenes, as well as Éden Carrasco, an alto saxophonist from Santiago. Akiyama – who plays a tape-delay electric guitar – is also on board for Rebuses, but his partners here are saxophonist and clarinetist Masahiko Okura from Tokyo, who plays with Japanese improvisers such as turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide; and Vienna’s quartet-tone trumpet specialist Franz Hautzinger whose playing partners range from synthesizer player Thomas Lehn to rock-styled ensembles.

On Rebuses the emphasis is strictly minimalist. Brass timbres leak onto toy guitar-like twangs produced by slurred fingering, abut barely breathed peeps and disconnected note patterns from the saxophonist, and rest on an undertow of electronic flanges, spins and clatters. Throughout, Akiyama’s licks aren’t often wedded to folksy finger-picking but concentrate instead on ringing chords and slack key approximations, circling the others’ tones and constantly launching envelopes of dissonant patterns. More upfront here than elsewhere, the guitarist’s downward-cascading licks plus crackling amp distortions bring forth belligerent split tones or vulture-like cawing from the reedist.

Occasionally Okura interrupts flat-line air expelling to complement with tongue slaps, fluttering squeals or rolling blows, the equally sporadic rubato squeaks from Hautzinger. For his part the trumpeter prefers tremolo grace notes which usually reflect back onto themselves. As well, in contrast to Akiyama’s divisive string rubs and chordal flanges, Hautzinger’s tongue-rolled air is connectively chromatic. Eventually collective note patterns shape the five long tracks into suite-like form.

More precious and much shorter, Moments of Falling Petals, with Akiyama on acoustic guitar, consists of a single track improvisation which moves between silencers, gentling undulations and unexpected crunching eruptions. With Kaplan’s timbres initially centred on muted growls and Carrasco’s on peeps, squeals and chromatic slurs, only Akiyama’s coldly outlined notes cut through the undifferentiated sonic and silences. Eventually his snaps and strums are challenged by side-slipping shrills and bell-muted pressure from the saxophonist plus spittle-encrusted angled grace notes from the trumpeter. Following a climatic water dam-like roar from the horns, and a subsequent extended period of silence, the piece’s final variation is divided among whimpering pressure from Kaplan, which becomes louder and more atonal by the end; brassy spetrofluctuation from Carrasco; and microtonal slurred fingering from Akiyama – with a conclusive resonating twang.

Moving north from Buenos Aires to Brooklyn, not only do Halvorson, Radding and Wooley run through 10 tunes in less than 48½ minutes, but each number also has a quirky title. The game plan here involves triple counterpoint with an emphasis on dissonant unison harmonies. Performances by this trio are as macro as the others are micro, without losing sight of post-modern minimalism that is mixed with jazz-styled improvisations.

In this context at least, Halvorson’s output is spikier and louder than Akiyama’s. During the course of “Libidinous Objects & the Decay of Self”, for instance, she works herself from watery chromatic picking to distorted lines and finally into a display of scattered notes and slurred staccato fingering. Radding thickly thumps in response, while Wooley leaks the odd brass tone. Meanwhile, “In the Teeth of Ideology” serves as a showcase for the bassist, whose wood-splintering-like scrubs and col legno ruffs replace his usual thick stopping and walking. Stepping back to strum, the guitarist cedes the remaining space to Wooley, whose hushed output is simultaneously lyrical, wispy and Impressionistic.

Elsewhere each seems to be vying to discover whose playing can be the most moderato and low-pressured. However an extended improv such as “Quavering Voices of the Mutilated” shows off their multi-directional counterpoint in greatest detail. With the broken chord action connected by Radding’s pumping lines, the guitarist moves from chunky rasgueado to spidery fingering while the trumpeter’s interpolations evolve from tremolo buzzing to sounds that are fortissimo, shrill, grainy and slurred. When this centrifugal performance climaxes, silences, delay and discursion eventually combine into lyrical connectivity.

Although Crackleknob distinguishes itself from the other two sessions with a brash – perhaps New World-styled – forthrightness, each of the CDs demonstrate winning methods for enlivening trumpet-guitar trio sessions that simultaneously explore and evolve.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Moments: 1. Moments of Falling Petals

Personnel: Moments: Leonel Kaplan (trumpet); Edén Carrasco (alto saxophone) and Tetuzi Akiyama (acoustic guitar)

Track Listing: Rebuses: 1. Rebuses1 2. Rebuses 2 3. Rebuses 3 4. Rebuses 4 5. Rebuses 5

Personnel: Franz Hautzinger (trumpet); Masahiko Okura (alto saxophone, bass clarinet and tubes) and Tetuzi Akiyama (tape-delayed electric guitar)

Track Listing: Crackleknob: 1. Under The Weight Of Aphorisms 2. The Poor Chew Words To Fill Their Stomachs 3. In The Teeth Of Ideology 4. Spoilsports 5. Libidinous Objects & The Decay Of Self 6. Lakehurst, 1937 7. Quavering Voices Of The Mutilated 8. In The Application Of Standards 9. Caldwell, 1925 10. The Cadence Of Her Dying Breath

Personnel: Nate Wooley (trumpet); Mary Halvorson (guitar) and Reuben Radding (bass)

March 23, 2010

Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet

Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths
hatOLOGY 675

Making the transition from featured sideman to band leader, Brooklyn-based cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum is beginning to preserve the unique sound(s) of his group(s) on record. The (s)s are deliberate, because unlike the fabled jazz combs of the 1950s and 1960s, many of his bands are ad-hoc groupings organized for a specific date or recording project.

Yet as this notable live session indicates, Bynum, who has always been cognizant of career-building, has managed to lure a steady group of up-and-coming players as his first call seconds. The band on Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths is the same one with which he has been gigging since 2005, while he and most of the other members also interact in outside situations, including different Anthony Braxton ensembles. That likely explains the emphatic cooperation among the conetist, his Braxton band pal, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, with whom Bynum has recorded in a duo formation. The additional players – violist Jessica Pavone, who takes another chair in Braxton groups, reedist Matt Bauder, on call for New York and Chicago gigs, and guitarist Evan O’Reilly – add their talents to the three-part “whYeXpliCitieS”, the CD’s centrepiece.

Dedicated to Braxton and composed as a suite of modular inter-locking parts for various sized sub-ensembles, the description of “whYeXpliCitieS”, appears more forbidding than it sounds on CD. The initial variant concerns itself with contrasts between electric and acoustic instruments, as Halvorson’s fuzz-tone distortion builds into a wall of quivering oscillations. Meanwhile Pavone’s splintered and staccato lines carve their own space, as the cornetist releases plunger tones and the bass clarinet burbles in sympathy. Fujiwara’s low-key jangling and solid drags stay the course until rasgueado guitar licks push the theme onto the next track. With the guitar and brass operating in counterpoint, theme elaborations speed up and slow down the tune, despite interlocking vamps from Bauer, which adumbrate the next section with honks and striated note interpolations. Attaining climax in the composition’s third – and lengthiest –section, more guitar legerdemain is on show – probably from both plectrumists. One clinks Scruggs banjo-like runs, while the other could be playing a primitive hurdy-gurdy or a Hawaiian slack-key guitar. On top of these antipodal string clicks, Bynum showcases suction release with only his mouthpiece, then from deep inside his valves gradually constricts his output to strangled cries and horn shakes. As Bauder plays an obbligato of distinct note clusters, finale and fulfillment come with tough, downward slurred fingering from the guitar.

Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths’ first and final tracks show off Bynum’s skills playing unaccompanied, with stylistic tropes that range from Bronx cheers to bubbling lip spews and held notes. Besides “whYeXpliCitieS”, the most memorable track is “Look Below”. Dedicated to brass trombonist Bill Lowe – another influence on Bynum’s career, the short track is all bright and brassy. Encompassing open-horn expression, as well as altissimo squeaks and tongue-busters from the horns, it’s summed up traditionally enough with a shout chorus following a Fujiwara solo which makes prominent use of the bass drum.

Continuing to prove himself as an accomplished soloist, composer and band leader, Bynum’s future seems as assured as that of any contemporary improviser.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Open 2. Look Below 3. whYeXpliCitieS (Part I) 4. whYeXpliCitieS (Part II) 5. whYeXpliCitieS (Part III) 6. Geoffstown 7. Close

Personnel: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Matt Bauder (tenor saxophone and bass clarinet); Jessica Pavone (viola); Evan O’Reilly and Mary Halvorson (guitars); and Tomas Fujiwara (drums)

June 13, 2009

Anthony Braxton Quartet

(Moscow) 2008
Leo Records CD LR 518

Anthony Braxton

Trio (Victoriaville) 2007

Victo cd 108

Taking some time from his Ghost Trance Music and large ensemble work, over the past couple of years, multi-reedman/composer Anthony Braxton has recruited a more intimate touring ensemble, which on the evidence of these CDs, perfectly frames and personalizes his new compositions.

Initially called the Diamond Curtain Wall trio and filled out by guitarist Mary Halvorson and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum – both of whom studied with Braxton and play in his larger groups – the band recently became a quartet with the addition of bassoonist Katherine Young, a 2003 graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory.

Performing a single, different Braxton composition on each of these live sessions, recorded approximately one year apart, the recital-sized combos are equally impressive. The discs demonstrate not only the bonding of the trio members – on Victoriaville – but also – with Moscow – how additional sonic colors amplify the composition when exposed within the oblique polyphony that characterizes Braxton’s work.

Be aware though, that despite the number, the quartet isn’t a 21st Century version of Braxton’s most notable foursome – the 1980s band with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Gerry Hemingway. For a start with decidedly less standard instrumentation, this band is removed even further from so-called jazz than its predecessor. Secondly its unique musical definition encompasses the use of multiple instruments by each horn man on both sessions and – on Victoriaville – Braxton himself manipulating electronic fields. On the other hand, even more than 20 years later and with Braxton’s sidefolk correspondently younger than him, there’s still no sense that the sessions are those of a master and his disciples. Everyone participates equally in creation. The solitary point of congruence with the earlier quartet is that with Bynum and Halverson now leading their own bands and in-demand on others’ session, this group will likely not stay together very long.

That’s a pity, since Halverson’s alternately sedately strumming or flinging distorted textures throughout the nearly one-hour “Composition No 323c”, opens space to give Bynum and Braxton manifold opportunities to create, singly or together. “Composition No 367b” take the concordance one step further as Young’s spurting pedal-point tones provide an additional bottom upon which the others’ improvisations can freely range.

Besides the electronic shimmers, alterations and whooshes, which Braxton uses sparing on the first disc, timbral multiplicity is expressed through the different horns’ tonal properties. Braxton plays sopranino, soprano, alto, baritone, bass and contrabass saxophones and Bynum cornet, flugelhorn, trompbone, piccolo and bass trumpets, shells and mutes on Victoriaville. Moscow’s instruments of choice are sopranino, soprano, and alto saxophones and contrabass clarinet from Braxton and cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo and bass trumpets and valve trombone for Bynum.

While Bynum moves from body tube echoing to scattering sharp triplets to arching silvery grace notes throughout, no matter which horn he has at his lips, Braxton assumes different persona depending on the reed. On bass saxophone his shaking snorts create an ostinato that helps define the piece’s foundation; on clarinet, discursive glissandi add unexpected timbres to the interface; and on alto saxophone his rubato line is as close to conventional jazz as he ever will be. Halverson’s near-folksy finger-picking, chromatic near-fretless runs or single-not reverberations constitute varied responses.

With oscillated pulses adding sound loops to fill any pauses, Bynum occasionally finds himself in double counterpoint duets with Braxton. Peeping and squeaking the note sequences they harmonize or just as suddenly play out antipodal contrasts. Eventually the brassman’s braying split tones and the reedist’s low-pitched slurs and honks reach a staccato interface which then pitch-slides into guitar lines. Without climaxing the three are led by the guitar’s licks down the scale and an eventual full stop. Coda is a series of blurry, spinning electronic pulses.

Lacking electronics, but with pedal-point hocketing tones from the bassoon, in the Moscow performance“367b” seems a close cousin to “323c”. Evidentially more emboldened in the year that has passed, the guitarist introduces more rasgueado and double strummed voicing in her playing. Similarly Bynum’s use of the piccolo trumpet is more obvious with measures frequently chirped and triple-tongued. On alto saxophone, Braxton extends these twittering cries and, without breaking the line, extends them just a little further.

Moreover, his triple sonic personalities show here, as the spetrofluctuation, tongue-slaps and glottal pressure apparent in his contrabass clarinet work, the sopranino curlicue trills and storytelling alto saxophone textures vie for equal space. Exaggerated crunching chords from the guitarist mark shifts in the more-than-70 minute composition, with distinctive bassoon gurgles additionally below the front-line horn.

Now that Halvorson is free to contrast clawhammer, quasi-banjo strokes in concert with the saxophonist’s hungry animal-like growls and Bynum’s capillary triplets, the four parts –including pedal-point bassoon echoes – continue along separate paths that combine pleasingly at certain junctures. A final recital variant includes thick strumming, tobogganing down the scale by Young and Woody Woodpecker-like pops from Bynum. Short tremolo sparring between Braxton and Bynum signals the widely vibrating piece’s conclusion.

Positive interaction, technical facility and split-second responses characterize both CDs. Each confirms the skills of Braxton and associates in the small group format.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Trio: 1. Composition No 323c

Personnel: Trio: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn, trompbone, piccolo and bass trumpets, shells and mutes); Anthony Braxton (sopranino, soprano, alto, baritone, bass and contrabass saxophones and electronics) and Mary Halvorson (guitar)

Track Listing: Moscow: 1. Composition No 367b 2. Encore

Personnel: Moscow: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo and bass trumpets and valve trombone); Anthony Braxton (sopranino, soprano, and alto saxophones and contrabass clarinet); Katherine Young (bassoon) and Mary Halvorson (guitar)

February 23, 2009

Anthony Braxton

Trio (Victoriaville) 2007
Victo cd 108

Anthony Braxton Quartet

(Moscow) 2008

Leo Records CD LR 518

Taking some time from his Ghost Trance Music and large ensemble work, over the past couple of years, multi-reedman/composer Anthony Braxton has recruited a more intimate touring ensemble, which on the evidence of these CDs, perfectly frames and personalizes his new compositions.

Initially called the Diamond Curtain Wall trio and filled out by guitarist Mary Halvorson and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum – both of whom studied with Braxton and play in his larger groups – the band recently became a quartet with the addition of bassoonist Katherine Young, a 2003 graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory.

Performing a single, different Braxton composition on each of these live sessions, recorded approximately one year apart, the recital-sized combos are equally impressive. The discs demonstrate not only the bonding of the trio members – on Victoriaville – but also – with Moscow – how additional sonic colors amplify the composition when exposed within the oblique polyphony that characterizes Braxton’s work.

Be aware though, that despite the number, the quartet isn’t a 21st Century version of Braxton’s most notable foursome – the 1980s band with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Gerry Hemingway. For a start with decidedly less standard instrumentation, this band is removed even further from so-called jazz than its predecessor. Secondly its unique musical definition encompasses the use of multiple instruments by each horn man on both sessions and – on Victoriaville – Braxton himself manipulating electronic fields. On the other hand, even more than 20 years later and with Braxton’s sidefolk correspondently younger than him, there’s still no sense that the sessions are those of a master and his disciples. Everyone participates equally in creation. The solitary point of congruence with the earlier quartet is that with Bynum and Halverson now leading their own bands and in-demand on others’ session, this group will likely not stay together very long.

That’s a pity, since Halverson’s alternately sedately strumming or flinging distorted textures throughout the nearly one-hour “Composition No 323c”, opens space to give Bynum and Braxton manifold opportunities to create, singly or together. “Composition No 367b” take the concordance one step further as Young’s spurting pedal-point tones provide an additional bottom upon which the others’ improvisations can freely range.

Besides the electronic shimmers, alterations and whooshes, which Braxton uses sparing on the first disc, timbral multiplicity is expressed through the different horns’ tonal properties. Braxton plays sopranino, soprano, alto, baritone, bass and contrabass saxophones and Bynum cornet, flugelhorn, trompbone, piccolo and bass trumpets, shells and mutes on Victoriaville. Moscow’s instruments of choice are sopranino, soprano, and alto saxophones and contrabass clarinet from Braxton and cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo and bass trumpets and valve trombone for Bynum.

While Bynum moves from body tube echoing to scattering sharp triplets to arching silvery grace notes throughout, no matter which horn he has at his lips, Braxton assumes different persona depending on the reed. On bass saxophone his shaking snorts create an ostinato that helps define the piece’s foundation; on clarinet, discursive glissandi add unexpected timbres to the interface; and on alto saxophone his rubato line is as close to conventional jazz as he ever will be. Halverson’s near-folksy finger-picking, chromatic near-fretless runs or single-not reverberations constitute varied responses.

With oscillated pulses adding sound loops to fill any pauses, Bynum occasionally finds himself in double counterpoint duets with Braxton. Peeping and squeaking the note sequences they harmonize or just as suddenly play out antipodal contrasts. Eventually the brassman’s braying split tones and the reedist’s low-pitched slurs and honks reach a staccato interface which then pitch-slides into guitar lines. Without climaxing the three are led by the guitar’s licks down the scale and an eventual full stop. Coda is a series of blurry, spinning electronic pulses.

Lacking electronics, but with pedal-point hocketing tones from the bassoon, in the Moscow performance“367b” seems a close cousin to “323c”. Evidentially more emboldened in the year that has passed, the guitarist introduces more rasgueado and double strummed voicing in her playing. Similarly Bynum’s use of the piccolo trumpet is more obvious with measures frequently chirped and triple-tongued. On alto saxophone, Braxton extends these twittering cries and, without breaking the line, extends them just a little further.

Moreover, his triple sonic personalities show here, as the spetrofluctuation, tongue-slaps and glottal pressure apparent in his contrabass clarinet work, the sopranino curlicue trills and storytelling alto saxophone textures vie for equal space. Exaggerated crunching chords from the guitarist mark shifts in the more-than-70 minute composition, with distinctive bassoon gurgles additionally below the front-line horn.

Now that Halvorson is free to contrast clawhammer, quasi-banjo strokes in concert with the saxophonist’s hungry animal-like growls and Bynum’s capillary triplets, the four parts –including pedal-point bassoon echoes – continue along separate paths that combine pleasingly at certain junctures. A final recital variant includes thick strumming, tobogganing down the scale by Young and Woody Woodpecker-like pops from Bynum. Short tremolo sparring between Braxton and Bynum signals the widely vibrating piece’s conclusion.

Positive interaction, technical facility and split-second responses characterize both CDs. Each confirms the skills of Braxton and associates in the small group format.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Trio: 1. Composition No 323c

Personnel: Trio: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn, trompbone, piccolo and bass trumpets, shells and mutes); Anthony Braxton (sopranino, soprano, alto, baritone, bass and contrabass saxophones and electronics) and Mary Halvorson (guitar)

Track Listing: Moscow: 1. Composition No 367b 2. Encore

Personnel: Moscow: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo and bass trumpets and valve trombone); Anthony Braxton (sopranino, soprano, and alto saxophones and contrabass clarinet); Katherine Young (bassoon) and Mary Halvorson (guitar)

February 23, 2009

Mazen Kerbaj/Birgit Ulher/Sharif Sehnaoui

3:1
Creative Sources CS 110 CD

Stephen Haynes-Taylor Ho Bynum

The Double Trio

Engine e026

Throughout the history of improvised music and jazz, two-trumpet sessions have never been as popular as duets between saxophonists. Oh there were dates featuring Art Framer and Donald Byrd in the 1950s, for example, and Roy Hargrove and Marlon Jordan in the 1980s, plus a whole collection of Norman Granz-instigated blowing sessions in between. But it seems as if the preferred locus for dual improvising is a commingling of many saxophone keys rather than sets of three valves.

Twenty-first century musicians don’t seem to be limited by these conventions and both of these notable CDs centre on the sounds produced by two trumpets – or a cornet in Taylor Ho Bynum’s case. Each session also includes guitar. Yet the disparity between the discs isn’t that the two brass players – Stephen Haynes is the other besides Bynum – on The Double Trio, are spelled by two guitarists and two drummers, while guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui alone provides the additional sounds besides those exhaled by trumpeters Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher on 3:1.

Rather the reason for the marked divergence in conception and creation between the CDs is that The Double Trio takes its impetus from Free Jazz, while 3:1 is in the Free Music tradition. Furthermore while the players on The Double Trio – note the echo of Ornette Coleman’s double quartet here – are for the most part playing tune-oriented music in its broadest sense, Kerbaj, Ulher and Sehnaoui are manipulating sounds.

Bynum’s seconds are guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Thomas Fujiwara, both of whom have worked with him in other situations, including his stand-alone trio. Meanwhile Haynes, a Connecticut-based arts advocate and educator, who has worked with everyone from Bill Dixon to the Dells, is backed by seldom-heard guitarist Alan Jaffe and veteran percussionist Warren Smith.

Not that the interactive polyphony splits into trio verses trio. For instance on “mm (pf)”, the second part of “Suite Miscellaneous”, both trumpeters squeeze lip-burbling Bronx cheers from their horn as the drums rattle and the dual guitars strum and pick. Progressing in a tempo close to a drunken stagger, the horns parry interjections from the guitars that turn to descending licks while the drummers beat paradiddles and flams. Eventually the brass timbres divide, with one smoothly tattooing the melody and the other ejecting skyscraper-high notes. As the piece turns to diminuendo percussion rebounds, off-centre guitar frailing meld with downward slithering trumpet lines.

In contrast, Bynum’s “YX 6C” comes complete with a rhythmically sophisticated melody, chorded in African High-Life fashion by Halvorson. As the drums roll and rebound, the cornetist’s brassy blasts shape this serpentine construction chromatically, as it’s further decorated by Haynes’ slide-whistle-like discord. While the guitarists conclude by crunching splayed runs together, one plectrumist recaps the initial theme as one drummer continues outputting ruffs.

Even more traditional – in this Free Jazz context – is the six’s treatment of Coleman’s “Broken Shadows”. When one drummer press rolls, the other splashes cymbals, as the guitarists expose a sonic rainbow of finger picking, crossing and re-crossing one another’s lines until the sprightly melody is heard again. Then as the brass players contrapuntally spin out the theme, one guitarist sounds a distorted counter-theme. On other places on the CD, wood-block smacks are heard and one of the brass men –Haynes? – outputs a series of Miles Davis-like smears and slurs on top of booming strumming from the dual guitars.

There’s nothing that overt on 3:1, concerned as it is with textures and tones rather than linear improvisation. With no hierarchical division between the front and backline, each instrument has the same prominence, with Sehnaoui’s playing as obtuse and opaque as the trumpeters’. His looping asides and pedal point string sweeps do however provide a fundamental base on which the tongue slaps, mouthpiece oscillations and spit blows that characterize much of the brass exposition can rest. Discerning Ulher’s singular contributions from Kazen’s is nearly impossible, except for passages on “0:0” where the falsetto yelps are probably from her horn and the basso slurs from his.

Most of the session is concerned with shaping dissonance into movement, with both trumpeters auditioning the results of such extended technique as air-blowing without moving the valves, buzzing the mouthpiece against a solid object, playing quick bursts of concentrated triplets and spluttering and humming through the horn’s lead tube. For his part, the guitarist slides and scrapes along the strings below the bridge and pops the strings head on with mallet-like blows. Piezo pickups may be in use, but if they’re not, somehow Sehnaoui still manages to create oscillating buzzes equivalent to the trumpeters’ droning resonation.

Essentially spherical in construction, the six-track CD is defiant in its staccato dissonance, with no crescendos or diminuendos. Instead chiming friction, yawning echoes, thick, metallic-sounding rotations and jack-hammer like patterns are followed. Tremolo tonguing and a series of onomatopoeic and animal-like tones encompassing dog yelps, feline purrs and woodpecker patterns are more prominent than traditional brass notes.

Considering these sessions plumb the limits of trumpet expression in improvisation without remotely resembling one another, both confirm the versatility of a brass instrument duo.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Double: 1. Hebeshebewebe I 2. YX 6C 3, Broken Shadows 4. Hebeshebewebe II Suite Miscellaneous 5. Triple Duo 6. mm (pf) 7. Miscellaneous 8. Kush 9. Notes from an Autumn Diary

Personnel: Double: Stephen Haynes (trumpet and cornet); Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Alan Jaffe and Mary Halvorson (guitars); Warren Smith and Thomas Fujiwara (drums)

Track Listing: 3:1: 1. 0: 0 2. 1: 0 3. 2:0 4. half-time 5. 2:1 6. 3:1

Personnel: 3:1: Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher (trumpets) and Sharif Sehnaoui (guitar)

November 14, 2008

Stephen Haynes-Taylor Ho Bynum

The Double Trio
Engine e026

Mazen Kerbaj/Birgit Ulher/Sharif Sehnaoui

3:1

Creative Sources CS 110 CD

Throughout the history of improvised music and jazz, two-trumpet sessions have never been as popular as duets between saxophonists. Oh there were dates featuring Art Framer and Donald Byrd in the 1950s, for example, and Roy Hargrove and Marlon Jordan in the 1980s, plus a whole collection of Norman Granz-instigated blowing sessions in between. But it seems as if the preferred locus for dual improvising is a commingling of many saxophone keys rather than sets of three valves.

Twenty-first century musicians don’t seem to be limited by these conventions and both of these notable CDs centre on the sounds produced by two trumpets – or a cornet in Taylor Ho Bynum’s case. Each session also includes guitar. Yet the disparity between the discs isn’t that the two brass players – Stephen Haynes is the other besides Bynum – on The Double Trio, are spelled by two guitarists and two drummers, while guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui alone provides the additional sounds besides those exhaled by trumpeters Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher on 3:1.

Rather the reason for the marked divergence in conception and creation between the CDs is that The Double Trio takes its impetus from Free Jazz, while 3:1 is in the Free Music tradition. Furthermore while the players on The Double Trio – note the echo of Ornette Coleman’s double quartet here – are for the most part playing tune-oriented music in its broadest sense, Kerbaj, Ulher and Sehnaoui are manipulating sounds.

Bynum’s seconds are guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Thomas Fujiwara, both of whom have worked with him in other situations, including his stand-alone trio. Meanwhile Haynes, a Connecticut-based arts advocate and educator, who has worked with everyone from Bill Dixon to the Dells, is backed by seldom-heard guitarist Alan Jaffe and veteran percussionist Warren Smith.

Not that the interactive polyphony splits into trio verses trio. For instance on “mm (pf)”, the second part of “Suite Miscellaneous”, both trumpeters squeeze lip-burbling Bronx cheers from their horn as the drums rattle and the dual guitars strum and pick. Progressing in a tempo close to a drunken stagger, the horns parry interjections from the guitars that turn to descending licks while the drummers beat paradiddles and flams. Eventually the brass timbres divide, with one smoothly tattooing the melody and the other ejecting skyscraper-high notes. As the piece turns to diminuendo percussion rebounds, off-centre guitar frailing meld with downward slithering trumpet lines.

In contrast, Bynum’s “YX 6C” comes complete with a rhythmically sophisticated melody, chorded in African High-Life fashion by Halvorson. As the drums roll and rebound, the cornetist’s brassy blasts shape this serpentine construction chromatically, as it’s further decorated by Haynes’ slide-whistle-like discord. While the guitarists conclude by crunching splayed runs together, one plectrumist recaps the initial theme as one drummer continues outputting ruffs.

Even more traditional – in this Free Jazz context – is the six’s treatment of Coleman’s “Broken Shadows”. When one drummer press rolls, the other splashes cymbals, as the guitarists expose a sonic rainbow of finger picking, crossing and re-crossing one another’s lines until the sprightly melody is heard again. Then as the brass players contrapuntally spin out the theme, one guitarist sounds a distorted counter-theme. On other places on the CD, wood-block smacks are heard and one of the brass men –Haynes? – outputs a series of Miles Davis-like smears and slurs on top of booming strumming from the dual guitars.

There’s nothing that overt on 3:1, concerned as it is with textures and tones rather than linear improvisation. With no hierarchical division between the front and backline, each instrument has the same prominence, with Sehnaoui’s playing as obtuse and opaque as the trumpeters’. His looping asides and pedal point string sweeps do however provide a fundamental base on which the tongue slaps, mouthpiece oscillations and spit blows that characterize much of the brass exposition can rest. Discerning Ulher’s singular contributions from Kazen’s is nearly impossible, except for passages on “0:0” where the falsetto yelps are probably from her horn and the basso slurs from his.

Most of the session is concerned with shaping dissonance into movement, with both trumpeters auditioning the results of such extended technique as air-blowing without moving the valves, buzzing the mouthpiece against a solid object, playing quick bursts of concentrated triplets and spluttering and humming through the horn’s lead tube. For his part, the guitarist slides and scrapes along the strings below the bridge and pops the strings head on with mallet-like blows. Piezo pickups may be in use, but if they’re not, somehow Sehnaoui still manages to create oscillating buzzes equivalent to the trumpeters’ droning resonation.

Essentially spherical in construction, the six-track CD is defiant in its staccato dissonance, with no crescendos or diminuendos. Instead chiming friction, yawning echoes, thick, metallic-sounding rotations and jack-hammer like patterns are followed. Tremolo tonguing and a series of onomatopoeic and animal-like tones encompassing dog yelps, feline purrs and woodpecker patterns are more prominent than traditional brass notes.

Considering these sessions plumb the limits of trumpet expression in improvisation without remotely resembling one another, both confirm the versatility of a brass instrument duo.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Double: 1. Hebeshebewebe I 2. YX 6C 3, Broken Shadows 4. Hebeshebewebe II Suite Miscellaneous 5. Triple Duo 6. mm (pf) 7. Miscellaneous 8. Kush 9. Notes from an Autumn Diary

Personnel: Double: Stephen Haynes (trumpet and cornet); Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet); Alan Jaffe and Mary Halvorson (guitars); Warren Smith and Thomas Fujiwara (drums)

Track Listing: 3:1: 1. 0: 0 2. 1: 0 3. 2:0 4. half-time 5. 2:1 6. 3:1

Personnel: 3:1: Mazen Kerbaj and Birgit Ulher (trumpets) and Sharif Sehnaoui (guitar)

November 14, 2008

ANDRE VIDA

Child Real Eyes
Vidatone 5

ANTHONY BRAXTON
Quintet (London) 2004
Leo Records CD LR 449

Novelist Christopher Isherwood titled one of his autobiographical volumes “My Guru and his Disciple” and it appears that the majority of musicians who have come into the orbit of multi-reedist Anthony Braxton have the same sentiments.

As one of Free Jazz’s most influential players, composers, orchestrators and, for more than two decades, an educator, guru Braxton has affected two or three generations of improvisers, most of whom take something unique from his teaching. Arguably the most important non-mainstream jazz pedagogue since pianist Lennie Tristano, Braxton’s disciples often play in his ensembles. Furthermore, in contrast to Tristanto, Braxton loves to record, to such an extent, that he can usually be called upon to second his former students on disc. So far he’s lent his talents to CDs featuring among others trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, accordion player Ted Reichmann, saxophonist Scott Rosenberg and Andre Vida, the reedist who leads CHILD REAL EYES.

Released around the same time, QUNITET (LONDON) 2004, is a memorable CD featuring the guru and a group of his former students performing one lengthy –

almost 49½ minute – composition and its encore. An evolution from his repetitive and microtonal Ghost Trance Music, the exhilaration in “Composition 343” is palpable, with the reedist and his four sidefolk recalling the prickly and incisive experimentation of Braxton’s earliest Free Jazz outings.

More mixed is the collaboration with Vida. Not only do both play six reeds each, leading to often similar sounding textures, but when cellist Loren Dempster and drummer Tyshawn Sorey join them, the backing is so obtuse on certain pieces that the words fussy and sombre come to mind before legato.

Vida, who was part of reed section for Braxton’s ninetet and tentet gigs in the late 1990s, makes his best statements by staying away from woodwinds such as alto and sopranino saxophones on which the older musician have evolved his own sound. That said, another drawback is the curiously unfinished quality of some tracks. Like some “Saturday Night Live” skits, you get the feeling that the two decided on what they wanted to say – singly and together – but never worked out a precise sketch ending.

Breaking free of too many horizontal lines, the most memorable tracks such as “Rising”" and “Child Real Eyes II” make their points by completing thoughts and definitively delineating each part. For example, the former is a melodious mix of musette-like Bb soprano saxophone lines from Braxton that trill and vibrate, while Vida’s tenor saxophone holds the bottom firm. By the time Braxton heads into peeping and squealing territory, false fingering and split tones seem as accepted as arpeggios.

On the later track, the two reedists polytonally play off one another’s timbres, with one tongue-slapping and the other squeaking and spewing pointy tones. Then in the middle section, double counterpoint takes on mellow modulations until the theme reappears with Vida playing it straight and the older saxist adding double-tongued roughness.

Similarly, the quartet tunes range from notable to almost-ran. Sadly, because it lacks a true ending, “Tentz ” is one of the later, since the rolls and bounces from Tyshawn Sorey, who now works regularly with pianist Vijay Iyer, balance the cellist’s broken octave line and Vida rugged baritone saxophone color. It’s an instrument he should investigate further, since he manages to create a full, moderato sound without ever resorting to the big horn’s tricks of the trade – bottom scrapping or bass note overemphasis.

Dempster’s effortless bow pressure on “Opening” – strangely placed ninth in the program – uses almost bel canto portamento that meshes perfectly with the harmonic convergence between Vida’s tenor saxophone and Braxton’s alto. The climax features a groundswell of extended slides, slurs and tongue spits from the two saxes, played rubato, but without every one breaking the solid motion of the tune.

QUNITET (LONDON) 2004 features a completely different cast: trumpeter Bynum, who has done notable work with his own bands; guitarist Mary Halvorson, who often works in a duo with another Braxton sideperson, violinist Mary Pavone; bassist Chris Dahlgren, who has recorded in the co-op 3D band; and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, who works with cellist Erik Friedlander. Categorically, it provides conclusive evidence of the composer’s mature talents.

Constructed with a recurring thematic motif, “Composition 343” isn’t controlled by it as some of Braxton’s Ghost Trance compositions were. Showing his faith in the performers, the reedist gives everyone solo space, while dividing the band into smaller groups. When Bynum and Dahlgren improvise together for example, Braxton bounces lines off Halvorson’s guitar runs.

As unobtrusive, but more upfront than Sorey is on the other disc, Takeishi concentrates on rhythmic off-beats, cross handed bounces and cymbals flicks. Meanwhile, the only time the bassist really asserts himself is at the composition’s midpoint when he intermingles dissonant tones with the guitarist to encircle the percussionist’s pummeling that could come from a conga or a log drum.

On their own Halvorson and Bynum are spectacular soloists. At times she fingers multi-effects from her instrument, while the trumpeter slurs buzzy, spittle-encrusted elevated notes from his. During most of the performance, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, Bynum warbles muted timbres, though at one point he answers a section of Braxton’s fleet, reed-biting sopranino trills with whinnying plunger work. Plus he’s not adverse to unleashing a flurry of triplets or undulating grace notes if occasion arises.

Alternately strumming and finger-picking, the guitarist confirms her status as a plectrumist to hear as she showcases tremolo lines behind Braxton’s irregular vibrations, or downstrokes cascading notes in unison with Braxton’s raw shrieks. When Bynum wah-wahs and Braxton outputs a more legato line, she counters with staccato phrasing or with expressions that seem to take their pulsations from the properties of the effects pedals and the amp rather than the guitar’s strings or body.

Compositionally, Braxton combines with one or the other front liners to recapitulate the main theme at interval through the piece. This seems almost conventionally jazz-like. Furthermore, any naysayer hearing his brawny, multi-faceted solos would be hard pressed to explain how the reedist can be characterized as anti-jazz or as a non-swinger. In the piece’s penultimate minutes in fact, he vibrates the sort of pinched split tones that used to characterize Archie Shepp’s work of the 1960s.

Earlier with corrosive cross blowing and a powerful vibrato, he cries and growls simultaneously through his horn, continuously forcing out multiphonic breaths. Then, just before the conclusion, after the final theme variation, his staccatissimo flutter tonguing reaches such a tempo that Bynum’s plunger decorations and Halvorson’s speedy chromatic flanges move from decoration to polyphonic crescendo.

A must-have for those Braxton followers and others looking for a memorable keeper, QUINTET (LONDON) 2004 provides a marker to which Vida can aspire. Nonetheless there’s enough promise on CHILD REAL EYES to make it open to investigation as well.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Child: 1. Purrls 2. Child Real Eyes I 3. Till 4.Gypsy Star 5. Child Real Eyes II 6. Tentz 7. Rising 8. Tentz 9. Opening 10. Gypsy Star 11. Teruglio

Personnel: Child: Andre Vida (tenor saxophone on 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9; Eb baritone saxophone on 6, 8, Bb soprano saxophone on 10; C-melody saxophone on 4 and taragato, tenor saxophone and Bb clarinet on 11); Anthony Braxton (alto saxophone on 1, 2 5, 8, 9, 10, Bb clarinet on 3, Eb sopranino sax on 6, Bb soprano sax on 7, Eb contra-alto clarinet on 11, F-mezzo soprano on 4; Loren Dempster (cello); Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

Track Listing: London: 1. Composition 343 Part 1 2. Composition 343 Part 2

Personnel: London: Taylor Ho Bynum (trumpet); Anthony Braxton (F, alto, B flat soprano saxophones and E flat sopranino); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Chris Dahlgren (bass); Satoshi Takeishi (percussion)

March 13, 2006

MAP

Six Improvisations for Guitar, Bass and Drums
H&H Productions HH-1

OLAF RUPP/TONY BUCK/JOE WILLIAMSON
Weird Weapons
EMANEM 4119

Put aside the associations you have developed for conventional guitar trios like those lead by Jim Hall or the late Charlie Byrd. Similarly exploratory, the title of MAP’s CD could work for either band. At the same time both sessions –serendipitously recorded two months apart – additionally highlight the global reach of free music.

Both trios are made up of musicians from three different countries. MAP is an American/Australian/Japanese trio; Rupp, Buck and Williamson are respectively from Germany, Australia and Canada. While you can’t ascribe merit to internationalism, it’s possible that different experiences and a communal exhibition of technical dexterity have gone into producing these dazzling CDs.

American guitarist Mary Halvorson plays in Anthony Braxton’s sextet and has an improvising duo with violist Mary Pavone; Australian bassist Clayton Thomas has worked with players ranging from multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore of Manhattan to trumpeter Axel Dörner of Berlin; and Kobe-born percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, who now lives in Easton, Penn. has partnered explorers like French saxophonist Michel Doneda.

Self-taught, Saarlouis-born guitarist Olaf Rupp has worked with representative figures of the international avant garde, from American saxophonist John Zorn to Tuvan vocalist Sainkho Namtchylak. Vancouver-born, now London-based Williamson plays with improvisers from the Netherlands like drummer Han Bennink and reedist Ab Baars. Sydney-born Buck has played with people like Zorn and Amsterdam-based The Ex. One-third of Australian microtonal The Necks band, another member is pianist Chris Abrahams, who has also recorded with bassist Thomas.

MAP’s six improvisations are laid-back and succinct compare to WEIRD WEAPONS’ two in-your-face note explosions. The first, “Naugahyde”, which times in at nearly 34 minutes, is almost as lengthy as the other band’s entire CD, which is about 37 minutes long.

Partitioning this brevity, Halvorson mostly sticks to patterning, gentle strumming and finger taps on the guitar’s neck. Col legno, sul tasto and sul ponticello thrusts characterize Thomas’ responses. Meanwhile Nakatani extends the pitches and accents available from his drum set with, gongs, cymbals, singing bowls and metal objects plus various sticks and bows.

Because of this it’s often the guitar melodies and rhythms that link these compositions, as the bassist and percussionist rattle, ratchet and rasps their parts. Throughout, timbre melding amplifies many of the trio’s individual gestures. Of the improvisations the final track is the most singular. An example of how concentrated pulsations can replicate electronic-like patterns without plugged-in instruments, an interlude featuring Halvorson’s overloaded buzzing amp is actually an anomaly. Instead flanged pulses evolve from absolute music with the percussionist producing gongs or tam tam-like sounds, and Thomas applying col legno pressure that turns mechanized as the guitarist contributes distinctive slack-key-like tones.

Earlier, on the third and longest improv, it appears that Thomas’ spiccato strokes are intensified with horizontal sticks rammed between the strings, Nakatani’s bell-ringing involves echoing resonation with its placement on top of a cymbal, and Halvorson’s shuffling, single-note placement, enlarged with amp distortion suggests a parallel but contrapuntal line. With all three performing veloce, the percussionist exposes cymbal claps plus ruffs and bounces on the drums. As the finger-picked guitar notes become faster, wider and more splayed, the guitarist ratchets up the tempo to slur them into one another. MVP here, the bassist not only walks but batters the waist and ribs of the instrument’s wood.

With the pulses reaching a blurred crescendo of distorted speed, the piece downshifts to reverberating twangs that sound as if they migrated from the first Pink Floyd LP, finally climaxing as Nakatani jabs sticks at every part of his drums but the tops, producing a fortissimo but final crash.

Such barely constrained sonic violence also predominates on WEIRD WEAPONDS. The entirety of both tracks is almost made up with the kind of dissonant intensity which characterize MAP at its most engaged. Distinctively enough, Rupp thrusts his tough arpeggios and distinctive tremolo into the dense playing situation with an acoustic, nylon-string guitar.

Clusters of sound and energy predominate – agitato, prestissimo and fortissimo – with the sweeping guitar string patterns, pressured bass notes and chain shaking and ratcheting percussion reminiscent of an early Derek Bailey trio, if the British guitarist had worked with, say, drummer Roger Turner as well as bassist Barry Guy.

Organized around hard, repetitive down strokes from Rupp, cross-patterning frails and fills from Buck and basement echoing col legno spans from Williamson, the effect is what you imagine the soundtrack would reflect if a trio of mad scientists were foraging through a combination laboratory and junk shop.

Tapping and slapping tones on the bridge and up the neck, the guitar is a perpetual motion machine with its tremolos and diamond-hard string snaps often turning to note clusters. Retorts take the form of rammed floor kettle and snare tops and drumstick dragged across the ride cymbal, as well as J. Arthur Rank-like gong soundings. Blunt, irregular patterns take up another portion of the tracks, with the bassist seemingly intent on never appending a continuum.

Eventually, at about the half-way point, when it appears that no more muscle could be applied to any of the instruments the polyphonic cooperation reaches a crescendo. Rupp turns to banjo-like chromatic effects, Buck to accelerating metallic-splashes and slashes, and Williamson to constantly changing patterning and accents. With every aural cavity crammed all have to slam on the metaphorical brakes, which they do with gradual s sul ponticello bass lines, rigid string snapping and scrapped and patted drum bounces.

Each of the overlong tracks – “Spandex” counts in at a smidgen less than 24 minutes – evolves the same way, with the contrapuntal dynamics reaching such a pitch of unrestrained excitement that you hardly noticed the passing of time – although each independently reaches a satisfactory cool down and conclusion.

MAP and Rupp, Buck and Williamson use supplementary implements and a mind set that takes unexpected timbres and electronics into the mix when improvising. Yet the results – especially for the musically adventurous – are as satisfying as any conventional guitar-bass-drum trio session you may have heard in the past.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Weird: 1. Naugahyde 2. Spandex

Personnel: Weird: Olaf Rupp (guitar); Joe Williamson (bass); Tony Buck (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Six: 1. Improvisation 1 2. Improvisation 2 3. Improvisation 3 4. Improvisation 4 5. Improvisation 5 6. Improvisation 6

Personnel: Six: Mary Halvorson (guitar); Clayton Thomas (bass); Tatsuya Nakatani (drums and percussion)

December 12, 2005

MASASHI HARADA CONDANCTION ENSEMBLE

Enterprising Mass of Cilia (2001)
Emanem 4109

ASSIF TSAHAR & THE NEW YORK UNDERGROUND ORCHESTRA
Fragments
Hopscotch Records HOP27

Utilizing instrumentation more commonly associated with notated chamber music than improvisation, these Boston and New York-based ensembles become individually crafted vehicles upon which the leaders/conductors express themselves.

Although both the 10-piece Conduction Ensemble from Boston and the 19-piece New York Underground Orchestra are top-heavy with string players, the resulting performances bear very little resemblance to one another. Japanese-born, Boston-based Masashi Harada’s version of conduction promulgates a collective creation where each minute gesture or sound is consolidated into a dense whole. He calls his creations music of body. ENTERPRISING MASS OF CILIA’s nearly 66½ minutes may be divided into nine tracks, but the impression is that of a single, dense creation.

By elimination then, FRAGMENTS must be music of mind. Israeli-born Assif Tsahar, a reedist who now divides his time between New York and Europe, envisions a looser structure. On each of the 16 [!] tracks, that combined take up only slightly more than 50½ minutes, the soloist or soloists are named. Despite its title, the CD doesn’t appear to be any more fragmented than CILIA. Like a thought-out jazz composition, these interludes aren’t an interruption but an individual embellishment of the evolving theme.

That said, with the tracks raging in time from slightly more than six to slightly under one minute, not all players make an impression. The most distinctive are trumpeter Nate Wooley, clarinetist Charles Waters, guitarist Mary Halvorson and violist Lev Zhurbin. Instructively, except for Zhurbin, the others are making their name in the Free Jazz arena, Halvorson with Anthony Braxton, Wooley for his work with trombonist Steve Swell and Waters as a member of Gold Sparkle band. Moscow-born, New York-based Zhurbin splits his skills among jazz, so-called classical and film music. Curiously, as well, the only crossover player on these sessions is percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, who again is more of an individual presence on the Tsahar work.

In fact, Zhurbin’s output might be the most memorable here. Exhibiting a minor key, Eastern-European melancholy, his extended double-stopping and upper partial exhibitions are effectively complemented by variously metallic percussion pulses, frailing and clawhammer picking from Halvorson or squealing flutes, reeds and lower-pitched strings. Elsewhere there’s even a point where the two bassists play a line that almost walks into mainstream jazz.

Chording and/or picking, the guitarist can make common cause with harsh and repetitive counterpoint from each of the four string sections, since unison playing usually confirms their legato, harmonic tendencies. Meanwhile Wooley asserts himself, adding plunger alterations and rippling chromatic work on top of a glissando of riffing, ponticello strings.

Pitch-sliding discord characterizes Waters solos as well. Squealing split tones linked to pummeled percussion from Nakatani almost shove one track into the Free Jazz arena, as he alternates multiphonics with contrapuntal string fills. Rim shot rolls and nerve beats from the sticks, as well as soft plinks from unselected cymbals are Nakatani’s response to the finale. All the while Waters vibrates double-tongued squeals from his clarinet, marking the highest range of a soundscape that elsewhere goes ever which way, including tuba burps and alternating vamping and hoe-down fiddle tones.

One earlier piece rotates on top of pedal-point tuba expression, gradually converging string textures and a single resonated cymbal slap. Another seems to ooze fluttering electronic-type hisses although no electronics are present.

That isn’t the case on CILIA – James Coleman plays theremin and Vic Rawlings manipulates electronics as well as his cello. Almost without exception though, the players featured here are minimalists who before that and since have helped develop techniques to suggest electronic signals from all acoustic tones. Two of the players, saxophonist Bhob Rainey and trumpeter Greg Kelley are particularly adroit. But on the tracks here, when they can be detected, the saxman plays lines or mouth pops and the brassman, exhibits plunger extrusions that he usually reserves for infrequent Free Music sideman gigs.

Overall, the texture is much denser than on FRAGMENTS, with such ordinarily opposite tones as oscillating accordion squeezes, swirling, spiccato string entries and ghostly theremin squawks interlaced so tightly that individualism isn’t an option. With many tones piled on top of one another and solidified, group improvisation is most prominent.

Harada’s vision is paramount. So if sibilant wind from the squeeze box, thumps from percussion, sputtering reed work or what seems to be a jocular hunt-and-peck arco shuffle from the bass and cellos peeks out, soon, like an animal caught in quicksand, it vanishes beneath the writhing concentrated musical mass. Mostly unison and sometimes polyphonic, solid pulsation doesn’t make this CD any less memorable than the other. Except, that is, for those few times when the loops, scratches and sequences appear to draw so closely together that they nearly become immobile and there’s a danger that the CD will ground to a halt.

Luckily it’s at these points that Harada’s conduction skills, or physical impulses from the players, translate into motion. Whether it be minute pizzicato from the strings, the screech of an individual fiddler or an extended spew from the horns, it gives all 10 new directions, propelling them into fresh spectral whirls.

Unlike FRAGMENTS, with its solo variations however, this performance is so uniform and viscous that it never develops enough singularity or identity. When it’s completed as well, it merely ends. Perhaps in the three years since it was recorded, Harada’s solid sound blocks have developed more distinguishing characteristics.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Fragments: 1. First 2. Second 3. Third 4. Fourth 5. Fifth 6. Sixth 7. Seventh 8. Eighth 9. Ninth 10. Tenth 11. Eleventh 12. Twelfth 13. Thirteenth 14. Fourteenth 15. Fifteenth 16. Sixteenth

Personnel: Fragments: Nate Wooley, Sam Hoyt (trumpets); Christopher Meeder (tuba); Charles Waters (clarinet); Natacha Diels, Leah Paul and Jecca Barry (flutes); Mary Halvorson (guitar); Philippa Thompson, Leanne Darling and Jana Andevska (violins); Lev Zhurbin, Jessica Pavone (violas); Loren Dempster, Gil Selinger and Audrey Chen (celli); Terence Murren, Todd Nicholson (basses) Tatsuya Nakatani (percussion); Assif Tsahar (conductor)

Track Listing: Cilia: 1. Spools 2. Enterprising Mass of Cilia 3. Procession of Echo 4. Physio-Mechanical Pulse 5. A Room 6. Sprouting Self-Similarity 7. Element of Resistance 8. Distance Propitiate 9. Fleeting Despot

Personnel: Cilia: Greg Kelley (trumpet); Bhob Rainey (soprano saxophone); Aleta Cole (violin); Frederic Viger (viola); Jonathan Vincent (accordion); Glynis Lomon (cello); Vic Rawlings (cello and electronics); Mike Bullock (bass); James Coleman (theremin)

July 17, 2005