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

William Parker Double Quartet

Alphaville Suite
Rogue Art: ROG 0010

William Parker/ Raining On The Moon

Corn Meal Dance

AUM Fidelity AUM043

William Parker

The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield – Live in Rome

Rai Trade RTPJ 0011

Concerned with different varieties of the Black vernacular experience, each of these fine CDs by bassist William Parker is impressive on its own. More profoundly each illustrates in a different way that the musical divisions among jazz, R&B, improvised music and soul are, in many cases, merely arbitrary.

Encompassing themes that are respectively populist (The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield), particular (Alphaville Suite) and highly personal (Corn Meal Dance), the sessions are stimulated not only by the resourcefulness of Parker’s compositions and arrangements, but by emphatic contributions from other band members. Although the personnel vary from disc to disc, each group includes, besides Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, trumpeter Lewis Barnes, and most spectacularly, vocalist Leena Conquest.

A Dallas native who has also worked with jazz-funk vibesman Roy Ayers and neo-bop pianist Mulgrew Miller, Conquest’s impressive vocal range, elevated diction and theatrical presentation pushes the performances on each of her appearance with the combo(s) another notch higher. No strident scat singer or flighty diva, she’s heir both to the clearly enunciated soul tradition of Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin and to the socio-political undertakings of Abby Lincoln and Jeanne Lee.

That’s one inadvertent disappointment on Alphaville, since as “special guest” Conquest sings only on two short tracks. On the other hand the instrumental work is Parker’s most precise, since his compositions and arrangements salute the themes and influence of Alphaville, French director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film classic. To amplify his compositional palate for the CD, Parker’s core trio is joined by his usual reed partner, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, plus a post-modern version of a string quartet: Mazz Swift on violin, Jessica Pavone on viola and cellists Julia Kent and Shiau-Shu Yu.

Rather than being used for conventional sweetening, the string performances are instead most often angular, spiccato and staccato, adding discordant arpeggios and shredded pulsations which at separate times cleave to Parker’s strummed centre tones or Brown’s skittering vibrato.

Although the CD is an exceptional showcase for the alto man’s tart, neo-bop tongue fluttering, it doesn’t mean that he’s the only soloist who excels here. Drake’s bass drum breaks and shadowed paradiddles add percussive heft to the 10 tracks. Meanwhile, to pick another highlight, Barnes’ trumpet flourishes and muted runs are involved in a contrapuntal duet with the thumping bass line on “Alpha 60”. Another theme is elaborated by Barnes’ darting, swift half-valve brass effects as well as Drake’s single cymbal reverberations, succeeded by sul ponticello circular bowing from the five strings. Its summation involves Barnes’ bugling tempo changes, bent notes and an extended mouthpiece tongue kiss.

With its loping Crime Jazz-like theme filled with sharp arco patterning and splintered tension-release “Doctor Badguy” is one of the two most programmatic tracks here; the other, “Interrogation”, depends on the aural images crated by descending double-pumping massed strings. Still, “Civilizations of the Light”, which was in Duke Ellington-fashion put together in the studio on the day of recording, proves that thematic fidelity doesn’t fully supersede improvisational smarts.

Composed with an almost Latinesque cast the tune has violinist Swift’s fierce, discursive solo introduce contrapuntal shrieks from other strings followed by their tremolo, squeezed triplets and Brown’s spilling arpeggios. Parker’s obbligato whorls finally order the extensions into a connective line. Andante, the contrapuntal horn and string patterns are constricted in the finale courtesy of a walking bass line and Drake’s rim shots.

The string section had been left at home three years previously when Parker and company played a jazz festival in Rome. In their place – and to provide more rhythmic impetus to this salute to Chicago Soul songwriter Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) – is Daryl Foster on soprano and tenor saxophones, Sabir Mateen on tenor and alto saxophones and pianist Dave Burrell, plus Barnes, Parker and Conquest. In glorious voice, Conquest personifies the Mayfield’s material which encompasses his period with the Impressions (“People Get Ready”) as well as tunes from his influential Superfly soundtrack (“Freddie’s Dead”).

Adding to the purported street cred of the performance is the voice and poetry of professional Black firebrand Amiri Baraka. Although his sardonic, Afro-nationalism adds a few wryly poetic quips to the encore of “Freddie’s Dead” – he even gets off a line about Italy’s ex-right-wing premier Silvio Berlusconi – too often his nattering and mumbling interferes with Conquest’s soaring vocalizing.

Overall a rollicking affair, Parker’s chunky bass lines bring to mind Motown’s 1960s low-string vamp master James Jamerson, the riffing horn section channels 1960s Stax-Volt, while Drake’s stout backbeat could have gotten him R&B studio gigs during Mayfield’s Windy City heyday. Burrell, who has always been comfortable with piano history, adds pre-modern and conscious primitvist inflections to his two-handed accompaniment. Most spectacularly, on “Think” he pulls off the feat of creating a solo that’s simultaneously half-gospel and half-rococo.

However this is also the tune where Foster’s lightweight soprano sax obbligato appears to be paying homage to Grover Washington rather than more substantial players, while Baraka’s shouts and growls are merely annoying. Only Conquest’s verbal tonality and Mateen’s larger horn snorts keep things on an even keel.

Centrepiece of the performance is an almost 21-minute version of Mayfield’s “We Are The People Who Are Darker Than Blue”, with full-bore shuffle rhythm from Drake and undercurrent of riffing horns. Maintaining her bel canto take on the lyrics and backed by Burrell’s gospelish chording and low-frequency coloration, Conquest’s melodious inhabiting of the lyrics provides a profound foundation for Baraka’s heavily rhythmic Afro-American chanting. Later she reveals a hitherto unexposed talent, using scatting glossolalia to blend with Mateen’s altissimo squeaks and slides, while the pianist’s comping accelerates to house-party-style riffs.

A pianist of a far different background joins Parker and company on Corn Meal Dance, which is the newest and perhaps most fully realized CD here. Eri Yamamoto usually plays in more mainstream, piano-trio settings, including on an earlier disc with Parker. Here though, her references are high-frequency near-honky-tonk cadences, which are appropriate for this slice of the modern Black experience reflected not only in the bassist’s compositions, but his gnarly, poetic lyrics as well,

Luckily Conquest is on hand again for verbal interpretation, along with Drake, Barnes and Brown providing the musical ballast. Parker’s imagery appears to equally reflect agit-prop, Black folk tales, the stridency of 1970s’ Gil Scott-Heron and Bob Dylan’s 1960s surrealistic song-poetry. When provided with the proper setting, notable performances result.

“Gilmore’s Hat”, for instance, a light-hearted salute to John Gilmore, the late Sun Ra tenor saxophonist, is a stop-time hand-clapper with snappy words personalized by Conquest, and the music illuminated by Brown’s choked slithery reed lines, wah-wah expansions from Barnes and backbeat rolls from Drake. It concludes with perfectly pitched scatting from the vocalist. On the other hand, proper gravitas is reflected in Conquest’s interpretation of “Tutsi Orphans”, as the band’s vamps underlies this tragic tale of inter-tribal genocide, echoing similar situations in many other Africa countries.

Even better are the overtly political Soledad” and “Land Song”, which unlike Baraka’s limp attempts at relevancy on the Italian disc, manage to score points while remaining sonically first-rate. The latter tune is built up from unison horn lines and metronomic piano key battering, and has lyrics which cleverly mix contemporary asides with references to traditional post-Reconstruction inequalities. Featuring bull fiddle rumbles and drum rolls, it’s also a solo high point on the session for Brown who illustrates the theme with crying, evocative tones.

Mixing a blues progression and progressive lyrics in the mold of Max Roach’s and Charles Mingus’ 1960s militancy, “Soledad” gains its unmistakable power from the sincerity in Conquest’s voice, which in turn humanizes Parker’s lyrics no matter how far-fetched or obscurely poetic. Barnes’ high-pitched obbligatos provide perfect counterpoint to the singer’s warbling, yodeling and soulful groans.

Each of these outstanding discs provides an opportunity to sample the work of two artists – Parker and Conquest – in full maturity. All are worthy of your time.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Inside: 1. The Makings Of You 2. People Get Ready 3. Inside Song #1 4. We Are The People Who Are Darker Than Blue 5. Spoken Introduction 6. Think 7. Freddie’s Dead

Personnel: Inside: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Daryl Foster (soprano and tenor saxophones); Sabir Mateen (tenor and alto saxophones); Dave Burrell (piano); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums); Leena Conquest (voice) and Amiri Baraka (voice and poetry)

Track Listing: Alphaville: 1. Alphaville Main Theme 2. Journey to the End of the Night 4. Natasha’s Theme I 5. Interrogation 6. Alpha 60 7. Oceanville Evening 8. Civilization of Light 9. Outlands 10. Natasha’s Theme II

Personnel: Alphaville: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Mazz Swift (violin); Jessica Pavone (viola); Julia Kent and Shiau-Shu Yu (cellos); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums) and Leena Conquest (voice)

Track Listing: Corn: 1. Doctor Yesterday 2. Tutsi Orphans 3. Poem for June Jordan 4. Soledad 5. Corn Meal Dance 6. Land Song 7. Prayer 8. Old Tears 9. Gilmore’s Hat

Personnel: Corn: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Eri Yamamoto (piano); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums) and Leena Conquest (voice)

March 28, 2008

William Parker/Raining On The Moon

Corn Meal Dance
AUM Fidelity AUM043

William Parker Double Quartet

Alphaville Suite

Rogue Art: ROG 0010

William Parker

The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield – Live in Rome

Rai Trade RTPJ 0011

Concerned with different varieties of the Black vernacular experience, each of these fine CDs by bassist William Parker is impressive on its own. More profoundly each illustrates in a different way that the musical divisions among jazz, R&B, improvised music and soul are, in many cases, merely arbitrary.

Encompassing themes that are respectively populist (The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield), particular (Alphaville Suite) and highly personal (Corn Meal Dance), the sessions are stimulated not only by the resourcefulness of Parker’s compositions and arrangements, but by emphatic contributions from other band members. Although the personnel vary from disc to disc, each group includes, besides Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, trumpeter Lewis Barnes, and most spectacularly, vocalist Leena Conquest.

A Dallas native who has also worked with jazz-funk vibesman Roy Ayers and neo-bop pianist Mulgrew Miller, Conquest’s impressive vocal range, elevated diction and theatrical presentation pushes the performances on each of her appearance with the combo(s) another notch higher. No strident scat singer or flighty diva, she’s heir both to the clearly enunciated soul tradition of Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin and to the socio-political undertakings of Abby Lincoln and Jeanne Lee.

That’s one inadvertent disappointment on Alphaville, since as “special guest” Conquest sings only on two short tracks. On the other hand the instrumental work is Parker’s most precise, since his compositions and arrangements salute the themes and influence of Alphaville, French director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film classic. To amplify his compositional palate for the CD, Parker’s core trio is joined by his usual reed partner, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, plus a post-modern version of a string quartet: Mazz Swift on violin, Jessica Pavone on viola and cellists Julia Kent and Shiau-Shu Yu.

Rather than being used for conventional sweetening, the string performances are instead most often angular, spiccato and staccato, adding discordant arpeggios and shredded pulsations which at separate times cleave to Parker’s strummed centre tones or Brown’s skittering vibrato.

Although the CD is an exceptional showcase for the alto man’s tart, neo-bop tongue fluttering, it doesn’t mean that he’s the only soloist who excels here. Drake’s bass drum breaks and shadowed paradiddles add percussive heft to the 10 tracks. Meanwhile, to pick another highlight, Barnes’ trumpet flourishes and muted runs are involved in a contrapuntal duet with the thumping bass line on “Alpha 60”. Another theme is elaborated by Barnes’ darting, swift half-valve brass effects as well as Drake’s single cymbal reverberations, succeeded by sul ponticello circular bowing from the five strings. Its summation involves Barnes’ bugling tempo changes, bent notes and an extended mouthpiece tongue kiss.

With its loping Crime Jazz-like theme filled with sharp arco patterning and splintered tension-release “Doctor Badguy” is one of the two most programmatic tracks here; the other, “Interrogation”, depends on the aural images crated by descending double-pumping massed strings. Still, “Civilizations of the Light”, which was in Duke Ellington-fashion put together in the studio on the day of recording, proves that thematic fidelity doesn’t fully supersede improvisational smarts.

Composed with an almost Latinesque cast the tune has violinist Swift’s fierce, discursive solo introduce contrapuntal shrieks from other strings followed by their tremolo, squeezed triplets and Brown’s spilling arpeggios. Parker’s obbligato whorls finally order the extensions into a connective line. Andante, the contrapuntal horn and string patterns are constricted in the finale courtesy of a walking bass line and Drake’s rim shots.

The string section had been left at home three years previously when Parker and company played a jazz festival in Rome. In their place – and to provide more rhythmic impetus to this salute to Chicago Soul songwriter Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) – is Daryl Foster on soprano and tenor saxophones, Sabir Mateen on tenor and alto saxophones and pianist Dave Burrell, plus Barnes, Parker and Conquest. In glorious voice, Conquest personifies the Mayfield’s material which encompasses his period with the Impressions (“People Get Ready”) as well as tunes from his influential Superfly soundtrack (“Freddie’s Dead”).

Adding to the purported street cred of the performance is the voice and poetry of professional Black firebrand Amiri Baraka. Although his sardonic, Afro-nationalism adds a few wryly poetic quips to the encore of “Freddie’s Dead” – he even gets off a line about Italy’s ex-right-wing premier Silvio Berlusconi – too often his nattering and mumbling interferes with Conquest’s soaring vocalizing.

Overall a rollicking affair, Parker’s chunky bass lines bring to mind Motown’s 1960s low-string vamp master James Jamerson, the riffing horn section channels 1960s Stax-Volt, while Drake’s stout backbeat could have gotten him R&B studio gigs during Mayfield’s Windy City heyday. Burrell, who has always been comfortable with piano history, adds pre-modern and conscious primitvist inflections to his two-handed accompaniment. Most spectacularly, on “Think” he pulls off the feat of creating a solo that’s simultaneously half-gospel and half-rococo.

However this is also the tune where Foster’s lightweight soprano sax obbligato appears to be paying homage to Grover Washington rather than more substantial players, while Baraka’s shouts and growls are merely annoying. Only Conquest’s verbal tonality and Mateen’s larger horn snorts keep things on an even keel.

Centrepiece of the performance is an almost 21-minute version of Mayfield’s “We Are The People Who Are Darker Than Blue”, with full-bore shuffle rhythm from Drake and undercurrent of riffing horns. Maintaining her bel canto take on the lyrics and backed by Burrell’s gospelish chording and low-frequency coloration, Conquest’s melodious inhabiting of the lyrics provides a profound foundation for Baraka’s heavily rhythmic Afro-American chanting. Later she reveals a hitherto unexposed talent, using scatting glossolalia to blend with Mateen’s altissimo squeaks and slides, while the pianist’s comping accelerates to house-party-style riffs.

A pianist of a far different background joins Parker and company on Corn Meal Dance, which is the newest and perhaps most fully realized CD here. Eri Yamamoto usually plays in more mainstream, piano-trio settings, including on an earlier disc with Parker. Here though, her references are high-frequency near-honky-tonk cadences, which are appropriate for this slice of the modern Black experience reflected not only in the bassist’s compositions, but his gnarly, poetic lyrics as well,

Luckily Conquest is on hand again for verbal interpretation, along with Drake, Barnes and Brown providing the musical ballast. Parker’s imagery appears to equally reflect agit-prop, Black folk tales, the stridency of 1970s’ Gil Scott-Heron and Bob Dylan’s 1960s surrealistic song-poetry. When provided with the proper setting, notable performances result.

“Gilmore’s Hat”, for instance, a light-hearted salute to John Gilmore, the late Sun Ra tenor saxophonist, is a stop-time hand-clapper with snappy words personalized by Conquest, and the music illuminated by Brown’s choked slithery reed lines, wah-wah expansions from Barnes and backbeat rolls from Drake. It concludes with perfectly pitched scatting from the vocalist. On the other hand, proper gravitas is reflected in Conquest’s interpretation of “Tutsi Orphans”, as the band’s vamps underlies this tragic tale of inter-tribal genocide, echoing similar situations in many other Africa countries.

Even better are the overtly political Soledad” and “Land Song”, which unlike Baraka’s limp attempts at relevancy on the Italian disc, manage to score points while remaining sonically first-rate. The latter tune is built up from unison horn lines and metronomic piano key battering, and has lyrics which cleverly mix contemporary asides with references to traditional post-Reconstruction inequalities. Featuring bull fiddle rumbles and drum rolls, it’s also a solo high point on the session for Brown who illustrates the theme with crying, evocative tones.

Mixing a blues progression and progressive lyrics in the mold of Max Roach’s and Charles Mingus’ 1960s militancy, “Soledad” gains its unmistakable power from the sincerity in Conquest’s voice, which in turn humanizes Parker’s lyrics no matter how far-fetched or obscurely poetic. Barnes’ high-pitched obbligatos provide perfect counterpoint to the singer’s warbling, yodeling and soulful groans.

Each of these outstanding discs provides an opportunity to sample the work of two artists – Parker and Conquest – in full maturity. All are worthy of your time.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Inside: 1. The Makings Of You 2. People Get Ready 3. Inside Song #1 4. We Are The People Who Are Darker Than Blue 5. Spoken Introduction 6. Think 7. Freddie’s Dead

Personnel: Inside: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Daryl Foster (soprano and tenor saxophones); Sabir Mateen (tenor and alto saxophones); Dave Burrell (piano); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums); Leena Conquest (voice) and Amiri Baraka (voice and poetry)

Track Listing: Alphaville: 1. Alphaville Main Theme 2. Journey to the End of the Night 4. Natasha’s Theme I 5. Interrogation 6. Alpha 60 7. Oceanville Evening 8. Civilization of Light 9. Outlands 10. Natasha’s Theme II

Personnel: Alphaville: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Mazz Swift (violin); Jessica Pavone (viola); Julia Kent and Shiau-Shu Yu (cellos); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums) and Leena Conquest (voice)

Track Listing: Corn: 1. Doctor Yesterday 2. Tutsi Orphans 3. Poem for June Jordan 4. Soledad 5. Corn Meal Dance 6. Land Song 7. Prayer 8. Old Tears 9. Gilmore’s Hat

Personnel: Corn: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Eri Yamamoto (piano); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums) and Leena Conquest (voice)

March 28, 2008

William Parker

The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield – Live in Rome
Rai Trade RTPJ 0011

William Parker/ Raining On The Moon

Corn Meal Dance

AUM Fidelity AUM043

William Parker Double Quartet

Alphaville Suite

Rogue Art: ROG 0010

Concerned with different varieties of the Black vernacular experience, each of these fine CDs by bassist William Parker is impressive on its own. More profoundly each illustrates in a different way that the musical divisions among jazz, R&B, improvised music and soul are, in many cases, merely arbitrary.

Encompassing themes that are respectively populist (The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield), particular (Alphaville Suite) and highly personal (Corn Meal Dance), the sessions are stimulated not only by the resourcefulness of Parker’s compositions and arrangements, but by emphatic contributions from other band members. Although the personnel vary from disc to disc, each group includes, besides Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, trumpeter Lewis Barnes, and most spectacularly, vocalist Leena Conquest.

A Dallas native who has also worked with jazz-funk vibesman Roy Ayers and neo-bop pianist Mulgrew Miller, Conquest’s impressive vocal range, elevated diction and theatrical presentation pushes the performances on each of her appearance with the combo(s) another notch higher. No strident scat singer or flighty diva, she’s heir both to the clearly enunciated soul tradition of Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin and to the socio-political undertakings of Abby Lincoln and Jeanne Lee.

That’s one inadvertent disappointment on Alphaville, since as “special guest” Conquest sings only on two short tracks. On the other hand the instrumental work is Parker’s most precise, since his compositions and arrangements salute the themes and influence of Alphaville, French director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film classic. To amplify his compositional palate for the CD, Parker’s core trio is joined by his usual reed partner, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, plus a post-modern version of a string quartet: Mazz Swift on violin, Jessica Pavone on viola and cellists Julia Kent and Shiau-Shu Yu.

Rather than being used for conventional sweetening, the string performances are instead most often angular, spiccato and staccato, adding discordant arpeggios and shredded pulsations which at separate times cleave to Parker’s strummed centre tones or Brown’s skittering vibrato.

Although the CD is an exceptional showcase for the alto man’s tart, neo-bop tongue fluttering, it doesn’t mean that he’s the only soloist who excels here. Drake’s bass drum breaks and shadowed paradiddles add percussive heft to the 10 tracks. Meanwhile, to pick another highlight, Barnes’ trumpet flourishes and muted runs are involved in a contrapuntal duet with the thumping bass line on “Alpha 60”. Another theme is elaborated by Barnes’ darting, swift half-valve brass effects as well as Drake’s single cymbal reverberations, succeeded by sul ponticello circular bowing from the five strings. Its summation involves Barnes’ bugling tempo changes, bent notes and an extended mouthpiece tongue kiss.

With its loping Crime Jazz-like theme filled with sharp arco patterning and splintered tension-release “Doctor Badguy” is one of the two most programmatic tracks here; the other, “Interrogation”, depends on the aural images crated by descending double-pumping massed strings. Still, “Civilizations of the Light”, which was in Duke Ellington-fashion put together in the studio on the day of recording, proves that thematic fidelity doesn’t fully supersede improvisational smarts.

Composed with an almost Latinesque cast the tune has violinist Swift’s fierce, discursive solo introduce contrapuntal shrieks from other strings followed by their tremolo, squeezed triplets and Brown’s spilling arpeggios. Parker’s obbligato whorls finally order the extensions into a connective line. Andante, the contrapuntal horn and string patterns are constricted in the finale courtesy of a walking bass line and Drake’s rim shots.

The string section had been left at home three years previously when Parker and company played a jazz festival in Rome. In their place – and to provide more rhythmic impetus to this salute to Chicago Soul songwriter Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) – is Daryl Foster on soprano and tenor saxophones, Sabir Mateen on tenor and alto saxophones and pianist Dave Burrell, plus Barnes, Parker and Conquest. In glorious voice, Conquest personifies the Mayfield’s material which encompasses his period with the Impressions (“People Get Ready”) as well as tunes from his influential Superfly soundtrack (“Freddie’s Dead”).

Adding to the purported street cred of the performance is the voice and poetry of professional Black firebrand Amiri Baraka. Although his sardonic, Afro-nationalism adds a few wryly poetic quips to the encore of “Freddie’s Dead” – he even gets off a line about Italy’s ex-right-wing premier Silvio Berlusconi – too often his nattering and mumbling interferes with Conquest’s soaring vocalizing.

Overall a rollicking affair, Parker’s chunky bass lines bring to mind Motown’s 1960s low-string vamp master James Jamerson, the riffing horn section channels 1960s Stax-Volt, while Drake’s stout backbeat could have gotten him R&B studio gigs during Mayfield’s Windy City heyday. Burrell, who has always been comfortable with piano history, adds pre-modern and conscious primitvist inflections to his two-handed accompaniment. Most spectacularly, on “Think” he pulls off the feat of creating a solo that’s simultaneously half-gospel and half-rococo.

However this is also the tune where Foster’s lightweight soprano sax obbligato appears to be paying homage to Grover Washington rather than more substantial players, while Baraka’s shouts and growls are merely annoying. Only Conquest’s verbal tonality and Mateen’s larger horn snorts keep things on an even keel.

Centrepiece of the performance is an almost 21-minute version of Mayfield’s “We Are The People Who Are Darker Than Blue”, with full-bore shuffle rhythm from Drake and undercurrent of riffing horns. Maintaining her bel canto take on the lyrics and backed by Burrell’s gospelish chording and low-frequency coloration, Conquest’s melodious inhabiting of the lyrics provides a profound foundation for Baraka’s heavily rhythmic Afro-American chanting. Later she reveals a hitherto unexposed talent, using scatting glossolalia to blend with Mateen’s altissimo squeaks and slides, while the pianist’s comping accelerates to house-party-style riffs.

A pianist of a far different background joins Parker and company on Corn Meal Dance, which is the newest and perhaps most fully realized CD here. Eri Yamamoto usually plays in more mainstream, piano-trio settings, including on an earlier disc with Parker. Here though, her references are high-frequency near-honky-tonk cadences, which are appropriate for this slice of the modern Black experience reflected not only in the bassist’s compositions, but his gnarly, poetic lyrics as well,

Luckily Conquest is on hand again for verbal interpretation, along with Drake, Barnes and Brown providing the musical ballast. Parker’s imagery appears to equally reflect agit-prop, Black folk tales, the stridency of 1970s’ Gil Scott-Heron and Bob Dylan’s 1960s surrealistic song-poetry. When provided with the proper setting, notable performances result.

“Gilmore’s Hat”, for instance, a light-hearted salute to John Gilmore, the late Sun Ra tenor saxophonist, is a stop-time hand-clapper with snappy words personalized by Conquest, and the music illuminated by Brown’s choked slithery reed lines, wah-wah expansions from Barnes and backbeat rolls from Drake. It concludes with perfectly pitched scatting from the vocalist. On the other hand, proper gravitas is reflected in Conquest’s interpretation of “Tutsi Orphans”, as the band’s vamps underlies this tragic tale of inter-tribal genocide, echoing similar situations in many other Africa countries.

Even better are the overtly political Soledad” and “Land Song”, which unlike Baraka’s limp attempts at relevancy on the Italian disc, manage to score points while remaining sonically first-rate. The latter tune is built up from unison horn lines and metronomic piano key battering, and has lyrics which cleverly mix contemporary asides with references to traditional post-Reconstruction inequalities. Featuring bull fiddle rumbles and drum rolls, it’s also a solo high point on the session for Brown who illustrates the theme with crying, evocative tones.

Mixing a blues progression and progressive lyrics in the mold of Max Roach’s and Charles Mingus’ 1960s militancy, “Soledad” gains its unmistakable power from the sincerity in Conquest’s voice, which in turn humanizes Parker’s lyrics no matter how far-fetched or obscurely poetic. Barnes’ high-pitched obbligatos provide perfect counterpoint to the singer’s warbling, yodeling and soulful groans.

Each of these outstanding discs provides an opportunity to sample the work of two artists – Parker and Conquest – in full maturity. All are worthy of your time.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Inside: 1. The Makings Of You 2. People Get Ready 3. Inside Song #1 4. We Are The People Who Are Darker Than Blue 5. Spoken Introduction 6. Think 7. Freddie’s Dead

Personnel: Inside: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Daryl Foster (soprano and tenor saxophones); Sabir Mateen (tenor and alto saxophones); Dave Burrell (piano); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums); Leena Conquest (voice) and Amiri Baraka (voice and poetry)

Track Listing: Alphaville: 1. Alphaville Main Theme 2. Journey to the End of the Night 4. Natasha’s Theme I 5. Interrogation 6. Alpha 60 7. Oceanville Evening 8. Civilization of Light 9. Outlands 10. Natasha’s Theme II

Personnel: Alphaville: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Mazz Swift (violin); Jessica Pavone (viola); Julia Kent and Shiau-Shu Yu (cellos); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums) and Leena Conquest (voice)

Track Listing: Corn: 1. Doctor Yesterday 2. Tutsi Orphans 3. Poem for June Jordan 4. Soledad 5. Corn Meal Dance 6. Land Song 7. Prayer 8. Old Tears 9. Gilmore’s Hat

Personnel: Corn: Lewis Barnes (trumpet); Rob Brown (alto saxophone); Eri Yamamoto (piano); William Parker (bass); Hamid Drake (drums) and Leena Conquest (voice)

March 28, 2008

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