Exploding Star Orchestra

Stars Have Shapes
Delmark DE 595

Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly

Empathetic Parts (with Roscoe Mitchell)

482 Music 482-1074

By Ken Waxman

One of the standout players among Chicago’s recent burgeoning crop of improvised musicians, alto saxophonist Greg Ward is versatile enough to gig with groups ranging from the chamber-oriented International Contemporary Ensemble to those lead by saxophonist Ernest Dawkins and other members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (ACCM). These CDs confirm his skills, although his role is more prominent in drummer Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly then as part of cornetist Rob Mazurek’s 14-piece Exploding Star Orchestra. His contributions to Reed’s Empathetic Parts are even more impressive, since he shares reed duties with saxophonist/flautist Roscoe Mitchell, more than 40 years his senior and an AACM founder. For his part, Mitchell is spontaneous enough to assimilate a performance strategy already tested with the existing five-piece band.

Born in 1982, Ward is part of a younger Windy City contingent that includes Reed, bassist Josh Abrams and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz – all featured on both CDs – which play together in many different contexts. Another Chicago polymath is Mazurek. Stars Have Shapes marks a major step in his evolution from mainstream jazzer to a composer intermingling improvisation with modules from other musics.

Although dedicated to saxophonist Fred Anderson and trumpeter Bill Dixon, the CD’s four tracks are closer to the latter’s sonic ethos. With shimmering electronics filling the backdrop, there are few solos per se. Instead thick cohesive timbres overlap and are irregularly harmonized, quickening to a crescendo of undifferentiated vibrations; splintering into resonating sound shards; and then regrouping. Occasional asides by Nicole Mitchell’s impassioned flute, Jason Stein’s bass clarinet drones or Mazurek’s triplet-laden flutter-tonguing are secondary to the cumulative exposition.

Most distinctive of the tracks is “Three Blocks of Light”, but even here brief individual expressions augment the composition rather than illuminating on their own. Blurry waveform hums make the performance virtually opaque. Sound tweaks including trumpet slurs, lyrical flute chirps, portamento piano runs and saxophone split tones dig sound holes in the tune’s nearly impermeable textures. But it’s Adasiewicz ringing resonation which is most obvious.

Adasiewicz’s four-mallet, spherical vibrations are prominent on the other CD as well. But so are solos from other players, especially during Reed’s almost 34-minute title tune. All along the percussionist’s stylistic time-keeping – encompassing approaches varying from alarm clock-like ringing paradiddles to cumulative back beats and rim shots – solders together the disparate techniques into a throbbing narrative. Players form and amend collaborations, as when Tomeka Reid’s cello is first involved in contrapuntal sweeps with the clanking vibes, and then joins Josh Abrams’ bass to stretch an ostinato to its breaking point, finally culminating in broken-octave interface.

Her string slices or Reed’s blunt rhythms also set up other interactions such as those between reedists. Unlike his understated work on Stars Have Shapes, Ward’s snorting split tones and fortissimo reed bites are assertive here. His intense alto work is easily contrasted with the ney-like hocketing timbres from Mitchell’s soprano saxophone. Rondo-like, the two rip apart harsh split tones, then slow down to match staccato slurps and reflux, eventually stretching the tempo, as behind them Abrams’ twangs and Reed’s rebounds presage recapping the initial theme.

Creatively busy, Reed’s Loose Assembly proves to be loose only in its ability to accommodate an additional voice, but not in creative performance. As significant a statement as Stars Have Shapes, because of its smaller, looser presentation, Empathetic Parts offers a more fundamental view of each player’s talents – especially Ward’s.

Tracks: Empathetic Parts; I'll Be Right Here Waiting

Personnel: Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Roscoe Mitchell: alto and soprano saxophones and flute; Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone; Tomeka Reid: cello; Josh Abrams: bass; Mike Reed: drums

Tracks: Ascension Ghost Impression #2; ChromoRocker; Three Blocks of Light; Impression #1

Personnel: Rob Mazurek: cornet; Jeb Bishop: trombone; Nicole Mitchell: flutes and voice; Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Matthew Bauder: clarinet, tenor saxophone; Jason Stein: bass clarinet; Jeff Kowalkowski: piano; Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone; Josh Abrams: bass; Matthew Lux: bass guitar; John Herndon and Mike Reed: drums; Carrie Biolo: gongs, vibes and percussion; Damon Locks: word rocker

-- For All About Jazz New York February 2011

February 12, 2011

Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore

Three Less Than Between
Clean Feed CF 153 CD

Facet

Conscious Mental Field Recordings

Satelita 002

Olivier Thémines Trio

Miniatures

Yolk Label J2044

Once relegated to sessions that attempt to revive Swing Music or Classic Jazz, members of the clarinet family have moved front-and-centre on the improvised music scene, at least since the early 1990s. This ends the reed hegemony of the saxophone which has been paramount at least since Bebop’s birth around 1939.

As these CDs demonstrate though, the newest generation of woodwind players is versatile enough to use technique and imagination to overcome the instrument(s) supposed soft tone and lack of suppleness when performing difficult music. At the same time, creating with equally committed players is a necessity – as is choice of proper material – or the woodwinds’ admirably pliable qualities turn squishy and spongy.

This certainly isn’t the case with Conscious Mental Field Recordings. Thick resonating vibrations from the bass of Norwegian Adrian Myhr make common cause with the microtonal timbres emanating from the clarinets of Paris’ Joris Rühl as well as the twanging distortions creaking scrapes and signal-processed electronic pulses from the guitar of Köln’s Maciej Sledziecki.

With Rühl, who often plays with other French improvisers such as pianist Eve Risser, alternating among angled chalumeau flutters, strident pockets of altissimo trills or restrained flat-line air expelling, the others have plenty of textures with which to deal. However at some points, the clarinet’s legit vibrato is seconded by watery string rubs; at others, the woodwind player’s strident peeps and screams are undermined by percussive guitar-string strums or knob-twisting amplified flams.

Careful to evolve contrapuntally throughout, however no trio member’s resonance overwhelm the others’, although the oscillated pulsations and clattering rubs that characterize Sledziecki’s work provide the percussive bottom to most of the tracks. Hocketing, fluttering and twanging, the guitarist, who also develops computer-based composition, produces sturdy balanced ostinatos throughout. The droning centrality of his licks are challenged on individual tracks when the reed man outputs gravelly striations, squealing yelps or pointed tongue slaps.

Cooperation is in evidence as well on Three Less Than Between from three Chicago improvisers. But there’s no denying that bass clarinetist Jason Stein is the senior partner. For a start, all the compositions are his, as is the name of the trio – honoring his late grandfather and the older man’s profession. Drummer Mike Pride was along for the first Locksmith Isidore CD, but bassist Jason Roebke – who has backed everyone from trombonist Jeb Bishop to cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm – wasn’t. Now with an even-more-unified and powerful rhythmic base, Stein has his work cut out for him to avoid being overpowered. Recall, though, he is someone who held his own as the other horn player in a quartet with multi-reedist Ken Vandermark.

Using his reed command to bring forth references to the work of bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, Stein and his compositions are firmly in the jazz tradition, unlike the kinetic collages which make up Conscious Mental Field Recordings. In fact, the trio frequently recaps the head after playing shout choruses. At the same time the CD’s compositions and performance are definitely post-modern, taking atonality and exploration as touchstones.

That means that timbral reed extension, rather than the often-chalumeau sound of the bass clarinet is on show here. Plus for every piece such as “Amy Music”, which sounds as if Stein is resuscitating a previously unknown Dolphy line, there are others rife with skittering and slipping tongue flutters, shrill tones sounding above the instrument’s highest pitches and stuttering basso lows.

Compositions such as “Stevenesque” for instance expose many variants. Beginning with a high-register evocation of Lacy’s soprano tone, Stein moves to hesitant and accented shakes and flutters – played a capella – subsequently alternating sluicing lyrical lines with reed bites. Behind him Roebke adds sul ponticello scrapes and Pride a shuffle beat. The drummer’s polyrhythmic pattern encompasses clips, clacks r ratamacues and rim shots elsewhere. Again, the session is traditional enough to make room for drum and bass solos.

Traditionalism of a less enlightened fashion appears to enthrall French clarinetist Olivier Thémines and his trio on Miniatures, which true to the title encompasses 20 tracks, the majority of which cleave to the three minute mark. Well-played trifles, the tracks are supposed to include linkages to Buster Keaton, Giuffre and composer Johnny Carisi.

Unfortunately, even with a track out-and-out labeled “Giuffrian Sketch”, the concepts of the American master of trio interaction don’t appear to be reflected in anything except brevity. Giuffre did improvise concisely – and for longer periods when he felt so inclined – and he did contrapuntally match his clarinet in a trio which alternately featured guitar or piano and bass. But Thémines’ associates on this essay on chamber jazz are pianist Guillaume Hazebrouck and vibraphonist Kit Le Marec. Rather than evoking the austere minimalism of the Guiffre3, this blending of piano and vibes calls forth memories of the often baroque Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) – which did record with Giuffre – or the contemporary lyrical tones of vibist Gary Burton and pianist Chick Corea. At its weakest some of the voicing and harmonies from clarinet, vibes and piano suggest the burnished timbres George Shearing groups of the 1950s which often abutted background music.

Hazebrouck’s harder touch and bluesy modulations on show in several spots appear to be buried under baroque-like formalism most of the time. Submerged too in the sometimes precious arrangements are Thémines’ occasional slinky chromaticism and the ringing waterfall of sounds Le Marec capably creates.

“Satellite” is typical of the program. A composition that could have been composed by the MJQ’s John Lewis, it’s an allegro shuffle that harmonizes clarinet and piano lines. Although the interaction is polyrhythmic, flat-lined sluggish is evident as well. Also along those lines is “Le basilic” where tender piano arpeggios ricochet off identically timed vibe plinks, until the romantic-styled narrative builds up to reed flutter-tonguing soaring over the other instruments’ double counterpoint.

Much more impressive are the low frequency trills the clarinetist produces on “Court et muet” which complement Hazebrouck’s stroking of his piano harp string following a theme elaboration. Also notable is “Rossinate” where the pianist’s high-frequency dynamics and double timing makes room for slinking trills from Thémines and feather-light pops from Le Marec.

While the teeny themes the French trio creates on Miniatures are a bit too diminutive to do more than pass by pleasantly, Thémines does expose one method of clarinet improvisation. Stein’s and Rühl’s trios on the other hand are part of fully realized sonic projects. Each also expresses exceptional command of his preferred member(s) of the woodwind family.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Conscious: 1. Bereitschaftspotential 1 2. Margin of Error 3. Time Marker 4. Antedation 5. The Power of Veto 6. A Short Delay 7. Circular Causality 8. Via Negativa 9. Bereitschaftspotential 2 10. Quantum Field 11. Mental Sphere

Personnel: Conscious: Joris Rühl (clarinets); Maciej Sledziecki (guitar) and Adrian Myhr (bass)

Track Listing: Miniatures: 1. Flocons 2. Rossinante 3. Radio Gaspard 4. Claribulles 5. Exquise banquise 6. Glaciation 7. Pingouins 8. Giuffrian sketch -9. Le basilic 10. Plein air 11. Parchemin 12. Court et muet 13. Urguluz betia 14. Silex 15. L’échauguette 16. Satellite 17. Fable express 18. Le niveleur 19. Petit pas de trois 20. Cosmonautes

Personnel: Miniatures: Olivier Thémines (clarinets); Guillaume Hazebrouck (piano) and Kit Le Marec (vibraphone)

Track Listing: Three: 1. Protection and Provocation 2. Stevenesque 3. Laced Up With Air 4. Isn't Your Paper Clip 5. Saved By a Straw 6. Future Lungs 7. Three Less than Between 8. Augusta Gun 9. Most Likely Illiterate 10. Any Music 11. Sad Crestwood

Personnel: Three: Jason Stein (bass clarinet); Jason Roebke (bass) and Mike Pride (drums)

February 26, 2010

Scott Fields

Bitter Love Songs
Clean Feed CF 102 CD

Evan Parker-Mark Wastell-Graham Halliwell-Max Eastley

A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves

Another Timbre at06

Kidd Jordan/Kali Z. Fasteau

LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland

Flying Note FNCD 9012

Open Loose

Strange Unison

Radio Legs RL 013

Jason Stein

A Calculus of Loss

Clean Feed CF 104 CD

By Ken Waxman

Arguments exist as to the commercial benefits of free trade agreements. But musicians wish similar treaties existed for their trade. In the period since NFTA, for instance, the ability of performers to travel across borders has become worse. That’s what makes festival season important. Foreign performers ranging from respected veterans to savvy tyros get Canadian exposure. Recent CDs here capture older jazzers’ alchemy and suggest newer players to watch.

Someone who has been on the cutting edge since the 1960s, British saxophonist Evan Parker brings his questing spirit to the emblematically titled A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves, Another Timbre at06 Parker’s soprano saxophone is framed by shimmering, pulsating and whirling percussion and electronics. The other musicians – all British – are Mark Wastell playing tam-tam, metal percussion and harmonium, Graham Halliwell using computer and electronics; and Max Eastley on arc, an electro-acoustic monochord.

The unyielding drones from arc and harmonium create the sonic bed on which these improvisations rest. Additional electronic prestidigitation from Halliwell means that Parker’s carefully measured vibrations are seconded by lyrical trills reconstituted from his own output.

Although the saxophonist’s unhurried modulations announce their distinctive presence as they peep from among the seeping tones, all the players reach resolution on “The Chessboard Cherry Tree”. Here turbidity is shattered by ear-wrenching percussion abrasions and crackling electronic wave forms. Most distinctively, Parker’s aviary slurs coagulate and multiply with circular breathing. Utilizing ghost notes and flutter tonguing, his phrases color and connect the proceedings. Eventually the others’ blurred harmonies bond with understated reed trills for a satisfying climax.

If Parker finesses his polyphonic tones than New Orleans-based tenor-saxophonist Kidd Jordan burns through his with molten energy. Unlike Parker, Jordan performs infrequently in Canada. You can hear why this is a loss on LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland Flying Note FNCD 9012, where his unbridled improvising is showcased. Associates of the septuagenarian saxophonist are percussionist Newman Taylor Barker and Kali Z. Fasteau, who expresses herself on mizmar, piano, flute, cello, synthesizer, violin, drums and soprano saxophone.

Announcing themselves on “Trance Dance”, Baker rumbles, pops and rebounds, as Fasteau scrapes, stops and strums the piano’s strings before turning to modal chording. For his part, Jordan divides his sheets of sound between screeching that abuts dog-whistle territory, and slurred, subterranean growls.

Additional mass is added elsewhere when Fasteau packs performances with thick synthesizer reverberations, screechy cello lines or, drumming, joins Baker in producing press rolls. Meanwhile Jordan ratchets from his horn’s top to tip in a nanosecond, utilizing vibrated split tones, double-tongued flattement and side-slipping. With Jordan expelling staccato, free-form patterns and Fasteau utilizing her soprano saxophone’s pinched, ney-like tone, “Sound Science” is another effective track; timbres brush up against one another as identical notes appear in different pitches.

Another improviser who tours as frequently as Parker is guitarist Scott Fields. Chicago-born, Fields moved to Köln, Germany a few years back. On the witty Bitter Love Songs Clean Feed CF 102 CD, he leads a trio completed by a Portuguese rhythm section: bassist Sebastian Gramss and drummer João Lobo. Fields’ compositions, which match liquid guitar runs, slinky bass lines and on-the-beat drumming, are still at variance with their sardonic titles.

For instance “My Love is Love, Your Love is Hate” features a spinning staccato theme from Fields that is stretched with slurred fingering until it seems that it will rupture, but doesn’t. Working in double counterpoint, the massed strings join to produce a barrage of notes, with Fields sounding as if he’s playing microtonally and Gramss slapping a backbeat. Meanwhile Lobo’s flams precede an intermezzo for ringing guitar licks. Note clusters are lobbed between the players on “You Used to Say I Love You but So What Now”. But the strategy is different. Fields’ contrapuntal chording skirts C&W picking, while Gramss resonates handfuls of low-pitched timbres. Eventually as the bassist settles on legato pacing, Fields wraps up with echoing, blues-based licks.

Gramss’ bass work owes its suppleness to sonic extensions from older bass specialists such as New York’s Mark Helias, who has recorded in Toronto. His Open Loose band includes drummer Tom Rainey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby.

On Strange Unison, Radio Legs RL 013, while the three interlock instrumentally, Helias’ bass nevertheless set the pace, with resonations ranging from traditional slap bass to staccatissimo runs. Master of understatement, Rainey blunts the backbeat, relying on cymbal cracks and cross-pulsating drags. Skirting atonality with flutter tonguing and pressurized overblowing, Malaby digs into each composition. “Silent Stutter”, for example, finds him masticating hard and heavy slurs into clusters which are subsequently expelled as foghorn blats. In contrast, “Blue Light Down the Line” is taken mid-tempo. As the bassist’s walking is succeeded by mercurial stopping, Malaby builds concentrated phrases. Soon physicality is replaced by moderato coloration as timbres puffed by the saxophone are doubled with arco swipes.

Another vibrant improvised music scene is Chicago’s, spearheaded by reedist Ken Vandermark, a frequent Canadian visitor. Like other established players, Vandermark mentors younger players, one of whom is bass clarinetist Jason Stein. A Calculus of Loss Clean Feed CF 104 CD demonstrates what Stein can do on his own, backed by Kevin Davis’s cello and Mike Pride’s percussion.

As cohesive as the other groups here, one of the trio’s advantages is that Davis takes either the front-line guitar or rhythm-section bass role. The other is that Pride’s percussion includes resonating vibraphone tinctures, cantilevered cymbal patterns plus standard drum beats.

Compositions such as “Caroline and Sam” and “That’s Not a Closet” confirm the three are as comfortable with New music as new Swing. Balanced on vibes reverberations and scratched cello strings, the former connects a near-madrigal melody with extended techniques as Stein sounds an intractable phrase in his body tube ignoring key movement. Based on mood, rather than rhythm, the result is contemplative without sinking to lugubriousness. On the other hand, “That’s Not…” is sprightly enough to suggest mainstream swing, although Stein’s roistering coloratura lines alternating with jagged runs aren’t a standard scenario. Melodious, variations moderate the pace so Davis’ plinks and Pride’s cymbal pops are audible in its resolution.

Some of these players may be on stage this month; others may take a while to visit the area. All are worth hearing.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #9

June 6, 2008

Open Loose

Strange Unison
Radio Legs RL 013

Evan Parker-Mark Wastell-Graham Halliwell-Max Eastley

A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves

Another Timbre at06

Kidd Jordan/Kali Z. Fasteau

LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland

Flying Note FNCD 9012

Scott Fields

Bitter Love Songs

Clean Feed CF 102 CD

Jason Stein

A Calculus of Loss

Clean Feed CF 104 CD

By Ken Waxman

Arguments exist as to the commercial benefits of free trade agreements. But musicians wish similar treaties existed for their trade. In the period since NFTA, for instance, the ability of performers to travel across borders has become worse. That’s what makes festival season important. Foreign performers ranging from respected veterans to savvy tyros get Canadian exposure. Recent CDs here capture older jazzers’ alchemy and suggest newer players to watch.

Someone who has been on the cutting edge since the 1960s, British saxophonist Evan Parker brings his questing spirit to the emblematically titled A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves, Another Timbre at06 Parker’s soprano saxophone is framed by shimmering, pulsating and whirling percussion and electronics. The other musicians – all British – are Mark Wastell playing tam-tam, metal percussion and harmonium, Graham Halliwell using computer and electronics; and Max Eastley on arc, an electro-acoustic monochord.

The unyielding drones from arc and harmonium create the sonic bed on which these improvisations rest. Additional electronic prestidigitation from Halliwell means that Parker’s carefully measured vibrations are seconded by lyrical trills reconstituted from his own output.

Although the saxophonist’s unhurried modulations announce their distinctive presence as they peep from among the seeping tones, all the players reach resolution on “The Chessboard Cherry Tree”. Here turbidity is shattered by ear-wrenching percussion abrasions and crackling electronic wave forms. Most distinctively, Parker’s aviary slurs coagulate and multiply with circular breathing. Utilizing ghost notes and flutter tonguing, his phrases color and connect the proceedings. Eventually the others’ blurred harmonies bond with understated reed trills for a satisfying climax.

If Parker finesses his polyphonic tones than New Orleans-based tenor-saxophonist Kidd Jordan burns through his with molten energy. Unlike Parker, Jordan performs infrequently in Canada. You can hear why this is a loss on LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland Flying Note FNCD 9012, where his unbridled improvising is showcased. Associates of the septuagenarian saxophonist are percussionist Newman Taylor Barker and Kali Z. Fasteau, who expresses herself on mizmar, piano, flute, cello, synthesizer, violin, drums and soprano saxophone.

Announcing themselves on “Trance Dance”, Baker rumbles, pops and rebounds, as Fasteau scrapes, stops and strums the piano’s strings before turning to modal chording. For his part, Jordan divides his sheets of sound between screeching that abuts dog-whistle territory, and slurred, subterranean growls.

Additional mass is added elsewhere when Fasteau packs performances with thick synthesizer reverberations, screechy cello lines or, drumming, joins Baker in producing press rolls. Meanwhile Jordan ratchets from his horn’s top to tip in a nanosecond, utilizing vibrated split tones, double-tongued flattement and side-slipping. With Jordan expelling staccato, free-form patterns and Fasteau utilizing her soprano saxophone’s pinched, ney-like tone, “Sound Science” is another effective track; timbres brush up against one another as identical notes appear in different pitches.

Another improviser who tours as frequently as Parker is guitarist Scott Fields. Chicago-born, Fields moved to Köln, Germany a few years back. On the witty Bitter Love Songs Clean Feed CF 102 CD, he leads a trio completed by a Portuguese rhythm section: bassist Sebastian Gramss and drummer João Lobo. Fields’ compositions, which match liquid guitar runs, slinky bass lines and on-the-beat drumming, are still at variance with their sardonic titles.

For instance “My Love is Love, Your Love is Hate” features a spinning staccato theme from Fields that is stretched with slurred fingering until it seems that it will rupture, but doesn’t. Working in double counterpoint, the massed strings join to produce a barrage of notes, with Fields sounding as if he’s playing microtonally and Gramss slapping a backbeat. Meanwhile Lobo’s flams precede an intermezzo for ringing guitar licks. Note clusters are lobbed between the players on “You Used to Say I Love You but So What Now”. But the strategy is different. Fields’ contrapuntal chording skirts C&W picking, while Gramss resonates handfuls of low-pitched timbres. Eventually as the bassist settles on legato pacing, Fields wraps up with echoing, blues-based licks.

Gramss’ bass work owes its suppleness to sonic extensions from older bass specialists such as New York’s Mark Helias, who has recorded in Toronto. His Open Loose band includes drummer Tom Rainey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby.

On Strange Unison, Radio Legs RL 013, while the three interlock instrumentally, Helias’ bass nevertheless set the pace, with resonations ranging from traditional slap bass to staccatissimo runs. Master of understatement, Rainey blunts the backbeat, relying on cymbal cracks and cross-pulsating drags. Skirting atonality with flutter tonguing and pressurized overblowing, Malaby digs into each composition. “Silent Stutter”, for example, finds him masticating hard and heavy slurs into clusters which are subsequently expelled as foghorn blats. In contrast, “Blue Light Down the Line” is taken mid-tempo. As the bassist’s walking is succeeded by mercurial stopping, Malaby builds concentrated phrases. Soon physicality is replaced by moderato coloration as timbres puffed by the saxophone are doubled with arco swipes.

Another vibrant improvised music scene is Chicago’s, spearheaded by reedist Ken Vandermark, a frequent Canadian visitor. Like other established players, Vandermark mentors younger players, one of whom is bass clarinetist Jason Stein. A Calculus of Loss Clean Feed CF 104 CD demonstrates what Stein can do on his own, backed by Kevin Davis’s cello and Mike Pride’s percussion.

As cohesive as the other groups here, one of the trio’s advantages is that Davis takes either the front-line guitar or rhythm-section bass role. The other is that Pride’s percussion includes resonating vibraphone tinctures, cantilevered cymbal patterns plus standard drum beats.

Compositions such as “Caroline and Sam” and “That’s Not a Closet” confirm the three are as comfortable with New music as new Swing. Balanced on vibes reverberations and scratched cello strings, the former connects a near-madrigal melody with extended techniques as Stein sounds an intractable phrase in his body tube ignoring key movement. Based on mood, rather than rhythm, the result is contemplative without sinking to lugubriousness. On the other hand, “That’s Not…” is sprightly enough to suggest mainstream swing, although Stein’s roistering coloratura lines alternating with jagged runs aren’t a standard scenario. Melodious, variations moderate the pace so Davis’ plinks and Pride’s cymbal pops are audible in its resolution.

Some of these players may be on stage this month; others may take a while to visit the area. All are worth hearing.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #9

June 6, 2008

Evan Parker-Mark Wastell-Graham Halliwell-Max Eastley

A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves
Another Timbre at06

Kidd Jordan/Kali Z. Fasteau

LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland

Flying Note FNCD 9012

Scott Fields

Bitter Love Songs

Clean Feed CF 102 CD

Open Loose

Strange Unison

Radio Legs RL 013

Jason Stein

A Calculus of Loss

Clean Feed CF 104 CD

By Ken Waxman

Arguments exist as to the commercial benefits of free trade agreements. But musicians wish similar treaties existed for their trade. In the period since NFTA, for instance, the ability of performers to travel across borders has become worse. That’s what makes festival season important. Foreign performers ranging from respected veterans to savvy tyros get Canadian exposure. Recent CDs here capture older jazzers’ alchemy and suggest newer players to watch.

Someone who has been on the cutting edge since the 1960s, British saxophonist Evan Parker brings his questing spirit to the emblematically titled A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves, Another Timbre at06 Parker’s soprano saxophone is framed by shimmering, pulsating and whirling percussion and electronics. The other musicians – all British – are Mark Wastell playing tam-tam, metal percussion and harmonium, Graham Halliwell using computer and electronics; and Max Eastley on arc, an electro-acoustic monochord.

The unyielding drones from arc and harmonium create the sonic bed on which these improvisations rest. Additional electronic prestidigitation from Halliwell means that Parker’s carefully measured vibrations are seconded by lyrical trills reconstituted from his own output.

Although the saxophonist’s unhurried modulations announce their distinctive presence as they peep from among the seeping tones, all the players reach resolution on “The Chessboard Cherry Tree”. Here turbidity is shattered by ear-wrenching percussion abrasions and crackling electronic wave forms. Most distinctively, Parker’s aviary slurs coagulate and multiply with circular breathing. Utilizing ghost notes and flutter tonguing, his phrases color and connect the proceedings. Eventually the others’ blurred harmonies bond with understated reed trills for a satisfying climax.

If Parker finesses his polyphonic tones than New Orleans-based tenor-saxophonist Kidd Jordan burns through his with molten energy. Unlike Parker, Jordan performs infrequently in Canada. You can hear why this is a loss on LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland Flying Note FNCD 9012, where his unbridled improvising is showcased. Associates of the septuagenarian saxophonist are percussionist Newman Taylor Barker and Kali Z. Fasteau, who expresses herself on mizmar, piano, flute, cello, synthesizer, violin, drums and soprano saxophone.

Announcing themselves on “Trance Dance”, Baker rumbles, pops and rebounds, as Fasteau scrapes, stops and strums the piano’s strings before turning to modal chording. For his part, Jordan divides his sheets of sound between screeching that abuts dog-whistle territory, and slurred, subterranean growls.

Additional mass is added elsewhere when Fasteau packs performances with thick synthesizer reverberations, screechy cello lines or, drumming, joins Baker in producing press rolls. Meanwhile Jordan ratchets from his horn’s top to tip in a nanosecond, utilizing vibrated split tones, double-tongued flattement and side-slipping. With Jordan expelling staccato, free-form patterns and Fasteau utilizing her soprano saxophone’s pinched, ney-like tone, “Sound Science” is another effective track; timbres brush up against one another as identical notes appear in different pitches.

Another improviser who tours as frequently as Parker is guitarist Scott Fields. Chicago-born, Fields moved to Köln, Germany a few years back. On the witty Bitter Love Songs Clean Feed CF 102 CD, he leads a trio completed by a Portuguese rhythm section: bassist Sebastian Gramss and drummer João Lobo. Fields’ compositions, which match liquid guitar runs, slinky bass lines and on-the-beat drumming, are still at variance with their sardonic titles.

For instance “My Love is Love, Your Love is Hate” features a spinning staccato theme from Fields that is stretched with slurred fingering until it seems that it will rupture, but doesn’t. Working in double counterpoint, the massed strings join to produce a barrage of notes, with Fields sounding as if he’s playing microtonally and Gramss slapping a backbeat. Meanwhile Lobo’s flams precede an intermezzo for ringing guitar licks. Note clusters are lobbed between the players on “You Used to Say I Love You but So What Now”. But the strategy is different. Fields’ contrapuntal chording skirts C&W picking, while Gramss resonates handfuls of low-pitched timbres. Eventually as the bassist settles on legato pacing, Fields wraps up with echoing, blues-based licks.

Gramss’ bass work owes its suppleness to sonic extensions from older bass specialists such as New York’s Mark Helias, who has recorded in Toronto. His Open Loose band includes drummer Tom Rainey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby.

On Strange Unison, Radio Legs RL 013, while the three interlock instrumentally, Helias’ bass nevertheless set the pace, with resonations ranging from traditional slap bass to staccatissimo runs. Master of understatement, Rainey blunts the backbeat, relying on cymbal cracks and cross-pulsating drags. Skirting atonality with flutter tonguing and pressurized overblowing, Malaby digs into each composition. “Silent Stutter”, for example, finds him masticating hard and heavy slurs into clusters which are subsequently expelled as foghorn blats. In contrast, “Blue Light Down the Line” is taken mid-tempo. As the bassist’s walking is succeeded by mercurial stopping, Malaby builds concentrated phrases. Soon physicality is replaced by moderato coloration as timbres puffed by the saxophone are doubled with arco swipes.

Another vibrant improvised music scene is Chicago’s, spearheaded by reedist Ken Vandermark, a frequent Canadian visitor. Like other established players, Vandermark mentors younger players, one of whom is bass clarinetist Jason Stein. A Calculus of Loss Clean Feed CF 104 CD demonstrates what Stein can do on his own, backed by Kevin Davis’s cello and Mike Pride’s percussion.

As cohesive as the other groups here, one of the trio’s advantages is that Davis takes either the front-line guitar or rhythm-section bass role. The other is that Pride’s percussion includes resonating vibraphone tinctures, cantilevered cymbal patterns plus standard drum beats.

Compositions such as “Caroline and Sam” and “That’s Not a Closet” confirm the three are as comfortable with New music as new Swing. Balanced on vibes reverberations and scratched cello strings, the former connects a near-madrigal melody with extended techniques as Stein sounds an intractable phrase in his body tube ignoring key movement. Based on mood, rather than rhythm, the result is contemplative without sinking to lugubriousness. On the other hand, “That’s Not…” is sprightly enough to suggest mainstream swing, although Stein’s roistering coloratura lines alternating with jagged runs aren’t a standard scenario. Melodious, variations moderate the pace so Davis’ plinks and Pride’s cymbal pops are audible in its resolution.

Some of these players may be on stage this month; others may take a while to visit the area. All are worth hearing.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #9

June 6, 2008

Jason Stein

A Calculus of Loss
Clean Feed CF 104 CD

Evan Parker-Mark Wastell-Graham Halliwell-Max Eastley

A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves

Another Timbre at06

Kidd Jordan/Kali Z. Fasteau

LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland

Flying Note FNCD 9012

Scott Fields

Bitter Love Songs

Clean Feed CF 102 CD

Open Loose

Strange Unison

Radio Legs RL 013

By Ken Waxman

Arguments exist as to the commercial benefits of free trade agreements. But musicians wish similar treaties existed for their trade. In the period since NFTA, for instance, the ability of performers to travel across borders has become worse. That’s what makes festival season important. Foreign performers ranging from respected veterans to savvy tyros get Canadian exposure. Recent CDs here capture older jazzers’ alchemy and suggest newer players to watch.

Someone who has been on the cutting edge since the 1960s, British saxophonist Evan Parker brings his questing spirit to the emblematically titled A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves, Another Timbre at06 Parker’s soprano saxophone is framed by shimmering, pulsating and whirling percussion and electronics. The other musicians – all British – are Mark Wastell playing tam-tam, metal percussion and harmonium, Graham Halliwell using computer and electronics; and Max Eastley on arc, an electro-acoustic monochord.

The unyielding drones from arc and harmonium create the sonic bed on which these improvisations rest. Additional electronic prestidigitation from Halliwell means that Parker’s carefully measured vibrations are seconded by lyrical trills reconstituted from his own output.

Although the saxophonist’s unhurried modulations announce their distinctive presence as they peep from among the seeping tones, all the players reach resolution on “The Chessboard Cherry Tree”. Here turbidity is shattered by ear-wrenching percussion abrasions and crackling electronic wave forms. Most distinctively, Parker’s aviary slurs coagulate and multiply with circular breathing. Utilizing ghost notes and flutter tonguing, his phrases color and connect the proceedings. Eventually the others’ blurred harmonies bond with understated reed trills for a satisfying climax.

If Parker finesses his polyphonic tones than New Orleans-based tenor-saxophonist Kidd Jordan burns through his with molten energy. Unlike Parker, Jordan performs infrequently in Canada. You can hear why this is a loss on LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland Flying Note FNCD 9012, where his unbridled improvising is showcased. Associates of the septuagenarian saxophonist are percussionist Newman Taylor Barker and Kali Z. Fasteau, who expresses herself on mizmar, piano, flute, cello, synthesizer, violin, drums and soprano saxophone.

Announcing themselves on “Trance Dance”, Baker rumbles, pops and rebounds, as Fasteau scrapes, stops and strums the piano’s strings before turning to modal chording. For his part, Jordan divides his sheets of sound between screeching that abuts dog-whistle territory, and slurred, subterranean growls.

Additional mass is added elsewhere when Fasteau packs performances with thick synthesizer reverberations, screechy cello lines or, drumming, joins Baker in producing press rolls. Meanwhile Jordan ratchets from his horn’s top to tip in a nanosecond, utilizing vibrated split tones, double-tongued flattement and side-slipping. With Jordan expelling staccato, free-form patterns and Fasteau utilizing her soprano saxophone’s pinched, ney-like tone, “Sound Science” is another effective track; timbres brush up against one another as identical notes appear in different pitches.

Another improviser who tours as frequently as Parker is guitarist Scott Fields. Chicago-born, Fields moved to Köln, Germany a few years back. On the witty Bitter Love Songs Clean Feed CF 102 CD, he leads a trio completed by a Portuguese rhythm section: bassist Sebastian Gramss and drummer João Lobo. Fields’ compositions, which match liquid guitar runs, slinky bass lines and on-the-beat drumming, are still at variance with their sardonic titles.

For instance “My Love is Love, Your Love is Hate” features a spinning staccato theme from Fields that is stretched with slurred fingering until it seems that it will rupture, but doesn’t. Working in double counterpoint, the massed strings join to produce a barrage of notes, with Fields sounding as if he’s playing microtonally and Gramss slapping a backbeat. Meanwhile Lobo’s flams precede an intermezzo for ringing guitar licks. Note clusters are lobbed between the players on “You Used to Say I Love You but So What Now”. But the strategy is different. Fields’ contrapuntal chording skirts C&W picking, while Gramss resonates handfuls of low-pitched timbres. Eventually as the bassist settles on legato pacing, Fields wraps up with echoing, blues-based licks.

Gramss’ bass work owes its suppleness to sonic extensions from older bass specialists such as New York’s Mark Helias, who has recorded in Toronto. His Open Loose band includes drummer Tom Rainey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby.

On Strange Unison, Radio Legs RL 013, while the three interlock instrumentally, Helias’ bass nevertheless set the pace, with resonations ranging from traditional slap bass to staccatissimo runs. Master of understatement, Rainey blunts the backbeat, relying on cymbal cracks and cross-pulsating drags. Skirting atonality with flutter tonguing and pressurized overblowing, Malaby digs into each composition. “Silent Stutter”, for example, finds him masticating hard and heavy slurs into clusters which are subsequently expelled as foghorn blats. In contrast, “Blue Light Down the Line” is taken mid-tempo. As the bassist’s walking is succeeded by mercurial stopping, Malaby builds concentrated phrases. Soon physicality is replaced by moderato coloration as timbres puffed by the saxophone are doubled with arco swipes.

Another vibrant improvised music scene is Chicago’s, spearheaded by reedist Ken Vandermark, a frequent Canadian visitor. Like other established players, Vandermark mentors younger players, one of whom is bass clarinetist Jason Stein. A Calculus of Loss Clean Feed CF 104 CD demonstrates what Stein can do on his own, backed by Kevin Davis’s cello and Mike Pride’s percussion.

As cohesive as the other groups here, one of the trio’s advantages is that Davis takes either the front-line guitar or rhythm-section bass role. The other is that Pride’s percussion includes resonating vibraphone tinctures, cantilevered cymbal patterns plus standard drum beats.

Compositions such as “Caroline and Sam” and “That’s Not a Closet” confirm the three are as comfortable with New music as new Swing. Balanced on vibes reverberations and scratched cello strings, the former connects a near-madrigal melody with extended techniques as Stein sounds an intractable phrase in his body tube ignoring key movement. Based on mood, rather than rhythm, the result is contemplative without sinking to lugubriousness. On the other hand, “That’s Not…” is sprightly enough to suggest mainstream swing, although Stein’s roistering coloratura lines alternating with jagged runs aren’t a standard scenario. Melodious, variations moderate the pace so Davis’ plinks and Pride’s cymbal pops are audible in its resolution.

Some of these players may be on stage this month; others may take a while to visit the area. All are worth hearing.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #9

June 6, 2008

Kidd Jordan/Kali Z. Fasteau

LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland
Flying Note FNCD 9012

Evan Parker-Mark Wastell-Graham Halliwell-Max Eastley

A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves

Another Timbre at06

Scott Fields

Bitter Love Songs

Clean Feed CF 102 CD

Open Loose

Strange Unison

Radio Legs RL 013

Jason Stein

A Calculus of Loss

Clean Feed CF 104 CD

By Ken Waxman

Arguments exist as to the commercial benefits of free trade agreements. But musicians wish similar treaties existed for their trade. In the period since NFTA, for instance, the ability of performers to travel across borders has become worse. That’s what makes festival season important. Foreign performers ranging from respected veterans to savvy tyros get Canadian exposure. Recent CDs here capture older jazzers’ alchemy and suggest newer players to watch.

Someone who has been on the cutting edge since the 1960s, British saxophonist Evan Parker brings his questing spirit to the emblematically titled A Life Saved By a Spider and Two Doves, Another Timbre at06 Parker’s soprano saxophone is framed by shimmering, pulsating and whirling percussion and electronics. The other musicians – all British – are Mark Wastell playing tam-tam, metal percussion and harmonium, Graham Halliwell using computer and electronics; and Max Eastley on arc, an electro-acoustic monochord.

The unyielding drones from arc and harmonium create the sonic bed on which these improvisations rest. Additional electronic prestidigitation from Halliwell means that Parker’s carefully measured vibrations are seconded by lyrical trills reconstituted from his own output.

Although the saxophonist’s unhurried modulations announce their distinctive presence as they peep from among the seeping tones, all the players reach resolution on “The Chessboard Cherry Tree”. Here turbidity is shattered by ear-wrenching percussion abrasions and crackling electronic wave forms. Most distinctively, Parker’s aviary slurs coagulate and multiply with circular breathing. Utilizing ghost notes and flutter tonguing, his phrases color and connect the proceedings. Eventually the others’ blurred harmonies bond with understated reed trills for a satisfying climax.

If Parker finesses his polyphonic tones than New Orleans-based tenor-saxophonist Kidd Jordan burns through his with molten energy. Unlike Parker, Jordan performs infrequently in Canada. You can hear why this is a loss on LIVE at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland Flying Note FNCD 9012, where his unbridled improvising is showcased. Associates of the septuagenarian saxophonist are percussionist Newman Taylor Barker and Kali Z. Fasteau, who expresses herself on mizmar, piano, flute, cello, synthesizer, violin, drums and soprano saxophone.

Announcing themselves on “Trance Dance”, Baker rumbles, pops and rebounds, as Fasteau scrapes, stops and strums the piano’s strings before turning to modal chording. For his part, Jordan divides his sheets of sound between screeching that abuts dog-whistle territory, and slurred, subterranean growls.

Additional mass is added elsewhere when Fasteau packs performances with thick synthesizer reverberations, screechy cello lines or, drumming, joins Baker in producing press rolls. Meanwhile Jordan ratchets from his horn’s top to tip in a nanosecond, utilizing vibrated split tones, double-tongued flattement and side-slipping. With Jordan expelling staccato, free-form patterns and Fasteau utilizing her soprano saxophone’s pinched, ney-like tone, “Sound Science” is another effective track; timbres brush up against one another as identical notes appear in different pitches.

Another improviser who tours as frequently as Parker is guitarist Scott Fields. Chicago-born, Fields moved to Köln, Germany a few years back. On the witty Bitter Love Songs Clean Feed CF 102 CD, he leads a trio completed by a Portuguese rhythm section: bassist Sebastian Gramss and drummer João Lobo. Fields’ compositions, which match liquid guitar runs, slinky bass lines and on-the-beat drumming, are still at variance with their sardonic titles.

For instance “My Love is Love, Your Love is Hate” features a spinning staccato theme from Fields that is stretched with slurred fingering until it seems that it will rupture, but doesn’t. Working in double counterpoint, the massed strings join to produce a barrage of notes, with Fields sounding as if he’s playing microtonally and Gramss slapping a backbeat. Meanwhile Lobo’s flams precede an intermezzo for ringing guitar licks. Note clusters are lobbed between the players on “You Used to Say I Love You but So What Now”. But the strategy is different. Fields’ contrapuntal chording skirts C&W picking, while Gramss resonates handfuls of low-pitched timbres. Eventually as the bassist settles on legato pacing, Fields wraps up with echoing, blues-based licks.

Gramss’ bass work owes its suppleness to sonic extensions from older bass specialists such as New York’s Mark Helias, who has recorded in Toronto. His Open Loose band includes drummer Tom Rainey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby.

On Strange Unison, Radio Legs RL 013, while the three interlock instrumentally, Helias’ bass nevertheless set the pace, with resonations ranging from traditional slap bass to staccatissimo runs. Master of understatement, Rainey blunts the backbeat, relying on cymbal cracks and cross-pulsating drags. Skirting atonality with flutter tonguing and pressurized overblowing, Malaby digs into each composition. “Silent Stutter”, for example, finds him masticating hard and heavy slurs into clusters which are subsequently expelled as foghorn blats. In contrast, “Blue Light Down the Line” is taken mid-tempo. As the bassist’s walking is succeeded by mercurial stopping, Malaby builds concentrated phrases. Soon physicality is replaced by moderato coloration as timbres puffed by the saxophone are doubled with arco swipes.

Another vibrant improvised music scene is Chicago’s, spearheaded by reedist Ken Vandermark, a frequent Canadian visitor. Like other established players, Vandermark mentors younger players, one of whom is bass clarinetist Jason Stein. A Calculus of Loss Clean Feed CF 104 CD demonstrates what Stein can do on his own, backed by Kevin Davis’s cello and Mike Pride’s percussion.

As cohesive as the other groups here, one of the trio’s advantages is that Davis takes either the front-line guitar or rhythm-section bass role. The other is that Pride’s percussion includes resonating vibraphone tinctures, cantilevered cymbal patterns plus standard drum beats.

Compositions such as “Caroline and Sam” and “That’s Not a Closet” confirm the three are as comfortable with New music as new Swing. Balanced on vibes reverberations and scratched cello strings, the former connects a near-madrigal melody with extended techniques as Stein sounds an intractable phrase in his body tube ignoring key movement. Based on mood, rather than rhythm, the result is contemplative without sinking to lugubriousness. On the other hand, “That’s Not…” is sprightly enough to suggest mainstream swing, although Stein’s roistering coloratura lines alternating with jagged runs aren’t a standard scenario. Melodious, variations moderate the pace so Davis’ plinks and Pride’s cymbal pops are audible in its resolution.

Some of these players may be on stage this month; others may take a while to visit the area. All are worth hearing.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #9

June 6, 2008

Bridge 61

Journal
Atavistic ALP172CD

Raucous and other-focused Journal is yet another entry in Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark’s ever lengthening discography. Largely concentrated on low pitches, the instrumentation on this notable 72-minute, eight-track CD is completed by Jason Stein’s voluminous bass clarinet timbres, Nate McBride’s resonating acoustic and electric bass fills and Tim Daisy’s chunky percussion strokes.

Playing tenor and baritone saxophones, Vandermark’s most common strategy consists of arduous snorts and vamps– one part glottal R&B honks, the other altissimo Free Jazz shrills. The other players respond, expand or moderate the attack. Thick strums and funky thumb pops from the bassist define the groove on more rhythmic numbers, while acoustically McBride outputs woody bass slaps. Spectacular in his drum displays, Daisy references vigorous backbeat ruffs and rolls along with subtle shuffles, rim shots and kettle drum approximations – doubling or halving the tempo at will. When not gurgling basement split tone runs, Stein often uses pitch-sliding trills for melodic double counterpoint with Vandermark’s saxophones or clarinet.

Defining composition is Daisy’s episodic, 11-minute “Dark Blue, Bright Red”. Putting aside unsubtle pedal-point textures, and playing straight clarinet Vandermark’s deep sighing breaths and split-tone obbligatos unite for polyphonic episodes with sawing spiccato strings and patterned drum thumps. Propelled to a crescendo by the composer’s nerve beat stick work and wood block patterns, the tune eventually downshifts into a finale of gentling reed harmonies.

--Ken Waxman

For Whole Note Vol. 12 #4

December 6, 2006