Grosse Abfahrt

Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien
Creative Sources CS 065 CD

Grosse Abfahrt

Everything that Disappears

Emanem 4146

Named for a German dirigible that in 1908 crashed near Berkeley, Calif. during an unsuccessful demonstration of its potential as trans-oceanic liner, both of Grosse Abfahrt’s CDs are organized around more successful European-American interfaces.

Undoubtedly it’s because the only air being distilled here are the currents propelled from the eight instruments on Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien and the nine on Everything that Disappears. Also more in keeping with 21st Century improvisation, the fuel of choice – besides the musicians’ inventiveness – is electricity, not hydrogen gas. Plus, as opposed to brief duration and subsequent crash of inventor John Morrell’s disastrous flight, only one improvisation on either intriguing set is less than three minutes in length. Most clock in around the 10-minute mark, with the first disc’s “interkontinentale luftschiffahrt” proceeding for almost 19 minutes while the other session’s “geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters” unrolls for nearly 39 minutes. Depending on traffic, the later probably is likely a longer time-frame then it takes to drive between San Francisco and Berkeley.

Chief instigators of the project are a group of experienced Bay area improvisers whose associates involve various bands, computer music, study or teaching at nearby Mills College and work with theorist/saxophonist Anthony Braxton. Present on both discs are trumpeter Tom Djll, clarinetist Matt Ingalls, guitarist John Shiurba, percussionist Gino Robair and electronics manipulator Tim Perkis. Chris Brown on piano and electronics – member of the electro-acoustic band the Hub – joins the home team on Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien, while bassist George Cremaschi, who has played with saxophonist Evan Parker, pinch-hits on Everything that Disappears.

Visitors on the first CD are Berlin-based electronics experimenters Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun, while the other CD’s out-of-town input is all French: pianist Frédèric Blondy plus Lê Quan Ninh, whose contributions are via a surrounded bass drum.

Courtesy of the Teutonic dial twisters – as well as Perkins, Brown and Robair – the first CD is more electronically oriented. Hissing and undulating pulsations coalesce and swell throughout, relieved slightly by antiphonal cork-screw like aural actions and bottle top-like pops. When clearly identifiable instrumental timbres are heard, they too exist in the furthest reaches of extended techniques. For instance, featured are low-frequency chording and metallic and metronomic key clinking from the piano, perilously plus descending reed slides from the clarinetist, with both mixed among split-second cavity tube gasps from the trumpet. Occurring alongside these pitches are scraping sideband whooshes, reverberating ramping, bubbling circular synthesized tones and what could be an electric fan whirring.

Frequently converging then breaking apart, the effects reach a crescendo midway through this session when the cumulative pulses isolate a thick rhythm which suggests a stick being scraped against a ratchet, while piano cadenzas clink and the horns alternate between tongue slaps and approximating squeak-toys.

Reconvening more-than-2½ years later, at Mills no less, the French connection widens the cynosure. Travelling in carefully measured steps, acoustic instrumentals move to the fore, with the improvisation encompassing Cremaschi’s sul tasto bow swipes and thumps, piezo-extended plinking from Shiurba and bird-whistling trills from Ingalls.

Not abandoning electronics altogether, ricocheting loops further distort the sound picture on “Admittedly, social relations This”. But in contrast to earlier tracks and the entire other CD, rather than masking them, the electronics extend the acoustic timbres. For example the tongue slurps, lip burbles and mouth cries from the horn men are strengthened with ghostly layers of preparations that spurt and fizz. Meanwhile a single guitar strum, internal piano string-stopping and mallet-powered drum thwacks are cleanly isolated.

However every imaginable timbre – both electronic and acoustic – appears to get space on “geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters” whose complex performance envelops capillary brays, irregular reed vibratos and funereal bass drum thumps plus dial-twisted pulsations. Subsequent developments encompass guitar string distortions, frenzied reed obbligatos and unvarying piano key pounding. Eventually, slide-whistle-like chirps and whines from the horns, give way to intermittent signal-processed burbling and chafing squeaks that could arise from either reed tones or sul ponticello string manipulation.

Next from beneath the blanket of grinding wave-form distortions and flanged electronic tones, occasional rubtao brass bursts, low-frequency piano cadences and surface percussion ruffs and slaps are highlighted. As the blurry, computer-triggered flutters distort acoustic instruments’ output, the horns’ staccato output abstracts and melds with other textures, finally disappearing into conclusive tone-matching.

Based on textural exploration rather than story telling or straightforward exposition, both CDs can be appreciated for their atmospheric qualities. Accepted on their own specialized terms, they offer rewarding listens.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Erstes: 1. am anfang zerstörung 2. interkontinentale luftschiffahrt 3. Morrell remained hopeful 4. riesenflugzeugabteilung 5. ein dicker ‘gas bag’

Personnel: Erstes: Tom Djll (trumpet); Matt Ingalls (clarinet); John Shiurba (guitar); Chris Brown (piano and electronics); Gino Robair (analog synthesizer) and Serge Baghdassarians, Boris Baltschun and Tim Perkis (electronics)

Track Listing: Everything: 1. The lack Americans connected What disappears* 2. negativity paradox achieved in humour realm 3. Admittedly, social relations This* 4. geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters*

Personnel: Everything: Tom Djll (trumpet, pocket cornet and preparations); Matt Ingalls (Bb clarinet and bass clarinet); Frédèric Blondy (piano); John Shiurba (guitar)*; George Cremaschi (bass and electronics); Lê Quan Ninh (surrounded bass drum); John Bischoff and Tim Perkis (electronics)* and Gino Robair (energized surfaces and voltage made audible)

July 15, 2008

Grosse Abfahrt

Everything that Disappears
Emanem 4146

Grosse Abfahrt

Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien

Creative Sources CS 065 CD

Named for a German dirigible that in 1908 crashed near Berkeley, Calif. during an unsuccessful demonstration of its potential as trans-oceanic liner, both of Grosse Abfahrt’s CDs are organized around more successful European-American interfaces.

Undoubtedly it’s because the only air being distilled here are the currents propelled from the eight instruments on Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien and the nine on Everything that Disappears. Also more in keeping with 21st Century improvisation, the fuel of choice – besides the musicians’ inventiveness – is electricity, not hydrogen gas. Plus, as opposed to brief duration and subsequent crash of inventor John Morrell’s disastrous flight, only one improvisation on either intriguing set is less than three minutes in length. Most clock in around the 10-minute mark, with the first disc’s “interkontinentale luftschiffahrt” proceeding for almost 19 minutes while the other session’s “geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters” unrolls for nearly 39 minutes. Depending on traffic, the later probably is likely a longer time-frame then it takes to drive between San Francisco and Berkeley.

Chief instigators of the project are a group of experienced Bay area improvisers whose associates involve various bands, computer music, study or teaching at nearby Mills College and work with theorist/saxophonist Anthony Braxton. Present on both discs are trumpeter Tom Djll, clarinetist Matt Ingalls, guitarist John Shiurba, percussionist Gino Robair and electronics manipulator Tim Perkis. Chris Brown on piano and electronics – member of the electro-acoustic band the Hub – joins the home team on Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien, while bassist George Cremaschi, who has played with saxophonist Evan Parker, pinch-hits on Everything that Disappears.

Visitors on the first CD are Berlin-based electronics experimenters Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun, while the other CD’s out-of-town input is all French: pianist Frédèric Blondy plus Lê Quan Ninh, whose contributions are via a surrounded bass drum.

Courtesy of the Teutonic dial twisters – as well as Perkins, Brown and Robair – the first CD is more electronically oriented. Hissing and undulating pulsations coalesce and swell throughout, relieved slightly by antiphonal cork-screw like aural actions and bottle top-like pops. When clearly identifiable instrumental timbres are heard, they too exist in the furthest reaches of extended techniques. For instance, featured are low-frequency chording and metallic and metronomic key clinking from the piano, perilously plus descending reed slides from the clarinetist, with both mixed among split-second cavity tube gasps from the trumpet. Occurring alongside these pitches are scraping sideband whooshes, reverberating ramping, bubbling circular synthesized tones and what could be an electric fan whirring.

Frequently converging then breaking apart, the effects reach a crescendo midway through this session when the cumulative pulses isolate a thick rhythm which suggests a stick being scraped against a ratchet, while piano cadenzas clink and the horns alternate between tongue slaps and approximating squeak-toys.

Reconvening more-than-2½ years later, at Mills no less, the French connection widens the cynosure. Travelling in carefully measured steps, acoustic instrumentals move to the fore, with the improvisation encompassing Cremaschi’s sul tasto bow swipes and thumps, piezo-extended plinking from Shiurba and bird-whistling trills from Ingalls.

Not abandoning electronics altogether, ricocheting loops further distort the sound picture on “Admittedly, social relations This”. But in contrast to earlier tracks and the entire other CD, rather than masking them, the electronics extend the acoustic timbres. For example the tongue slurps, lip burbles and mouth cries from the horn men are strengthened with ghostly layers of preparations that spurt and fizz. Meanwhile a single guitar strum, internal piano string-stopping and mallet-powered drum thwacks are cleanly isolated.

However every imaginable timbre – both electronic and acoustic – appears to get space on “geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters” whose complex performance envelops capillary brays, irregular reed vibratos and funereal bass drum thumps plus dial-twisted pulsations. Subsequent developments encompass guitar string distortions, frenzied reed obbligatos and unvarying piano key pounding. Eventually, slide-whistle-like chirps and whines from the horns, give way to intermittent signal-processed burbling and chafing squeaks that could arise from either reed tones or sul ponticello string manipulation.

Next from beneath the blanket of grinding wave-form distortions and flanged electronic tones, occasional rubtao brass bursts, low-frequency piano cadences and surface percussion ruffs and slaps are highlighted. As the blurry, computer-triggered flutters distort acoustic instruments’ output, the horns’ staccato output abstracts and melds with other textures, finally disappearing into conclusive tone-matching.

Based on textural exploration rather than story telling or straightforward exposition, both CDs can be appreciated for their atmospheric qualities. Accepted on their own specialized terms, they offer rewarding listens.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Erstes: 1. am anfang zerstörung 2. interkontinentale luftschiffahrt 3. Morrell remained hopeful 4. riesenflugzeugabteilung 5. ein dicker ‘gas bag’

Personnel: Erstes: Tom Djll (trumpet); Matt Ingalls (clarinet); John Shiurba (guitar); Chris Brown (piano and electronics); Gino Robair (analog synthesizer) and Serge Baghdassarians, Boris Baltschun and Tim Perkis (electronics)

Track Listing: Everything: 1. The lack Americans connected What disappears* 2. negativity paradox achieved in humour realm 3. Admittedly, social relations This* 4. geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters*

Personnel: Everything: Tom Djll (trumpet, pocket cornet and preparations); Matt Ingalls (Bb clarinet and bass clarinet); Frédèric Blondy (piano); John Shiurba (guitar)*; George Cremaschi (bass and electronics); Lê Quan Ninh (surrounded bass drum); John Bischoff and Tim Perkis (electronics)* and Gino Robair (energized surfaces and voltage made audible)

July 15, 2008

Moe! Staniano’s Moe!Kestra

2 Rooms of Uranium inside 83 Markers
Edgetone Records EDT 4064

Frank Zappa once said something to the effect that writing about music was like dancing about architecture. While the sentiments may be apt, with this CD Bay area percussionist-composer Moe! Staniano has created a conduction for interior design. Using two rooms in the now-defunct Oakland Box Theater, Staniano positioned members of his 31-piece Moe!Kestra in separate areas of two rooms and a hallway. Dashing from room to room to cue different passages calls for the skills of a marathon runner, with this exercise in spatial organization also demanding stamina as well as individualism.

Luckily and despite – or maybe because of – the exclamation mark in his name Staniano posses both qualities. Overall the six-part piece – which shares the CD with a shorter, gentler conduction for voice and strings – impresses in its audacity and sonic inventiveness. However recording clarity does suffer a bit from spacing issues – separation in this case involved more than multi-channel recording and mike placement.

Purely a collective creation, any solos from the Moe!Kestra are by necessity brief and fully within Staniano’s overall musical context, with timbral coloration more noticeable than individual virtuosity. Electric guitars and basses were in the main room; brass, reeds and a turntablist in the other, with the percussionists in the hallway so that their beats could be heard by each of the other sets of players. Not surprisingly, the position of, and volume from, the nine percussionists ensured that the basic rhythm was never lost. But then again the man with the exclamation point after his first name also has worked as a solo percussionist, as part of such avant-rock bands as Sleepytime Gorilla Museum as well as with more straightforward improvisers like bassist John Edwards and percussionist Gino Robair.

At the same time this sympathy for rock music– or the strength of alternating currents – ensures that the electric guitars and basses don’t have any problem being heard either. Throughout wheezing guitar figures, feedback flanges, syncopated tremolo licks and triggered electronic pulses push many passages to crescendos. Incongruously enough the only other timbres distinctive enough to be heard over and through the massed din are the wooden pops, scrapes and pitter-patter of Suki O’Kane’s marimba.

Encompassing unexpected diminuendo, there are passages quiet enough to hear the scrapes and knocks from the percussionists, string strums – and even footfalls. But these are balanced by rowdy tutti horn counter tones, separated discordant pitches, verbalized crowd murmurs and simian-like shrieks. Spatial placement is most apparent mid-way through, when the taut, arched brass and reed sections seem to be literally propelling their parts from another space – which of course is where they are.

Spectral organization ensures that the undulating theme is heard as frequently as it would be in a sonata, but the instrumentation guarantees that most timbres are spewed out, phase-shifted and modulated in unique fashions. Eventually the summation – alternating wriggling and oscillating patterns converging from different areas – perhaps physically – with rock-like bounces from the percussion and reverberating tone bursts from the guitars, is mulched with cowbell, wooden block and gamelan-like concussions.

A lumbering postlude features chromatic hunting-horn-like flourishes from the brass, serpentine whines and split tones from the reeds plus martial beats from the percussion and low-pitched strings. Finally each section masses and explodes concurrently, leaving aviary reed tones and percussion rattles to echo in the silence.

If lower case improv exists, perhaps Staniano has pioneered exclamation point conduction.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: 1. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 6: Depleted Uranium 2. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms Part 1 3. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms Part 2 4. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms Part 3 5. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms Part 4 6. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms Part 5 7. Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms Part 6

Personnel: Moe! Staiano (conductor) plus 1: Jeff Hobbs (violin); Myles Boisen and Lucio Menegon (guitars); Vicky Grossi, Allen Whitman (bass guitars); Marika Hughes (cello); Devon Hoff (bass); Ches Smith (drums) and Carla Kihlstedt (voice) 2-7. Darren Johnston (trumpet); Jennifer Baker (trombone); Alan Anzalone and Michael Perlmutter (tenor saxophones); Rent Romus (C-melody saxophone); Aaron Bennett and Chris Broderick (clarinets); Scott Rosenberg, David Slusser (bass clarinets); Jeff Hobbs (violin); John Shiurba (violin and banjo); Robin Reynolds and Theresa Wong Hobbs (cellos); Lucio Menegon, Pat Moran, Daryl Shawn, Robin Hiroko Walsh and Bill Wolter (guitars); Vicky Grossi (bass guitar); Christopher Brown, George Cremaschi and Lisa Mezzacappa (bass); Allen Whitman (mini drum set); David Mairs (drums); Michael Guarino and Sam Ospovat (percussion); Jason Levis (percussion and bowls); Peter Valsamis (cymbal and dumbek); David Leikam (hand percussion); Suki O’Kane (marimba); Bob Marsh (accordion and tap shoes) and Matt Davignon (turntable)

May 13, 2008

Jon Raskin

Quartet
Ratascan Records BRD 059

Cold Bleak Heat

Simitu

Family Vineyard FV41

Encapsulating the differences between West Coast and East Coast Free Improv, these quartet sessions illustrate how dissimilar sounding identically constituted combos can be.

Consisting of both compositional and improvisational material, the 12 tracks of Quartet are individually shaped by score and graphic elements organized by the band leader, long-time ROVA quartet member saxophonist Jon Raskin Rougher and wilder in contrast, Simitu’s six tracks seem to be nourished by the highly emotional and theatrical Energy Music which flourished in the 1970s.

Considering that one of Cold Bleak Heat (CBH)’s main voices – Connecticut-based saxophonist Paul Flaherty – has been immersed in this sort of ardent improvising since that time period, partially explains CBH’s emotional style. Theatricalism is added because two of the other band members – bassist Matt Heyner and drummer Chris Corsano – are immersed in indie-rock as well as improvisation. In contrast, trumpeter Greg Kelley is more often found in sound-oriented, lower-case improv circles.

Oddly enough Raskin’s Bay-Area-centred band mates have similar backgrounds. Trumpeter Liz Allbee plays in experimental rock bands; percussionist Gino Robair has recorded with everyone from minimalist free musicians and composer Lou Harrison to rock singer Ton Waits; while bassist George Cremaschi’s list of collaborators range from British saxophonist Evan Parker to rock/jazz guitarist Nels Cline.

Obviously such experienced folk provide positive input on Quartet. But it’s also clear that Raskin, who also composes for film and dance projects, and whose associates range from minimalist composer Terry Riley to jazzer Tim Berne, not only has a more singular vision than that which arises from CBH, but also has greater control of the material performed.

Consider pieces like “Qupe” and “African Tulip” for instance. On the former, staccato flights from both horn teeter on top of Cremaschi’s solid arco work, further colored by Robair’s tubular bell-like resonations. When the percussionist’s rhythm extensions turn to irregular flams and knocks and the bassist reverberates thicker pulses, the saxophonist’s response is outputting wide and shaking reed tones.

Although filled with unexpected bumps, the later tune is cohesively connective, as Robair’s nimble, ping-ponging strokes set up spurts of plunger tones from Allbee and tongue-stops from Raskin. After Allbee’s seconding obbligato is inflated into circular trills and bubbles, the saxophonist’s reed slurs and slurps combine with her vibrating tremolo tonguing to cement the previous divide into unison polyphony.

Probably the tracks which best illustrate the band’s strategy however are back-to-back “Kandinsky”, a Raskin composition and “Sounding Barometer Reading”, a group improv. Weighing the results, the creations defy anyone to distinguish the composer-defined from the instantly created pieces.

“Kandinsky” features Cremaschi’s bass-string stropping, Robair’s drumstick-on-cymbal grinding and spittle-encrusted braying from Allbee – all adumbrating the saxophone’s swoops and split tones. Introduced with a reed honk and a human laugh, the second tune merely boosts the textures available with a variety of brass kisses, growls and scrapes; tongue sprinting from Daffy Duck quacks to polar bear grumbles from the saxophone; and col legno bowing from the bassist. Would Robair’s perfectly pitched miniature bell and/or cymbal slaps that guide the animal-like trumpet brays and whistling reed bites sound any different if they were scored?

Although Cremaschi and Robair are listed as also using electronics, there are only a few instances when triggered, machine-created wave forms can be sensed.

Old School to the extreme, Flaherty probably would react like a medieval priest faced with a heretic if confronted with electronics. While Kelley and Heyner at least have worked out an accommodation to quasi-instruments such as laptop computers elsewhere, the fervor associated with CBH’s performance could literally overheat those plastic hunks into melt-down mode if machine-made kilowatts were introduced. Staccato, sibilant and studded with double and triple broken counterpoint lines crossing and re-crossing one another, at junctures each member of CBH is given enough space to express himself a capella before cumulatively weaving a polyphonic whole cloth.

The saxophonist’s repertoire encompasses double-tongued shattered intonation, conclusive foghorn swells, crying and cawing banshee timbres plus altissimo smears. Pressured triplets, Donald Ayler-like smears and hand-muted shrills are Kelley’s contribution; Heyner moves from pitch-stabbing chording and spiccato runs to ostinato thumps; while Corsano mulches the results of backbeat bounces, bass drum rumbling, paradiddle extension and cymbal clapping. Throughout, the quartet appears to be building up to – and descending down from – the more than 21½ -minute “Mugged by a Glacier”, which is rather like an extended crescendo mixed with slight balladic echoes.

With the piece initially adagio, Kelley’s Harmon-muted runs gradually stretch the tempo as Flaherty’s reed tone coarsens and smears. Plucking and pumping dense bull fiddle notes and percussion press rolls provide the ostinato as the brassman’s timbres dart bird-like among the stop-time, nearly solipsistic sound shards emanating from the saxophone. Warbling and burbling, as the tempo increases, the trumpeter injects open-horn triplets and the reedist snorts accelerated split tones. Backbeats and press rolls from Corsano are the bonding glue that keeps the horn textures from escaping into the ozone. Reshaping the others’ thematic contributions Heyner suddenly slows down the pace three-quarters of the way through for a high-pitched sul ponticello solo with razor-sharp strokes that almost slice through the strings as they’re manipulated. Flaherty then contributes a dramatic moderato reading of the head spelled by plunger tones from Kelley. Soon the four are back into high-speed chromatic echoes driven by rustle and pop from Corsano and steady pounding from Heyner.

Depending on the person’s preference for musical structure and reason or deconstruction and passion, either session should impress the Free Jazz listener. While each illustrates a contradictory approach, perhaps geographically located, both are equally valid.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Quartet 1. Cracked Earth 2. Sounding Barometer Reading 1 3. African Tulip 4. Swing Sing 5. Kandinsky 6. Sounding Barometer Reading 2 7. Post Card 2 8. Ceilometer Reading 9. Post Card 1 10. Bleckner 11. Disdrometer Reading 12. Qupe

Personnel: Quartet: Liz Allbee (trumpet and percussion); Jon Raskin (alto and baritone saxophones); George Cremaschi (bass and electronics) and Gino Robair (percussion and electronics)

Track Listing: Simitu: 1. The Voice of the People is the Voice of God 2. Should We Destroy the Hubble? 3. Mugged by a Glacier 4. A Pound Cake 5. A White Bandaged Head in the Shadow of Death 6. To Understand All is to Forgive All

Personnel: Simitu: Greg Kelley (trumpet); Paul Flaherty (alto and tenor saxophones); Matt Heyner (bass) and Chris Corsano (drums)

January 20, 2008

Cold Bleak Heat

Simitu
Family Vineyard FV41

Jon Raskin

Quartet

Ratascan Records BRD 059

Encapsulating the differences between West Coast and East Coast Free Improv, these quartet sessions illustrate how dissimilar sounding identically constituted combos can be.

Consisting of both compositional and improvisational material, the 12 tracks of Quartet are individually shaped by score and graphic elements organized by the band leader, long-time ROVA quartet member saxophonist Jon Raskin Rougher and wilder in contrast, Simitu’s six tracks seem to be nourished by the highly emotional and theatrical Energy Music which flourished in the 1970s.

Considering that one of Cold Bleak Heat (CBH)’s main voices – Connecticut-based saxophonist Paul Flaherty – has been immersed in this sort of ardent improvising since that time period, partially explains CBH’s emotional style. Theatricalism is added because two of the other band members – bassist Matt Heyner and drummer Chris Corsano – are immersed in indie-rock as well as improvisation. In contrast, trumpeter Greg Kelley is more often found in sound-oriented, lower-case improv circles.

Oddly enough Raskin’s Bay-Area-centred band mates have similar backgrounds. Trumpeter Liz Allbee plays in experimental rock bands; percussionist Gino Robair has recorded with everyone from minimalist free musicians and composer Lou Harrison to rock singer Ton Waits; while bassist George Cremaschi’s list of collaborators range from British saxophonist Evan Parker to rock/jazz guitarist Nels Cline.

Obviously such experienced folk provide positive input on Quartet. But it’s also clear that Raskin, who also composes for film and dance projects, and whose associates range from minimalist composer Terry Riley to jazzer Tim Berne, not only has a more singular vision than that which arises from CBH, but also has greater control of the material performed.

Consider pieces like “Qupe” and “African Tulip” for instance. On the former, staccato flights from both horn teeter on top of Cremaschi’s solid arco work, further colored by Robair’s tubular bell-like resonations. When the percussionist’s rhythm extensions turn to irregular flams and knocks and the bassist reverberates thicker pulses, the saxophonist’s response is outputting wide and shaking reed tones.

Although filled with unexpected bumps, the later tune is cohesively connective, as Robair’s nimble, ping-ponging strokes set up spurts of plunger tones from Allbee and tongue-stops from Raskin. After Allbee’s seconding obbligato is inflated into circular trills and bubbles, the saxophonist’s reed slurs and slurps combine with her vibrating tremolo tonguing to cement the previous divide into unison polyphony.

Probably the tracks which best illustrate the band’s strategy however are back-to-back “Kandinsky”, a Raskin composition and “Sounding Barometer Reading”, a group improv. Weighing the results, the creations defy anyone to distinguish the composer-defined from the instantly created pieces.

“Kandinsky” features Cremaschi’s bass-string stropping, Robair’s drumstick-on-cymbal grinding and spittle-encrusted braying from Allbee – all adumbrating the saxophone’s swoops and split tones. Introduced with a reed honk and a human laugh, the second tune merely boosts the textures available with a variety of brass kisses, growls and scrapes; tongue sprinting from Daffy Duck quacks to polar bear grumbles from the saxophone; and col legno bowing from the bassist. Would Robair’s perfectly pitched miniature bell and/or cymbal slaps that guide the animal-like trumpet brays and whistling reed bites sound any different if they were scored?

Although Cremaschi and Robair are listed as also using electronics, there are only a few instances when triggered, machine-created wave forms can be sensed.

Old School to the extreme, Flaherty probably would react like a medieval priest faced with a heretic if confronted with electronics. While Kelley and Heyner at least have worked out an accommodation to quasi-instruments such as laptop computers elsewhere, the fervor associated with CBH’s performance could literally overheat those plastic hunks into melt-down mode if machine-made kilowatts were introduced. Staccato, sibilant and studded with double and triple broken counterpoint lines crossing and re-crossing one another, at junctures each member of CBH is given enough space to express himself a capella before cumulatively weaving a polyphonic whole cloth.

The saxophonist’s repertoire encompasses double-tongued shattered intonation, conclusive foghorn swells, crying and cawing banshee timbres plus altissimo smears. Pressured triplets, Donald Ayler-like smears and hand-muted shrills are Kelley’s contribution; Heyner moves from pitch-stabbing chording and spiccato runs to ostinato thumps; while Corsano mulches the results of backbeat bounces, bass drum rumbling, paradiddle extension and cymbal clapping. Throughout, the quartet appears to be building up to – and descending down from – the more than 21½ -minute “Mugged by a Glacier”, which is rather like an extended crescendo mixed with slight balladic echoes.

With the piece initially adagio, Kelley’s Harmon-muted runs gradually stretch the tempo as Flaherty’s reed tone coarsens and smears. Plucking and pumping dense bull fiddle notes and percussion press rolls provide the ostinato as the brassman’s timbres dart bird-like among the stop-time, nearly solipsistic sound shards emanating from the saxophone. Warbling and burbling, as the tempo increases, the trumpeter injects open-horn triplets and the reedist snorts accelerated split tones. Backbeats and press rolls from Corsano are the bonding glue that keeps the horn textures from escaping into the ozone. Reshaping the others’ thematic contributions Heyner suddenly slows down the pace three-quarters of the way through for a high-pitched sul ponticello solo with razor-sharp strokes that almost slice through the strings as they’re manipulated. Flaherty then contributes a dramatic moderato reading of the head spelled by plunger tones from Kelley. Soon the four are back into high-speed chromatic echoes driven by rustle and pop from Corsano and steady pounding from Heyner.

Depending on the person’s preference for musical structure and reason or deconstruction and passion, either session should impress the Free Jazz listener. While each illustrates a contradictory approach, perhaps geographically located, both are equally valid.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Quartet 1. Cracked Earth 2. Sounding Barometer Reading 1 3. African Tulip 4. Swing Sing 5. Kandinsky 6. Sounding Barometer Reading 2 7. Post Card 2 8. Ceilometer Reading 9. Post Card 1 10. Bleckner 11. Disdrometer Reading 12. Qupe

Personnel: Quartet: Liz Allbee (trumpet and percussion); Jon Raskin (alto and baritone saxophones); George Cremaschi (bass and electronics) and Gino Robair (percussion and electronics)

Track Listing: Simitu: 1. The Voice of the People is the Voice of God 2. Should We Destroy the Hubble? 3. Mugged by a Glacier 4. A Pound Cake 5. A White Bandaged Head in the Shadow of Death 6. To Understand All is to Forgive All

Personnel: Simitu: Greg Kelley (trumpet); Paul Flaherty (alto and tenor saxophones); Matt Heyner (bass) and Chris Corsano (drums)

January 20, 2008