Mecha Fixes Clocks (Michel F. Côté)

À l’inattendu les dieux livrent passage
& Records ET 09

Atmospheric and ambient, but also audacious, Montreal percussionist/keyboardist and electronic manipulator Michel F. Côté uses a variety of sonic strategies to construct an exuberantly original nine-part sound world on “à l’inattendu les dieux livrent passage”. Accomplished in transforming directors’ and choreographers’ ideas into sound, as well as leading ad hoc bands such as this one, which generate a new meaning from his initials, the composer/arranger pushes and pulls the textures in a multi-stylistic fashion so that seemingly bland surfaces turn out to contain tough, multi-faceted cores.

Case in points is a track like ferveur fossile, where chunks and clicks from signal- processed timbres splutter and shrill while commenting upon Gordon Allen’s irregularly vibrated trumpet lines and the twangs from Bernard Falaise’s guitar. Arco string runs maintain the theme, although variants become looser, more strident and discordant as they come in contact with the buzzing electronics. Other pieces offer interludes of pseudo classicism via Pierre Yves-Martel’s viol de gambe or Jean Derome’s harmonized bass flute, only to have them sabotaged by Lori Freedman’s harsh bass clarinet slurs or abrasive wood scrapes from the percussionist. Overall it seems that sonic disruption is as much a part of Côté’s compositions as legato continuum.

This post-modern strategy is sardonically confirmed on au-delà de l’espace des petits oiseasux and more obviously on the concluding entre idéal et mental. On that track, string-laden samples, likely sourced by turntablist Martin Tétrault from Gone with the Wind composer Max Steiner LPs, are interrupted by plinking from live string players, motor-driven whines and clanks plus the percussionist’s cross pulses and opposite-sticking beats.

--Ken Waxman

-- For Whole Note Vol. 16 #10

July 12, 2011

Klaxon Gueule

Infininiment
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 194 CD

Inhabitants

A Vacant Lot

Drip Audio DA 00579

Jim Lewis/Andrew Downing/Jean Martin

On a Short Path from Memory to Forgotten

Barnyard Records BR 0311

David Smith

Anticipation

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records BJUR 015

Extended Play: New roles for Trumpets

By Ken Waxman

Although the romantic image of a lone trumpeter has been standard in jazz since the time of “Young Man with a Horn”, musically it’s actually more difficult for a trumpet to be sole horn in a band – at least until freely improvised music rewrote the rules a few decades ago. The reason is simple: unlike the saxophone’s many keys which the soloist can manipulate for different timbres, the trumpet has only three valves and a length of tubing. Brass players thus most often work with a reed partner or as part of an ensemble. However these CDs, featuring mostly Canadian casts, show that notable sessions can appear no matter the instrumental make up.

Toronto-born, Brooklyn-resident David Smith’s Anticipation Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records BJUR 015 is the most conventional of the discs, with Smith and Montreal-born drummer Greg Ritchie playing in a quintet filled out by tenor saxophone, guitar and bass. Working out on one standard, a Coltrane line and five originals, the band rarely strays from the expected head-solo-head formula, with Smith’s bright playing amply backed by saxophonist Kenji Omae and guitarist Nate Radley. Standouts are the trumpeter’s compositions, Bittersweet, a gentle line celebrating his daughter’s birth with tremolo tonguing; and The Question, a contrafact of Monk’s Ask Me Now, built on cascading horn lines from Omae and a tough brassy break from Smith. Throughout Smith illustrates his instrument’s restrictions, since many of his solos feature complementary runs from Omae, while Radley’s fleet-fingered chording and limber picking dominates most of the tunes.

Ex-Torontonian, now Montrealer, trumpeter Gordon Allen plus saxophonists Jean Derome and Philippe Lauzier take an equally standard role as backing horn section on Montreal band Klaxon Gueule’s Infininiment Ambiances Magnétiques AM 194 CD. Throughout the 13 minimalist tunes the horns extend or amplify improvisations from the band’s core trio – guitarist Bernard Falaise, bassist Alexandre St-Onge and percussionist Michael F. Côté. Concerned as much with mood and texture as melody, the scene-setting arrangements frequently find single horn parts providing brief commentary on Falaise’s popping guitar licks, St-Onge’s pulsating rhythms or the knitting-needle-like clatter of Côté’s delicate drumming. The bass line serves as a pedal point drone on Momo Pèle, for instance, which fades away following dissociated drum beats, but not before Allen has pumped out bugle-like reveille. In contrast singular note extensions from one saxophone plus chromatic mellow timbres from the trumpeter inflate from distanced peeps to provide a counterweight to dissonant guitar-string snaps and abrasive strums on Brown Suinte.

Altering the paradigm so that each instrument is as important as any other creates a more equitable and satisfying performance – and boosts the trumpet’s role. Toronto’s Jim Lewis, Andrew Downing and Jean Martin demonstrate this On a Short Path from Memory to Forgotten Barnyard Records BR 0311. Consisting of 10 instant compositions, there is no foreground or background instrument. One tune for example could be a capriccio, as Lewis’ joyful trumpet blasts define the theme; another is dependent on Downing’s thumping bass pulsations; and almost all are illuminated more by the splashes of multiphonic color Martin creates with gamelan-like bell tones and triangle resonation than a steady beat from his regular kit. Showcasing Lewis’ phrasing, which ranges from staccato heraldic blasts to graceful flutters, is “Eight”, the tune in which his moderated a capella puffs give way to a rubato, double-time version of theme and finally to aviary chirps plus whistling resounds. These intertwine with martial rolls and rebounds from Martin and walking slap bass from Downing.

A refinement – or coarsening – of this strategy is displayed by Vancouver’s Inhabitants, on A Vacant Lot Drip Audio DA 00579 which adds the guitar of Dave Sikula to the basic trumpet (JP Carter), bass (Pete Schmitt) and drums (Skye Brooks) trio. Another major difference is the use of electronics, with Carter’s heavily miked trumpet’s pulsating alongside Sikula’s folksy strums. Eschewing a steady beat Schmitt and Brooks still use string strokes and harsh backbeats to prevent otherwise airy timbres from ascending into the stratosphere. Pacific Central is the representative track. After a minimalist introduction that’s mostly acoustic guitar and trumpet peeps, the piece opens up and accelerates to full-bore polyphony with hard drum ruffs, staccato guitar licks and trumpet shakes which cascade chromatically then fade, while still encouraging the group’s affiliated pulses. This is electrified music with a touch of dissonance.

By crafting new roles for trumpeters within improvising combos, these Canadian players have produced memorable CDs.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #10

July 13, 2010

Gordon Allen

All Up In There
MrE Records 2

Devaux/Lafrance/Lauda/Rossignol/Massicotte/Servant/Normand

Une Règle de Trois

Tour de Bras tdbouebe002

Noah Rosen, Yves Robert & Didier Levallet

Silhouette

Sans Bruit sbr007

Forge/Julian/Papastolou

Meshes

Another Timbre Byways at-b05

Extended Play: New Methods of Dissemination

By Ken Waxman

Proliferation of CD burners, sequencing and editing software and the exponential growth of the Internet has opened up new possibilities for disseminating music. This is especially germane for improvised and other minority sounds. By avoiding the expenses of mass distribution and manufacturing music can reach more interested listeners. Formulae have been developed to do so and each of these fine sessions uses one.

Rimouski, Quebec-based bassist/audio artist Éric Normand who performs at Somewhere There this month, allows listeners to download sounds from his Web site. One example of this is Une Règle de Trois Tour de Bras tdbouebe002. A hand-drawn CD cover can be downloaded as well. Recorded live, this is a super-session of sorts featuring collaborations among improvisers from Rimouski, Montreal and Montpellier France. Most of the sounds balance on steady crunches and crackles from three tuntablists, with wiggling flanges and flying spiccato reprises from fiddler Catherine Massicotte and guitarist Christophe Devaux, plus puffs and bellows from Robin Servant’s diatonic accordion. Normand adds aleatoric and agitato smacks bringing the discursive theme in-and-out of aural focus, as the motor-driven clicks and clatters create a pedal point foundation.

A more sophisticated version of downloadable CDs comes from the French Sans Bruit label. Featuring improvisers pianist Noah Rosen, trombonist Yves Robert and bassist Didier Levallet, Silhouette Sans Bruit sbr007 not only captures the trio live, but also provides a professionally designed front and back cover with recording details. Rosen and his confreres’ disc is as swinging as it is kinetic, highlighting an impressive admixture of timbres, not least of which includes modern gutbucket styling from trombonist Robert. Super staccato, “Aesthetic Form” for instance is less aesthetic than acrobatic, as Robert’s rubato whinnies slink and sway alongside Rosen’s two-handed pump in the piano’s lowest register, until he slips to the edge of the keys to link up with Levallet’s sul tasto runs. Elsewhere Rosen’s hunt-and-peck technique predominates, along with the trombonist’s triple-tonguing and mouth gymnastics. The session culminates with “Bon, bref et puis …” with allegro additions from each partner expressed in slaps and pumps from the bassist, cascading comping from the pianist plus foreshortened and jagged bass- pitched slurs from Robert.

A more cerebral trombone trio is on Meshes Another Timbre Byways at-b05. This CD-R, with its well-designed cover, demonstrates another method of distribution. Certain that young improvisers wouldn’t need the number of discs in a standard official CD run, the British label created its Byways CD-R series. Certainly this gritty and pressured microtonal program from trombonist Mathias Forge, electronics manipulator Phil Julian and cellist David Papapostolou is one justification for the experiment. During two lengthy improvisations, the interaction and texture-blending is such that it’s frequently impossible to match particular timbres to individual instruments. With Julian’s electronics segmenting into chunky signal- processed lines, pulsating reverb and flat-line drones, multiplied shrills flash through the narratives like rain showers, when the static isn’t undulating underneath. Extended passages of extreme stillness also alter the tonal centre so that whistling squeaks from the cello – often hewn from the strings below the bridge – or blurry triplets strained from the trombone bell, tongue pops and flat-line blowing without valve pushes are more conspicuous. Although discontinuous in spots, the combined undulations made up of cello strings held to maximum tautness, rubato grace notes plus tremolo pedal tones from the trombonist, and electronic drones eventually reach a crescendo of inter-connected friction climaxing with a conclusive whistle and pop.

Brass and an electronic variant are also prominent on All Up In There MrE Records 2 by Montreal-based, former Torontonian, trumpeter Gordon Allen, who often plays here. Figuring this concert with Frank Martel on theremin and drummer Michel F. Côté was worth preserving, Allen initially created 79 copies of the disc. With liner notes handwritten on a paper bag and the record packaged in a hand-sewn cloth bag, D-I-Y is taken to its logical extreme. But the strength of the performance suggests that more copies may eventually be needed. Sounds are cohesive and wedded to jazz-improv. Although when all musical cylinders fire at once, the results appear as a solid textural block, there’s ample room for individual expression. Revealed are Côté’s anything-but regular rhythms, the trumpeter’s choked-throat growls, and pitter-pattering string-referencing thumps from the theremin. These bass-like strokes are even more prominent midway through, when joining the drummer’s assertive backbeat, they create a solid base, allowing Allen’s plunger tones, grace note squeaks and bovine lows to float above.

Proving conclusively that quantity does not mean quality, each session uses unexpected means to get to its intended audiences.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 15 #7

April 4, 2010

Joe Giardullo Open Ensemble

Red Morocco
Rogue Art ROG-0012

Highly orchestrated, multi-faceted and engrossing, Red Morocco is a breakthrough large-form suite composed by veteran reed player Joe Giardullo. It rationally illustrates how his notated ideas can be interpreted by a group of 14 American and Canadian improvisers.

Largely self-taught as a composer and instrumentalist, Giardullo’s interest in musical creation was fed by an appreciation for Stockhausen, Berio and Indian music, study of George Russell’s Lydian Theory of Tonal Organization; plus playing situations with Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Lester Lanin (!) Peg Leg Bates (!!) Pauline Oliveros and others. It reaches inventive fruition with this 10-part creation.

Evidently skewed towards New music at first, by the end of the final, and incidentally, title track, the contributions of notable improvisers mean that those tilts towards formalism are surmounted. How else could it be, with sonic interjections from the likes of Joe McPhee on trumpet and trombone, cellist Daniel Levin, violinist David Prentice and Giardullo himself on sopranino saxophone, alto flute and bass clarinet? At the same time there’s no confusing the program with doctrinaire modern jazz, experimental or otherwise. Not only are there microtonal and/or legato undulation from the three fiddlers and two cellists, but the rhythm section lacks a double bassist and a traps drummer. Percussion is the province of Brian Melick using almost any instrument that can be whacked, scraped, scratched, ratcheted and shaken; plus the chiming resonation of David Arner’s xylophone.

Should a variant such as “Q-2G (e)” begin with near-rococo styling from massed strings, pitter-pattering xylophone keys, and curvaceous hide-and-seek saxophone and clarinet lines, then the track’s completion refers to a contrapuntal arrangement advanced on “OPD”, two tracks earlier. On the former, a perfect balance is realized between double and triple pizzicato string stopping and the crunch of reverb and distortion feedback from the dual guitars of Dom Minasi and Rich Rosenthal. Yet negating the rules of standard jazz-rock fusion, the guitar licks aren’t framed in an unvarying drum beat, but by the percussionists’ buzzing timbres, glockenspiel chiming, maracas shaking, plus brass slurs and hocketing from McPhee and trumpeter Gordon Allen.

Elsewhere muted trumpeting is cushioned in overtone layering from massed strings and horns, only to be interrupted by staccato discord from one violinist – plus a contrapuntal counter-line from McPhee’s trombone. Other places the two trumpets circle one another in different guises – one playing smooth connective grace notes and the other triplets in broken octaves – until they link and complement one another. Then there are spots where the two reedists divide their interaction between irregular vibratos, split tones and staccatissico tongue slaps, with this unfolding on top of wooden marimba-like pressures and whining string striations.

Red Morocco, the CD and “Red Morocco”, the composition concludes with xylophone and cello chipping tones at one another, following a moderato trumpet and reeds variation and two intermezzos: one for gentling violin and xylophone, and the other for tough sul tasto cello runs and squeaky violin double stopping.

Confirmation of Giardullo’s compositional skills, the CD is a memorable listening experience.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: 1. OPB 2. OPG 3. 2T(m) 4. Memory Root 5. OPD 6. NFRTT-1 7. Q-2G(e) 8. Calabar 9. Hikori 10. Red Morocco.

Personnel: Gordon Allen (trumpet); Joe McPhee (pocket trumpet and valve trombone); Joe Giardullo (bass clarinet, sopranino saxophone and alto flute); Lori Freedman (clarinet and bass clarinet); Rosie Hertlein, David Prentice and Michael Snow (violins); Daniel Levin and Martha Colby (celli); Steve Lantner (piano); Dom Minasi and Rich Rosenthal (guitars); David Arner (xylophone) and Brian Melick (percussion)

August 5, 2008

Two Bass Hits

Trio Léandre/Derome/Roger and Quartestski Does Prokofiev perform Montreal concerts

Trio Léandre/Derome/Roger

La Salle Rosa

Montreal March 25, 2008

Quartestski Does Prokofiev

Casa del Popolo

Montreal March 26, 2008

Bass set the pace in Montreal on two weeknights in late March. This was the result of Paris-based Joëlle Léandre performing as part of an ad-hoc trio in concert at converted social hall La Salle Rosa the night before local bassist, Pierre-Yves Martel, played across Boulevard St. Laurent at the more relaxed Casa del Popolo club, exhibiting the sort of genre-bursting freedom won for younger string players like himself by pioneers like Léandre, as his Quartestski Does Prokofiev extended its interpretations of the material on its eponymously named CD. The connection was even stronger, since the peripatetic Parisian, stopping off between gigs in New York and Paris actually played on Martel’s bass.

Many times at the Salle Rosa it seemed as if Léandre – described in promotional material as une grande dame de la musique improvisée – and who made a suitably tardy diva-like entrance after the other two had set up – was more involved in duo playing than cohesive trio work. This is understandable, however, since the uninhibited Frenchwoman approaches every musical challenge head-on, smacking her strings with her bow, slithering all over its body to spear illusive notes and often murmuring and chanting in a combination of French and invented language as she plays.

In contrast to Léandre’s maximal approach, the locals, percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger and saxophonist/flautist Jean Derome, although expansive as part of Quebec’s experimental Musique Actuelle scene were almost minimalists. It may depend on hitting the proper groove: Derome had only played once before with the bassist; and while Roger and Léandre recorded a duo disc that was in 1999.

Nonetheless, as the concert evolved, disparate pieces locked into place with the Québécois players taking more risks and bassist’s excesses harnassed. At one point Roger and Léandre indulged in a silent duet, the percussionist waves the yoke from one drum top in the air as the bassist responds with an equally unheard rapier-like air slice with her bow.

Moving among flute, contrabass flute, alto and baritone saxophones, Derome is anything but mute and frequently trades his instruments’ innate harmoniousness for dissonant cries. Romantic flute lines invariably give way to fripple percussiveness, while tongue slapping, bow bellowing and vibrato whoops and gasps characterize his saxophone strategy. Although Roger prefers tapping cymbals with her palms, scraping a ratchet with fingernails, drum stick buzzes on unattached cymbals and maraca shaking to gargantuan drum thumps by the finale the three build up to an Energy Music-styled admixture, driven in part by a descending blues line from Derome and thumping, spiccato strokes from Léandre. An encore is pure tension-relief with the reedist creating all sorts of mouth sounds from Bronx cheers to shrilling a slide whistle and a duck call.

No timbre was as rowdy the subsequent evening across the street, although drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli wasn’t averse to shaking a sound tree or producing doubled percussion by scraping a cow bell on his snare. Martel sometimes rubbed his palms and scrapped his fingernails on his bass’s wood when he wasn’t slapping its string sul tasto; trumpeter Gordon Allen produces melismatic heraldic cries or echoing plunger tones; while Phillipe Lauzier played a few choruses with a plumber’s helped screwed on top of his alto saxophone bell.

Maintaining the Prokofiev premise however meant that Lauzier used his soprano saxophone and bass clarinet to elaborate the composer’s themes for improvisation, with harmonic converge among his timbres and those of Allen often buoyed by perfectly formed arco bass lines. Ceccarelli’s distinctive press roll and modified march tempo was called into service as well. Many times during the performance the material appeared to be simultaneously faithful to the originals, rhythmically foot tapping and illuminated with avant-garde asides and expansions.

Whether the improvisation involved Lauzier buzzing colored air from his saxophone, striated tremolos from Allen or squeaks or smacks from Martel’s bass strings the heads were invariably re-capped. Of course the suspicion remained that the theme interpretation, whether it revolved around the creepy timbres tones heard in a haunted Charlie Chaplin-like walk may have originated more with Quartestski than Prokofiev.

--Ken Waxman

-- For CODA Issue 339

May 8, 2008

Jean Derome et les Dangereuz Zhoms

To Continue
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 172 CD

Bernard Falaise

Clic

Ambiances Magnétiques AM 174

Collage, parody, homage, elements of electronics, improvisation and composition enliven these energetic CDs, products of Montreal’s ever-pliable Musique Actuelle scene. Strongly influenced by – but not quite – jazz, the discs announce their distinctiveness by adding tinctures of rock music, studio wizardry and poetry.

Although saxophonist and flautist Jean Derome and trombonist Tom Walsh appear on both sessions, the individual discs are as dissimilar as they are notable. To Continue is the reunion CD – after a decade-long hiatus – of Les Dangereuz Zhoms (DZ), playing eight new Derome compositions. On the other hand, Clic’s 13 miniatures highlight the versatility of Bernard Falaise, who manipulates stringed instruments, keyboards and percussion. Also heard – besides Derome’s vibrating altissimo tones and Walsh’s gutbucket growls – are trumpeter Gordon Allen’s brassy flourishes and clarinetist Lori Freedman’s chalumeau elaborations. Meanwhile Jean Martin’s sympathetic rhythmic underpinning was wedged in from a separate session, as were the spidery strokes of Julien Grégoire’s marimba.

Ranging from pieces written for chorographers to a homage to composer Franco Donati, Clic announces its versatility with subsequent tracks, which, for example, mate a lyrical, madrigal-style horn line with drum backbeats, wooden marimba strokes and folksy mandolin licks; add slinky, electric trumpet pops to chromatic banjo fills and a stop-time section from electric guitar and bass; or mate percussive shuffle rhythms, dense horn vamps, and a fruity saxophone vibrato that would fit 1960s’ mood music. Among bottleneck guitar licks, reed spetrofluctuation, pseudo-African drum flams and Mariachi-styled trumpeting, Falise also japes on the tonal similarities among spoken word, penny whistle and calliope sounds.

To Continue showcases words as well. Some are sung lyrically in French by electric bassist Pierre Cartier, in counterpoint with pianist Guillaume Dostaler’s strummed chords and Derome’s slurry split tones. Conversely the title track feature a unison recitation of an English poem by the entire band, interspaced with tail-gate trombone lows, serpentine saxophone trills and honky-tonk keyboard jumps.

Versifying is one thing, but “Prières” – or prayers – is a summation of the DZ’s individuality. Languid and processional, it moves from a piano fantasia to distinct horn palindromes interspaced among the backbeats and military press rolls of drummer Pierre Tanguay. As metronomic piano clinking extends the pace, soprano saxophone timbres resemble both a bagpipe chanter and human laughing. Skirting contrapuntal trombone asides, the diminuendo variation decelerates the tempo, stressing Derome’s conclusive flute burble and a fierce drum whack. Words and music meld perfectly on both CDs.

-- Ken Waxman

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #8

May 1, 2008

Bernard Falaise

Clic
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 174

Jean Derome et les Dangereuz Zhoms

To Continue

Ambiances Magnétiques AM 172 CD

Collage, parody, homage, elements of electronics, improvisation and composition enliven these energetic CDs, products of Montreal’s ever-pliable Musique Actuelle scene. Strongly influenced by – but not quite – jazz, the discs announce their distinctiveness by adding tinctures of rock music, studio wizardry and poetry.

Although saxophonist and flautist Jean Derome and trombonist Tom Walsh appear on both sessions, the individual discs are as dissimilar as they are notable. To Continue is the reunion CD – after a decade-long hiatus – of Les Dangereuz Zhoms (DZ), playing eight new Derome compositions. On the other hand, Clic’s 13 miniatures highlight the versatility of Bernard Falaise, who manipulates stringed instruments, keyboards and percussion. Also heard – besides Derome’s vibrating altissimo tones and Walsh’s gutbucket growls – are trumpeter Gordon Allen’s brassy flourishes and clarinetist Lori Freedman’s chalumeau elaborations. Meanwhile Jean Martin’s sympathetic rhythmic underpinning was wedged in from a separate session, as were the spidery strokes of Julien Grégoire’s marimba.

Ranging from pieces written for chorographers to a homage to composer Franco Donati, Clic announces its versatility with subsequent tracks, which, for example, mate a lyrical, madrigal-style horn line with drum backbeats, wooden marimba strokes and folksy mandolin licks; add slinky, electric trumpet pops to chromatic banjo fills and a stop-time section from electric guitar and bass; or mate percussive shuffle rhythms, dense horn vamps, and a fruity saxophone vibrato that would fit 1960s’ mood music. Among bottleneck guitar licks, reed spetrofluctuation, pseudo-African drum flams and Mariachi-styled trumpeting, Falise also japes on the tonal similarities among spoken word, penny whistle and calliope sounds.

To Continue showcases words as well. Some are sung lyrically in French by electric bassist Pierre Cartier, in counterpoint with pianist Guillaume Dostaler’s strummed chords and Derome’s slurry split tones. Conversely the title track feature a unison recitation of an English poem by the entire band, interspaced with tail-gate trombone lows, serpentine saxophone trills and honky-tonk keyboard jumps.

Versifying is one thing, but “Prières” – or prayers – is a summation of the DZ’s individuality. Languid and processional, it moves from a piano fantasia to distinct horn palindromes interspaced among the backbeats and military press rolls of drummer Pierre Tanguay. As metronomic piano clinking extends the pace, soprano saxophone timbres resemble both a bagpipe chanter and human laughing. Skirting contrapuntal trombone asides, the diminuendo variation decelerates the tempo, stressing Derome’s conclusive flute burble and a fierce drum whack. Words and music meld perfectly on both CDs.

-- Ken Waxman

-- For Whole Note Vol. 13 #8

May 1, 2008

Quartetski Does Prokofiev

Visions Fugitives Op. 22
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 171 CD

Nearly 90 years after its Petrograd premiere, “Visions Fugitives” the “savage and sensational” 22-minute piano piece by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), has been admirably recast into nearly an hour’s worth of quartet jazz, by expanding the improvisational qualities of its 18 themes.

Credit for this re-imaging goes to bassist Pierre-Yves Martel, a Vanier, Ont.-native, who produced, arranged and music directed the CD. But the transmutation of the piece depends on the contributions of all members of the Montreal-based quartet: trumpeter Gordon Allen, Phillippe Lauzier, on alto and soprano saxophones and bass clarinet and drummer Isaiah Ceccerelli. Martel, who also plays early music on viola da gamba and with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, instinctively knows how to recast classical pieces so the improvisations aren’t segregated from the themes. Instead the composer’s atypical pitch and tempo direction are given added fillip with improv-jazz techniques. Maintaining a reverence for the original composition, Martel still allows his team to, for instance, transform “Con vivacità” with inferences from Classic Jazz, including slap bass lines, pressured growls from Lauzier’s horn and Allan’s wah-wah trumpet. Similarly, “Inquieto” see-saws between droll buffo interludes featuring rubato trumpet braying and sweeping sul tasto string work and a brisk parade ground pulse, strengthened by pedal-point, bass-clarinet snorts.

A notable landmark, the CD not only suggested unexpected material available for jazz exploration, but proves that rethinking and remaking a score can create a musical invention that’s as profound as – or even an improvement on – the original.

-- Ken Waxman

-- For CODA Issue 338

March 15, 2008