Kruglov/Lapin/Yudanov

Impulse
Leo Records CD LR 634

With its oligarchs, out-right criminals and a personality-cult president becoming increasingly authoritarian, freedom of expression appears under siege in Russia. Paradoxically, perhaps because great adversity often creates great art, the country’s Free Jazz community appears to be thriving – artistically at least.

Take for instance this exhilarating go-for-broke collection of eight improvisations recorded in front of an energized audience in St. Petersburg. The crowd had a good reason to be excited, for the CD matches two of the country’s younger improvisers – Alexey Kruglov playing soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, sometimes simultaneously, and pianist Alexey Lapin – with veteran drummer Oleg Yudanov, who played in Jazz Group Arkhangelsk. The Moscow-based saxophonist has recorded extensively with percussionists Vladimir Tarasov as well as with his own bands, while he and the pianist, a St. Petersburg native, have worked with saxophonist François Carrier and drummer Roger Turner to name two.

From the get-go, the three players meld as one, with Lapin’s low-pitched tremolo rumblings plus contrasting dynamics; Yudanov’s clattering shuffles and cymbal crashes; and Kruglov’s abstract overblowing and limpid glissandi combing into a great convulsing mass. Someone who has learned his lessons as a colorist, the drummer lays back most of the time, shaking or scrubbing parts of his kit rather than beating the drums. Yudanov moves to the foreground on the final selection, as well as more profoundly on “In Search of Silence” though. Again this is no empty display since percussionist’s highly inventive strategy on that track moves from paced rolls and pops to drumstick nerve beats taps and clicks as press rolls vanish inside march-tempo paradiddles. Meantime Kruglov takes that opportunity to exhibit his extended techniques with duck-like cries, smudged rasps and nephritic node splitting, blowing deep inside the body tubes of both saxes at once, most likely without mouthpiece attachments.

Wolf-like snarls and slap-tonguing from the saxophonist don’t prevent “Premonition” from being an equally distinctive Lapin showcase either. As the reedist busies himself with burbles and buzzes, the pianist not only provides a tremolo undercurrent, but on his own spins internal string plucks, soundboard extensions and high frequency chording into a breath-taking display of strummed syncopation, alongside subtle theme variations from his other hand. Later tracks show off the connection among Lapin’s careful voicing plus prepared-piano-like pops; Yudanov’s maracas shakes and processional rhythms as well as Kruglov’s decorative reed bites that initially deconstruct than reconstruct phrases as he plays.

However the epitome of how individualistic techniques can be melded into a satisfying whole comes on the saxophonist’s “The Ascent”. Limiting himself to drum top scrubs and later maraca shakes, the drummer cedes the foreground to the other two. Initially allowing Kruglov the leeway to conscientiously define his solo with stutters and flutters opening up into shrilling whistles and eviscerating renal tones, Lapin’s sympathetic response encompasses dramatic cascades and staccato voicing during an un-perturbed recital-worthy exposition. Goaded, the saxophonist produces thickening cries from two saxes, until that double blowing punctuation brought back to earth –and a rewarding conclusion – by Lapin’s pounding on a single key.

Appropriately listed under the names of each of the trio members, since each decisively contributes to the program, Impulse aptly demonstrates that if Russian impulses are turned to art not money and power, the results are exceptional.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Impulse 2. Premonition 3. Echoes of Russian Metaphor 4. Contemplation 5. The Ascent 6. System of Meanings 7. In Search of Silence 8. Rezume ... or a try of a new impulse

Personnel: Alexey Kruglov (soprano, alto and, tenor saxophones); Alexey Lapin (piano) and Oleg Yudanov (drums and percussion)

January 16, 2013

Alexey Kruglov

Identification
Leo Records CD LR 616

Alexey Kruglov/Alexey Lapin/Vadimir Shostak

Composition #37

SoLyd SLR 0413

Maïkontron Unit

Ex-Voto

Rant 1140

François Carrier/Michel Lambert/Alexey Lapin

All Out

FMR CD 321-0911

Something In The Air:

Common Ground Between Canadian and Russian Improvisers

By Ken Waxman

Unlike many Canadian improvisers, François Carrier is no home body. Peripatetic, the Montreal-based alto saxophonist spent months gigging in Italy and England, was one of the few Westerners to play the Kathmandu Jazz Festival, and most recently has put out discs recoded during his 2010 Russian concert tour. A session such as All Out FMR CD 321-0911 recorded with his long-time associate, Toronto drummer Michel Lambert, and St. Petersburg pianist Alexey Lapin, is not only notable musically, but also shows how erudite players from two of the world’s Northern hemisphere nations have much in common.

Carrier’s reed strategy includes elements of Cool Jazz note gliding as well as Avant Garde dissonance, and the Russian pianist constructs proper responses with alacrity. “Ride”, for instance, leaves the bomb dropping and clattering to Lambert’s kit as Lapin’s multi-fingered kinetic runs syncopate alongside Carrier’s spiky vibrations and false-register nasality plus dexterous explorations in the tenor register. Despite the saxophonist squeezing out multiple theme variants until he reaches conclusive downward runs, Lapin stays the course with unflappable chording as the drummer balances both men’s lines with military precision. In the solo spotlight, Lambert approximates the power of Art Blakey on “Wit” with cross-sticking rim shots and bass drum thumps, the better to later mix it up with Lapin’s dynamic cadenzas plus Carrier’s stuttering rubato lines and quivering split tones. The percussionist also asserts himself on “Of Breath” with a mallet-driven solo of whacks, bangs and ruffs, leading to the crescendo of high intensity further propelled by Lapin’s metronomic pulsing and Carrier’s flattement and triple tonguing.

Lambert’s talent is given full reign on the Maïkontron Unit’s Ex-Voto Rant 1140. Although he and Carrier often seem like the inseparable Damon and Pythias of Canadian Jazz, this trio CD features the drummer with bassist/cellist Pierre Côté and saxophonist/clarinetist Michel Côté. Both Lambert and reedist Côté also play the maïkontron, a valves and keys reed instrument with a range below the bass saxophone’s. Lambert, has divided the CD into tableaus based on images from Hieronymus Bosch, although the performance is actually less programmatic than intuitive, with straightforward pulsing as well as dissonant timbre extensions. Despite a forbidding title, a track such as “Marinus” (Tableau 9) for instance, is an out-and-out swing piece. It features pin-pointed snare work and clean cross sticking from Lambert, unbroken vibrations from the bassist and Michel Côté’s clarinet exploring the theme with mid-range chirping and tonguing. Other tunes such as “Votivae Noctes” (Tableau 4) are slow-paced and constrained as Côté’s supple clarinet line contrasts markedly with the maïkontron’s blurred snorts and an at first quivering, than walking, cello line from Pierre Côté. As reed split tones accelerate, they’re exposed nakedly beside splayed string motions. Both reeds burbling and puffing plus the string player’s sul tasto strumming end up creating other tableaus elsewhere, with sly references to half-recalled ballads, or in contrast, intricate multiphonics. Lambert’s drum versatility is given expanded showcases on Fluctus… the first part of Tableau 10, and “Praestigator”, the introduction to Tableau 19. The second features kettle drum pops and faux gamelan-orchestra-like resounds playing off rhino-like snorts from the maïkontron; while the irregular counterpoint of “Fluctus…” matches clarinet shrieks with hand slaps and pats that suggest congas and steel drums.

Percussion in a formal sense is absent from Composition #37 SoLyd SLR 0413, but the same high standard of musicianship Carrier and Lambert exhibit is present on this live recording in St, Petersburg by their confrère, pianist Lapin, along with Moscow-based alto saxophonist Alexey Kruglov and 5-string bassist Vadimir Shostak. Both the pianist, who has also recorded with British drummer Roger Turner and German saxophonist Matthias Schubert, and the bassist take turns maintaining the extended composition’s bottom pulse, with the majority of counterpoint between Lapin and Kruglov. Unexpected kazoo-like echoes and peeps arise when the reedist plays using only his mouthpiece; later he creates equally unsettling wounded animal-like lows with a trombone mouthpiece screwed onto his horn’s neck. Reacting with the same aplomb he uses with the Canadians, Lapin’s styling ranges from tremolo cascades and rugged string strumming, to plucks and thumps emphasizing the piano’s inner strings preparation, to wide-ranging lyrical harmonies that mirror Russian romanticism. With studied silences marking the composition’s development, no variant is overused. Plus with Shostak’s wood rubbing and string slaps employed prudently and judiciously, no number of reed bites, mouthpiece yelps or inside piano string scraps cam derail the narrative. As Lapin’s fortissimo syncopation attains a similar muscular lyricism as Kruglov’s tongue fluttering slurs, the bassist’s low-pitched arco work sweeps the individual sounds together with enough power to reach a satisfying finale.

Working with his own trio, filled out by bassist Dmitry Denisov and drummer Vladimir Borisov, Kruglov struts his stuff in the magnum opus that is Identification Leo Records CD LR 616. Emotional and polyphonic, “Identification” supposedly translates certain Russian words and letters into sounds. Someone who has recorded with major Glasnost-era stylists such as drummer Vladimir Tarasov and pianist Vyacheslav Ganelin, Kruglov plays alto and tenor saxophones, saxophones without mouthpieces, mouthpieces alone, block flute, piano and prepared piano, sometimes simultaneously. In fact the session begins with pseudo-romantic, prepared piano tremolo chording backed by the mere hints of bass and drum textures, until reed squeaks explode in tandem with the pulsing piano. This sets the pattern for the 64½-minute narrative which showcases different variants and intermezzos from Kruglov as he cycles through all his instruments. One interlude matches jittery tenor saxophone slurs with Borisov’s bass drum, pushed into parade-ground tempo; another is made up of strained sul ponticello lines from Denisov as well as echoing plucks on internal piano strings; yet another contrasts rim shots and rolls from the drummer with waves of unstoppable glossolalia from Kruglov’s alto saxophone. At junctures, the piano’s soundboard plucks start to resemble baroque era harpsichord playing. Besides improvising on keyboard and saxophone at the same time, Kruglov also creates fortissimo slide-whistle shrills using only the mouthpiece or masticates and French kisses the reed to expose spittle-encrusted smears. Not only can Kruglov blow both saxophones in unison, producing both high-pitched and low-pitched glottal punctuation, but he’s also able to split the peeping timbres of the block flute into distinct multiphonics. Throughout the meandering upturns and downshifts that make up the segmented piece, the bassist and drummer contribute fierce strums, resounding clatters, vibrating echoes and tough plucks. For the finale a slow-paced, emphasized line is sounded by tenor saxophone and doubled with harsh plucks from the bassist, only to conclude with Kruglov again echoing piano chords to recall the exposition.

Russians and Canadians have long related to one another due to a shared legacy of a cold climate and a large land mass. The high-standard of playing exhibited on these CDs confirms that as far as free-form improvisation is concerned, musicians share another attribute as well.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 17 #7

April 11, 2012

Alexey Kruglov/Alexey Lapin/Vadimir Shostak

Composition #37
SoLyd SLR 0413

Maïkontron Unit

Ex-Voto

Rant 1140

François Carrier/Michel Lambert/Alexey Lapin

All Out

FMR CD 321-0911

Alexey Kruglov

Identification

Leo Records CD LR 616

Something In The Air:

Common Ground Between Canadian and Russian Improvisers

By Ken Waxman

Unlike many Canadian improvisers, François Carrier is no home body. Peripatetic, the Montreal-based alto saxophonist spent months gigging in Italy and England, was one of the few Westerners to play the Kathmandu Jazz Festival, and most recently has put out discs recoded during his 2010 Russian concert tour. A session such as All Out FMR CD 321-0911 recorded with his long-time associate, Toronto drummer Michel Lambert, and St. Petersburg pianist Alexey Lapin, is not only notable musically, but also shows how erudite players from two of the world’s Northern hemisphere nations have much in common.

Carrier’s reed strategy includes elements of Cool Jazz note gliding as well as Avant Garde dissonance, and the Russian pianist constructs proper responses with alacrity. “Ride”, for instance, leaves the bomb dropping and clattering to Lambert’s kit as Lapin’s multi-fingered kinetic runs syncopate alongside Carrier’s spiky vibrations and false-register nasality plus dexterous explorations in the tenor register. Despite the saxophonist squeezing out multiple theme variants until he reaches conclusive downward runs, Lapin stays the course with unflappable chording as the drummer balances both men’s lines with military precision. In the solo spotlight, Lambert approximates the power of Art Blakey on “Wit” with cross-sticking rim shots and bass drum thumps, the better to later mix it up with Lapin’s dynamic cadenzas plus Carrier’s stuttering rubato lines and quivering split tones. The percussionist also asserts himself on “Of Breath” with a mallet-driven solo of whacks, bangs and ruffs, leading to the crescendo of high intensity further propelled by Lapin’s metronomic pulsing and Carrier’s flattement and triple tonguing.

Lambert’s talent is given full reign on the Maïkontron Unit’s Ex-Voto Rant 1140. Although he and Carrier often seem like the inseparable Damon and Pythias of Canadian Jazz, this trio CD features the drummer with bassist/cellist Pierre Côté and saxophonist/clarinetist Michel Côté. Both Lambert and reedist Côté also play the maïkontron, a valves and keys reed instrument with a range below the bass saxophone’s. Lambert, has divided the CD into tableaus based on images from Hieronymus Bosch, although the performance is actually less programmatic than intuitive, with straightforward pulsing as well as dissonant timbre extensions. Despite a forbidding title, a track such as “Marinus” (Tableau 9) for instance, is an out-and-out swing piece. It features pin-pointed snare work and clean cross sticking from Lambert, unbroken vibrations from the bassist and Michel Côté’s clarinet exploring the theme with mid-range chirping and tonguing. Other tunes such as “Votivae Noctes” (Tableau 4) are slow-paced and constrained as Côté’s supple clarinet line contrasts markedly with the maïkontron’s blurred snorts and an at first quivering, than walking, cello line from Pierre Côté. As reed split tones accelerate, they’re exposed nakedly beside splayed string motions. Both reeds burbling and puffing plus the string player’s sul tasto strumming end up creating other tableaus elsewhere, with sly references to half-recalled ballads, or in contrast, intricate multiphonics. Lambert’s drum versatility is given expanded showcases on Fluctus… the first part of Tableau 10, and “Praestigator”, the introduction to Tableau 19. The second features kettle drum pops and faux gamelan-orchestra-like resounds playing off rhino-like snorts from the maïkontron; while the irregular counterpoint of “Fluctus…” matches clarinet shrieks with hand slaps and pats that suggest congas and steel drums.

Percussion in a formal sense is absent from Composition #37 SoLyd SLR 0413, but the same high standard of musicianship Carrier and Lambert exhibit is present on this live recording in St, Petersburg by their confrère, pianist Lapin, along with Moscow-based alto saxophonist Alexey Kruglov and 5-string bassist Vadimir Shostak. Both the pianist, who has also recorded with British drummer Roger Turner and German saxophonist Matthias Schubert, and the bassist take turns maintaining the extended composition’s bottom pulse, with the majority of counterpoint between Lapin and Kruglov. Unexpected kazoo-like echoes and peeps arise when the reedist plays using only his mouthpiece; later he creates equally unsettling wounded animal-like lows with a trombone mouthpiece screwed onto his horn’s neck. Reacting with the same aplomb he uses with the Canadians, Lapin’s styling ranges from tremolo cascades and rugged string strumming, to plucks and thumps emphasizing the piano’s inner strings preparation, to wide-ranging lyrical harmonies that mirror Russian romanticism. With studied silences marking the composition’s development, no variant is overused. Plus with Shostak’s wood rubbing and string slaps employed prudently and judiciously, no number of reed bites, mouthpiece yelps or inside piano string scraps cam derail the narrative. As Lapin’s fortissimo syncopation attains a similar muscular lyricism as Kruglov’s tongue fluttering slurs, the bassist’s low-pitched arco work sweeps the individual sounds together with enough power to reach a satisfying finale.

Working with his own trio, filled out by bassist Dmitry Denisov and drummer Vladimir Borisov, Kruglov struts his stuff in the magnum opus that is Identification Leo Records CD LR 616. Emotional and polyphonic, “Identification” supposedly translates certain Russian words and letters into sounds. Someone who has recorded with major Glasnost-era stylists such as drummer Vladimir Tarasov and pianist Vyacheslav Ganelin, Kruglov plays alto and tenor saxophones, saxophones without mouthpieces, mouthpieces alone, block flute, piano and prepared piano, sometimes simultaneously. In fact the session begins with pseudo-romantic, prepared piano tremolo chording backed by the mere hints of bass and drum textures, until reed squeaks explode in tandem with the pulsing piano. This sets the pattern for the 64½-minute narrative which showcases different variants and intermezzos from Kruglov as he cycles through all his instruments. One interlude matches jittery tenor saxophone slurs with Borisov’s bass drum, pushed into parade-ground tempo; another is made up of strained sul ponticello lines from Denisov as well as echoing plucks on internal piano strings; yet another contrasts rim shots and rolls from the drummer with waves of unstoppable glossolalia from Kruglov’s alto saxophone. At junctures, the piano’s soundboard plucks start to resemble baroque era harpsichord playing. Besides improvising on keyboard and saxophone at the same time, Kruglov also creates fortissimo slide-whistle shrills using only the mouthpiece or masticates and French kisses the reed to expose spittle-encrusted smears. Not only can Kruglov blow both saxophones in unison, producing both high-pitched and low-pitched glottal punctuation, but he’s also able to split the peeping timbres of the block flute into distinct multiphonics. Throughout the meandering upturns and downshifts that make up the segmented piece, the bassist and drummer contribute fierce strums, resounding clatters, vibrating echoes and tough plucks. For the finale a slow-paced, emphasized line is sounded by tenor saxophone and doubled with harsh plucks from the bassist, only to conclude with Kruglov again echoing piano chords to recall the exposition.

Russians and Canadians have long related to one another due to a shared legacy of a cold climate and a large land mass. The high-standard of playing exhibited on these CDs confirms that as far as free-form improvisation is concerned, musicians share another attribute as well.

-- For Whole Note Vol. 17 #7

April 11, 2012

Alexey Kruglov/Vladimir Tarasov

In Tempo
SoLyd Records SoLyd 0404

Joe McPhee/Michael Zerang

Creole Gardens (A New Orleans Suite)

No Business Records NBCD 32

Bad Luck

Two

Table & Chairs T&C 006

By Ken Waxman

For reasons of tradition, challenge and economy, the saxophone/percussion session has been a stable of freer jazz ever since the duets of John Coltrane and Rashied Ali or Evan Parker and Paul Lytton. How much these duets impress depends on how many original twists are brought to the formula.

With bravado, Seattle’s Bad Luck uses each of its CDs to display a different take on duo work. Hard-edged and audacious, Bats, the first CD, is as firmly wedded to energy music as if it was recorded in 1967. Throughout Neil Welch ejaculates altissimo split tones and doubled reed bites from his tenor and soprano saxophone with enough spittle and glottal punctuation to suggest a northwest amalgam of Charles Gayle and Albert Ayler. Artless and primitivist in his pounding, drummer Chris Icasiano, smashes drum tops and punches cymbals repeatedly. Although there’s a certain punkish attraction in measuring how far feline yowls, diaphragm-vibrated multiphonics and banshee screams can push the horn before the reed explodes or Welch coughs blood, contradictory sequences on some of the seven tracks are more satisfying. “Sunbeam” features affiliated tones that resemble bagpipe-chanter echoes, while on “Lure” not only does circular breathing reference harmonica buzzes, but Icasiano’s bass drum smacks and tom-tom rattles introduce a shamanistic airiness.

Josephine, the second CD, demonstrates that by adapting 21st century electronics, brittle harmonics are added to the rigidity of the first CD`s sound. Icasiano exposes carefully timed glockenspiel licks besides drum beating, while Welch utilizes quivering bass clarinet textures. Loops and other effects also allow the two to inflate the interaction. The best example occurs on the title track with the initial delicate saxophone line side-slipping into simple repetition, joined by a second processed reed that contrasts with the first. All the while the percussionist holds himself to unforced clip-clops. Processing reaches its logical platform on “Singing Bowl” as three separate reed lines slither beside each other: one of distanced yaps, another of echoing split tones and the third upfront with raspy snarls.

Young Moscow-based reedist Alexey Kruglov and veteran Vilnius-based percussionist Vladimir Tarasov don’t need electronic add-ons to distinguish their first-time meeting. A subtle colorist both in visual arts and sonic timbres, Tarasov guided the Ganelin Trio for 15 years. Since then his reed partners have included Larry Ochs and Anthony Braxton, so Kruglov has large saxophone cases to fill. Considering his background includes work with big bands, rock and jazz combos he succeeds admirably. Kruglov is also a multi-instrumentalist. He uses the basset horn on three semi-legit interludes. Additionally he plays two saxophones simultaneously. This talent isn’t a gimmick, but creates the multiphonics he needs on “Sound Dances” to complement the percussionist’s lightning quick snaps and subtle wood clacks. Most impressive are “Sketches” and “Breakthrough” which follow one another, and provide scope for woodwind extensions. The first showcases Kruglov’s dyspeptic timbres, disconnected snarls and flutter tonguing that meet the percussionist clatters and pops. Meanwhile “Breakthrough” could be a reed recital, as Kruglov’s patterning thickens as the tune develops, finally accelerating to quivering snarls. Tarasov’s rat-tat-tats and rim shots provide the perfect rejoinder.

Moving westward and southward from a studio near Moscow’s Red Square to a space near New Orleans’ Jackson Square are upstate New York’s Joe McPhee and Chicago percussionist Michael Zerang. On the introductory “Congo Square Dances/Saints and Sinners”, McPhee, honoring New Orleans’ legends, blows his pocket trumpet and returns to it throughout the disc. Mixing open horn shakes and metallic grace notes with bugle-like exclamation, he could be Louis Armstrong inventing a new language, while Zerang is his Zutty Singleton, exposing scrubs, ruffs and cross patterns. When a drum roll presages McPhee’s switch to sax, the duo flashes forward a century. McPhee’s false register overblowing plus splintered reed bites are as individualistic as they are post-Aylerian. Zerang’s percussion command brings in ethnic echoes, using hollow wood pops and bell-tree shakes to encourage a linear conclusion from the reedist. The drummer jangles his cymbals and beats his toms while melodically chanting in an Amerindian-like fashion on “Rise/After the Flood”. Meanwhile McPhee’s creates intense slurred pitches on “The Drummer-Who-Sits On-The-Drum” as Zerang does just that with rim shots. On the alternately inchoate and restrained “Crescent City Lullaby” the saxophonist uses the room’s ambience to create a third reed part, reverberating in tandem with his sharp honks and lilting squeezes. Steel drum approximations from the percussionist add a hint of Caribbean melody.

Two wholly satisfying reed-percussion CDs and one partially noteworthy one show that this format can always be freshened with talent and originality.

Tracks: Tempo: A Posteriori 1; Intermedia for Bassett Horn #1; Sketches; Breakthrough; Intermedia for Bassett Horn #2; Echoes of Dialog; Sound Dances; 8. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #3; In Tempo

Personnel: Tempo: Alexey Kruglov: alto and tenor saxophones and basset horn; Vladimir Tarasov: drums and percussion

Tracks: Creole: Congo Square Dances/Saints and Sinners; Rise/After the Flood; Crescent City Lullaby; And Now Miss Annie, The Black Queen; The Drummer-Who-Sits On-The-Drum

Personnel: Creole: Joe McPhee: alto saxophone and pocket trumpet; Michael Zerang: drums

Tracks: Two: Bats: Sunbeam; Glacier; Flare; Salt; Bats ; Mud; Lure; Josephine: Hourglass; Friend & Foe; Josephine; Two; True North; Menagerie; Singing Bowl; Architect

Personnel: Two: Neil Welch: soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, singing bowl, live loops and effects; Christopher Icasiano: drums and glockenspiel

January 5, 2012

Alexey Kruglov/Vladimir Tarasov

Dialogos
SoLyd Records SoLyd 0403

Alexey Kruglov/Vladimir Tarasov

In Tempo

SoLyd Records SoLyd 0404

Rather like the A and B sides of an LP from imaginative artists, these Russian CDs by veteran percussionist Vladimir Tarasov and reed tyro Alexey Kruglov – recorded on the same day – offer contrasting view of the duo’s art. With eastern European craftiness as well, neither is exactly what is advertised.

The sonic interchange captured on Dialogos, including a five-part suite, is clearly in the realm of the avant-garde, with Kruglov holding up his side of the discussion playing eight [!] different instruments and the Tarasov’s detours into Jazz time less frequent than outright percussion extensions. Including a trio of “intermedias” – most likely “intermezzos” – for basset horn, In Tempo may be in fact more “in tempo”. But the pitches, textures and impressions attained too are firmly in the non-linear mode.

As a member of the Ganelin Trio for 15 years, Vilnius-based Tarasov is an old hand at this sort of timbral sleight of hand, and in quarter century since the original trio split up, he has been involved in visual arts, composed orchestral pieces and improvised with the likes of the tenor saxophonist Larry Ochs and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton. In one fashion Moscow-based, Kruglov is Tarasov’s ideal foil, having played separately with all members of the Ganelin Trio. As open as the older musician is to varied stimuli, the reedist has worked with big bands, orchestras and his own combos and even been on stage with actors.

Tellingly, one of Dialogos’ dialogues is entitled “Dialog about Albert Ayler” and on it Kruglov’s tenor saxophone sound shards approximate the American saxophonist’s strained split tones and staccato runs, with tongue flutters referencing the Sanctified rather than the Russian Orthodox church. At the same time while that style of soloing appear to rend homage to Ayler, pressurized staccatissimo, glossolalia and double-tongued snorts and brays also show up on pieces such as “Strange Waltz”. The inference is that his improvising is as Russian-oriented as it is American-emulating. Shrieking call-and-response with reed extensions on the latter tune, plus the drummer rebounding into recognizable Jazz-time tempo, confirms this impression. So do Kruglov’s breathy clarinet respirations on “Waiting”. Precise and moderato, backed by the drummer’s wire-brushed shuffles, the reedist’s bubbling and near-gobbling tones are unique.

In contrast, “Suite of Free Sounds” appear more overtly (eastern) European. With Kruglov propelling his ideas on most of his oral instruments, the sound collection is more formal in a New music sense, but no less emotional. Exhibited are narrowed reed bites, recorder peeps, kazoo-like reverb, factory-whistle replicated shrills and overblowing, with both saxophones simultaneously spraying pressurized overtones. Tarasov’s responses are equally varied encompassing rolls, pops and rebounds, hand-pats, cymbal rattles and slaps plus drags. If Kruglov’s galloping from frenzied split tones to deeply felt chalumeau slurs bring to mind the attributes of many soloists in the experimental reed fraternity, then the percussionist in contrast demonstrates that his rhythm sense not only takes in avant-garde extensions, but also can be as tempo grounded as Max Roach’s or the Count Basie band’s Speedy Jones.

Jones would have been out of his element even with In Tempo, but a less rigid percussionist such Roach, who recorded with Braxton and Cecil Taylor as well as Miles Davis and Charlie Parker would surely have affinity for the disc. With Kruglov confining himself to alto and tenor saxophones – except for basset horn interludes – the Free Jazz-like snaps, rolls and ruffs from the drummer are matched at points with extended key slips and tonal obbligatos which similarly have their origin in the Land of (Free) Jazz.

Take for example the subtle wood clacks and pops Tarasov brings to the appropriately titled “Sound Dances”. Steady ratamacues and rumbles, plus a resound from a thin ride cymbal mark his work, as the saxophonist’s pitches are un-shaded and vibrated, climaxing with dual saxophone multiphonics. With the title – and final track – his playing becomes more conclusive as rim shots and shuffle rhythms take the edge off Kruglov’s super-quick vibrations. On the other hand the so-called intermedias are more mid-range and, moderato, enlivened by a few sibilant snorts and Tarasov’s stroked snares and metallic clatters.

More impressively pieces such as the following “Sketches” and “Breakthrough” provide more scope for woodwind extensions. The first is an individualized showcase for sharp, nearly dyspeptic timbres, disconnected snarls and flutter tonguing, while the percussionist clatters and pops. With wider space in which to express himself, “Breakthrough” could be a reed recital, as Kruglov’s hocketing and patterning thickens as the tune develops, finally accelerating to quivering multiphonic snarls and repeated note clusters. As the saxman constricts his chirps to strangled cries, Tarasov’s rattles, rat-tat-tats and rim shots make the perfect rejoinder.

It would be insulting to limit appreciation for these discs to merely regard them as new instances of reed-percussion interface that stretch back to Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Considering Tarasov’s rhythm versatility and Kruglov’s proficiency on multi instruments, the two stand on their own. They are outstanding instances of early 21st Century improv, Russian or not.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Dialogos: 1. Prologue 2. Suite of Free Sounds (Vladimir Rezitsky in Memoriam) a) first part b) second part c) third part d) fourth part e) fifth part 3. Waiting 4. Breakthrough Attempt 5. Strange Waltz 6. Dialog about Albert Ayler 7. Epilogue

Personnel: Dialogos: Alexey Kruglov (soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet, basset horn, recorders, melodica and piano) and Vladimir Tarasov (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Tempo: 1. A Posteriori 12. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #1 3. Sketches 4. Breakthrough 5. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #2 6. Echoes of Dialog 7. Sound Dances 8. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #3 9. In Tempo

Personnel: Tempo: Alexey Kruglov (alto and tenor saxophones and basset horn) Vladimir Tarasov (drums and percussion)

August 31, 2011

Alexey Kruglov/Vladimir Tarasov

In Tempo
SoLyd Records SoLyd 0404

Alexey Kruglov/Vladimir Tarasov

Dialogos

SoLyd Records SoLyd 0403

Rather like the A and B sides of an LP from imaginative artists, these Russian CDs by veteran percussionist Vladimir Tarasov and reed tyro Alexey Kruglov – recorded on the same day – offer contrasting view of the duo’s art. With eastern European craftiness as well, neither is exactly what is advertised.

The sonic interchange captured on Dialogos, including a five-part suite, is clearly in the realm of the avant-garde, with Kruglov holding up his side of the discussion playing eight [!] different instruments and the Tarasov’s detours into Jazz time less frequent than outright percussion extensions. Including a trio of “intermedias” – most likely “intermezzos” – for basset horn, In Tempo may be in fact more “in tempo”. But the pitches, textures and impressions attained too are firmly in the non-linear mode.

As a member of the Ganelin Trio for 15 years, Vilnius-based Tarasov is an old hand at this sort of timbral sleight of hand, and in quarter century since the original trio split up, he has been involved in visual arts, composed orchestral pieces and improvised with the likes of the tenor saxophonist Larry Ochs and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton. In one fashion Moscow-based, Kruglov is Tarasov’s ideal foil, having played separately with all members of the Ganelin Trio. As open as the older musician is to varied stimuli, the reedist has worked with big bands, orchestras and his own combos and even been on stage with actors.

Tellingly, one of Dialogos’ dialogues is entitled “Dialog about Albert Ayler” and on it Kruglov’s tenor saxophone sound shards approximate the American saxophonist’s strained split tones and staccato runs, with tongue flutters referencing the Sanctified rather than the Russian Orthodox church. At the same time while that style of soloing appear to rend homage to Ayler, pressurized staccatissimo, glossolalia and double-tongued snorts and brays also show up on pieces such as “Strange Waltz”. The inference is that his improvising is as Russian-oriented as it is American-emulating. Shrieking call-and-response with reed extensions on the latter tune, plus the drummer rebounding into recognizable Jazz-time tempo, confirms this impression. So do Kruglov’s breathy clarinet respirations on “Waiting”. Precise and moderato, backed by the drummer’s wire-brushed shuffles, the reedist’s bubbling and near-gobbling tones are unique.

In contrast, “Suite of Free Sounds” appear more overtly (eastern) European. With Kruglov propelling his ideas on most of his oral instruments, the sound collection is more formal in a New music sense, but no less emotional. Exhibited are narrowed reed bites, recorder peeps, kazoo-like reverb, factory-whistle replicated shrills and overblowing, with both saxophones simultaneously spraying pressurized overtones. Tarasov’s responses are equally varied encompassing rolls, pops and rebounds, hand-pats, cymbal rattles and slaps plus drags. If Kruglov’s galloping from frenzied split tones to deeply felt chalumeau slurs bring to mind the attributes of many soloists in the experimental reed fraternity, then the percussionist in contrast demonstrates that his rhythm sense not only takes in avant-garde extensions, but also can be as tempo grounded as Max Roach’s or the Count Basie band’s Speedy Jones.

Jones would have been out of his element even with In Tempo, but a less rigid percussionist such Roach, who recorded with Braxton and Cecil Taylor as well as Miles Davis and Charlie Parker would surely have affinity for the disc. With Kruglov confining himself to alto and tenor saxophones – except for basset horn interludes – the Free Jazz-like snaps, rolls and ruffs from the drummer are matched at points with extended key slips and tonal obbligatos which similarly have their origin in the Land of (Free) Jazz.

Take for example the subtle wood clacks and pops Tarasov brings to the appropriately titled “Sound Dances”. Steady ratamacues and rumbles, plus a resound from a thin ride cymbal mark his work, as the saxophonist’s pitches are un-shaded and vibrated, climaxing with dual saxophone multiphonics. With the title – and final track – his playing becomes more conclusive as rim shots and shuffle rhythms take the edge off Kruglov’s super-quick vibrations. On the other hand the so-called intermedias are more mid-range and, moderato, enlivened by a few sibilant snorts and Tarasov’s stroked snares and metallic clatters.

More impressively pieces such as the following “Sketches” and “Breakthrough” provide more scope for woodwind extensions. The first is an individualized showcase for sharp, nearly dyspeptic timbres, disconnected snarls and flutter tonguing, while the percussionist clatters and pops. With wider space in which to express himself, “Breakthrough” could be a reed recital, as Kruglov’s hocketing and patterning thickens as the tune develops, finally accelerating to quivering multiphonic snarls and repeated note clusters. As the saxman constricts his chirps to strangled cries, Tarasov’s rattles, rat-tat-tats and rim shots make the perfect rejoinder.

It would be insulting to limit appreciation for these discs to merely regard them as new instances of reed-percussion interface that stretch back to Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Considering Tarasov’s rhythm versatility and Kruglov’s proficiency on multi instruments, the two stand on their own. They are outstanding instances of early 21st Century improv, Russian or not.

--Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Dialogos: 1. Prologue 2. Suite of Free Sounds (Vladimir Rezitsky in Memoriam) a) first part b) second part c) third part d) fourth part e) fifth part 3. Waiting 4. Breakthrough Attempt 5. Strange Waltz 6. Dialog about Albert Ayler 7. Epilogue

Personnel: Dialogos: Alexey Kruglov (soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet, basset horn, recorders, melodica and piano) and Vladimir Tarasov (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Tempo: 1. A Posteriori 12. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #1 3. Sketches 4. Breakthrough 5. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #2 6. Echoes of Dialog 7. Sound Dances 8. Intermedia for Bassett Horn #3 9. In Tempo

Personnel: Tempo: Alexey Kruglov (alto and tenor saxophones and basset horn) Vladimir Tarasov (drums and percussion)

August 31, 2011

Label Spotlight:

SoLyd Records
By Ken Waxman

Like that of many successful endeavours ranging from the mass production of the automobile, the feature-length cartoon or the personal computer, SoLyd record label’s driving force is one person. While Andrei Gavrilov, may or may not like the comparison to Walt Disney, Henry Ford or Steve Jobs, it’s his ideas, taste and finances that keep the Moscow-based label afloat and is responsible for its massive, (more than 400 releases) somewhat idiosyncratic catalogue. “Sometimes, when I look over the catalogue I get confused myself,” he admits.

Founded in 1993 and named for his daughters Sonia (So) and Lydia (Lyd), Gavrilov is not only SoLyd’s “head, president, owner, director, you name it” but also the label’s entire staff. A freelance journalist/broadcaster/translator since 1983, one of whose more unusual jobs is supplying Russian translation for the TV broadcast of the Academy Awards, Gavrilov initially worked for independent Russian publishing houses. He often wrote about art and music, which put him in contact with many musicians who subsequently appeared on SoLyd.

“I’ve known Andrei Gavrilov since the early 1970s when he used to attend all of the concerts when our Trio (Ganelin, Tarasov, Chekasin) played in Moscow,” recalls percussionist Vladimir Tarasov. “He is good friend to all jazz musicians in Russia. When the Sonore label, which published many CDs from our Trio, my solo and other projects went out of business, he bought the publishing rights and the sound archive.” Plans to reissue these sessions on SoLyd haven’t yet been realized. But in 2006 Gavrilov allowed Leo Records to include Tarasov’s Sonore material in its 11-CD Tarasov box set.

Re-issues don’t play too large a part in the SoLyd catalogue. In fact, says Gavrilov, “SoLyd releases only the music that I personally am interested in at the moment, and tastes can change with the time,” he notes. “But even though tastes change, the main principle remains – the project must be something new, something unorthodox and off the beaten track.” SoLyd has never concentrated on a single musical genre. So while jazz fans may know its CDs featuring improvisers, the catalogue also includes contemporary classical music, Russian rock and blues and local, radical “singing poets”. However the majority of rock releases are from bands either initially unknown or are side projects of more popular bands. The few pop CDs that became best-sellers – by Russian standards – also turn enough of a profit to help subsidize so-called avant-garde sessions.

Although SoLyd releases a combination of newly created and already recorded sessions, one fact remains constant: Gavrilov pays all costs involved, and each CD is marketed the same way. This decision was crucial during the late 1990s when the value of the American dollar to the ruble skyrocketed. With many recording firms bankrupt, disc pirating became rampant. To counter this and still sell CDs, legitimate companies such as SoLyd put out budget versions of their discs. Not surprisingly no improvised music was released as these budget “best-of” compilations. While SoLyd hung on to its artists and distributors, earning suffered. That situation finally rectified itself by 2008, but another irritant remains. As Gavrilov states, “Western distribution is the main problem for Russian labels.”

Today SoLyd discs are available for download and distribution through outlets such as CD Baby, Qualiton, Downtown Music Gallery and Amazon.de, but “for more than 10 years I bombarded European and US distributors with e-mail proposals for different kinds of collaborations. I sent out hundreds of samples with minimal results,” he recalls. “Many absolutely great, wonderful Russian musicians and recordings remain unknown in the west because Western distributors do not want to deal with Russian labels.”

That many of these “great, wonderful Russian musicians” released on SoLyd are part of the so-called avant-garde, concentrating on this music wasn’t a conscious decision, reports Gavrilov. It’s just that for him improv became more interesting over the years and other music less so. Many of the first avant efforts had nothing to do with jazz. One consisted of spontaneous improvisations by contemporary composers Vyacheslav Artyomov and Sofia Gubaidulina; another was by rocker Boris Grebenschikov. Ganelin Trio saxophonist Vladimir Chekasin’s Bolero-2 was the first jazz-improv session. Today the catalogue includes discs by pianist Alexey Lapin, bassist Vladimir Volkov and saxophonist Alexey Kruglov among many others.

“Gavrilov was a person who told me that a generation of musicians had arrived in Russia who are young, play well and think for themselves.” remembers Tarasov. “He told me about Alexey Kruglov, rented a studio and asked me to record two CDs [Dialogos SoLyd 403 and In Tempo SoLyd 404] with him. Playing with Kruglov I realized what Gavrilov had said was true. The saxophonist doesn’t play behind or ahead, he plays together with me and that’s great.”

Happenstance also accounted for SoLyd releasing CDs by non-Russians. Among the first was a CD of a Moscow concert by American pianist Joshua Pierce, followed by efforts like the Russian Second Approach trio’s disc with Roswell Rudd. Other SoLyd releases include ROVA’s Planetary (SoLyd SLR 0407), Anthony Braxton/Marel Yakshieva Improvisations (duo) 2008 (SoLyd SLR 0383/4), Matthew Shipp/Sabir Mateen Sama Live in Moscow (SoLyd SLR 0408) and Jones/Jones [Larry Ochs, Mark Dresser and Tarasov]’ We All Feel The Same Way SoLyd SLR 0396). Some sessions were even recorded in the United States. “It doesn’t really matter where the recording is made – you obtain the rights, you pay for them – what’s the difference between Moscow and New York?” asks Gavrilov.

“I only met Gavrilov once in May 2010, but working with him as an artist is a breeze,” says Ochs. An admirer of Tarasov’s playing the SoLyd owner was so impressed with a mix Ochs had done of music from a Jones/Jones mini-tour, that “he accepted the master immediately and released it in September 2009 on the occasion of our performance during the Moscow Biennale.” A Moscow recording the trio made is now set for 2011 release. As for the ROVA connection, the saxophonist recalls: “Somewhere between the mixing of Jones/Jones CD 1 and the recording of CD 2 I suggested a ROVA recording for his label. I thought the connection ROVA had with Russia, because of its two tours there in the 1980s, might interest him. Sure enough he decided that a ROVA CD, our first release on a Russian label, would be cool.”

Besides the second Jones/Jones set, other future SoLyd improvised music releases include Tarasov playing with pianist Matthew Goodheart and ROVA saxophonist Jon Raskin. It’s sessions like this that make jazz fans hope that distribution deals will soon make all SoLyd CDs easier to access.

--For New York City Jazz Record August 2011

August 6, 2011

Alexey Kruglov

Seal of Time
Leo Records CD LR 566

Proof that tightening restrictions imposed by the Vladimir Putin-affiliated oligarchy hasn’t stopped engaging Russian improvisers from emerging is demonstrated by this dazzling CD. While the five tracks here by saxophonist Alexey Kruglov and his associates are still a little rough around the edges, they can certainly fit comfortably among improvisations from other questing European musicians.

Made up of two studio tracks from 2007, and three live numbers from 2009, the CD showcases Moscow-based Kruglov on five horns – sometimes played simultaneously – backed by the Jazz Group Arkhangelsk’s drummer Oleg Udanov on all tracks. Bassist Igor Ivanushkin joins them in 2007; pianist Dmitry Bratukhin does so in 2009, and vocalist Erzhena Hide is also present on one 2009 track.

Although the originality and thematic conception of the players improve markedly over the two years that separate the sessions here, the thought process and playing is, by advanced western European and North American standards at least, not as far-out as the Russians probably imagine it is.

Evidence for this is implicit in 2007’s tour-de-force “The Battle” in which Kruglov plays, usually alternately, sometimes simultaneously, soprano and baritone saxophones, flute and basset horn and uses the breath from his horns to vibrate the inside piano strings. Meanwhile, often in unison, Bratukhin batters the piano keys as if he’s playing a prepared clavichord, while Ivanushkin walks and Udanov contributes military-styled rat-tat-tats. Soon the reedist’s glottal punctuation is sliding between baritone saxophone honks and siren-like barks from the basset horn, keeping his lines staccato and presto as the drummer’s beat remains earth-bound. Unexpectedly Kruglov, on soprano introduces a melody that is probably a contrafact of “The Volga Boatman”. His salute to – or is it mocking of – the tradition exhausted, the piece is completed with stops and pumps from the pianist, vibrating along the soundboard for additional dissonance, plus more back of throat gibbering from the flutist.

By 2009, Kruglov’s flutter tonguing and clenched teeth slurs are now mixed with Europeanized lyricism without losing any of his sharper multiphonics. Bratukhin continues to chord methodically when not on solo flight, while Udanov still maintains an unfortunate tendency – not confined to Russian percussionist by the way – to accent every note and tone the others produce.

Udanov sounds better when he thumps and rolls sympathetically. That he demonstrates on “The Ascent”, which also feature the alto saxophonist’s textures becoming wider and more dissonant and mixed with discursive slurs and reed-biting quivers. Russian theatricism also affects the pianist’s solo which during its course creates harmonies that could be associated with Arthur Rubinstein as well as those that relate to McCoy Tyner – then mix them together. Kinetic and portamento, Bratukhin’s accelerating chording furrows a groove within which Kruglov’s emotional vibrato nestles, with the finale equal parts treble reed squeaks and tonal smoothness.

Whether the situation in post-Communist Russia will foster more improvisers such as these, not discourage them, or create circumstances that force musicians to become more radical is opaque at the moment. What is clear is that Kruglov – who has played separately with every member of the Ganelin Trio, the Soviet Union’s contribution to world improv – will certainly be part of his country’s musical future in some way or another.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Poet+ 2. The Battle^ 3. Seal of Time*+ 4. Love^ 5. The Ascent+

Personnel: Alexey Kruglov (alto, soprano and baritone saxophones, basset horn, flute and piano); Dmitry Bratukhin (piano)+; Igor Ivanushkin (bass)^; Oleg Udanov (drums, percussion) and Erzhena Hide (voice)*

June 28, 2010