ARBF

Limiting orchestral building blocks to the essentials of one brass, one percussion, one string set, three woodwinds and a transverse instrument, French bassist Yoram Rosilio’s canny arrangement to flesh out his seven compositions to their timbral limit. The pieces employ patterns and inflections from notated and improvised 20^th century sounds plus four of the horn players double or triple,

Jean-Michel Couchet plays alto and soprano saxophones; Florent Dupuit tenor saxophone, flute and piccolo; Daniel Beaussier (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet; and Fanny Menegoz flute and  piccolo. Filling out ARBF are drummer Rafael Koerner and trombonist Jessica Simon. All are members of Les Fondeur de Son collective which supports creative music. Here that means any performance can for instance feature two flutes, two saxophones or two piccolos or three woodwind players, or any combination thereof.

Tracks are often begun and directed by hearty, almost impenetrable double bass thumps, with Rosilio’s pulse preserving the ambulatory groove. Portomento trombone smears add to the underpinning as do drum press rolls and beats. Counterpoint is usually expressed with saxophone antiphony or contrasts between the saxophones, the flutes and/or woodwinds. Besides soaring decorations the flute or piccolo players can project sliding contrapuntal flutters to alto saxophone glissandi as on “Hexablues”, or on “Pajaros Borrachos”, harmonize with the oboe to define the introduction, recapped at the finale. Elsewhere, as on the extended “Elena’s Circle”, there’s an interlude where ascending flute trills and double bass thwacks unite for a duet. This transformative balladic respite alters the piece that otherwise includes drum ruffs, a dissected saxophone line, and a controlled continuum created by trombone pumps.

Besides double bass pulsations, linear control results from Koerner’s horizontal ruffs and horn expression are layered from lowest to highest pitches. Meanwhile Beaussier’s reed ambidexterity is emphasized at length. Bass clarinet snores are paired with saxophone vibrations or transverse peeps; English horn echoes smooth overblowing or fragmentation from the other horns. Most clearly, as bass string strums take on sinter-like elements on “Inciraf” they’re matched with the oboe’s nasal exoticism. Subsequent sax vamps and brass ripples join drums rolls to preserve a horizontal groove.

Blautonschweben characterizes interaction among various types of poetry and confirms the adept interchange among different forms of music here.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Asymptote (I Know Sence) 2. Hexablues 3. Up & Down 4. Inciraf 5. Pajaros Borrachos 6. Elena’s Circle 7. Zapoteko Moods

Personnel: Jessica Simon (trombone); Jean-Michel Couchet (alto, soprano saxophones); Florent Dupuit (tenor saxophone, flute, piccolo); Daniel Beaussier (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet); Fanny Menegoz (flute, piccolo); Yoram Rosilio (bass); Rafael Koerner (drums)