Beresford/Martino/Sanders

Russ Lossing Trio
Proximity Alert
Blaser Music Song SO03 CD

Scrupulously defining the components that separate a Free Jazz session from a Free Music one is made clear with the contrasts between these traditional piano trios created by worldly players. At least that’s how the two live improvisations played by pianist Steve Beresford and drummer Mark Sanders from the UK plus Italian bassist Pierpaolo Martino on Be S-mart and the 11 studio tracks created by Americans, pianist Russ Lossing, bassist Mark Helias and drummer Eric McPherson differ.

While electronics and preparations are part of the Anglo-Italian program and not the other one, audio separation isn’t that simple. Seemingly any and every sound shading and swivel is part of Be S-mart. With improvisations open ended, movement among textures, techniques and tempos is commonplace so that unexpected allusions to motifs ranging from groove, burlesque tones and notated formalism work into the one extended and much shorter coda. Connecting experience, Martino was worked with musicians like Sabir Mateen and Eugenio Colombo. Beresford’s playing partners encompass everyone from Evan Parker to David Toop while Sanders has backed nearly every major improv stylist from the UK and the US.

American exceptionalism however means that the other trio’s common language is Jazz, with the shorter, self-contained pieces masterly expressing interlocking reflections, without a note out of place, but with sensible timbral stretches and sensitivity at a premium. Lossing has partnered everyone from Paul Motian to Samuel Blaser; Helias partnering musicians including Gerry Hemingway and Utri Caine; and McPherson innovators stretching from Andrew Hill to Kris Davis.

What that means is that on Be S-mart among the waves of drum rattles and rumbles, shrill arco and grounded pizzicato double bass tones and piano chording that slides from carefully chosen stops and freeform elaborations the exposition can unexpectedly veer elsewhere. Stop-start swelling keyboard variations settle themselves beside metallic repetitive bass string strokes and cymbal and hi-hat clips. Dynamic soundboard echoes and dissonant shaking string squeaks plus drum cascades suddenly give way to an interlude of drum scrapes, a walking bass line and subtle keyboard projections that could have come from the Ahmad Jamaal trio of the 1950s. Then just as suddenly that inferences is gone replaced by polyphonic pressure from all three as string glissandi, idiophone resonations and piano key sprinkles and stops distend the exposition. While electronic oscillations are barely heard, slide whistle peeps, bell pealing and crackling juddering implements atop piano strings are emphasized enough to confirm triparted originality.

Similarly there’s no lack of originality on Proximity Alert. It was created with no preliminary rehearsals, but the exquisite variations and emphasized struts is contained within Lossing’s bite-sized compositions which range from four to seven minutes. Additionally, while pianist’s darting comping and mostly vivace note and tone elaborations help define the tracks, they depend on careful three-part integration. Helias’ arco squirms or sequenced string thumps not only carve a path on their own, but also frequently evolve in tandem with piano narratives, while McPherson’s jumps, pumps and rattle are proactive as well as reactive. Even  when the pace slows down with sweeps and reflections as during the final “Snowy Night” and “Silent Alarm”, the sequences gain their relaxed stance from the bassist and pianist’s antiphony. .

Other than that, the way these tunes meld liveliness with linear expression is that every time an exposition is drawn out past what would seem to be a logical pause, as on the title tune,  the bassist’s woody reflection and the drummer’s poised vibration provide the ballast upon which the pianist’s key pressure joins to create a continuum. Expression is also built up with squirms and stretches as on “Rhythmique”, which means that passing piano chords, horizontal bass string stops and an emphasized drum solo so solidify the groove that Lossing’s stop-timer soundboard musings merely confirm the ongoing narrative.

“Sequenza”, the most extended variation of this, uses the bassist’s pointed string swells and whacks to give the pianist an ever-shifting ostinato on which Lossing’s theme variations evolve from cadenced low-pitched  projections to emotional high-pitched coloration without breaking the designated horizontal flow.

Procedure may characterize the Lossing trio expositions while Beresford/Martino/Sanders’ improvisation  may be more probing. But each illuminates a quick witted, attentive variation of how to perform creative music. Excitement and exposition are balanced, but in varied fashions.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Be: 1. Dark Materials, Part 1 2. Dark Materials, Part 2

Personnel: Be: Steve Beresford (prepared piano, electronics and objects); Pierpaolo Martino (bass and electronics) and Mark Sanders (drums)

Track Listing: Proximity: 1. Incommunicado 2. Bood-Da 3. Apostrophe 4. Proximity Alert 5. Emphasis My Own 6. Rhythmique 7. Lamento 8. Sequenza 9. Relentless 10. Snowy Night 11. Silent Alarm

Personnel: Proximity: Russ Lossing (piano); Mark Helias (bass) and Eric McPherson (drums)