Colin Fisher/Mike Gennaro

Rob Brown/Juan Pablo Carletti
Fertile Garden
No Business NBCD 154

Bucher/Countryman
Once
FMR CD 629-0422

Time honored saxophone-percussion duets are given new life in these session as six players from almost as many countries work out the intricacies of putting descriptive sonic flesh on these bare boned improvisations.

Broadly mistitled, since it could actually be called Twice, Once was recoded five years ago in a mammoth session that also yielded a whole other CD. A meeting of minds between Swiss drummer Christian Bucher and US alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, the later of whom often works with Sabu Toyozumi, the seven Philippines-recorded tracks find the two twisting and turning, digging and pulling back textures to squeeze the last bit of content from these free-form performances. Hard, sharp and constantly vibrating, Countryman’s sways and slides work effectively in double counterpoint with Bucher’s repetitive pops, rolls and bangs even when the drumming becomes excessively blunt and palpable as on the title tracks and “Again Once”. In those cases cymbal shakes and drum snaps to near marital expression are contained as the saxist’s serpentine detours make common cause with stretched reed smears and double and triple tonguing. While hard and vigorous are the adjectives most applied to this duo, not all the tracks barrel ahead heedlessly. Split-tone hocketing and in-and-out respiration that turns to circular breathing characterizes “Third Coconut” and is met with sympathetic bass drum smacks and snare drum paradiddles. It’s “Third Estuary”. which best outlines the interaction Beginning with flying reed flutters and tongue stops as the drums thump and double pump, the conflicting coloration is resolved in the second sequence as two combine texture into a near-swing groove.

Reducing the improvisations from eight to two extended ones is the Fertile Garden cultivated by New York alto saxophonist Rob Brown, who often works with William Parker, and Argentinian percussionist Juan Pablo Carletti, who is part of Brown’s own quartet. Improvising in sections that clock in on either side of 30 minutes, the two run through every sort of duo from concentrated and energetic to segmented and more relaxed. Although there are some sequences that are moderated and where the variations are performed with reed vibrato and Morse-code-like drum pulsations, any low-pressure output is usually surrounded by timbres that squeeze together upsurging clanks and rattles with barbed reed bites and triple tonguing or other aggressive creativity. Brown’s irregular vibrations, flattement and broken octave tonguing is extended to great lengths. But unlike many saxophonist who whoosh out expositions in connected timbral bursts, his strategies are more detached. His repeated patterning involves pointillist dots and bites whether he’s scooping out basement notes or shrilling exalted textures sky high. Not only does this give him a distinctive tone, but it also allows Carletti space to inserts pumps, paradiddles or patterning to advance the narrative. So on “6BC’ among the slap tones, doits and horizontal peeps from Brown, the drummer’s regular pulse keeps the program horizontal. While the track eventually calms down into mid-range saxophone slurs and a final percussion pop, Brown asserts himself in the penultimate minutes with unaccompanied slides and strained reflux at the zenith of his horn’s range.

The Tactile Stories told by Torontonians Colin Fisher and Mike Gennaro differ in that while the later sticks to drumming, Fisher devotes the final track to guitar playing with his detoured frails, brief plucks and slurred fingering devoted to lower-case narratives. Gennaro, who has also played with Alex Ward, still emphasizes wooden slaps. On the other three tracks Fisher, who has played with Marc Edwards, sticks to the tenor and alto saxophones. His outwards evolving split tones and foghorn-like honks are usually expressed in stretched out slurs and slides, often in the altissimo range or growling wetness. In response to these techniques as well as circular breathing and cackling squawks from the saxophonist, the drummer sticks to rumbles, pops and rebounds, rolling the time and tempo backs-and-forth. Dual projection on the concluding “Epinoia” includes the creation of a thick sonic block of hard pumped reed slurs and cymbal clanks. Spinning out thematic variations from it, the reflected timbres split into descriptive shards and are finally reunited in a finale that mates resounding press rolls with expanded renal-like blowing.

Definitive in their own way, each of these duos define improvisational playing in its own manner.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Once: 1. Bye Butterfly 2. All Things 3. Once 4. Third Coconut 5. Next Time 6. Third Estuary 7. Again Once 8. Lost Butterfly

Personnel: Once:  Rick Countryman (alto saxophone) and Christian Bucher (drums)

Track Listing: Fertile: 1. 6BC 2. Children’s Magical Garden

Personnel: Fertile: Rob Brown (alto saxophone) and Juan Pablo Carletti (drums and cymbals)

Track Listing: Tactile:1.  Ex Nihilo 2. Ekstasis 3. Esse 4. Epinoia

Personnel: Tactile:  Colin Fisher (tenor saxophone and guitar) and Mike Gennaro (drums)