Cut Trio

Gustafsson/Reid/Vandermark/Taylor
Pivot
Silkheart TT 6313

Making the timbres from contrasting, connecting the sometime contrapuntal textures available from woodwinds and percussion is was ties together these disparate sessions. While both evolve in the creative music continuum, each is distinct. Accelerator captures a gutsy and audacious live performance by the Cut Trio  of Austrian alto saxophonist Tanja Feichtmair plus Slovenians, tenor saxophonist Cene Resnik and percussionist Urban Kušar. Linked to the most unconstrained variant of Free Jazz, in the past group members have played with the likes of Zlatko Kaučič, Elisabeth Harnick and Damon Smith.

Pivot’s pivot on the other hand, involves two more experienced reed players, American Ken Vandermark on tenor saxophone and Bb and bass clarinets and Swede Mats Gustafsson playing baritone and tenor saxophones and flutes, who singly or together have played with everyone from Peter Brötzmann to Paal Nilssen-Love. Drums are handled by American Chad Taylor, known for his work with James Branson Lewis among many others, while a further swivel is added with the cello of American Tomeka Reid, who plays with notables like Myra Melford.

The arco sweeps and spiccato pressure from Reid’s strings coupled with jagged snarls and widening free flowing smears from the saxophonists make some interludes reminiscent of Julius Hemphill’s work with Abdul Wadad. But in the main the cellist’s supple pushes and pizzicato twangs usually confine themselves to creating a connective ostinato, letting the others explore the same sort Free Jazz/Free Music motifs expressed by the Cut Trio.

In spite of string strums, a track like “Drops of Sorrow Accelerating” for example could almost seamlessly fit into a 1960s New Thing session as Taylor’s backbeat complements the tenor saxophonist’s note-crackling exposition that depends on hard baritone sax slurs.

The penultimate “Drifting Against the Wind” and the final “Popular Music Theory” fit the same pattern. Lockstep reed movement encompassing snarls, slides and crying triple tonguing judders on top of cymbal sizzles on the first. Meanwhile on “Popular Music Theory” the hard and heavy saxophone convergence is affirmed as the two reed players go through a collection of corkscrew timbres that reach squeaky altissimo and sopranissimo extensions. As the broken octave ascension coalesces into a blended snore,  joint single tones marks the finale. Singularity of the session is also marked by unexpected motifs as when Reid clangs banjo-like pizzicato patters, Taylor smacks drum patterns and cymbal splashes or when Vandermark on clarinet and Gustafsson on flute meld transverse peeps and woody trills.

Moving from tempered Free Music to the improvisation that in other circumstances engendered the term Ecstatic Jazz, the Cut Trio’s three members seem to be in constant motion projecting timbres almost without pause. As Kušar prepares the landscape with metallic cymbal pings, cowbell slaps, tick-tock percussion motion and wood block slaps  – as well as expected drum backbeats –  the trills, doits and flutters from Feichtmair and Resnik arrange themselves in response. The tenorist moves from mid-range llinearity to downwards slurps and measured shudders, as the altoist rides upwards with emotional squeaky trills and aviary emphasized shrills. These sonic roles are maintained and played with throughout the set.

The most descriptive adaptation of this reed volley-and-thrust program is displayed at its greatest length on “Zyklotron” and the shorter “Synchroton”. The latter is built around a percussion showpiece with Kušar’s climax connecting hard press rolls after splintering the exposition with cow bell resonations, slide whistle peeps and general metallic clattering. Distorted and high pitched breaths from both saxophonists take up the rest of the space encompassing up and down scoops and fills. Infkated dog whistle-like shrills mixed with reed slurps and snarls but the track’s straight-ahead movement isn’t disrupted.

It’s the same story with the more than 26 minute “Zyklotron”. Stopping and starting the saxophonists push forward every tone variation from whinnies to puffs to triple tonguing and singular squeals. Drum rumbles and gong-like accents help build intensity until an extended press rolls at the three-quarter mark introduces an interlude that turns the narrative to become more expressive and emotional. Reinforcing the variations, saxophone cries turn to tongues stops and diminutive reed bites that mark the ending.

The ascending action of the Cut Trio confirm the title of its disc, while Pivot is a perfect description of what Gustafsson, Reid, Vandermark and Taylor do on the other album.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Pivot: 1, The Sensation Of Sliding  2. Blowing Out From Chicago 3. Epistemological Glide 4. Drops of Sorrow Accelerating 5. PIVOT Duos 1 6. PIVOT Duos 2 7. PIVOT Duos 8. PIVOT Duos 4 9.  PIVOT Duos 5 10. PIVOT Duos 6 11. Unmeasured Mile 12. I Am Aware. Standing in Snow 13. Drifting Against the Wind 14. Popular Music Theory

Personnel: Pivot: Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone, Bb and bass clarinets); Mats Gustafsson (baritone and tenor saxophones, flutes); Tomeka Reid (cello) and Chad Taylor (drums)

Track Listing: Accelerator: 1. Rhodotron 2. Zyklotron 3. Synchroton 4. Mikroton

Personnel: Accelerator: Tanja Feichtmair (alto saxophone); Cene Resnik (tenor saxophone) and Urban Kušar (drums and percussion)