Gauci/Mela/Parker/Shipp

May 9, 2023

Live at Scholes Street Studio
Gauci Music No #

Gauci/Mitchell/Opsvik/Mintz
Live at Scholes Street Studio
Gauci Music No #

Demonstrating the differences and similarities exposed in group improvisations, Brooklyn-based tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci reacts to the input of two completely different rhythm sections on these live sessions. Recorded a month apart in the same place one disc features a duo that has been playing together for decades, while the other is a more ad hoc configuration. Pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker have worked with an orchestra’s worth of creative players over the years; and drummer Francisco Mela joins them and Gauci on one CD. Meantime the saxophonist’s associates on the other disc are pianist Matt Mitchell, who works with Tim Berne; bassist Eivind Opsvik, who works with Jeff Davis among many others; and drummer Billy Mintz, who often partners Roberta Pike.

Starting off with an altissimo squeak which soon inflates into split tones and slobbers Gauci’s reed explosion is almost instantly matched by piledriver chords from Shipp. As the pianist’s positioned pounding comes across as both harmonious and hardy, Parker maintains a linear pulse that is mostly felt rather than heard, while Mela colors the exposition with snare vibrations, cymbal resonation, cowbell pops and triangle pings. The drummer’s familiarity with Afro-Cuban beats is put to good use as the pianist shifts to an exposition that blends modal suggestions with Latin-like rhythmic pressure. It’s soon joined by thick bass stops and reed aggression including dog whistle-like shrills, rugged split tones and repeated irregular phrasing. These unfolding timbral deviations enliven the narrative without ever losing linear evolution. Slowing down Shipp also conveys emotion with a story-telling interlude at the half-way point, though he quicky reverts to a nearly continuous exposition so energetic that the keys almost seem to fly off the piano. Met with emphasized string stops and drum rim shots, Gauci also contributes to the toughening with sometimes clarion and sometimes altissimo cries and flattement. Eventually pinpointed single notes from Shipp suggest a Bebop riff which is quickly countered by Gauci’s irregular vibrations and conclusive clip clops from Mela. The brief coda that mates slow breaths from the saxophonist and stentorian piano lines confirms that the four have worked out a connection that can move from classic to contemporary and back again in split seconds.

A less percussive pianist than Shipp, Mitchell’s thematic coherence with chordal patterning provides thematic consistency on the other disc. As the two improvisations are more evenly balanced, his dynamic keyboard runs and pressurized clips provide timbral contrasts to Gauci’s widening reed bites and intensifying tongue stops and slurs. Additionally Mitchell’s rugged key emphasis crams as many notes into an interlude as the saxophonist’s busy glissandi do elsewhere. Diverging into darkened pedal point on the first selection, his doubled piano motif makes common cause with Opsvik’s string slaps and Mintz’s drum clanks and cymbal tone extensions. Bass string thumps also intensify once the improvisation is fully established. Undulating pressure backs the saxophonist as he melds mid-range skitters, altissimo cries and honking scoops into a sonic crescendo. An interlude of tolling drum pops allow Gauci and Mitchell to regroup into a more relaxed, andante sub theme of sophisticated keyboard tinkles and understated reed buzzes. But it’s the pianist’s subsequent turnaround and clenched double bass strums that preserve the horizontal function as the saxophonist reintroduces pressurized multiphonics and triple tonguing. Gauci’s strained whistling then become sone part of the finale steadied by bass string bowing and keyboard clicks. Variation on the theme, the following track provides more space for Gauci’s extended reed breaths and sliding sopranissimo squeals and Mitchell’s rolling piano notes. The stop-time sequence also depends on Opsvik’s col leno slaps which lighten into walking bass lines at the end.

Gauci’s convincing meetings with two widely different rhythm sections show his adaptability within the Free Jazz continuum and the same from his associates. They and he can also be heard brining this same process to other configurations and with other musicians.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Mela: 1. Improvisation 1 2. Improvisation 2

Personnel: Mela: Stephen Gauci (tenor saxophone); Matthew Shipp (piano); William Parker (bass) and Francisco Mela (drums)

Track Listing: Mitchell: 1. Improvisation 1 2. Improvisation 2

Personnel: Mitchell: Stephen Gauci (tenor saxophone); Matt Mitchell (piano); Eivind Opsvik (bass) and Billy Mintz (drums)