Goose Green

Erb/Mayas/Hemingway
Phyla Music
Veto records-exchange 023

Two takes on trio interaction express exemplary variants of blending reeds and keyboards in an improvised setting. Chief points of divergence are that the all-Norwegian Goose Green also features bassist Bjørn Marius Hegge, while Phyla Music mates reeds and keyboard with the drums of American Gerry Hemingway. But Hegge, who has worked with the Trondheim Bassorks is such a percussive bassist and Hemingway, who has worked with numberless international creative musicians plays with such studied discretion that the blend is similar.

Hegge’s main feature is on “Lafonia” where he advances the piece by sliding among a selection of hard col legno thumps, sul ponticello stabs and spiccato up the scale rubs. Space remains for squeaking bites from saxophonist Klaus Ellerhusen Holm however. Holm, who has worked with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paaal Nilssen-Love plays alto saxophone and Bb clarinet, while Joakim Rainer, who has worked with Amund Stenøie, plays piano and electronics.

Concord and challenge among the three at varied pitches and tempos characterize the entire disc. For instance “Rolling and Treeless” moves from inner string piano vibrations to stop-time keyboard cascades that complement fixed air breathed through the saxophone through the saxophone without key motion. Statis soon turns to snarls and intersects with bass string buzzing. Meanwhile during “Rust and Green” widening keyboard textures and stops encourage the fragmentation of mewling reed trills.

Although Holm outputs closely allied snuffles, tongue stops and aviary flutters on both instruments, it’s usually his paced Jimmy Giuffre-like vibrations which are more distinctive. Flattement and trills adumbrate a certain lyricism on his part, but that is frequently offset with bass string pumps and percussive keyboard clips. Changing tactics, note-bending reed sluices then lead the piano into projecting the same buoyant interface.

“Mount Kent” is an more intense and protracted instance of this teamwork and the turnarounds involved in the program. Over a double bass string ostinato, piano chords are transformed as keyboard dips and resonation are matched by tremolo slurps from Holm during an exposition evolution from allegro to presto. Just as reed squeaks become shriller, Rainer’s pianism slip further downward to almost pedal point. Resolution involves steadying keyboard chording just as bubbling lip flatulence defines the reed architecture.

The distinctiveness of Phyla Music’s single improvisation is partially delineated by the tonal characteristics of the instruments used. Besides percussion, Hemingway also makes use of  controlled feedback and his voice, while German Magda Mayas, who has worked extensively with Tony Buck, takes advantage of the sharp bright and percussive qualities of the clavinet, rather than an acoustic piano, and Swiss Christoph Erb, who has recorded with everyone from Frantz Loriot to Thomas Lehn, concentrates on tenor and soprano saxophones.

As the self-contained improvisation evolves, solid sax blowing, drum pops and shaking voltage oscillations, occasionally interrupted by intermittent tinkles and click from the electro-mechanical keyboard, connect the unattached parts of the exposition. Watery reed trills, circular electronic fizz and idiophone peals and vibrations plus pressurized keyboard sweeps are extended with group multiphonics A shift in motifs after the exposition’s is first signaled by pinched zither-like keyboard variations, a combination of clanging cymbal reverb, snatches of sampled voices and reed whistles. A subsequent pressurized timbral cornucopia seems unstoppable until a descent into saxophone tongue slaps signals a respite. A reconstituted narrative upsurge aims to reach a crescendo once again as continuous keyboard splashes, fragmented sopranissimo reed peeps and percussion shakes mark a melodic transformation. As volume ascends, with Heminway alternating between shambolic slaps and focused smacks, a duet of Mayas’ guitar-like strums and Erb’s meandering reed squeals redefines the narrative again until connective cymbal creaks and a percussion pattern bring together the timbral fragments as the climax.

Similar in instrumentation and sound exploration, the trios present individual routes to accomplished expression.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Ganso: 1. Isthmus 2. Amphibious Landing 3. Rust and Green 4. Peat Bogs 5. Mount Kent 6. Goes Green 7. Rolling and Treeless 8. Lafonia 9. Green Goose

Personnel: Ganso: Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (alto saxophone and Bb clarinet); Joakim Rainer (piano and electronics) and Bjørn Marius Hegge (bass)

Track Listing: Phyla: 1. Phyla Music 1

Personnel: Phyla: Christoph Erb (tenor and soprano saxophones); Magda Mayas (clavinet) and Gerry Hemingway (drums, voice and controlled feedback)