Hippie Diktat

No Base Trio
No Base Trio
Setola di Maiale SM 4180

Dispatches from the borderland where free improvisation and heavy rock intersect are brought forward by one Puerto Rican and one French trio. Featuring saxophone, guitar and drums, each band adds enough instrumental freedom to its exposition(s) to avoid mindless excess. Still there are times when the so-called heaviness becomes almost unnavigable.

Differences arise in that the Puerto Rican No Base Trio separates “Ext” into eight separate sequences, while France’s Hippie Diktat blasts out two affiliated slabs of´” Gran Sasso”. Living up to its name No Base Trio (NBT) features alto saxophonist and EWI player Jonathan Suazo, guitarist Gabriel Vicéns and drummer Leonardo Osuna. Formed in 2010 in San Juan, trio members have worked with David Sánchez, Miguel Zenón and others. Meanwhile Hippie Diktat, consisting of baritone saxophonist Antoine Viard, baritone guitarist Richard Comte and drummer Julien Chamla has been involved in dance and contemporary music as well as with improvisers such as Eve Risser and Jim Black.

From the top NBT relies on the distinctive timbres of Suazo’s EWI to cut though the thick Rock-like groove propelled by Vicéns’ chiming guitar licks and Osuna’s thumping drumming. Yet these raw reed snarls intersect enough with percussion bounces and guitar blends including fuzz tones, to maintain foot tapping, if not head banging affiliations. There’s even a point on “Ext – V” where Vicéns attains guitar hero mode, his note shredding and dial-twisting leading reed stutters and drum smacks up the scale to a broadened, weighty interface. Luckily by the time the concluding and penultimate tracks arrive synthesized noises from the EWI and pure electrical oscillations introduce contrapuntal suggestions as reed split tones and guitar frails move the sequence to a more moderated place. Finally “Ext – VIII” adroitly balances both Free Jazz and Metal intimations to a descriptive standoff. Whooshing tremolo EWI slurps join with cymbal accents and downward guitar runs to maintain power as well as bringing out variable twists.

Gran Sasso presents a similar program, but the combination of pounding drum backbeats, whining animal-in-pain altissimo screams from the saxophonist and buzzing guitar flanges push the program even more towards Rock. Although chiming cymbal accents and slurred string fingering sometime lessen the oppressive density, pressure often seems both impenetrable and almost unstoppable. However the final section of “Gran Sasso Part 3-4” brings some changes. Even as the repetition of simple phrases becomes almost mesmerizing slight variations from each instrument peeks through the squirming sound density. Finally ringing guitar pulses and power puffs from the saxophonist lead more to a conclusion. But the program appears more stopped than resolved.

Those who prefer their improv with a side order of Metal will no doubt rate these sessions higher. Distinctive in their single-minded power though, lighter textures would have been welcome in some sequences.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: No: 1. Ext – I 2. Ext – II 3. Ext – III 4. Ext – IV 5. Ext – V 6. Ext – VI 7. Ext – VII 8. Ext – VIII

Personnel: No: Jonathan Suazo (alto saxophone and EWI); Gabriel Vicéns (guitar) and Leonardo Osuna (drums)

Track Listing: Gran Sasso 1. Gran Sasso Part 1-2 2. Gran Sasso Part 3-4

Personnel: Antoine Viard (baritone saxophone); Richard Comte (guitar) and Julien Chamla (drums)