KontraSax & Friends II

Bondini/Godard/Niggli
Fables of Time
Intakt Records CD 449

Part of the rehabilitation of the accordion’s reputation from identification with Lawrence Welk and ethnic wedding bands has been its slide into improvised music. Two established European ensembles demonstrate this challenge. KontraSax & Friends attaches New music impulses that embed squeeze box timbres within extemporaneous motifs, while members of the Bondini/Godard/Niggli trio reshape traditional-sounding airs with particular free music turns.

Intact for more than 30 years, the German KontraSax duo of saxophonist/clarinetist Christina Fuchs and bassist Romy Herzberg have also been part of the United Women’s Orchestra and worked with the likes of Blaise Siwula and Renate Fuhrmann. On Serpents & Stones their friends are accordionist Florian Stadler, who also works in Flux with Fuchs; and pianist Georg Ruby, best known for his collaborations with Michel Pilz. Fitting in their trio among other projects during the past couple of decades are French tubaist Michel Godard. who has worked with everyone from Pierre Favre to Barry Guy; Swiss percussionist Lucas Niggli who often plays with Sylvie Courvoisier, Jürg Wickihalder and many others; and Italian accordionist Luciano Biondini, whose playing partners include Samo Šalamon and Gabieke Mirabassi.

On Serpents & Stones’ dozen tracks the usual strategy is to build up a multiplicity of textures to a paced or buoyant intersection that includes rapid fire accordion squeezes, often paired with piano comping and double bass pulses with an overlay of story-telling flutters from Fuchs’ reeds in several combinations. Infrequently the result is purely straight-ahead as on “The tightrope walker” which references a dance melody as squeaky clarinet glissandi, chiming pianism and accordion slurs widen throughout. However the realized activity is to modify timbres in some way. “YallaYalla” for instance combines a double-timed tarantella-like melody from the clarinet and accordion with the pianist and bassist creating a responsive modern Jazz-like groove. Slowed down to antiphony between instrumental pairs, slippery reed sighs reintroduce the dance like beginning.

More crucially unique minimalist touches subtly subvert some of the tracks. This takes place as the clarinetist’s yearning expositions give way to bass clarinet lows and note-bending saxophone slurs; or elsewhere as  extended accordion stops and slides effect melodic transformations, with similar slurs and doits mirrored by Fuchs’ reeds. Broken octave streaming commonly means that the tracks slowly thicken as slow harmonies consolidate fragmented cells. But the bassist’s last minute cadenced fillips usually means that overweighted rumbles and squeezes are given enough space to change so that tonal ambiguity confirms horizontal motion rather than harmonic stasis.

plex dynamic alterations mean that tracks such as “Wooden Paths” and “Selma” end up reflecting multiple musical avenues at the same time. The former with its buoyant pace, resonates as broken chords open up into swift projections following Ruby’s roll up the keys to strained tinkles and down to pedal point. An interlude of dramatic sputters from Fuchs, intersects with Stadler’s harmonizing patterns slides the narrative downwards until a group bounce picks it up in the coda. “Selma” begins with the only protracted expression of Herzberg’s thump and pump exposition. Then accordion smears and piano emphasis open up the narrative with dramatic expressions, with this squeeze box bubbling adumbrates a chalumeau register emotional response  from Fuchs.

This back to the future ethos is expressed with distinct turns on Fables of Time. Emotion and elucidation are expressed antithetically to KontraSax. That’s because many of the 10 tunes express themes that are either quasi-baroque or seemingly aimed towards the ecclesiastical. But while the accordion slides here usually maintain the traditionalism it’s the others who reshape tracks with contemporary flourishes.

For all the instances where Godard expresses his tuba and serpent pacing and pulses – particularly spectacular on a track like “The Golden Jar” – while the continuum slides into accordion glissandi, his unexpected electric bass forays add another dimension to the expositions. Adding a sinewy thump from the electrified instrument on “Knives Out” for instance, and couple it with the drummer’s backbeat, and the result touches on Motown rather than Monteverdi.

Niggli’s percussion command, which is expressed rhythmically appropriate on vibrating frame drum during those pivots towards the 17^th Century as on “Bella Madre D’Amor” integrated with serpent bellows and accordion wiggles, also takes on moder modern affiliation. “Dopo Il Tormento” his percussion showpiece revolves around drum resonations and cymbal clips whose ruggedness is doubled by tuba blats. True to Fables of Time’s ethos his modernist playing is tempered with a Medieval-like interface as elevated accordion sustain wafts a pastoral pulse alongside varied percussion slaps.

Bondoni’s ability to glaze expositions with lustrous concentrated motifs so that judders suggest counterpoint as well as comping, is also on show throughout. While linking them to tuba huffs and measured percussion ruffs sometimes creates an overly sweet fin de siècle café ambience, when animated alongside Godard’s electric bass stops as on “L’aureola Ritrovata” distinctive swing emerges.

Handled inventively squeeze box tones can contribute as many innovative sounds as other instruments. These discs show how distinctively this can be done.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Serpents: 1. Lines & Dots 2. Wooden paths 3. le chat de poche 4. Serpents & Stones 5. YallaYalla 6. Mystères dissonantes 7. Selma 8. Jeu inverse 9. Istanbul Pera 10. L’criture metronomique 11. The tightrope walker 12. Slaps & Echoes

Personnel: Serpents: Christina Fuchs (soprano saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet); Georg Ruby (piano); Florian Stadler (accordion) and Romy Herzberg (bass)

Track Listing: Fables:  1. I Cercatori Dell’Invisibile 2. Tempi Passati 3. Bella Madre D’Amor 4. Knives Out 5. Fables Of Time 6. L’aureola Ritrovata 7. Vi Ricorda, O Boschi Ombrosi 8. The Golden Jar 9. Lawns 10. Dopo Il Tormento

Personnel: Fables: Michel Godard (tuba, serpent and electric bass); Luciano Biondini (accordion) and Lucas Niggli (drums and percussion)