Michael McNeill

February 3, 2025

Barcode Poetry
Infrasonic Press IPSC 08

A quiet and quirky instance of Chamber-Improv, Barcode Poetry’s particular instrumental mix also arrives from uncommon places – well Baltimore and Buffalo at least. Upstate New York  pianist Michael McNeill, has worked with groups featuring John Bacon and Ken Filiano. His Maryland-based associates are trumpeter Dave Ballou, who has played with the likes of Ellery Eskelin and Michael Formanek; pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, who has improvised with everyone from Thollem to Joe McPhee; and vibraphonist/percussionist Shelly Purdy, a linchpin of the Baltimore improv scene.

Blending the singular textures of each instrument over seven tracks, the common strategy is for the pianist to state and propel the melodies with output ranging from full keyboard smashes to individually outlined note clips, propel the exposition through the meeting of trumpet energy and steel guitar echoes, as crackling percussion shakes and/or metallic vibes resonations interject tones or add to the mercurial sound layering.

Space for individual motifs from each player arise, sometimes unaccompanied, but the idea of Barcode Poetry is to merge these timbral instance into a vibrating whole. Thus trumpet triplets can eventually join up with piano patterns; throbbing frails from the steel guitar can blend with half-valve trumpet smears; string twangs meet vibe clangs; or vibraphone sustain can suggest harmonies that are then picked up by metronomic piano chording, warm guitar frails and thin trumpet bites.

The two takes of “As a Metaphor” demonstrate this cooperation. The first, which is quieter and more delicate finds string frails and piano rumbles creating an exposition, joined with muted trumpet sighs, then intensified by brass buzzes, percussion clips and elevated keyboard clinks. The second take – oddly placed on the CD before the first – is more energetic with singular wiggling plinks from the guitar, piano key rubs and shakes and a soaring portamento trumpet exposition. As the narratives moved upwards and then descends, the connection melds thinning brass flutters, lap steel tremolo shakes and clean keyboard comping that gains extra ballast through reverberating vibraphone plops. In the last section, the narrative  descends to a multi-faceted conclusion that mates keyboard clips and the trumpeter’s plunger-muted mutters.

Finely crafted without the need for raucous passages, McNeill and company have created striking chamber improv and one created far from major Jazz centres.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Timeigrant 2. Barcode Poetry 3.Elegy 4. As a Metaphor (take 2) 5. Branches 6. As a Metaphor (take 1) 7. Double Memory

Personnel: Dave Ballou (trumpet); Michael McNeill (piano); Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar) and Shelly Purdy (vibraphone and percussion)