Myra Melford-Satoko Fujii

Geof Bradfield/Myra Melford/Ben Goldberg/Dana Hall
Open or Close
Calligram Records 0033

Away from her own heralded bands and her academic work, pianist Myra Melford isn’t circumspect about trying out new playing situations. These live sets were recorded  far from her Berkeley home base, the Leibnitz, Austria-recorded (Katarahi) is reunion after an almost two decades with Japan’s Satoko Fujii for a dual piano concert. Meanwhile Open or Close features Melford, who was born in the area, participating in an ad hoc club set with two Chicago locals, saxophonist/clarinetist Geof Bradfield and drummer Dana Hall, along with fellow Californian clarinetist Ben Goldberg, who has recorded with Hall and Bradfield in the past. Fujii of course is part of multiple ensembles from duos to big bands in Japan, Europe and the US. Bradfield often works with Matt Ulery and Ryan Cohan, while Hall has recorded with Jon Irabagon and Darren Johnston.

Overcoming initial reticence the piano duo soon moves from gentle swaying and timbral experiments to speedier expressions with rolling ostinatos, keyboard pressure and more playful asides. By “Pairs” they’ve reached proper equanimity. Expressing the sounds between the notes, one concentrates on keyboard sound clusters while the other strums the instrument’s inner string set. As this meeting among glissandi and wide curtains of sound, pivots to formal and fragmented are emphasized as each pianist is able to fill spaces left open by the other without burying the initial progress.

This way the two are to sometimes subdivide sequences into sections with almost painfully slow interludes, moderated groove segments and others that crackle with static and corrosive patters as they accelerate.

The extended “Kaiwa” is an example of this as Melford and Fujii move among full chord bounces, soundboard rumbles, extended glissandi and single note emphasis. Locked hands, block chords and sweeps foreshadow one sneaking up to the highest pitches and the other sliding to harsh pedal point. Overall Katarahi is more an amalgamation of two equally balanced partners than a face off.

There’s similar cooperation during Open or Close’s West Coast/Midwest alliance. From the beginning of the Ornette Coleman composed title track, resilience and liveliness are at a premium with cunning antiphony and emphasis creating a swing underline propelled by intertwined reeds, sophisticated comping and hard pops and press rolls.

The complication of how to function rhythmically without a double bass is overcome as Goldberg expresses the steadying pulse with deepened contra alto saxophone tones. This gives Bradfield room on two South African Jazz approximating tunes – one of which he composed – for expressive melodies studded with shifts to shallow snorts and shaking split tones. Twinned by counterweight from Melford’s plinks and slides, Hall’s hyperactive cadences keep the broken octave presentations moving.

Part march and part motion mutation, Goldberg’s own “Three Ingredients” suggest a merry go round of concentrated low-pitched and high-pitched reed tonguing that finally slides from lockstep to shaking and twittering variations.

With mostly slight theme variations and frequent restating of the head(s), shadings of Bop and Blues creep into the interpretations. Melford compositions like “A Line With a Mind of Its Own” and “The Kitchen” adds sweeping tranches of humor and playfulness. This is expressed by tinkling piano chords and keyboard splatters interrupting the waving exposition on the first mixed with saxophone and clarinet sluices and an unexpected full stop at the end. Meanwhile the utensils, most prominent in “The Kitchen” involve a duet of plinking and picking piano keys and a master chef-like recipe from Hall who mixes in backbeats, rattle, press rolls and woody nerve beats.

Notable on her own, these discs show that Melford also makes an outstanding collaborator, with her partners responding in kind.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Katarahi: 1. Interlude I 2. Signpost 3. Pairs 4. Chalk 5. Kaiwa 6. IV 7. From Sometime

Personnel: Katarahi: Myra Melford and Satoko Fujii (pianos)

Track Listing: Open: 1. Open or Close  2. A Line With a Mind of Its Own 3. No Brand 4. Study of The Blues  5. Three Ingredients   6. Lonely Flowers 7. The Kitchen 8. Aargh

Personnel: Open: Geof Bradfield (tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet); Ben Goldberg (clarinet and contra alto clarinet); Myra Melford (piano) and Dana Hall (drums and cymbals)