Rich Halley 4, Eleven

Tenor stalwart Rich Halley and his quartet continue to grow and get the kind of togetherness that only happens over time. You can hear this especially on the latest by the Halley 4: Eleven (Pine Eagle 008). If I say it's one of the very best of his albums, it has to do with how the four have grown together. Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich is the newest member, but that was by now quite some time ago. The chemistry of Halley, Vlatkovich, Clyde Reed on bass and Rich's son Carson Halley on drums is becoming striking in its power and free discipline.

Vlatkovich is more and more an intertwining force in the front line with Rich, and they both sound terrific together and alone. Still rather young Carson has turned out to be a great drummer, in time and sound. And Clyde holds his own on bass in important ways.

Another factor, always critical to this band but ever more so is Rich's compositions. His "Reification Suite" and the eight other originals featured in the album run a gamut of possibilities and in the process create memorable matrices for the grooves and excellent soloing.

And then there is Rich's tenor, ever in an original zone that synthesizes the history of the music and makes of it something other. He sounds as inspired as ever here.

If you do not know the Halley 4 and crave some original jazz that reflects the new thing of Ornette and Archie Shepp and goes with that and high bop roots to get someplace different, Eleven is a great way to introduce you to the music. If you know some of the others, this one is an essential.

Kudos to the Rich Halley 4!

Rich Halley 4, Creating Structure

Tenor saxophonist-bandleader Rich Halley continues to give us his special brand of west coast free-avant jazz. If I've already covered a good number of his releases since starting these blogs (type his name in the search box) it's because each album has had something to say. As the Rich Halley 4 has stabilized in recent years with the second solo voice of Michael Vlatkovich on trombone, Clyde Reed on acoustic bass and Rich's son Carson on drums, the band has continued to gain a kind of togetherness that comes out of long-term interaction.

We hear the latest fruition of their growth as a quartet on the new one, Creating Structure (Pine Eagle 007). The idea on this album is to delve into multiple relatively short collectively worked-out compositions, 16 in all.

Each has a particular mood, has its say and then moves on. As the title of the album suggests, there is structure to be had in the band's freedom. Part of it is spontaneous, a product of knowing the stylistic propensities of each of the foursome and opening up to them. Other pieces seem to be a little more sketched out, yet no less immediate for it.

The Halley-Vlatkovich front line has evolved into a loosely-tight team, with each playing a role subject to the moment, lucid, contentful. The same can be said for the Reed-Carson rhythm section. Carson and Reed have locked in as a unit and play off against the horns in open synchrony, each with a well-developed voice.

The sheer variety of moments on this 16-part totality keeps the ears fresh. But of course that is only because everyone has developed a full identity while putting forth the kind of group give-and-take that comes over time.

Rich does some of his finest playing on this one. But then everybody seems primed and conversationally loquacious.

An excellent date. If you don't have any Halley as yet, start here!

Rich Halley 4, The Wisdom of Rocks

West Coast tenor titan Rich Halley returns with further good developments from his now solidly congealed Rich Halley 4 quartet. The Wisdom of Rocks (Pine Eagle 006) seems aptly named in that rocks stay put, weather the storm, become at times all the better for it, with rough edges made more attractively smooth. Perhaps that is pushing it as far as rocks are concerned, but it is fitting for Halley's foursome. But of course I do not mean to say that the group plays smooth jazz! They are lively and still something rough in a very healthy, spontaneous way. But they are rock-solid, more and more as time passes.

As has been the case for a while now the quartet consists of course of Rich on tenor, Michael Vlatkovich on his prolific trombone, Clyde Reed on bass and Rich's son Carson Halley on drums.

The ravages of time have not adversely affected the group. They continue to grow together and make of the four-way dialogue something more and more poignant.

The compositions are mostly by Rich, with one by Rich and Carson and three as collective endeavors by the entire quartet. The song structures set the table and get the band moving in nice ways, whether in a swinging post-new-thing way, as a ballad or with a straight-eight open rock freedom.

Rich and Michael as can be expected turn in some formidable solos and the entire band cooks it all to a fine stew of excitement and dynamics.

If you don't have anything by this edition of the quartet this is a good one with which to start. If you know them this will confirm their stature as one of the very happening things on the West Coast. Listen and dig (you will).

Rich Halley 4, Crossing the Passes

Rich Halley has been breaking it up with some really excellent new jazz for a while. I've been covering it here. Since he's integrated Michael Vlatkovich into the fray on trombone and as his son Rich gets better and better on drums, we see exponential increases in heat and the doing it we associate with music that moves forward and stays hot at the same time, like a two-legged walking range with dinner cooking on it as it moves along on its journey.

I'll put it like this, and right now it is a good criterion for how much I like something. Namely, if I were suddenly forced to move from my current space to a dinky studio apartment, would I bring Crossing the Passes (Pine Eagle 005) with me or give it to somebody who would appreciate it as part of the painful choices one sometimes must make? The answer is, it would go with me.

Why? Because this is music that lives. It has the open swinging qualities of classic Ornette, the music is now though, and the players are doing themselves, not somebody else. Clyde Reed makes a great pairing on bass with drummer Carson. Michael Vlatkovich is a great bonist, unsung maybe but right there at the top of the pack. Rich Halley plays tenor like a mother, and nobody else's mother but his own. The tunes, mostly by Rich with a few collective efforts, are where they need to be to launch the players.

Crossing the Passes swings its way out, freely, and it does it with artistry of the high kind. If you don't have any Halley, here's where you start. You will dig it. I am pretty sure!

Rich Halley 4, Back From Beyond

The Rich Halley 4 continue to evolve and develop nicely, as can be heard in their latest, Back From Beyond (Pine Eagle 004). With them this time is the West Coast trombone notable Micheal Vlatkovich, of whom of course we have heard a good deal of on these pages over time.

He joins Rich's tenor, Clyde Reed's bass and Carson Halley's drums for a lively set of freebopping. These are good blowing vehicles by Halley and a few collective comps by the band. There are a couple of loose funk numbers that stay within the wide groove open horn style of the more swingtime oriented numbers.

Rich and Michael both work well together in tandem, with chemistry aiding and abetting the inspiration. Rich and Michael sound excellent and Clyde and Carson set up the music well with a very together stance.

This has become one of the more important free-freebop outfits on the West Coast and this album gives you plenty of reasons why. Give it your attention and it will give back!

Rich Halley's Quartet Goes Long and Strong on "Requiem For A Pit Viper"

Tenorist-band- leader-tunesmith Rich Halley turns in one his very best efforts on the new CD Requiem for A Pit Viper (Pine Eagle 003). It's Rich plus trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, bassist Chris Reed and drummer Carson Halley in a long set of originals with lots of room for solos. As is generally the case with Rich's band concept there is a distinct post-Ornettian vibe. The pianoless group generally keeps the time going and freeboppingly rides atop in their own way--calling on a tradition that looks back to some of Sonny Simmons's (and Prince Lasha's) classic groups. In other words Rich and Michael play themselves with linear thrust; the rhythm section play themselves within the loose swing and rocktime of the genre.

Halley's son Carson puts a good showing together and moves the group along with dialogic use of the full drum kit; bassist Clyde Reed has a big Hadenesque sound and he walks with power. Michael's trombone works well with Richard's tenor, both showing the inventive fire and freedom that position them as some of the West Coast's most important free-avant figures active today.

Requiem has it all happening. This is a good one to grab as an intro to Rich Halley's music.

Dottie Grossman and Michael Vlatkovich Collaborate on Word and Music Project

Dottie Grossman puts together short prosaic poems dealing with Zen-like slices of everyday life, friendships and day-to-day reflections on it all. Michael Vlatkovich is a noted trombonist-bandleader in the avant improvisation realm. The two have collaborated on a CD project that alternates Dottie's short poems with equally short improvisations by Michael's quintet. Call and Response and Friends (pfMentum 060) is the intriguing result.

Each segment lasts from one to two minutes, Dottie then quintet in alternation. The constantly refocused, straightforward yet cognitively labyrinthine prose-poetry recitations set up an expectation that is realized in equally varied musical comments by the group. There is freedom; there is focus.

It works completely because Ms. Grossman and the Vlatkovich conflagration are well attuned to one another. Something like this could quickly become pretentious, over-reaching, self-affirming in a kind of conceited aren't-we-artists sort of way. The fact that it all is most certainly NOT has to do with the unprepossessing and almost casual (deceptively perhaps) image-weaving that takes place between the two creative forces.

It is NOT an uneasy melding of prose-poem and jazz. It is an EASY one. Very much recommended.

Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich's ALiveBUQUERQUE, 2003

Any reader of my blogs has probably gathered that they cover new releases but also document some of my everyday listening. Things I like usually get a posting. What I don't generally does not.

The Michael Vlatkovich Quartet's CD ALiveBUQUERQUE (pfMENTUM 045) belongs to the listening-for-myself category. It's a spirited set recorded live at the Output Performance Space, Albuquerque, in 2003. This is a potent lineup of avant-improv compositions played by a worthy cast. Mr. Vlatkovich and David Mott, on trombone and baritone sax, respectively, provide a nicely dark, deep-toned two-horn frontline. We've covered David Mott's own interesting work in some depth on these pages and he again shows that attention to your sound as well as the notes themselves, and a thoughtfully structured improvisational sense can distinguish you from the pack. He and Vlatkovich interact on various levels, and they do it in the best interactive traditions of the music. Michael has roots in his playing and they come out most attractively here. There's a generally out context but there is a connection with the past as well.

The electric cello of Jonathan Golove gives another color and a third melodic voice to the ensemble. The pitch range of the cello allows Garcia to oscillate between what an acoustic bass might do in this kind of playing situation and also another "horn," so to speak. Drummer Christopher Garcia fills out the ensemble with a quite respectable free-to-pulse approach. His percussion work adds another dimension of color and texture as well.

Mr. Vlatkovich may not be a household word--and how many improvisational trombonists have ever been that anyway--but he most certainly deserves wider attention. ALiveBUQUERQUE gives you a very good example why that seems so to me.