The Whammies, The Music of Steve Lacy 3, Live

The Whammies continue to regale our senses with innovative and exciting reinterpretations of Steve Lacy compositions. What seemed on the first release to be a one-off project in fact continues quite productively, so that we now have a third volume in the series, The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy Vol. 3 Live (Driff 1401). Type "Whammies" in the search box above for my reviews of the first two volumes.

The band remains much the same. Jason Roebke replaces Nate McBride on bass here; otherwise there is the familiar excellent lineup of Jorrit Dijkstra on alto and lyricon, Pandelis Karayorgis on piano, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Mary Oliver on violin and viola, and Han Bennink on drums. In many ways the ensemble combines the best of Chicago, Boston and Northern European avant jazzmen, sharing among themselves their love of freely stretching composed material. And so like the two others in the series the Lacy compositions are refit to the ensemble's creative needs, much like Lacy himself did with the music of Thelonious Monk. That they end the set with Monk's "Hornin' In" underscores this sort of round robin unfolding.

Nine Lacy tunes are given the Whammies treatment. With Lacy's compositional wealth there are plenty to cover and these are excellent vehicles once more. Taking Lacy's soprano out of the equation and handing the music over to these very sympathetic and rather brilliant instrumentalists give us a new sense of the extraordinary angularity of the Lacy approach.

The hour-long program has some beautiful spaces for improvisations by band members. Everyone most definitely hits their spots and the collectively loose openness also hits home wonderfully well.

Volume Three is in no way a let-down. It is every bit as good, perhaps even better than the first two. The band gels as a unit as much as ever. The experience of playing together over time unsurprisingly gives the ensemble in essence an even more homogenized blend without sacrificing the very out-front individuality of every member.

Another winner! Very much recommended.

The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy, Vol. 2

I believe I noted this in my review of Volume One, but it bears repeating. That is, that the Whammies do for the music of Steve Lacy what Lacy himself (along with Roswell Rudd) did for the music of Thelonious Monk. They recontextualize it by taking the compositions and playing them in the spirit of the author, but then also make it fresh by adding the chemistry and personalities of the new set of players involved.

This is most certainly again the case with The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy, Vol, 2 (Driff 1303), perhaps even more so. It's an excellent group of players: Jorrit Dijkstra on alto and lyricon, Pandelis Karayorgis, piano, Jeb Bishop, trombone, Mary Oliver, violin and viola, Nate McBride, bass, and Han Bennink, drums.

Some heavy players for sure, then. And what they do with Lacy is make him new by their own singularities as players. Everybody is attuned to the Lacy abstractness and takes on the music in their own right. Fittingly the volume ends with "Shuffle Boil", a Monk composition to brings things full circle.

This is important music both for the Lacy works and for the players' way with it all. It's music that in no way sounds dated--and of course there would be no reason why it should. It's music as modern as today, yet of course with roots in the lineage of avant jazz.

Superb!

The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy

Steve Lacy had such a distinctive style on soprano. His groups, especially from his middle period on, had a very distinct way about them as well. These factors were so prominent in his later music that I, at least, have tended to associate them as a nearly inextricable part of his compositions. Like Lacy's own treatment of the music of Thelonious Monk, a change in context for the compositions can help one listen to the melodic-harmonic implications of the compositions in themselves. Just as Lacy and others gave us an earful of Monk-as-composer that helped us more appreciate his music, so now this engaging recording at hand.

The Whammies are doing the same thing for Steve Lacy's music on The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy (Driff CD 1201). Who are the Whammies? They are an all-star avant unit of Jorrit Dijkstra on alto and lyricon, Pandelis Karayorgis on piano, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Nate McBride on bass, Han Bennink on drums and, for half the numbers, Mary Oliver on violin or viola.

These are artists known for their improvisational personalities and for the most part composers of merit in their own right. They hommage the hommagian, so to speak, by including one Monk number, "Locomotive." Otherwise it's Lacy all the way.

And it's not "straight" Lacy for that matter. It is arranged, freely articulated and improvisationally packed music of a very high order, individually and collectively. The set reaffirms the importance of Lacy the composer while also giving you a great ensemble going to it.

Don't miss this one. I hope the Whammies keep it going. It's a great combination of players!!

Construction Party, Instruments of Change

Today, a quartet recording in the avant vein by four formidable exponents of the new jazz who, as it turns out, work very well together. They call the quartet Construction Party. The album is dubbed Instruments of Change (Not Two 852-2)

It's Forbes Graham on trumpet, Dave Rempis, alto, Pandelis Karayorgis, piano, and Luther Gray, drums. Now that works out well. Graham has good melodic improv ideas that range over the whole horn. Dave Rempis, as followers or the music know, is his own man on alto. Pandelis Karayorgis is one of the important pianists out there now with a percussive attack and, important for this bass-less group, an ability to play inventive, innovative lines with both hands independently. So he sometimes has a kind of pianistic bass line going that complements the drumming. The latter is handled adeptly by Luther Gray, who has power and a very effective time-freetime sense.

There are eight numbers; each bandmember composes two. They are of the abstracted avant head sort and work well in setting up the blowing. There are moments where Rempis and Karayorgis solo together that got my attention, but everybody has a chance to intermingle collectively and individually in good ways.

It's top-notch new avant jazz. So of course I recommend it.

Pianist Pandelis Karayorgis Plays "Caramelula"

Boston-based Pandelis Karayorgis has been the subject of several review postings on my blogs. Today there is yet another one. I suppose you can tell I like what he is doing! This one is an Ayler Download-Only recording, which goes for a good price. Caramelula (Ayler Download 078) situates Pandelis in a good trio setting, with Nate McBride (bass) and Randy Peterson (drums).

Caramelula provides nearly an hour of the trio in action, playing Karayorgis's original pieces but allowing a good deal of space for extemporaneous improvisation. There is a linear logic to the post-Monk avant doings of this recording. Everyone is relaxed and gets the opportunity to stretch out. It is another worthwhile look into the Karayorgis artistry. It may be a little more low-key than some of his other disks, but it provides you with another way into what he is doing. Anyone who wants to follow the modern improvisational piano must not miss Pandelis Karayorgis. This is one good place to get a good sampling of his style in conducive surroundings.

See the Ayler link on this site to find out more.

Karayorgis, McBride and Vandermark in a Freely Lucid Setting

Like with yesterday's post, I am catching up today with some music that is a few years old but too good to be ignored. No Such Thing (Boxholder 018, 1999) is precisely that. Of course one never knows until the CD hits the player and the music tumbles out. But this turns out to be an auspicious meeting between Boston based pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, and two of Chicago's finest: Nate McBride on bass (who played on the CD reviewed yesterday) and Ken Vandermark on reeds. This is freewheeling but structured music. There are tunes by each band member and group improvisations as well.

It gives you plenty of out-and-in improvisation and some very good chemistry between the three. Highly recommended.

Pandelis Karayorgis and Nate McBride Duo

If you don't know Pandelis Karayorgis and his pianism, you are missing out on something. He's been around a while, lives in Boston, and has his own take on the avant improv free piano. There are players of the piano who are free yet their playing comments implicitly on the bop and beyond tradition they extend; then there are players that break the thread and emerge into a world of "pure" improv. This rule of thumb doesn't completely hold true to every player across the board. But think of Paul Bley for the former and later Cecil Taylor for the latter. Connie Crothers can go in either camp, Don Pullen could too. And Pandelis on his Let It (Cadence Jazz Records), straddles the line, crossing in either direction as the muse warrants.

This CD came out a few years ago. It gives you a substantial sampling of what Mr. Karayorgis can do in duet with bassist Nate McBride, who puts in an excellent performance on these improvisations, as anybody who knows his work might expect.

Pandelis is is great form on this one (but then again I've never heard him sound badly). There is a Monk influence to his playing, among other things, and it comes out in his staccato-sfortzando attack on dissonant chords and hard hitting single lines, not to mention some direct Monk quotes and a version of "Criss Cross" here. Karayorgis has so internalized the influence though that it is the voice of Karayorgis that speaks to us, wholly, whatever he plays.

McBride and Karayorgis have the kind of two-minded unity in this series of duets that few such interactions manage to achieve. They are on the same wave-length and inspired to give their best.

Let It provides plenty of examples of why I find Karayorgis on my short list of the most interesting free pianists working today. That list would include the aforementioned Ms. Crothers, and. . . well, Matthew Shipp, Anthony Coleman, of course Cecil Taylor, and I am leaving out people but the point is the handful is small. Let It gives you a more naked Karayorgis, if you will, an exposed player in the act of creation. So that is probably an excellent place to start for his music. Find out more about the album at www.cadencebuilding.com. Click on Cadence Jazz Records when you get there.