Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, Special Edition Box

 

Over the past decade the various duet recordings between Ivo Perelman (tenor sax) and Matthew Shipp (piano) have unquestionably been some of the most advanced and together new Jazz-Free recordings of our time, a duet for the ages. Happily they continue to play together. Most rewardingly there is a Special Edition Box (SMP Records 2020) with more excellent music from the two. 

The box contains a studio CD of the duet entitled Procedural Language, a Blu-Ray of the duo Live in Sao Paulo at SESC, a video capturing them at said event on July 11, 2019. Then there is an informative booklet, Embrace of Souls by Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg.

I no longer have the capability to view Blu-Ray disks on any of my devices so I was not able to watch the DVD. I am sure it is worthy but I have not been able to check it out.

The booklet has an appreciation and chronology that puts the music in perspective, followed by an annotated discography of interest to any collector-enthusiast.

The whole package is quite handsome but it is the CD Procedural Language that grabs my attention especially and attracts my ears with each listen. There are twelve improvisational segments for Ivo's tenor and Matt's piano, every one a significant improvisational utterance, freely articulate and ever filled with a Jazz joyfulness. Ivo testifies, declares, while Matt responds with free structuring towers of pianism that beautifully open up the moment with great ideas that spur Ivo on all the more.

It is some of the most remarkable of their duets, which is saying a lot since we have been blessed with some real gem sessions from the two in the last five years. Tumbling, driving, contemplating, exclaiming, decrying, balladizing, harmo-melodic stratosphering, they spontaneously travel the musical spaceways in ways that ring true always. If you need rejuvenation (and nowadays who doesn't?) this music appears as an oasis in sometimes an all-too-arid wasteland of the everyday. Here are Ivo and Matt in the full maturity of where they are right now, savoring each moment of music filling the air, letting the interlocking ideas flow unhindered. for optimum constancy of "telling it."

Sound Underground, Quiet Spaces

If you have a similar background to me, the first thing that hits you in listening to the trio Sound Underground and their album Quiet Spaces is their apparent rootedness in the classic later-'50s Jimmy Giuffre with Jim Hall and Bob Brookmeyer. There is a chamber jazz approach in common. The instrumentation of Jonah Udall on electric guitar, David Leon on alto sax, and Alec Aldred on trumpet involves a similar openness of execution, with Jonah pivoting between chordal work and a third voice.

The compositions (by all three trio members) have a kind of genetic relation to the Giuffre classical-folk-jazz nexus. They are notable for their structural bent and memorability.

And the improvising schemas are well thought out like the Giuffre three-some's were.

But foremost in this is despite the genetic relationship the music does not really sound at all like Giuffre's did in those days. That's because it is so many years later and also because all three follow their own muses.

Put all that together and you have something very nice indeed. Check this out!

Eric Vloeimans' Oliver's Cinema

Chamber jazz has become a large part of the international scene. Not to rehearse history here but it it has been with us for some time. . . Beiderbecke's "In A Mist", the John Kirby bands, the MJQ and Jimmy Giuffre, the AACM from the '60s on, and so forth.

From the Netherlands we have a small group devoted to the chamber sound, headed by trumpeter Eric Vloeimans: his Oliver's Cinema (buzz zz76111). It's a trio of distinction with of course Vloeimans on trumpet, Tuur Florizoone on accordion, Jorg Brinkmann on cello.

It is music with a lyric, folkish bent. There is no bop, post-bop or new thing going on here. The closest thing to compare the structured melodic sounds with might be Carla Bley in an ultra-lyrical mood. There is that village transformed feeling that you can sometimes hear with Ms. Bley. People have compared Eric's trumpet sound to that of Miles Davis. That's seems true enough in terms of the softness of tone, but otherwise this is miles away, and not to say that is bad. He is supremely lyrical.

All three members are quite good. The cello work, mostly pizzicato, gives a lighter sound where a bass would thicken things. When Brinkmann switches to arco, he shows virtuoso mastery. Florizoone plays accordion with style, acumen and a lovely tone that meshes well with Vloeimans' trumpet, which shines forth with a tender glory.

The songs are originals by all three, plus some cinema-specific themes like "Rosemary's Baby" (Komeda), "Cinema Paradiso" (Morricone).

It's a beautiful album, redolent with atmosphere.

They are right now on an extensive US tour. I don't usually cover such things but I will here. October 10: Moody's Bistro, Truckee, CA; October 11: Chez Robert, Soquel, CA ; October 13: Duende, Oakland, CA; October 14: Calvary Church, Portland, OR; October 15: Seattle; October 16, Albuquerque; October 17: Colorado Springs; October 18: Chicago; October 20: Blue Note, NYC; October 21, Buffalo; October 23, Waukee, IA; October 24: Charlottesville, VA; October 25: Miami.