Francois Carrier, Overground to the Vortex

Francois Carrier has shown himself especially over the last several years as an alto saxophonist and leader of avant freedom jazz that has consistency, fire and great invention. The latest, Overground to the Vortex (Not Two 904-2), confirms that and sends us to some nicely constructed new zones.

Francois is aided and abetted by John Edwards, bass, and Michel Lambert, drums, players who get it and give back in full measure for formidable threesome work. They are joined by English pianist Steve Beresford for much of this live set (at the Vortex in London) and that most definitely adds to the whole.

This is music of the well-turned line as much as it is sound sculpture. Francois is a master of both and comes through once again. But this is a group effort and everyone is on top of where the wave is riding, cresting and flowing.

Top avant jazz! No question. Ride this wave and you will get to a new shore.

The Fish, Moon Fish (Guionnet-Duboc-Perraud)

In many ways at many times so-called "free jazz" depends for its success on inspiration and inventive commitment on the part of the musicians involved. If they are without a certain amount of "juice" and a certain level of ideas, it can be a little like the cartoon image of a hippopotamus taking a high dive into a much-too-small tub of water. Ouch!

I bring this up because today's CD is just the opposite of this kind of lack. We have the trio known as the Fish doing a three-part improvisation on their recent CD Moon Fish (Clean Feed 254). They are filled with the inspiration of the muses for this one, tumbling their way through some kicking free space.

This is a well-matched European outfit of Jean-Luc Guionnet, alto, Benjamin Duboc on contrabass (who we've encountered rather often in good settings both here and on the guitar-bass blog), and Edward Perraud on drums.

They are supercharged and wail their way through this set, Guionnet sometimes worrying a phrase a la "Sunship," more often proceeding in a linear way through phrases that blaze; Duboc creating forceful counter-onslaughts and digging in for a continuously thrumming energy foundation; Perraud feeling the spirit and busily pushing his kit to the barrage limits.

It's the wild and crazy kind of freedom we have on this one, continuous, energized, on fire and beautifully frenetic. Nice one.

Joe McPhee, Joe Giardullo, Michael Bisio, Dominic Duval, No Greater Love, 1999

A lengthy, freely expressed, chamber jazz outing by two reeds and two basses could end up being a snore-inducing bore in the wrong hands. A muddy tangle. When the four musicians are Joe McPhee (soprano), Joe Giardullo (bass clarinet and soprano), Michael Bisio (bass) and Dominic Duval (bass), the results are not going to be anything like that. This you know if you know these players. Plus in 1999 this was a working aggregate, so they were not getting together for the first time. That is on the CD No Greater Love (CIMP 209), which I happen to be listening to lately as part of my extra-curricular enjoyment.

It's the Joe McPhee Bluette of the era, at Cadence studios in upstate New York to record an album of music of the spiritual-soul side of things. They did that. It came out as In the Spirit (CIMP 199). They in the course of making that album recorded more than they had intended, including music that was outside the concept of that album.

The other, spontaneous expressions, one spiritual, one standard and sequences of rather brilliant collective improvisations, were captured and put out as the album at hand.

Here we have inspired music making by four masters of the improvisatory arts. All four come through with improvisations worthy of their reputation. In the course of the session advantage was taken of the various combinations possible--reed solo, reed duet, reed and bass duet, one or more basses alone, all four, etc.

There is subtlety and there is excitement, structure and spontaneous freedom, tradition and innovation, things we have come to expect from the four artists and are in full abundance here. The expectations one has when two of jazz's most accomplished bassists and two of the most original and creative reedists pair together are met fully on this disk.

One for the ages? A remarkable gathering in any event.

Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Michiana

As much as there are ever multiplying performances of new jazz from solo instruments to quartets and the largest ensembles, the music does not stand still. Like with its cousin "classical" music, every type of grouping develops a body of music and performers that carve out a vocabulary/vocabularies in a never-ending series of works and cross-fertilizations. Classical music has its string quartet, for example; avant jazz has the unaccompanied sax performance.

And so we turn today to the latter in the solo baritone sax CD of Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Michiana (Primary PR 005). I do not know very much about Parzen-Johnson save that he appears to be Philadelphia-based. The music is another issue altogether.

Michiana takes some time to absorb. There is for much of the performance time a long and winding melodic presentation in a kind of easy lope. At first hearing it seems almost random; subsequent hearings bring out a connectedness you may not hear at first. There's a little of Roscoe Mitchell in that, but mostly in occasional phrasings that have a certain irony, a humorously direct way.

Jonah gets a rich multi-toned depth to his bari sound, with overtones and multiphonics combining with the more pure tones in ways that expand the music gradually and effectively. Eventually a rather rapidly deployed riff enters the picture and Jonah solos/comments overtop it after a time via digital delay.

The final two pieces use multi-layering for a larger, electronically altered sound, one a soundscape, the other an out-funk fragment. Both work off of motifs developed in the earlier sections and both serve to cap off the CD with directions proposed in a tantalizing post-ludian sort of way.

This is an original foray into solo territory. It manages to be thematically significant as it is also spontaneous and sonically diverse. It may not be for everybody but should be heard by anyone interested in the unaccompanied saxophone improvisation as an art form.

Sonny Simmons, Delphine Latil, Symphony of the Peacocks, 2011

This is not your typical Sonny Simmons album. It's him on cor anglais and alto, Delphine Latil on harp, a little studio manipulation of the sound at the beginning, and a cosmic approach in general. Symphony of the Peacocks (Improvising Beings ib04) is so well done that you don't miss the "other" Sonny of fire and heat.

And after all, he's done similar excursions on Manhattan Egos and Burning Spirits, just not in such concentrated form as here.

Latil's harp and the kind of quasi-eastern sound of the whole at first brings to mind classic Alice Coltrane. And such comparisons are not out of place. But ultimately there is a LOT of pure Sonny here, and Delphine Latil has her own, somewhat more linear melodic approach on harp.

Symphony of the Peacocks occupies a singular place, so far as I know, in Sonny Simmons' output. It is quite beautiful and there is much to explore here. Go to a new world with this one and stay for a while. You'll come back refreshed and rejuvenated, I will be willing to bet.

Nakatani Tiner Drake, Ritual Inscription. Limited LP Release . . .

Today, some music on vinyl--a limited edition release of Tatsuya Nakatani, Kris Tiner and Jeremy Drake's Ritual Inscription (Epigraph LP-001). It's a live recording from the Metro Galleries in Bakersfield, California.

Tatsuya sounds excellent on drums and percussion, getting a vividly wide set of timbres from the set up he assembles--bowed metallic objects, sharp clang, rumble and swat punctuations, and an inner sense of improvised freedom-as-form. Kris Tiner's trumpet and flugel give you a sound and style that stem from Don Cherry's bugle-call post-boplicity and Bill Dixon's thickness of sound color, handled in a very personal way. Guitarist Jeremy Drake makes his own form of electronic timbre-textures, not sounding like Derek Bailey (not easy to do these days) but energizing from the same fountainhead.

Together they work their magic in an impressive short set. You are ready for more when the second side ends. Let's hope we can hear them again. In the meantime this is exemplary outness.

Luther Thomas's Probingly Incisive Alto in A Good Setting

There are a number of the late Luther Thomas's recordings on Ayler records. One of the very best is the download digital release of Finally! Total Unity in 3 Phases (aylDL-041). It's a 2006 quartet date that brings some lucid Thomas alto sax within the context of the ubiquitous Jeffry Hayden Shurdut on guitar and drums, Ed Chang on computer electronics, home-made reeds and tenor, and Motoko Shimizu on toys, recorder and voice. The quartet sets up interesting textural clouds of freely articulated sounds that are pieced by some very vibrant Thomas alto.

This is pretty much free improvisation all the way. It is distinguished by an interesting mix of electronics, little instrument sounds and Luther Thomas at his freely expressive best. Click on the Ayler link on this page for further details.

Bob Gluck and Trio Present "Something Quiet"

My impression of Bob Gluck, from what I know of him, is that he is a man with a lot on, or rather in his mind. He is also a pianist of real accomplishment. Put those two things together, add the painstakingly original soprano sax of Joe Giardullo and the big-toned, eloquent bass of Christopher Dean Sullivan, allow them to freely elaborate seven Bob Gluck compositions, and you have something very worthwhile.

That's what you get on the new Gluck recording Something Quiet (FMR 294-0810). It's a "free" date with plenty of room for (mostly quiet) thoughtful expression.

Bob shows the subtle sensitivity of a pianist who has listened carefully to what's good in improvisational music today and also has had classical training (which comes out especially in a rubato lyricism). He makes of all of the raw sensations gained from exploring the musical scene and the diligent schooling into an original approach. Joe Giardullo adds the spice of a soprano sound that is penetrating without being piercing, that has the control, timbre, and phrasing of a master. Christopher Dean Sullivan brings in the bottom as a third line-creating voice. He doesn't accompany as much as he contributes to the musical dialog.

Put all that together and you get music that challenges your ears at the same time as it delivers musico-logical brilliance. It would be a good one for those who are intimidated by the more abrasive high-energy onslaughts of the wild-man contingent of free music making (which I love also but that's another matter) yet wish to explore what this free sort of music is about. It also will please those who are already well into the new music.

In short this has much going for it. I'd love to hear what this lineup would do with the addition of a drummer, but that's for another occasion. This is more in the chamber jazz realm and it's an excellent example of that to boot.

Jason Robinson and Anthony Davis Make Beautiful Music on "Cerulean Landscape"

Cerulian Landscape (Clean Feed 198) is one beautiful recording. Lyricism is not a common thing in jazz-improv these days. Lyricism is bursting at the seams on this Jason Robinson and Anthony Davis release. It serves notice in several ways. One, Anthony Davis is a jazz composer and pianist of the highest stature. I won't say he's back, because I don't believe he's ever left the scene. But this CD should wake people up to his artistry if they have not paid enough attention to him. Secondly, it highlights the formidable compositional skills of Jason Robinson, and also puts the lyrical side of his work on tenor, soprano, alto and alto flute in bold relief. Now he also happens to have two other new releases we'll be covering on this blog in the near future. All three together show a remarkably versatile musician. But that will become more clear in the coming weeks.

So of the seven songs on this disk, three are by Davis, three are by Robinson (there is also one by Jason Sherbundy). There are moments of free-fire but they have such strong melodic projection in them that I would have to say that there's a kind of lyricism going there too. Two very strong players in full flight; some very beautiful pieces....what more could you want? Ravishing! Really ravishing music.

Ursel Schlicht, Steve Swell and Sound Quest, 2001

I first came across pianist, improv-composer Ursel Schlicht in a concert posted on the web. I think it was WKCR's old site. It was Ms. Schlicht and windologist-flautist Robert Dick in duo. I liked what I heard. One thing led to another and I hold in my hand the jewel case for Ursel Schlicht/Sound Quest's 2001 CD Implicate Order (Cadence Jazz 1140). This consists of a live appearance of the group in Kassel, Germany.

It's a good lineup: Schlicht of course on piano, the master Steve Swell on the trombone, Ken Filiano, bass, and Lou Grassi, drums. They are joined by Martin Speicher on alto for one number.

This is the sort of improv collective that can do the rolling thunder or quiet down for a new music sort of give and take. Ursel's piano has a nicely burnished tang to it. She plays interesting lines that stretch the harmonic-tonal base when there is one, and otherwise puts together thoughtful, well-considered phrases. The pieces are all band collective improvisations with the exception of one Schlicht composition, which is quite interesting.

Steve Swell sounds great throughout. Ken Filiano and Lou Grassi give you a free rhythm section that listens and strikes out on its own as well.

Highly recommended. Go to www.cadencebuilding.com and click on the CJR link to get more details on this recording. They also have one on CIMP, which I most definitely will want to be hearing. Stay tuned.

The Convergence Quartet: Bynum, Eisenstadt, Hawkins, Lash

Today we return to Clean Feed Records and their always interesting series of releases covering the new jazz-improv artists active these days.This one is by the Convergence Quartet. Song/Dance (Clean Feed 187) teams Taylor Ho Bynum (trumpet, fluegelhorn), Harris Eisenstadt (drums), Alexander Hawkins (piano) and Dominic Lash (acoustic bass) for a set of well conceived originals, a piece by Leroy Jenkins, and a traditional song from South Africa.

Most reading this will be familiar with Bynum and probably Eisenstadt. I didn't have much previous exposure to Hawkins and Lash. Alexander Hawkins plays a keenly hoven post-Cecil Taylor piano, tuneful, brash or motor-driven depending on what is happening at any point. Mr. Lash gives a worthy set of performances, whether walking or freely diving into the fray. Taylor and Harris do what you might expect. Mr. Bynum gives out with a wide range of expressive devices and well-turned utterances while Mr. Eisenstadt goes where he is needed with splash and attention to the finer points.

What's especially nice about this one though is the group compositional stance, the little or sometimes large thematic elements that get more through-composed treatment than head-solos-head routines. This is a hell of a nice record. If you listen you will be drawn into its world with continual interest and attention, I would think. Thanks for this, Convergence Quartet!

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.

William Hooker Trio and "Yearn for Certainty"

William Hooker has been a powerful free drummer on the scene for a long time. His qualities as a leader-conceptualist are out front on the recently released Yearn for Certainty (Engine 2010). It's a live date from Roulette in NYC, 2007.

A rather unusual trio instrumentation of William on drums and recitation, David Soldier on acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo and violin, and the redoubtable Sabir Mateen on saxophones, flute and clarinet give the music color and texture.

Hooker's recitation of poetic utterances comes across as unpretentious and mood setting. His drumming has a narrative quality; it tells a story, even as it sometimes eloquently flails away. Soldier creates aural rootedness with the various string instruments, but also takes it out on occasion, as with his electric-wah violin on "Commonplace Travel." Mateen blows atop of whatever is going on with authority and big tone, or takes a little time out for some introspective searching, depending on the moment at hand.

This is not your typical free date. There are moments of energy and bash, yes, but just as frequently a kind of present-day-DIY-folk style that breaks up the music nicely into a series of vignettes, keeps your attention and brings fascination and pleasure to the listening event.

Yearn for Certainty is one of William Hooker's best to date.

Steve Baczkowski, Baritone Firebrand II: Aqua Machine

A while ago (see earlier posting) we took a look at Steve Baczkowski in duet with Ravi Padmanabha, drummer and percussion adept. Today, another. Viz: a series of live performances from several venues selected and sequenced onto the interesting limited edition CD-Rom Aqua Machine (Qbico 51).

Both Steve and Ravi shift to various instruments from piece to piece in a free improv outing that has power and grace in equal quantities. Ravi plies and coaxes the conventional drum kit with barrages and essays in sound color, and also plays some appropriate tattoos on a frame drum, the gopichand, tabla and small instruments. Steve goes from baritone to slide bass clarinet, and on to the tenor, a homemade clarinet and the bamboo flute.

Baczkowski has that big, timbrally complex sound on bari and tenor and gets some very nice improvisations going. His playing is free-form yet has a logic musically. Ravi Padmanabha gives back as much as he takes in, providing a rather ideal foil to Steve's outbursts and getting quiet and subtle with him when that is on the agenda.

Not everything on this disk is essential, The jawharp-vocal interlude does not seem especially profound. It is a short part of the set though and one must expect a few moments of tentativeness in the free improvisational event.

This disk may or may not be in print (it is several years old) but it is worth searching for. Aqua Machine gives you a worthy introduction to the duo. Bravo!

Ken Vandermark & Free Music Ensemble, 2005

Something about Ken Vandermark, and by extension the Free Music Ensemble as represented on Montage (Okka Disk), playing it safe is never an option. By "playing it safe," I mean a sort of free blowing blow-out that, while there is nothing wrong with it and it can give the listener an exhilarated experience, has a sort of built-in safety factor.

What the Free Music Ensemble does on these two live dates is beyond blow-out. They work with contrasting group dynamics, they allow for various instrumental combinations and densities, they get into a variety of propulsive channels, and they have worked out compositional elements that spark the music and set up the blowing segments in a nice way. Now of course there are many groups who do this, but Vandermark and company do it so well.

That is in no small part due to his colleagues in this group. Nate McBride is a bassist that can maintain interest and momentum with all the available free bass techniques and knows when any given attack will work best for the moment at hand. Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love is a really sensitive instrument who can bash or get cosmically sound-oriented when needed, in ways that bring out the vibe of any given segment.

Ken Vandermark is one of those reed players who finds varied and rewarding projects and excels within each consistently. Here Ken unleashes an ensemble of reed instruments, clarinet, baritone, bass clarinet, tenor, etc., and does something interesting on each one. He has been at the forefront of free players for a pretty long time now and he's the sort of artist I look forward to hearing regardless of the context.

Montage gives you two CDs of great live trio music. You should not miss it.

Rissi/Mazzola/Geisser Power Through An Exciting Set

Mathias Rissi, alto and tenor sax, Guerino Mazzola, piano, and Heinz Geisser, drums, set up in a studio in Milan in 2006 to set down some free improvisations. That inspired session resulted in the album Herakleitos, which is available as an Ayler Download Release.

What grabs one is the course of the hour-long performance is both the energy and the resourcefulness of the improvisers. Mazzola has a Cecil-Taylor-like motor insistency but his own sort of cover-the-earth vocabulary. Geisser thrashes and bashes in ways that put the trio quickly into orbit. Rissi plays a potent blend of tumultuous phrases that establishes a singular voice in the free/outside mode. He has excellent control over his horns and expresses his musical mind with great variations in tone, a fertile imagination and no reservations whatsoever.

This is another winner in the Ayler catalog and yet another example of the vitality of the European free-avant scene.

Get it for cheap at www.ayler.com.

George Lewis, 1977: Shadowgraph

George Lewis recorded one of his first albums, Shadowgraph, in 1977. It was released on Black Saint in 1978. Now I suspect that everything that could be said has been said about this album. Nonetheless my blogs are in part an odyssey of my listening experiences in time, and if I do not address some of that there will be an imbalance, a lack of representative things I do listen to that perhaps nobody seems to send to me in the form of promo copies. So. . .

I am not sure why or how I missed this release when it first came out, except to say that 1978 began a long and somewhat distracting (to the music) journey I took in educational enlightenment and, later, protracted wage slavedom, which wasn't so bad because I managed to eat every day and pay the rent.

So there we are. Shadowgraph has an impressive lineup of musicians: Lewis, Douglas Ewart, Leroy Jenkins, Abdul Wadud, Anthony Davis, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell...many of them prime AACM cats, all of them important Afro-American improvisers and most of them also important composers of the music.

The four pieces put down onto tape and assembled for the album are in the free-form chamber improvisation-jazz mode. Lewis introduces electronics in addition to his trombone and tuba, and everyone contributes. It is wonderfully subtle music. It sounds to me like one of the gems of that year, certainly. The sound color sculpting on this one is just superb, as is the very intelligent utilization of space by everyone involved.

Now if someone tells you that the '70s were a bust for "Jazz," play them this one and then send them packing. The fact is that the '70s were incredibly important years for the music. And George Lewis was right there in a central position. He's a fabulous trombonist, sure, but a composer-conceptualist of the very highest sort as well.

Perhaps my quick take on Shadowgraph will not satisfy those looking for detailed musical description. Well that's been done. This posting serves mostly as a reminder that one should not miss this recording if one has serious designs on understanding improvisation and its development in our era.

Leandre, Houle and Strid Take It Out Live

There is so much good free improvisation going on in Europe that it's almost daunting to keep up with it. That's a good problem to have, as my old boss used to say.

Today we have another one of great interest. It's a recent live recording entitled Last Seen Headed (Ayler). The venue is Sons d'Hiver in France. The group is a fortuitous (as in fortunate) gathering of three interesting souls. Joelle Leandre plays the upright bass. She has gained a reputation for her bass-vocalisms and here we get less of the vocalisms and more of the bass. It turns out that perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention to her bass playing on previous recordings because she sounds great here. Whether plucking or bowing, she coaxes some fabulous phrases and sounds from her instrument, setting up a perfect context for the loose and wiry clarinets of Francois Houle. He sounds quite wonderful on this one as well and has to be one of the premier out clarinetists active today. There are moments where he invokes a kind of Evan Parker-on-clarinet in his cascades of repeating motifs, but then he goes right ahead and casts that aside to just wail. Finally, Raymond Strid mans the drums and gets a universe of sounds and attacks.

The trio creates a huge, blustery gigantism of free sounds at times; other times they are quieter. But either way they are into a zone that is a real pleasure to hear. Bravo!

Kirk Knuffke & A Bare-Bones Trumpet, Clarinet, Drum Trio

Chances are you may not have heard of Kirk Knuffke. He plays a thoughtfully burnished trumpet, puts together some singularly baroque-ish and post-boppish instrumental motifs and has the good idea to form a trio with fellow music-makers Doug Wieselman (on clarinet or guitar) and Kenny Wollesen (on drums) for Amnesia Brown (Clean Feed).

It's a set of music where the rather naked trio setting gives all concerned plenty of air and aural presence. They take good advantage of the opportunity. Knuffke writes some very interesting lines to frame the improvisations and Wollesen's drums gently swing or add color as needed. Kirk's trumpet work is introspective and direct on this date. His sound is bell-like; his note choices well played from the standpoint of gamesmanship as well as execution. Wieselman's clarinet follows along similar lines and makes for a very appropriate co-frontline voice. His guitar work is filled with loose humor and earthiness.

Amnesia Brown burns and cools alternately. It has a mood that inspires contemplation without stinting on musical content. Certainly recommended.

Peter Van Huffel Quartet, "Like the Rusted Key"

Peter Van Huffel plays alto sax in his own way, composes interesting frameworks and full-fledged works for his improvisatory quartet and fronts a well-chosen group of instrumentalists who mesh completely with the style Peter sets forth. All this for his second album Like the Rusted Key (Fresh Sound New Talent).

The band consists of Peter, Jesse Stacken, piano, Miles Perkin on the upright, and Samuel Rohrer, drums. Each of the ten pieces on the disc are well conceived and has it's own distinct musical world. They operate in an expanded tonal universe that alternately sets up a kind of modal pulsating groove, or goes flat-out orbital, works out complex rhythmic and melodic cell development, allows space for van Huffel and pianist Stacken to stretch out in free or modal terms, gives plenty of room for group dynamic and interaction, gives out with some free rocking fire, turns in a quiet spacey interlude or two, and kicks out the jams for some total free-energy moments. This is well-paced, thoughtful yet vigorous music. Van Huffel plays as well as he writes and the band is on target for the entire program.

There is no wasted space. Everything counts and nothing sounds tentative. That is a credit to Mr. Van Huffel's clear musical vision and the deft execution given by all involved. Very much recommended.