16
December 2011 |
THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
S
uno Suno
(Listen Listen) is the second offering from
guitarist Rez Abbasi’s Invocation, a band with altoist
Rudresh Mahanthappa, pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist
Johannes Weidenmueller and drummer Dan Weiss.
Individually and collectively the members of this
quintet have been at the forefront of charting a new
course for Indo-Pakistani jazz. But Suno Suno is an
exploration of ethos as opposed to a modern co-opting
of folkloric and ancestral forms. Qawwali, a musical
structure that originated on the Indian subcontinent as
a part of Sufism, motivates this session. Its defining
characteristics are the vocal fleetness of its central
singer and a hypnotic beat often presented via a
wonderfully textural dholak/tabla percussion section
combined with handclaps. Invocation, especially
Mahanthappa’s speedy alto, beautifully reflects this
spirituality. They cleverly do so while paying as much
homage to a jazz-inspired transcendence as to specific
culturally inspired sacred dynamic.
Spirituality aside, what immediately impresses is
the quality of musical interplay; Abbasi and
Mahanthappa electrify with fluid joint phrasing on
quickly moving passages while Iyer, whether
buttressing the rhythm section or firing off his own
swift phrases, is an integral part of the overall sound.
Weidenmueller and Weiss combine to create rhythmical
patterns that are both hypnotic and fertile ground for
improvisation. Expansive compositions with meaty
soundscapes and intricate rhythms stretch time as well
as geographical and musical borders on Suno Suno.
For more information, visit enjarecords.com. This group is
at Jazz Standard Dec. 6th-7th. See Calendar.
S
oprano saxophonist Alexandra Grimal and pianist
Giovanni DiDomenico have come together to discover
paths of expression that, like the koans which give
titles to five of the nine numbers in this suite, make
their meaning available through intuition or some kind
of non-rational thinking. Grimal has traversed the
areas of jazz and new music, always with an ear
towards improvisation while DiDomenico has proven
himself as a composer of meaningful scope.
For
Ghibli
, the Arabic name for the Mediterranean
wind often called the sirocco, DiDomenico has
composed an eight-part suite whose openness and
sense of space allow both musicians to create music
that often feels very free.
Even the tunes that seem to have a more pulsing
rhythm are, somehow, quietly insistent. “Earworm”,
for example, opens with a dense theme with many
notes but still feels as if it’s quietly developing.
DiDomenico takes the open solo and uses the lower
part of the keyboard to provide a dark underpinning
even as the music seems to be constantly opening out.
Grimal’s entrance is subtle and goes almost unnoticed
but it immediately complements the darkness of the
piano and takes it to a number of places, some almost
sprightly and bright, as it throbs to its opening theme.
“Coldfinger” has a melody that suggests the
impressionism of Debussy or Ravel but is also the most
defined ‘jazz’ composition of anything in the set. The
series of five koans make us forget that this music is
composed, so seamless are the improvisations and
written notes. Even when at high volume the musicians’
delicacy of tone and approach make them feel like
whispers.
The final piece, “Svanevejens Rundkorsel”, is
written by Danish bassist Claus Kaarsgaard, a brief
excursion well-suited to the capabilities of the two
players. It’s a moody, beautiful ballad and it puts a
quiet period at the close of the remarkable story that
DiDomenico and Grimal have told.
For more information, visit sansbruit.fr. Grimal is at
Alliance Francaise Dec. 3rd and 5th, I-Beam Dec. 17th and
Douglass Street Music Collective Dec. 18th. See Calendar.
S
axophonist Mats Gustafsson and bassist Barry Guy
are each celebrated for their
membership in great trios
tracing their inspiration to Albert Ayler’s 1964 band:
Gustafsson for The Thing, Guy for his 30-year tenure
in the Parker-Guy-Lytton Trio. They share membership
in another trio: Tarfala with Swedish drummer
Raymond Strid. The group first performed together in
1992 and since then have gathered sporadically,
releasing two CDs on Guy’s Maya label - You Forgot to
Answer
, recorded in 1994-95 and Tarfala, 2006. Syzygy
presents a 2009 concert from Belgium, released as a
vinyl-only, limited-edition two-LP set with an
additional EP.
Named for Sweden’s Tarfala Glacier, the group
might immediately suggest the sheer auditory power
for which Gustafsson is known, almost a force of
nature himself. But other natural analogies will suggest
themselves for the trio’s music: it can be as delicately
variegated as the leaves of a forest or light on water.
Strid moves from dense rhythmic overlays to feather-
light cymbal shadings and almost alarm-clock rolls;
Guy, the fleetest of bassists, finds ways to combine
lightning-fast runs with shifting timbres and a host of
extended techniques that include ‘prepared’ bass, with
multiple shifting bridges. The three can create the
quietest atmospheric layerings, as in the introduction
to “Cool in Flight” with Gustafsson creating key-pad
rhythms, but the dialogue can also launch Gustafsson
on heroic expressionist episodes, from roiling high-
speed runs and skittering flights into the upper register
to some glacially slow, wailing passages: at one point
in “Tephra”, he vocalizes through his horn with
sufficient passion to suggest a man playing Picasso’s
“Guernica” on a tenor saxophone. Tarfala Trio may not
be a well-known configuration, but when it gets
together, it’s one of the great bands in free jazz.
For more information, visit nobusinessrecords.com.
Gustafsson is at Issue Project Room Dec. 3rd. See Calendar.
W
ith Japan’s year filled with disasters both
geographical - an earthquake and a tsunami - and
societal - political instability and falling interest
rates - it’s heartening to hear CDs proving that
musicians’ improvisational skills are still intact. The
sessions are also noteworthy, because like relief
efforts, their success is due to collaborations with
foreigners.
Trumpeter Itaru Oki moved to France in 1974
and he and bassist Benjamin Duboc work together
frequently. On Nobusiko Duboc uses the bass’
percussive qualities to maintain a chromatic bottom
as Oki splutters split tones. Pointed bass plucks
match rubato brass squeaks while steady walking
accompanies tongue flutters. Oki thickens brass
shrieks with multi-flute resonations as Duboc
thumps his instrument’s wood on “Ihoujin”. Plus
Duboc’s stops not only mute Oki’s note squalling at
the end, but also move the duet towards melody.
Akira Sakata, who has released 35 discs since
1969, dedicated
…and that’s the story of jazz to a
friend missing since the tsunami. The alto saxist has
worked with noise experts like bassist Bill Laswell
and he extends that concept with drummer Chris
Corsano, bassist Darin Gray (Chikamorachi) and
guest Jim O’Rourke on guitar, harmonica and
electronics. No conventional melodies appear,
rather tension without release. “Kyoto” finds
O’Rourke’s choked guitar strings spurring the
reedist to staccato screams as Gray hammers his
four strings over Corsano smacks. Sakata’s nephritic
growls also create a menacing interface when paired
with the guitarist’s slurred fingering. If Sakata
introduces “Nagoya 3” with unforced clarinet trills,
paramount stimulation is soon attained. Luckily the
result is more exhilarating than exaggerated.
KuRuWaSan’s memorable CD pairs tuba gusts
from Osaka’s Daysuke Takaoka with Brussels-based
reedist Grégoire Tirtiaux, keyboardist Pak Yan Lau
and drummer João Lobo. The eponymous album
references parade rhythms, microtonalism and
electronica. On “Baking”, Lau’s kinetic piano
patterns brush up against tuba bellows as drum
beats bounce. “Traffic Jam” finds Lau pulsating
electric piano plinks plus resonating organ washes
as Tirtiaux’ breathy flute lines challenge Lobo’s
slide-whistle squeals. The disc climaxes with
“Trilogy”. Surrounding a protracted pause are
variants that include piano soundboard scrapes
plus ascending drums rolls pushed aside by pedal-
point tuba and saxophone tongue slaps. The result
is restrained and exhibitionist in equal measure.
For more information visit improvising-beings.com,
family-vineyard.com and quintoquarto.net
Nobusiko
Benjamin Duboc/Itaru Oki (Improvising Beings)
and that’s the story of jazz...
Akira Sakata & Jim O’Rourke with Chikamorachi
(Family Vineyard)
Eponymous
KuRuWaSan (Quintoquarto)
by Ken Waxman
GLOBE UNITY: JAPAN
Suno Suno
Rez Abbasi’s Invocation (Enja)
by Elliott Simon
Ghibli
Giovanni DiDomenico/Alexandra Grimal (Sans Bruit)
by Donald Elfman
Syzygy
Tarfala Trio (NoBusiness)
by Stuart Broomer