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This is a beautiful quasi-classical work from multi-reedist and composer Henry Threadgill, someone who has never been afraid to experiment or to push the edge of modern music to its logical conclusion. The music on this album consists of a three-movement composition entitled "Of Valence" that was the musical component of a wider multimedia exhibit recorded live at Roulette in Brooklyn during May of 2022. The twelve-piece group has a unique instrumental set-up, consisting of three saxophones, a violin, a viola, two cellos, a tuba, percussion, piano, and two bassoons. "Of Valence" is dedicated to the influential percussionist Milford Graves, who passed away in 2021. The piece was inspired by Graves’ fascination with the human heartbeat and its application to music. This can be heard most definitely during Movement II, where the string players play their parts while listening to a playback of their own heartbeats as recorded previously by a cardiologist. The music contained in the suite is very impressive and flows naturally from the composer's pen to the presentation and ultimately the improvisations of the musicians of the ensemble. The range of textures, from the depth of the cellos and tubas through to the violin, piano, and reed instruments, covers an extensive range and builds a wide screen for dramatic storytelling. Movement 1, sections 1–2, is anchored by solo piano in a spacious setting with saxophones entering at the end and a full group sound developing on the succeeding sections, leading to tasteful horns and strings. Sections 5-7 pick up speed nicely, developing a kaleidoscope of ever-changing music colors, first centered on the saxophones and then on the strings, swooping and swirling, developing a fantasia of sound and color. Section 11 brings an interlude for a drum solo before the Movement 1 finale for light strings, with tuba holding down the bottom and bassoon probing the middle section. Most of Movement II is a long 16-minute performance with some stark and forthright saxophone soloing amid a bed of strings, a lengthy section for slow hypnotic string development, and strong saxophone framed by strings and drums. The cells of music within the wider piece develop and subside, stretching the atmospheric strings and saxophone to the point of near silence. The music rebounds as Movement II wraps up with Sections 12 A-B as a feature for violin and soprano saxophone. The suite concluding Movement III is a series of very short sections, combining for a sweeping evolution in sound. Section 14 in particular features some wonderful playing from the horns and drums, with the tuba providing the bass function as the music glides to a graceful conclusion. The Other One - amazon.com
Send comments to Tim.
Send comments to Tim.
Send comments to Tim.
For a band with a relatively short career consisting of a few albums and a late reunion, The New York Art Quartet was quite influential. The group was made up of John Tchicai on alto saxophone, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Lewis Worrell or Reggie Workman on bass, and Milford Graves on drums and percussion. Free jazz was growing in stature in 1964 when they recorded their first self-titled album for Bernard Stolman's ESP-Disk label, the home of many of the idiom's emerging stars like Alber Ayler, Phoarah Sanders, and Sun Ra. The New York Art Quartet were different, though, and aptly named for playing free jazz artistically, not simply creating blowouts. Collective improvisations were key to the group's identity, but where the Ayler groups may raise the roof with their improvisations, this group took a more measured approach with gradations of texture and sound. You hear this on the opening track "Short," where beautiful bowed bass playing underpins patient horns and percussion. Leroi Jones (soon to become Amiri Baraka) provides a poem for "Sweet/Black Dada Nihilismus" that is still shocking in its violent imagery. The band plays a serious sounding and lengthy improvised section after the poem that carries forth the weight of the issues of which he spoke. "Rosmosis" has a strong drum solo before a tight fanfare theme, the long run time allowing for lengthy and explorative solos, trombone and golden toned saxophone over hyperactive drumming, and an unaccompanied bowed bass solo. In turn, "No. 6" burns fast and hot, with everybody contributing to the boiling mixture of instruments. The growl of the trombone and the cleaner sound of the saxophone meld well, with brief bass and drum sections and an exciting full band ending. The group's second album, Mohawk, was released the following year on the Dutch Fontana label, opening with "Rufus 3rd," begun by Workman's nimble bass solo and the insinuation of the theme with very interesting rhythm and saxophone. Bounding bass and drums become deeply connected as the sound grows, creating an interesting and intriguing performance. "Mohawk" has a mysterious collective theme, demonstrating how the group's music has grown, becoming deeper and more complex. It evolves into a four-way conversation at a relaxed and thoughtful pace. "Banging on the White House Door" is a little more strident, more indicative of the free jazz of the time. The sound loosens and becomes a bit lighter and more spacious with complex percussion, while blustery trombone and light saxophone fly over rolling drums and percussion for a multi-layered performance. A choppy theme sets the stage for another version of "No. 6," creating exciting sweeping waves of sound that carry the performance along with motoring bass and drums. The album ends with "Everything Happens To Me," a rare standard, where a nice melody is developed for evocative saxophone and bowed bass, with Graves' rattling drums gradually pushing the music farther afield. This was an excellent re-issue, drawing attention to an important and influential band with a remastered recording and new liner notes. New York Art Quartet Revisited - Squidco
The 2022 Jazzfest Berlin performance by milti-reedist Peter Brötzmann, Moroccan singer and guembre player Majid Bekkas and drummer Hamid Drake was a fortuitous event. The music sounds ancient and modern simultaneously, as if you could have heard it while traveling early Muslim trans-Saharan trade routes or at this year's Vision Festival. There are four tracks on the album, two of which are quite long, where the three musicians perform rousing collective improvisations that sum up a powerful and extremely successful performance that transitions from a well recorded concert to a timely album release where the overall effect is quite hypnotic. Brotzmann and Drake have been playing together for many years, so their musical dynamic is simpatico, but Bekkas is the wild card, one that really makes this recording unique and distinctive in the discographies of both Brotzmann and Drake. His instrumental playing serves to further the rhythm of the music, working with Drake to push the music forward or chop it up into unexpected pieces. His voice is an extraordinary instrument all its own in both volume and pitch, making a superb foil for Brotzmann even at full bellow, creating a multi-cultural delight that proves that the malleability of jazz and improvisation truly knows no bounds. Brotzmann himself is remarkably inspired, deeply focused in this situation, playing long brisk and deep tones that integrate very well with the strings and percussion and the voice of Bekkas which has such a yearning and reaching cadence. But full-on free jazz isn't the aim of the recording, and indeed, the subtleties that the musicians are able to achieve and explore throughout the concert, with complete open-mindedness and respect for culture, make this a most successful and worthy release. Catching Ghosts - amazon.com
