The Songlines label is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and has been around since 1992 and has released more than 100 discs of consistently creative music from an international cast of musicians & composers: Wayne Horvitz, Jerry Granelli, Jim Black, Chris Speed, Theo Bleckmann, Ben Monder, Michael Blake, Gordon Grdina, Patrick Zimmerli and many others. They also released a couple dozen Super-Audio CD’s (SA-CD), each of which has marvelous sound. Over the past couple of years, Songlines has reduced the price to more than three dozen CD’s to $10 or $12. The below list is all or most of the $10 CD’s. Only a handful are currently in stock but we should be able to get from our local distributor with 1-2 weeks. We list the same titles with reviews down below.bThe CD’s listed below as SA-CD or HSA-CD are Super Audio CD’s, they will play on regular CD players but do sound even better when played on Super-Audio CD systems. As far as recommendations go, there are those longtime Downtowners like Chris Speed, Brad Shepik, Michael Blake and Harris Eisenstadt, all of whom are great, as well as the following: Gordon Grdina, Francois Houle, Jerry Granelli and Equilibrium.
BABKAS with BRIGGAN KRAUSS / AARON ALEXANDER / BRAD SHEPIK - Ants To The Moon (Songlines 1505; Canada)
CD $10
BABKAS with BRIGGAN KRAUSS / AARON ALEXANDER / BRAD SHEPIK - Fratelli (Songlines; Canada)
CD $10
HAN BENNINK & DAVE DOUGLAS - Serpentine (Songlines 1510; Canada)
CD $12
MICHAEL BLAKE SEXTET with BRAD TURNER / CHRIS GESTRIN / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF / et al - Amor De Cosmos (Songlines 1567; Canada)
SA-CD $12
MICHAEL BLAKE With JP CARTER / CHRIS GESTRIN / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF - In The Grand Scheme Of Things (Songlines 1598; Canada)
CD $12
THEO BLECKMANN & BEN MONDER With SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - No Boat (Songlines 1516; Canada)
CD $12
THEO BLECKMANN With BEN MONDER / MATT MORAN / SKULI SVERRISSON / JOHN HOLLENBECK - Origami (Songlines 1534; Canada)
CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ 5 With MICHAEL MOORE / FRANCOIS HOULE / JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL / STEVE ARGUELLES - Pursuit (Songlines 1529; Canada)
CD $10
BENOIT DELBECQ / FRANCOIS HOULE - Because She Hoped (Songlines 1592; Canada)
CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ / FRANCOIS HOULE - Dice Thrown (Songlines 1538; Canada)
HSA-CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ - Nu-Turn: Piano Solo [H-SACD] (Songlines 1543; Canada)
HSA-CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ & FRED HERSCH DOUBLE TRIO With MARK HELIAS / GERRY HEMINGWAY / STEVE ARGUELLES / JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL - Fun House (Songlines 1600; Canada)
CD $12
DAVE DOUGLAS' TINY BELL TRIO With BRAD SHEPIK / JIM BLACK - Tiny Bell Trio (Songlines 1504; Canada)
CD $12
MARTY EHRLICH & BEN GOLDBERG - Light at the Crossroads (Songlines 1511; Canada)
CD $10
HARRIS EISENSTADT CANADA DAY With NATE WOOLEY / MATT BAUDER / CHRIS DINGMAN / EIVIND OPSVIK - Canada Day II (Songlines 1589; Canada)
CD $12
PETER EPSTEIN / BRAD SHEPIK /MATT KILMER - Lingua Franca (Songlines 1555; Canada)
H-SA-CD $12
EQUILIBRIUM [MIKKEL PLOUG / SISSEL VERA PETTERSEN / JOACHIM BADENHORST] - Equilibrium (Songlines 1578; Vancouver)
H-SA-CD $12
EQUILIBRIUM [MIKKEL PLOUG / SISSEL VERA PETTERSEN / JOACHIM BADENHORST] - Walking Voices (Songlines 1587; Canada)
CD $12
ELLERY ESKELIN / ANDREA PARKINS / JIM BLACK - Jazz Trash (Songlines 1506; Canada)
CD $10
GAMELAN MADU SARI - New Nectar: New Music For Javanese Gamelan (Songlines 2402; Canada)
CD $12
GAMELAN MADU SARI - Hive (Songlines 2406; Canada)
CD $12
CHRIS GESTRIN With BRAD TURNER / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF / et al - Stillpoint (Songlines 1540; Canada)
H-SACD $12
JERRY GRANELLI & BADLANDS With CHRIS SPEED / BRIGGAN KRAUSS / PETER EPSTEIN / CURTIS HASSELBRING / JAMIE SAFT / JAY GRANELLI - Crowd Theory (Songlines 1526; Canada)
CD $10
JERRY GRANELLI With RINDE ECKERT / FRANCOIS HOULE / CHRISTIAN KOGEL / J A GRANELLI - Sandhills Reunion (Songlines 1553; Canada)
SA-CD $10
JERRY GRANELLI & BADLANDS With CHRIS SPEED / BRIGGAN KRAUSS / PETER EPSTEIN / CURTIS HASSELBRING / JAMIE SAFT / JAY GRANELLI - Enter, A Dragon (Songlines 1521; Canada)
CD $10
JERRY GRANELLI V16 With DAVID TRONZO / JAY GRANELLI / CHRISTIAN VOGEL - Vancouver '08 (Songlines 1577; Canada)
SA-CD DVD $10
JERRY GRANELLI V16 With DAVID TRONZO/ANTHONY COX/CHRISTIAN VOGEL - The V16 Project (Songlines 1544; Canada)
H-SACD $12
GORDON GRDINA'S EAST VAN STRINGS With JESSE ZUBOT/EYVIND KANG/PEGGY LEE - The Breathing Of Statues (Songlines 1572; Canada)
H-SACD $12
GORDON GRDINA'S HARAM With CHRIS KELLY/JP CARTER/FRANCOIS HOULE/JESSE ZUBOT et al - Her Eyes Illuminate (Songlines 2407; Canada)
CD $12
ROBIN HOLCOMB / WAYNE HORVITZ - Solos (Songlines 1550; Canada)
H-SACD $12
WAYNE HORVITZ & ZONY MASH ACOUSTIC With TIMOTHY YOUNG/KEITH LOWE/ANDY ROTH [a/k/a SWEETER THAN THE DAY] - Forever [a/k/a American Bandstand] (Songlines 1537; Canada)
CD $12
FRANCOIS HOULE 5 With TAYLOR HO BYNUM/SAMUEL BLASER/MICHAEL BATES/HARRIS EISENSTADT BENOIT DELBECQ - Genera (Songlines 1595; Canada)
CD $12
FRANCOIS HOULE/HAVARD WIIK - Aves (Songlines 1601; Canada)
CD $12
FRANCOIS HOULE / BENOIT DELBECQ - Nancali (Songlines 1519; Canada)
CD $10
HUMAN FEEL [CHRIS SPEED/JIM BLACK/ANDREW D'ANGELO/KURT ROSENWINKEL] - Speak To It (Songlines 1514; Canada)
CD $12
HILMAR JENSSON With HERB ROBERTSON / ANDREW D'ANGELO / TREVOR DUNN / JIM BLACK - ditty blei (Songlines 1547; Canada)
SA-CD $10
HILMAR JENSSON'S TYFT With ANDREW D'ANGELO / JIM BLACK - Tyft (Songlines 1542; Canada)
CD $12
JUNK GENIUS with BEN GOLDBERG / JOHN SCHOTT / TREVOR DUNN / KENNY WOLLESEN - Ghost Of Electricity (Songlines 1525; Canada)
CD $10
KARTET [GUILLAUME ORTI/BENOIT DELBECQ/HUBERT DUPONT/CHANDER SARDJOE] - The Bay Window (Songlines 1560 ,Canada)
H-SACD $12
ANDY LASTER'S LESSNESS With CUONG VU / ERIK FRIEDLANDER / KENNY WOLLESEN - Interpretations Of Lessness (Songlines 1515; Canada)
CD $10
ANDY MILNE - Dreams And False Alarms (Songlines 1565; Canada)
SA-CD $10
ANDY MILNE & BENOIT DELBECQ - Where is Pannonica? (Songlines 1579; Canada)
H-SACD $12
QUINSIN NACHOFF With MARK HELIAS / JIM BLACK STRING QUARTET - Magic Numbers (Songlines 1556; Canada)
SA-CD $10
SEAN NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON With JON MADOF/ARAM BAJAKIAN/MARC RIBOT/MAT MANERI/THIERNO CAMARA/JIM PUGLIESE - Stories to Tell (Songlines 1563; Canada)
SA-CD $10
SEAN NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON With MARC RIBOT/ARAM BAJAKIAN/MAT MANERI/JAMAALADEEN TACUMA/SUSAN McKEOWN - Boxing Dreams (Songlines 1573; Canada)
CD $10
SEAN NOONAN STRING QUARTET - A Gambler's Hand (Songlines 1597; Canada)
CD $10
PAUL PLIMLEY - Every Thing in Stages (Songlines 1503; Canada)
CD $10
PAUL PLIMLEY & TRICHY SANKARAN - Ivory Ganesh Meets Doctor Drums (Songlines 1523; Canada)
CD $10
POOLPLAYERS [ARVE HENRIKSEN / BENOIT DELBECQ / et al] - Way Below The Surface (Songlines 1569; Canada)
H-SACD $12
ROB REDDY'S HONOR SYSTEM With JOSH ROSEMAN / EDDIE ALLEN / PHEEROAN AkLAFF / JEF LEE JOHNSON - Post-War Euphoria (Songlines 1512; Canada)
CD $10
BRAD SHEPIK With PETER EPSTEIN / SKULI SVERRISSON / MICHAEL SARIN / et al - The Well (Songlines 1531; Canada)
CD $12
BRAD SHEPIK & THE COMMUTERS With PETER EPSTEIN / TONY SCHERR / KENNY WOLLESEN / et al - The Loan (Songlines 1518; Canada)
CD $12
CHRIS SPEED'S YEAH NO With CUONG VU / SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - Deviantics (Songlines 1524; Canada)
CD $12
CHRIS SPEED'S YEAH NO With CUONG VU / SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - Emit (Songlines 1532; Canada)
CD $12
CHRIS SPEED'S YEAH NO With CUONG VU / SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - Yeah No (Songlines 1517; Canada)
CD $12
TALKING PICTURES [PEGGY LEE / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF / RON SAMWORTH / BILL CLARK] JORRIT DIJKSTRA - Humming (Songlines 1523; Canada)
CD $10
GEBHARD ULLMANN TA LAM - Ta Lam (Songlines 1520; Canada)
CD $10
DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF With MICHAEL MOORE / BRAD TURNER / MARK HELIAS / ACHIM KAUFMANN - The Definition Of A Toy (Songlines 1554; Canada)
SA-CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI ENSEMBLE With BEN MONDER / STOMU TAKEISHI / SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Explosion (Songlines 1508; Canada)
CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI ENSEMBLE BEN MONDER / STOMU TAKEISHI / SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Expansion (Songlines 1530; Canada)
CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI With KEVIN HAYS/STOMU TAKEISHI/SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Phoenix (Songlines 1548; Canada)
SA-CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI & OCTURN With BEN MONDER - The Book of Hours (Songlines 1541; Canada)
CD $10
SONGLINES CD’s with REVIEWS:
BABKAS with BRIGGAN KRAUSS / AARON ALEXANDER / BRAD SHEPIK - Ants To The Moon (Songlines 1505; Canada) "Avant-improv trio explore the full range of textures and colors on their instruments, creating image-rich works tangled with hauntingly impressionistic and frenetically hallucinogenic soundscapes, also pockets of melancholic and meditative calm.... Great ensemble performances." - Dan Ouellette, CD Review
CD $10
BABKAS with BRIGGAN KRAUSS / AARON ALEXANDER / BRAD SHEPIK - Fratelli (Songlines 1513; Canada) Brooklyn-based collective plays "unbelievably dynamic, many would say 'intellectual', contemporary jazz... One of the most electrifying and sophisticated jazz ensembles active today." - Mathias Baumel, Sachsische Zeitung
CD $10
HAN BENNINK & DAVE DOUGLAS - Serpentine (Songlines 1510; Canada) The great and zany Dutch percussionist and the versatile, thoughtful New York trumpeter meet in a program of standards, original compositions, and improvised duets and solos, including "seven fully realized performances whose starkness throws Douglas' virtuosity into bold relief... On this year's A-list." - Francis Davis
CD $12
MICHAEL BLAKE SEXTET with BRAD TURNER / CHRIS GESTRIN / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF / et al - Amor De Cosmos (Songlines 1567; Canada) “Featuring Michael Blake on tenor & soprano saxes, Brad Turner on trumpet, Chris Gestrin on acoustic & electric pianos, Sal Ferreras on marimba & percussion, Andre Lachance on acoustic bass & Dylan van der Schyff on drums. Michael Blake's thoughtful, wide-ranging compositions are inspired by jazz, funk, African, and contemporary classical music. Piquant arrangements make the most of expressive options combining piano/keyboards, marimba, and percussion. Hi-res recording and multi-channel mix enhance the energy and inventiveness of the playing.â€Â
SA-CD $12
MICHAEL BLAKE With JP CARTER / CHRIS GESTRIN / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF - In The Grand Scheme Of Things (Songlines 1598; Canada)â€ÂThis New York/Vancouver saxophonist's new Canadian quartet creates expansive, atmospheric, cinematic jazz. Michael Blake's compositions are jumping-off points for solos and group invention that develop organically, balancing depth and playfulness, inthe- pocket and outside feels. The Otis Redding cover Treat Her Right displays Blake's art at its most tender. Chris Gestrin's brilliant work on Moog bass and keyboards buoys the music in an original way, with beautifully detailed audiophile sound.â€Â
CD $12
THEO BLECKMANN & BEN MONDER With SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - No Boat (Songlines 1516; Canada) New York vocalist Bleckmann (Meredith Monk and Vocal Group, Mark Dresser's Force Green) and guitarist Ben Monder form a focused, intense duo, expanded to quartet on some tracks by Skuli Sverrisson (electric bass) and Jim Black (drums). Their program ranges from standards, wordless ballads and other original pieces to collective improvisation. Audiophile analogue recording.
CD $12
THEO BLECKMANN With BEN MONDER / MATT MORAN / SKULI SVERRISSON / JOHN HOLLENBECK - Origami (Songlines 1534; Canada) A songbook often without words and practically without borders, Origami is the latest report back from Theo Bleckmann on his continuing explorations into the unsuspected emotional and expressive possibilities of the voice in an unfettered group context. It is also a meticulously constructed, exquisitely detailed collection of songs that ranges across centuries, continents and musical styles for its inspiration. The ancient Japanese art of paper folding, origami, is a constant touchstone, unfolding (and enfolding the listener) in unusual ways. Building on his earlier collaboration with downtown New York instrumentalists Ben Monder, Skuli Sverrisson and Jim Black, No Boat (SGL 1516), he creates lush environments through overdubbing and live electronic layering, embedding his vocals in diverse rhythms and textures, shifting from song to sound and from composition to improvisation, developing a mercurial aesthetic that encompasses (at least) jazz, folk, minimalism, ambient, noise, and free improv. " This features Theo on vocals and piano, his usual collaborator Ben Monder on guitar, Matt Moran on vibes, Skuli Sverrisson on electric bass and John Hollenbeck on drums & percussion. I have been fascinated by the vocals of Theo Bleckmann over the last few years, since he not really a jazz or pop vocalist and doesn't fit neatly into any one category. Although he does cover a couple of jazz standards here, as well as a Brecht/Eisler tune and two other European songs - in his unique way - Theo did compose most of the other tunes found on this fine release with a little help from his other band-members. There is a hushed elegance to these pieces which is often enchanting and magical. "DNA" opens this CD and I am reminded of Flora Purim's lovely voice on those early 'Light as a Feather" records by Chich Corea - but more cerebral - Theo's voice sings no words, but employs two layers of mildly haunting vocal sounds - the band surrounds his voice with a lush cushion of floating guitar, bass, vibes and delicate percussion. "Douce dame jolie" was composed by Guillaume de Machaut and is suspenseful ballad in which Theo's voice is backed by wistful guitar tapping and soft sounds by the rest of the group. The title track co-composed by Reiko Aoki and is sung in Japanese (?) - a sort of series of four haiku which reminds me of Robert Wyatt with its gently echoed voices droning with enchanting fairy tale-like accompaniment. Theo asks "When will I be me or am I me already" on "Static Still" - another soft and elegant reflection of melancholy beauty. "Alloy" was composed with Skuli and Theo just uses Skuli's el. bass drones to back his endearing voice as it pans back and forth between the speakers. The standard "I Remember You" gets an odd treatment as Theo uses a skipping CD player to add some fractured rhythmic weirdness to the tune which eventually gets stuck skipping, but do not fret, it does stop. The other European tune is "Like Brother and Sister" by Alexandra Montano in which Ben Monder takes breath-takingly lovely and ultra-subtle guitar solo as Theo softly sings the melody. "Nova Scotia" seems to float out of dream-land as each player drifts together through the minimal punctuation which gives general direction. The Brecht/Eisler piece - "An den Kleinen Radioapparat" - is sung in its native tongue and is given another lush rendition. Theo's hypnotic "Without Sky" drifts softly along, but then gets stranger as the rest of the band swirls mysterious sounds which turns into "Rhombicosidoddecahedron"!?! This enchanting excursion commences with a ghostly version of the standard - "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" which is stretched out over long vocal and instrumental drones. A perfect soundtrack for slightly troubled dreams" - BLG
CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ 5 With MICHAEL MOORE / FRANCOIS HOULE / JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL / STEVE ARGUELLES - Pursuit (Songlines 1529; Canada) Featuring Francois Houle (clarinet), Michael Moore (reeds), Jean-Jacques Avenel (acoustic bass), Steve Arguelles (drums & electronics). One the most innovative young keyboardists & composers of the '90s has forged a personal approach from jazz, ambient, contemporary classical, and non-western musics. His playing on prepared piano reveals fugitive harmonies and a rich palette of colors and phrasings. Polyphonic rhythmic-melodic "fabrics" suggest balafon, sanza, pygmy music, gamelan, or John Cage. His new international quintet creates a collective music with the shape-shifting, mutatating quality of a waking dream, a feeling augmented by Arguelles' stealthy live sampling and processing.
CD $10
BENOIT DELBECQ / FRANCOIS HOULE - Because She Hoped (Songlines 1592; Canada)3rd duo outing for French pianist/prepared pianist Delbecq (Paintings, Kartet, The Recyclers) and Canadian clarinet virtuoso Houle. Houle and Delbecq have both pioneered extended techniques on their instruments. Delbecq is known for his extensive use of piano preparations, developing a style inspired equally by Cage and Ligeti, African pygmy polyphony, and Steve Coleman, Steve Lacy and other jazz greats. His process transforms the piano's natural resources into an evolving weave of textures and colours, improvised rhythmic-melodic 'fabrics' combining regular notes and prepared pitch-timbres. Houle studied with Evan Parker, adapting the saxophonist's innovations to the clarinet and integrating classical technique with blue notes and quarter tones, circular breathing, sound effects, playing without a mouthpiece, etc. So with all this expressive fire-power at their disposal it's striking how serene yet playful much of the music feels, reflecting how two old friends went about re-inventing their musical relationship for a few hours in the studio (and on a subsequent short tour) after a rather long hiatus. As Francois puts it: "Duo playing is about the most intimate way to communicate with another musician. I have grown to have a deeper understanding of Benoit's language and sound world, which always provides me with clues as to how to execute ideas in different ways. But the beauty with this sound world is that there are so many mysteries yet to investigate....How this plays out is that we don't try to formulate premeditated structures, or to ever adopt a traditional call and response, solo/accompaniment thing, except for the Ellington and Lacy pieces, which seemed to require a certain structural rigour. Our improvisations are much more akin to embroidery, painstakingly paying attention to the kind of fabric we want to create, working symbiotically to achieve that by complementing each other. Of course solos emerge, but that is in consideration of what each individual has to state in the context of the performance....Most of Benoit's music has an intrinsic poetic quality which manifests itself in liquid melodic lines. I respond to that very deeply, in some ways even more than to the rhythmic aspects of his music. Almost all my compositions on this recording are all about melody, instilling a slower pacing to the proceedings than in past recordings where the accent was perhaps slightly more focused on rhythm and virtuosity."
CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ / FRANCOIS HOULE - Dice Thrown (Songlines 1538; Canada) “Building on these artists' first duo collaboration, Nancali (SGL 1519-2, 1997), Dice Thrown includes pieces for piano or prepared piano and clarinets (sometimes two played simultaneously) and a solo improvisation by each musician. As the record unfolds, composition and improvisation seem to flow together into a dream-like continuum where jazz and new music meet. To reach this place, Delbecq and Houle have worked for years extending the techniques of their instruments and creating their own language of musical gestures for purposes of spontaneous musical composition. Delbecq's contemplative piano "fabrics" draw on Cage, Ligeti, and African timbres and polyrhythms, and are characterized by unexpected juxtapositions and patternings. Houle's approach has been inspired by Evan Parker and clarinetist William O. Smith's multi-layered sonic explorations, and combines a thoroughgoing reinvention of the clarinet's expressive possibilities with an exceptional melodic lyricism. The duo's rapport result in a highly ordered yet intuitive discourse, echoes and undercurrents of other music continually opening up new directions. The nuanced 24-bit recording was mastered to Direct Stream Digital, revealing a world of subtle resonance.â€Â
HSA-CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ - Nu-Turn: Piano Solo [H-SACD] (Songlines 1543; Canada) Benoit Delbecq, piano and prepared piano "Delbecq teases fascinating timbral qualities out of the keyboard, making it sound variously like a music box, a log drum, or a gamelan orchestra." - Jazziz Benoit Delbecq is a uniquely gifted French pianist and keyboardist who has created his own music using ideas and techniques from contemporary classical (Cage, Ligeti, Nancarrow), jazz, Pygmy polyphony, European improv and other sources. He prepares the piano with various materials such as eraser bits and carved wooden twigs, and improvises on short, overlapping vamps and patterns; the result is a complex, spacious sound that hardly seems to be emanating from a single instrument. On Nu-turn Delbecq stretches out solo on a Steinway D in 8 astonishing structured improvisations; the final, 12-minute composition is a computer-created ambient "remix" that completely transforms the solo material. Recorded in a small concert hall directly to 6 channel DSD (the sixth channel is an optional height channel), the piano sound is remarkably realistic, and the music beguiling in its rhythmic-melodic-timbral meldings. Dexterous, brainy, evanescent and strangely moving, Nu-turn will intrigue audiophiles ready for new experiences (we predict it will become a multi-channel demonstration record), and appeal to fans of new music beyond category.
HSA-CD $12
BENOIT DELBECQ & FRED HERSCH DOUBLE TRIO With MARK HELIAS / GERRY HEMINGWAY / STEVE ARGUELLES / JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL - Fun House (Songlines 1600; Canada) Featuring Benoit Delbecq (most compositions) & Fred Hersch on pianos, Mark Helias & Jean-Jacques Avenel on basses and Gerry Hemingway & Steve Arguelles on drums & electronics. The idea for organizing a double piano trio is certainly unusual one, but then again French pianist Benoit Delbecq is known for taking chances and it was he who put together this session. Mr. Delbecq has played with other pianists before this, like Andy Milne, while Mr. Hersch is known as more of mainstream musician who does step out of his comfort zone at times. No doubt you know of all of the rhythm section members as each has done many a session before this. Mr. Delbecq is known for working inside the piano which brings some unexpected sounds to this session. Although some of this is stripped down and spacious, Mr. Delbecq's writing does a fine job of utilizing all of the members most cautiously, everything is well-balanced. It sounds at times as if each trio were playing in a mirror reflection of the other with slight bits of shifting parts (perhaps like glancing in a mirror of a funhouse like the title of this disc). There is rather magical, floating quality here with unexpected changes in direction which are subtle and carefully employed. Each member of the double trio or sextet is integral to the success of this disc since each members gets a chance add colors, shades and fragmented solos. I can hear certain signature sounds that Mr. Helias and Mr. Hemingway employ after seeing and hearing so often live and on record. Still all of the member so well that often one will start a line which is completely seamlessly by another member. There is a great deal of suspense and a dreamlike quality to this hypnotic gem, so why not take a stroll in the funhouse. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12
DAVE DOUGLAS' TINY BELL TRIO With BRAD SHEPIK / JIM BLACK - Tiny Bell Trio (Songlines 1504; Canada) First outing for acclaimed trumpet player's cut-loose downtown group, playing original compositions with a Monkish tinge plus Weill, Kosma and Tailleferre. Several pieces demonstrate a unique take on traditional music of the former Yugoslavia, combining Balkan and rock or classical elements with jazz. One of New York's most remarkable trios. Audiophile analogue recording.
CD $12
MARTY EHRLICH & BEN GOLDBERG - Light at the Crossroads (Songlines 1511; Canada) Together for the first time: two master clarinettists and composers with roots in both jazz and new music, one based in New York and the other in San Francisco, in a deeply-felt program for clarinets and/or bass clarinets. Their swinging quartet is completed by longtime Goldberg collaborators Trevor Dunn (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums). 20-bit recording.
CD $10
HARRIS EISENSTADT CANADA DAY With NATE WOOLEY / MATT BAUDER / CHRIS DINGMAN / EIVIND OPSVIK - Canada Day II (Songlines 1589; Canada)Featuring Nate Wooley on trumpet, Matt Bauder on tenor sax, Chris Dingman on vibes, Eivind Opsvik on bass and Harris Eisenstadt on drums & compositions. This fine all-star sextet has been around for about four years and has continued to evolve. This is a great, swinging ever-crafty band that always makes me smile. The first track, "Cobble Hook" features some quick spinning vibes and a smokin' tenor solo from Matt Bauder. Instead of using a pianist, vibe-man Chris Dingman is consistently well-utilized playing tight lines with the rhythm team and interacting intricately with each soloist. When the band slows down for "To Seventeen", Harris writes some lovely harmonies for both horns with a touching trumpet solo the ubiquitous Nate Wooley. "Song for Owen" was written for Harris' baby boy and it is a fine laid back ballad with some delightful solos from the tenor & vibes. There is something very positive and hopeful about this music, an uplifting somewhat melodic charm. There is still a sense of adventure but without the usual downtown sarcasm or overt outness. My favorite piece is called "To See/Tootie" and I dig the way it shifts between different sections with some spirited, twisted trumpet from Mr. Wooley. The sextet seems to move in separate directions yet they end up in the same play no matter what. The final piece "Judo with Tokyo Joe" is dedicated to John Zorn who inspired Harris to get back to work after a short period off from composing & bandleading. The piece has a fine dreamy vibe with Harris' drums as the central figure within spacious skeletal structure. 'Canada Day II' is a strong release that never erupts harshly yet maintains a crafty well-conceived balance. This sextet played at The Stone earlier this week (4/5/11) and are currently on tour further south. Check them out if you get the opportunity. They rule! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12
PETER EPSTEIN / BRAD SHEPIK /MATT KILMER - Lingua Franca (Songlines 1555; Canada) A fine trio featuring Peter Epstein on alto & soprano sax, Brad Shepik on guitars and Matt Kilmer on percussion. I remember Peter Epstein from a series of discs on M.A., as well as collaborations with Dave Tronzo, Jerry & Jay Granelli and Rich Woodson. Brad Shepik is one of downtown's best guitarists, no doubt you know his work from Pachora & the Tiny Bell Trio as well as his half dozen solo efforts. Haven't heard anything from either of these fine players recently, so it is a treat to hear this gem. Their percussionist, Matt Kilmer, sounds much less familiar, but sounds fine nonetheless, especially on exotic hand percussion. Pachora & the Tiny Bell Trio both had/have this middle/eastern/European vibe and this trio also has a similar sound. Kilmer plays a great middle-eastern groove on his tabla, tambourine and hand drum on "Two Door" with an enticing melody from the pen of Mr. Shepik. Epstein's "Miro" has an almost funky sort of groove and swell solos from the guitar and alto sax. Brad's sublime "Emerald" is a haunting ballad with suspenseful frame drumming underneath. Both Shepik and Epstein have written a number of fine infectious tunes, all with sly grooves. Brad sounds like he is playing his groovy bouzouki on the intro to "Here & There", his guitar tone and cool touch kinda reminds me of my favorite fallen hero, Jerry Garcia, who also had that magic touch. A truly righteous, groove-infested feast, from its sublime moments to its delightful dancing sections. - BLG
H-SA-CD $12
EQUILIBRIUM [MIKKEL PLOUG / SISSEL VERA PETTERSEN / JOACHIM BADENHORST] - Equilibrium (Songlines 1578; Vancouver) Featuring Mikkel Ploug on electric & acoustic guitars, Sissel Vera Pettersen on voice, soprano sax & live electronics and Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet, bass clarinet & tenor sax. This young European chamber collective, inspired in part by Nordic folk traditions and the guitar/vocal atmospherics of Ben Monder and Theo Bleckmann, creates a stark yet delicate and sensuous music of great originality and elegance. "I was surprised to see this disc compared to the work of Theo Bleckmann & Ben Monder, but after listening to it a few times, I thought the same thing. This is why I placed this disc after my review of Bleckmann's new Refuge Trio CD on W&W in the current newsletter. I didn't recall any of the folks in this trio (Ploug, Pettersen & Badenhorst) before this disc but decided to give them a chance since I dig almost anything that the Songlines label releases. It turns out that Joachim Badenhorst has worked with Simon Jermyn on two discs that I reviewed previously. Again like the work of Theo and Ben Monder, this trio has a more restrained, elegant sound. Ms. Pettersen's delightful voice does sound a bit like Theo's and Mikkel's exquisite guitar also sounds like Monder's more elegant side. On "November", the guitar and clarinet play a layer of intricate, dreamy lines together while Sissel's enchanting voice sails superbly on top. I dig the way the acoustic guitar and two reeds (soprano sax & bass clarinet) spin together on "Soft Spoken", an immensely lovely, haunting piece. Every piece on the this is rich in detail, subtle in substance and very well crafted. It reminds me of series of fairy tales for our mind's eye. It never ceases to amaze me how many delightful surprises are in store for those who wish to check out something new and unknown." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
H-SA-CD $12
EQUILIBRIUM [MIKKEL PLOUG / SISSEL VERA PETTERSEN / JOACHIM BADENHORST] - Walking Voices (Songlines 1587; Canada) The first disc by Equilibrium was one of those wonderful under-recognized gems that graces us from time to time. Since then I've gotten to know and hear young former Amsterdam-based reeds wiz Joachim Badenhorst on many occasions. A promo was shipped earlier this week & I can't wait to hear & review it. The personnel features Mikkel Ploug on electric & acoustic guitars, Sissel Vera Pettersen on voice & live electronics and Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet, bass clarinet & tenor sax. If it is nearly as good as the last one, it will probably make many top lists this year. - BLG
CD $12
ELLERY ESKELIN / ANDREA PARKINS / JIM BLACK - Jazz Trash (Songlines 1506; Canada) First release of individualistic tenorman's unconventional trio, with Andrea Parkins (accordion/sampler) and Jim Black (drums). Best of 1995, Jazz Times and Cadence ; Best of 1996, Cadence and Jazz Magazine (France).
CD $10
GAMELAN MADU SARI - New Nectar: New Music For Javanese Gamelan (Songlines 2402; Canada) The percussion-based Javanese gamelan orchestra is one of the world's great musical traditions. Here five Vancouver composer-performers bring their experience in this and other forms of music -- Western classical, new music, jazz, Vietnamese and Balinese musics, electroacoustic composition, and improvisation -- extending the tradition in ways of fascinating beauty. Founded in 1986, Gamelan Madu Sari ("The Essence of Honey") has performed traditional and new music for gamelan as well traditional Javanese dance, dance drama, shadow play, and contemporary multimedia works. For its first record the Gamelan has selected compositions created on it by four composers who have also been active as performers in the group over the years, and by jazz/improv pianist Paul Plimley. Two sets of gamelan instruments are represented, and each work takes a novel approach to form, with a unique play of instrumental colours. Kenneth Newby's "Dreams He is a Ball of Fire... Or a Hummingbird" includes spoken text, choral singing, and interlocking lines of rhythmically charged counterpoint, all in celebration of the birth of his son. Its archetypal text and ritual mood are characteristic of Newby's music, which is concerned with the natural world, the meeting of cultures, "deep listening" and transcendence (Ecology of Souls, 1993; Sirens, 1997; Newby was also prominent in the ethno-ambient groups Trance Mission and Lights in a Fat City). Michael O'Neill's "Lessons of the Garden" uses hocketing between the two gamelan tuning systems, slendro and pelog, to produce an expanded mode. Partly inspired by Ravel and minimalism, it swells and flows. O'Neill also plays and composes new music for Scottish bagpipes, and "Lessons" begins with an eerie prelude for droning plastic chanters and clanging clusters of bronze. X Chris Miller's two pieces are a study in contrasts. "Thinly, roundly," a collaboration with the Vancouver-based Vietnamese duo Khac Chi, combines the liquid tones of two genders (Javanese resonating metallophones) with the bending melismas of two dan bau (Vietnamese monochords). Its melodies and textures build in subtle transformations from a contemplative opening dialogue towards a dancing, unifying conclusion. "Whining horses eat more HEY doncha no" is a deadpan adaptation of certain traditional gamelan structures to something perhaps closer to avant-garde pointillism: spare and quirky, it seems to question its very nature. Mark Parlett's "Intimate Distance" is probably the densest composition on the record; its layers of instruments and a vocal duo combine in unpredictable ways in search of some elusive new harmony between the individual self and the world's being. Paul Plimley's "Born Again Needle Dancers" brings a jazz sensibility, wordless vocals, group improvisation, and an ingenious polyrhythmic and tonal conception to his exploration of the gamelan's resources. Plimley's interest in non-western traditions has also notably resulted in duets with South Indian percussionist Trichy Sankaran, Ivory Ganesh Meets Doctor Drums (Songlines 1998). X Each piece in its own way furthers the dialogue between East and West, developing the expressive potential of the gamelan, not just as a source of sensuous, intriguing timbres but also as a deep tradition with its own informing ethos and set of musical values (for example, freedom of individual expression within a complex and highly controlled social organization of sound). New Nectar is a major contribution to this ongoing cross-cultural experiment; it can equally be appreciated for its inclusive approach to forging a new music of substance and delight beyond categories.â€Â
CD $12
GAMELAN MADU SARI - Hive (Songlines 2406; Canada)â€Â"This Vancouver collective's second CD of new music for Javanese gamelan (following New Nectar; Songlines) is a richly diverse mix of instrumental/vocal pieces merging gamelan styles with contemporary classical and folk/world approaches. The music covers a wide range of sounds and moods: tender, mysterious, humorous, rousing, jazzy. Sophisticated and often adventurous in its rhythmic and melodic aspects, it's still quite accessible (three songs have English lyrics). Composer-performers include Ben Rogalsky (The Breakmen), Kenneth Newby (Trance Mission, Lights in a Fat City), Michael O'Neill (Ontophony; Songlines), Mark Parlett, Andrew Czink and Sutrisno Hartana; vocalists include Jessika Kenney (Gamelan Pacifica, Eyvind Kang, Sunn O) and Joanna Chapman-Smith. All the pieces combine elements of the Javanese tradition with wide-ranging influences and inspirations, from morphing minimalism (Andrew Czink's "Stream") to the English tradition of bell pealing (Kenneth Newby's "Symmetries") to the fusing of polyrhythmic frameworks, Javanese lyricism and structured improvisation (Mark Parlett's "Inquietude"). Ben Rogalsky's wry, touching shadow-play song "From Heaven to Earth" was inspired by the old-fashioned Indonesian folk style kroncong, which developed from 16th century Portuguese music; it combines gamelan with mandolin, cello and string bass. Michael O'Neill's "Bonessongs" and Parlett's "Inquietude" likewise mix different gamelan scales to approximate western tuning. Sutrisno Hartana's two pieces are the most Javanese in mood. A master musician who has divided his time between Indonesia and Canada, he subtly extends traditional styles with western innovations. British composer Alec Roth's Shakespeare song "Full Fathom Five" (1983) is heard in a haunted arrangement for a dual-voiced (female-male) Ariel. The whole record is a creative exploration of musical multiculturalism that honors its roots, inviting listeners into a sonorous landscape of truly original beauty."
CD $12
CHRIS GESTRIN With BRAD TURNER / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF / et al - Stillpoint (Songlines 1540; Canada) Featuring: Chris Gestrin (piano, synthesizer, sampler, electronics), Brad Turner (trumpet, flugelhorn, electronics), Jon Bentley (tenor & soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, electronics), Andre Lachance (acoustic bass), Dylan van der Schyff (drums, percussion, electronics) with guests Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, percussion and Deanna Newton, voice Chris Gestrin is a great new talent, a Vancouver-based pianist, keyboardist and composer who might occasionally put you in mind of Bill Evans or Keith Jarrett, if either of those masters were young today and equally at home with the acoustic and the electronic, jazz and ambient. His handpicked, versatile quintet, featuring trumpeter Brad Turner (of the Canadian band Metalwood) and masterful drummer Dylan van der Schyff, creates rich images in sound. From a tender solo piano improvisation to swirling group inventions, a "narrative" of almost cinematic sweep unfolds. Gestrin's compositions range across jazz, experimental music, new age and world music for their ideas, but this is not "fusion" in any ordinary sense, there is too much originality and panache for that. The sessions were recorded in 24-bit/96K sound and mixed in analogue; the stereo version is a thing of beauty, while the multi-channel remix to Direct Stream Digital opens on an imaginary environment that connoisseurs of surround sound, whether jazz fans or not, will surely appreciate.â€Â
H-SACD $12
JERRY GRANELLI & BADLANDS With CHRIS SPEED / BRIGGAN KRAUSS / PETER EPSTEIN / CURTIS HASSELBRING / JAMIE SAFT / JAY GRANELLI - Crowd Theory (Songlines 1526; Canada) Veteran drummer/bandleader Granelli has had several well received 90s releases on Intuition including two by his dual-guitar fusion band UFB. He's back with a new CD by his septet of outstanding young downtown NY improvisers (Chris Speed, Briggan Krauss, Peter Epstein, Curtis Hasselbring, Jamie Saft and J. Anthony Granelli) for a record of deep groove and relaxed intensity. The program, all original tunes, ranges across and beyond jazz territory to include avant-funk, a dark tango, an ambient-meets-Sun Ra piece, and a breezy homage to Monsieur Hulot.
CD $10
JERRY GRANELLI With RINDE ECKERT / FRANCOIS HOULE / CHRISTIAN KOGEL / J A GRANELLI - Sandhills Reunion (Songlines 1553; Canada) Featuring Francois Houle & Jeff Reilly on clarinets, the voice of Rinde Eckert, David Mott on bari sax, Christian Kogel on guitars, Christoph Both on cello, J. Granelli on bass & lap steel and Jerry Granelli on drums, samples. Rinde Eckert is a storyteller and here has provided 12 short tales about a fictitious (?) place in the Midwest called Sandhills. Rinde has written all the words and each of the musicians has composed the music for 1 or 2 pieces. Although, Jerry Granelli has had a long career as a jazz drummer, going back some 50 years, he has led or been involved in nearly a dozen bands or projects for the past two decades. This group brings together different bands/projects from Canada (Houle, Mott & Reilly?), Germany (Kogel & Both) and Jerry's son Jay, who has worked with on numerous occasions and runs the Love Slave label. Produced righteously by longtime Frisell producer Lee Townsend, who does a fine job of adding spacious spice to Rinde's calm, thoughtful voice. Guitars, steel, acoustic and electric, swirl with suspense around that voice, haunted, telling stories about a lone character named Billy. Those distant clarinets, that cello and that baritone sax also create some subtle drama around the voice as it tells its unfolding stories. I think is a wonderful disc, kinda reminds me of a radio show or play. This seems to be a lost art that has fallen by the wayside. - BLG Jazz and the spoken word have been linked at least since the Beats. Jerry Granelli was an aspiring teenage drummer in San Francisco in the late 50s, when Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Rexroth and Patchen declaimed to the accompaniment of local players in clubs like the Cellar and the Blackhawk, and he got to improvise a bit with most of them. In the late 70s at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, where he founded the music department, Granelli often collaborated with Ginsberg, Burroughs and Anne Waldman in improvised concerts. His fascination with words led to the 1993 jazz instrumental CD A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing, inspired by Michael Ondaatje's experimental novel about Buddy Bolden, Coming Through Slaughter. His new project Sandhills Reunion is a multi-layered interweaving of words and music that Granelli calls an audio movie or play. The text, written and performed by actor/playwright/singer Rinde Eckert, is a glancingly linked sequence of reflections, imaginings, internal monologues and one historically accurate dialogue ("Twenty Questions for an Outlaw") using the persona of Billy the Kid as a thematic touchstone and the Sandhills region of northwestern Nebraska as the landscape of memory and desire. By turns rowdy, comic, ironic, nostalgic, angry and melancholy, it presents the unnamed speaker's inner life in the context of American reality and myth (complete text included in the booklet). The music, composed and played by a newly formed ensemble of trusted Granelli collaborators, counterpoints and boldly colours the words with its timbres and rhythms. It conjures up its own "locations" within the band's collectively imagined synthesis of blues, jazz, rock, funk, ambient, folk, country, the popular and the more esoteric music of the 20th century from raunchy bars to uptown refinement, chamber music to the avant-garde. From the band's first performance to the final synthesis of music and text took 21/2 years. Jerry comments: "I knew that to get the sound I wanted we'd need Lee Townsend to produce the work. We discussed the overall concept, basically recording it like shooting a film -- just gathering material, then putting it all together in the mix. I asked the members of the band to write -- not specifying what to write, but implying what I was hearing. I didn't write a lot of music myself but was kind of the vision holder, maybe the director, always working with Lee. The next step was finding the text, the voice. I've had a long relationship with Rinde. I'd originally planned to use Ondaatje excerpts, but in the end Lee suggested that Rinde could create a new text for the project... The musicians never heard any texts. Part of the reason for this is that I wanted the music to stand alone, not as a servant to the words. The idea was that we would have two strong elements that come together to produce a third thing, a new form. So the listener might pay attention one time to the music and next time to the text, and once to the feeling of both." (The SACD surround mix literally adds another dimension, suspending the listener within the aural web of musical and vocal associations.) Rinde adds: "I had just come back from a residency in Nebraska when I started to write. Images of the Sandhills were still fresh, in particular the roundup and branding in which I'd taken part. I remembered my boyhood fascination with cowboys. But, of course, I was out of place. I suppose the appearance of Billy the Kid in that prairie heartland could be seen as a metaphor for my own youthful memories and my enduring sense of alienation and dislocation in this culture. Whatever the nature of the psychological ground, this poetic conceit was fertile. I could imagine a rancher, in his proper place, at home with his wife, his responsibilities, his particular fate, dreaming of a kind of powerful other self, at home in the world, errant, romantic, or alien. This irony seems consistent with the music, with its urbane wit and its kind of formal simplicity and beauty." "Driven by Granelli's melodic, talking, singing, orchestrating drums and his vivid penetration into the music that can be found in any sound, shape, texture or colour, they improvised like gods." - Stephen Pedersen, Halifax Herald
SA-CD $10
JERRY GRANELLI V16 With DAVID TRONZO / JAY GRANELLI / CHRISTIAN VOGEL - Vancouver '08 (Songlines 1577; Canada) The veteran drummer's two-guitar quartet returns with an audiophile package featuring a studio SACD of new pieces plus a high-resolution (24/96) live concert DVD. This band has staked out its own unique territory, encompassing virtuoso improvising, chamber-jazz empathy, rootsy grooves, and floating soundscapes. Dynamic audiophile sound and great stereo & multi-channel mixes. Featuring David Tronzo on electric slide guitar, Christian Kogel on electric guitar, Jay Granelli on electric bass and Jerry Granelli on drums. This is the third disc from Jerry Granelli's V16 quartet and again we have a winner. Everyone in the quartet but Jerry himself contributes songs to this disc plus there are two standards with one by Charles Mingus ("Dizzy Moods"). Jerry Granelli is till the leader of this superb quartet, his drums and direction always at the center of the group. Each guitarist has a distinctive sound as well as a certain defined role in the group. On Tronzo's "The Truth" the rhythm team plays some skeletal funk lines while both guitars answer each other with great wah-wah sounds. Jay Granelli wrote 5 of the 11 songs and he also helps to define their sound. Often, like on "Flipper", the bass and drums create a mood for the guitars to fill in with sly sounds and solos. Jerry's great drumming on "Brutto ma Buono" inspires both guitarists to take off in different ways while the group ends up with a memorable theme provided by Jay. One of the best things about this quartet is that they are great for creating moods by scaling things down to a minimum yet remaining immensely crafty on other levels. I am just about to check out the DVD which I'm sure is as stimulating as the CD is. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
SA-CD DVD $10
JERRY GRANELLI V16 With DAVID TRONZO/ANTHONY COX/CHRISTIAN VOGEL - The V16 Project (Songlines 1544; Canada) Jerry Granelli: electro-acoustic percussion; Anthony Cox: acoustic bass and acoustic bass guitar; David Tronzo: acoustic and electric guitars, sampler; Christian Kogel: acoustic and electric guitars, sampler. The V16 Project is Jerry Granelli's latest sonic adventure. It features a two-guitar frontline and diverse approach - jazz improvisation, blues-rock-funk fusion, freeform jamming, sampled soundscapes and more -making it equally at home in both jazz and avant-rock bins, at jazz festivals and jamband venues. Highlighting the superb interplay of famous slide virtuoso Tronzo, lyrical German guitar ace Kogel (from Jerry's band UFB), and versatile bassist Cox, the group hones its style on a surprising range of material. There are drummerless acoustic improvs, Kogel's trancey bossa nova, Jerry's waltz-to-freetime-to-Latin Mr. Wong suite, a psych-tinged, freegrass flavoured extended cover of the old standard "Temptation," and several varieties of soul jazz by Cox. Expect the unexpected: as Granelli comments in his note, "The heart of the band is risk, not knowing, curiosity and nowness." The high definition, 24 bit/176.4K digital recording and 2 5 channel mix to DSD should gain approval from audiophiles and surround-sound music fans. Halifax-based percussionist-composer Jerry Granelli grew up in San Francisco where he studied with Joe Morello and drummed for pianists Denny Zeitlin and Vince Guaraldi (he's on A Charlie Brown Christmas on Fantasy and the Charlie Brown TV soundtracks). He pioneered world jazz fusion and electro-acoustic percussion during the 60's hippie era, established the music department at the Naropa Institute in Boulder in '76, and has had a continuous teaching career since then in Boulder, Seattle, Halifax and Berlin. In the early '80s he performed and recorded in a trio with Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock for ECM. He has recorded as a leader for Evidence, Intuition, ITM, Koch, Love Slave and other labels, and performed and recorded with longtime musical associates Mose Allison, Jay Clayton, Jane Ira Bloom, Glen Moore, Anthony Cox, Dave Friedman, and Jamie Saft, as well as projects with Bill Frisell, Robben Ford, Julian Priester, Charlie Haden, Kenny Garrett, and DJ Stinkin' Rich. His previous two-guitar quartet, UFB, toured extensively and recorded two CDs for Intuition in the mid-90s. Granelli inspires admiration for his effortless swing and inventiveness and his constant search for new means of expression: two years ago he released a CD of duets for reeds and sound sculpture created specially for his use (Iron Sky). He is also the subject of In the Moment, an hour-long documentary for VisionTV and CBC-TV. Jazz Times magazine has called him "one of those uncategorizable veteran percussionists who's done it all." With this latest release he shows there's still a lot more to come. Granelli burns with an intensity fueled by a passion for "the pursuit of the spirit of spontaneity."
JERRY GRANELLI & BADLANDS With CHRIS SPEED/BRIGGAN KRAUSS/PETER EPSTEIN/CURTIS HASSELBRING/JAMIE SAFT/J ANTHONY GRANELLI - Enter, A Dragon (Songlines 1521 ,Canada) Drummer Granelli's New York dream band, chock full of the young lions of the downtown scene, plays original compositions that draw on the whole history of jazz, from New Orleans heterophony to Ellington and Mingus, from free to funk, and beyond jazz to lounge-core and eastern Europe, the middle east, India, Tibet. Within the ebb and flow of written ensembles, solos, and collective improvisation are duets between Jerry and each of his bandmates. A record full of wit, subtlety, and character; with Chris Speed (tenor sax, clarinet), Peter Epstein (soprano and alto sax), Briggan Krauss (alto sax), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), Jamie Saft (piano, clavinet, accordion, slide guitar), and J. Anthony Granelli (electric bass, acoustic bass guitar). 20-bit recording.
CD $10
JERRY GRANELLI V16 With DAVID TRONZO / et al - The Sonic Temple: Monday And Tuesday (Songlines 1564; Canada) Featuring David Tronzo on electric slide guitar, Christian Kogel on electric guitar, Jay Anthony Granelli on electric bass and Jerry Granelli on drums & steel sculpture. This is the second release by Jerry Granelli's V16 project, the first featured Anthony Cox on bass, this one features Jerry's son and ace NY bassist Jay Granelli. Both guitarists, Dave Tronzo and Christian Kogel, have worked with Jerry and Jay in a few different contexts in the past. Although Dave, Christian and Jay all contribute songs, Jerry does a great job of giving direction and playing drums & percussion. What is interesting about this double disc is that we get two sets from two different nights live in the studio with the same pieces done in the same order each night, yet the pieces are done differently. What really stands out here is how well it is recorded and perfectly balanced. The suspense of the opening piece, "Ballad of El Leo Nora" is quite breathtaking, as the notes float on the air like drifting spirits. I dig the way many of these piece are written so that as one of the guitarist plays his parts tightly with the bass and drums, the other guitarist will solo by weaving lines of notes around the patterns set up by the rest of the quartet. These pieces are often done at a relaxed pace, yet layers are subtly lined up in quietly fascinating ways. Dave Tronzo is a master of getting his guitar to speak and he often does with the help of a wah-wah pedal at times. The other magical thing here is that both guitarists work so well together, consistently matching wits and creating a new combination of guitar playing that sounds unique and solid together. That great father & son rhythm team is also wonderful as they work together perfectly combing forces and holding things together as the guitarists sail into oblivion. - BLG
H-SACD $12
GORDON GRDINA'S EAST VAN STRINGS With JESSE ZUBOT / EYVIND KANG / PEGGY LEE - The Breathing Of Statues (Songlines 1572; Canada) Featuring Gordon Grdina on electric guitar & oud, Jesse Zubot on violin, Eyvind Kang on viola and Peggy Lee on cello. This is the debut recording of this lauded guitarist/oud player's all-string quartet, playing original compositions and improvs inspired by Bartok, Webern, Berg, free jazz and Arabic taqasim. Each member is an internationally recognized virtuoso improviser, which gives the group a unique profile and broad range of expression. The music is complex, gritty, lyrical, and often very intense. Audiophile stereo/multichannel recording in a small hall creates an intimate sonic environment. Canadian guitarist and oud player, Gordon Grdina, never ceases to amaze me, since each of his half dozen discs are so different and successful in varied ways. For this disc he has put together an extraordinary all-star string trio to collaborate with, each with an impressive amount of diverse talents and experiences. The opening piece, "Selma" is a most enchanting piece for heavenly strings with Gordon's sublime acoustic guitar at the center. The three strings combined sound like an accordion wheezing delicate waves of warm spirits. Gordon has obviously spent time composing these pieces since each is well thought out. "Holy Departure" is like a string quartet with a series of tightly played figures dancing around the players in different duos. Even on the "Silence of Paintings" where the strings players twist their strings into frenetic shapes, there is a sense of purpose that holds this piece together with Gordon's guitar calmly sitting in the center of the cyclone. On "Origin" each string players get a chance to solo after playing that difficult swirling theme together and each solo is very different showing each player to unique and dazzling ideas up their sleeves. Gordon plays oud on "Santiago" while the strings play appropriate eastern sounding drones around him. The title track is an epic-length work that features Gordon's oud playing unaccompanied at first and building like a raga until the strings come back in, a dialogue between the oud & strings evolving together like a story unfolding. I am reminded of the soundtrack to an eastern fairy tale. 'The Breathing of Statues' is completely different that anything the Gordon Grdina has done so far, making it another jewel in the crown that he can wear when the rich rewards are bestowed upon us all deserving few. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
H-SACD $12
GORDON GRDINA'S HARAM With CHRIS KELLY / JP CARTER / FRANCOIS HOULE / JESSE ZUBOT et al - Her Eyes Illuminate (Songlines 2407; Canada) Gordon Grdina on oud & arrangements, Chris Kelly on tenor sax, JP Carter on trumpet, Francois Houle on clarinet, Jesse Zubot on violin & electronics, Tim Gerwing on darbuka, Liam MacDonald on riq, Tommy Babin on electric bass, Kenton Loewen on drums and Emad Armoush on ney & vocals. Vancouver-based guitarist and oud player, Gordon Grdina, remains restless and leads a handful of different bands, each one quite different. He once worked with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, but usually utilizes the talents of Vancouver's most adventurous musicians. This appears to be Mr. Grdina's most ambitious project yet with a ten piece ensemble of jazz and ethnic musicians. Since Mr. Grdina is using ethnic instruments like darbuka (hand drum), riq (frame drum) and ney (flute) as well as playing oud only, this music does have middle-eastern vibe and groove. The opening piece, "Raqs Al Jamal" has great groove that is it infectious and made me want to eat falafel and seek out a belly dancer. Gordon's final oud solo as well as JP Carter's trumpet solo are both wonderful like the icing on a delicious cake. Each piece has an enchanting melody, groove or vibe with spirited solos from the oud, clarinet, violin, tenor sax and trumpet. There are few sections where the rhythm team drops out and the horns or other instruments solo together as an interlude and it works very well. A few of these pieces have intense rocking grooves that really get the blood flowing. A few of Mr. Grdina's previous discs are further out and hence more challenging to listen to. This one is not that out, it is consistently compelling, somewhat trance-inducing and a righteous groove-fest throughout. It is most likely the best thing Mr. Grdina has done yet. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12
ROBIN HOLCOMB / WAYNE HORVITZ - Solos (Songlines 1550; Canada) with Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb, piano Distinguished pianists and composers with individual styles, Horvitz and Holcomb have been partners in life as well as musically for almost three decades. They have appeared on record in each other's company numerous times, but this is their first recording actually sharing the billing. Together...and yet alone, as each plays solo piano. The instrument is a Steinway D, and the program they have sequenced includes original compositions (e.g. Holcomb's 13-minute suite "When the Comet Comes"), three free improvisations, and three covers (including Wayne Shorter's beautiful "Armageddon."). Live-to-DSD recording in a small concert hall creates an intimate, palpable atmosphere. Reduced to essentials, the differences as well as the similarities in their music stand out. They both possess notable techniques, but it's the emotional resonances and luminosity of the playing that really stay with the listener. As Robin puts it: "We share a wide range of interests and influences. I entered the world of jazz very late in its history with the exuberant improvising of 'free jazz' whereas Wayne is much more familiar with earlier jazz forms. I have played more early American folk music and Indonesian music. We seem to both be mesmerized by the harmonic language of hymns, for no particular reason. We are both drawn to the bittersweet in both melody and harmony "I find that Wayne's pieces have more of a 'yanking' quality to them... a lovely melody will get 'yanked' into a deeply bittersweet moment which then shimmers throughout the music. I think that my pieces may be more melancholy overall." Wayne adds: "Without question we have very different sounds and techniques, our training and backgrounds are different, although at the time that we first met and also became involved in musical projects together we were both very influenced by Cecil Taylor (pianistically) and all the music coming out of the AACM and the BAG (Black Artists' Group). Also Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea etc. were very much in the air. As improvisors both of us share a sort of two-handed approach A la Cecil. Also we were being introduced to the music of Messiaen and John Cage and many other contemporary composers and hearing the connections between all those musics. Unlike Robin, however, I also have a more single-note 'linear' approach that comes from playing jazz at various times in my life." In the event, Solos implies all these stylistic connections and more (e.g. the impressionism of Debussy or the pared-down elegance of Satie). But its varying moods flow together into a personal, shared artistic statement. Born in Savannah and based in Seattle, Robin Holcomb has created a "new American regionalism, spun from many threads - rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives" (NY Times). Her songs and instrumental compositions are showcased on CDs for Nonesuch and Sound Aspects and, as co-director of the New York Composers Orchestra, on New World. Recent works include O, Say a Sunset, a staged song cycle based on the life of Rachel Carson which toured the US in 2003/4, and The Utopia Project, a film-and-song cycle collaboration in development at Mass MoCA. Born in New York, Wayne Horvitz is one of the more prolific and celebrated composers and keyboardists of the last twenty years. Leader of Zony Mash, Pigpen and the 4 1 Ensemble, and co-leader of the New York Composers Orchestra and Mylab, he has been a frequent collaborator of John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, and Bobby Previte, among many other practitioners of the new music that has roots in jazz and improvisation but is confined to neither. He also composes for film, TV, dance, theater and the concert hall. His latest work, Joe Hill: 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voice and Soloist, premieres at this year's Earshot Jazz Festival. His CDs are on Songlines (Forever, 2000, Sweeter Than the Day, 2002), Knitting Factory, Intuition, Avant, Elektra/Musician, and other labels.
H-SACD $12
WAYNE HORVITZ & ZONY MASH ACOUSTIC With TIMOTHY YOUNG/KEITH LOWE/ANDY ROTH [a/k/a SWEETER THAN THE DAY] - Forever [a/k/a American Bandstand] (Songlines 1537; Canada) “When Wayne Horvitz decided to do a new piano record (the first leading his own group since 1987's Nine Below Zero with Butch Morris and Bobby Previte), he took his time until he found the combination of players that was just right. The wait was worth it: thanks to a great-sounding piano and studio, eleven of his distinctive tunes, and the members of his Hammond B-3 based group Zony Mash playing ''unplugged'', the music shines.
Foregrounding melody and harmony through the gently plangent voicings of the piano/guitar front line, concise solos, and thoughtful group interplay, the program sets a leisurely pace while evoking a range of styles and feelings. Impressionistic ballads that might recall Paul Bley, Ellington/Strayhorn, Debussy, or the wistful and piquant irony of Satie, blend with mid-tempo songs likewise steeped in the history of jazz, r&b/r&r, soul, funk, blues, gospel, and the avant-garde. A chamber-jazz homage to musical roots, Forever is an open-hearted yet serenely beautiful record.â€Â
CD $12
FRANCOIS HOULE / BENOIT DELBECQ - Nancali (Songlines 1519; Canada)"One of the most fascinating pianists of the new generation" (Michel Contat, Telerama), French pianist/prepared pianist Delbecq (Paintings, Kartet, The Recyclers) meets Canadian clarinet virtuoso Houle; their program of improvisations and compositions draws on contemporary classical, jazz, African and southeast Asian traditions. Probing and highly empathetic. Mark Miller's top 10 jazz for 1997, The Globe & Mail.
CD $10
FRANCOIS HOULE 5 With TAYLOR HO BYNUM/SAMUEL BLASER/MICHAEL BATES/HARRIS EISENSTADT BENOIT DELBECQ - Genera (Songlines 1595; Canada) Featuring Francois Houle on clarinets & compositions, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & flugelhorn, Samuel Blaser on trombone, Benoit Delbecq on piano & electronics, Michael Bates on bass and Harris Eisenstadt on drums. I've been working on a list of the greatest clarinetists of the 20th century for the past couple of years which will be posted on my own website as soon as the site is finished. I recently passed the 100 mark of great clarinetists and Vancouver-based clarinet king Francois Houle remains near the top. I always look forward to each disc, whether solo, duo, trio or larger unit, the Mr. Houle produces but this one is something special. Francois has organized an outstanding all-star sextet with musicians from France, Switzerland and New York and recorded it in a studio in Hoboken, NJ. Some of these players he has played with at length (like Mr. Delbecq) and some perhaps for the first time. Each musician here is a leader of his own and a perfect choice. What makes this disc special is that it is obvious that Houle has written this music specifically for this spectacular sextet. "Essay #7" is closer to progressive jazz than anything else, with tight, well-written horn lines spinning around one another with the horns (clarinet, cornet & trombone) soloing simultaneously. "Guanara" is a somber, haunting piece with soft, simmering horns and superb laid back solos from the trombone, piano and clarinet. Nice to hear Braxton & Bill Dixon side-person Taylor Ho Bynum blowing up a storm as well as the Swiss trombone ace Samuel Blaser who has had a handful of great discs over the past few years on Hatology, Clean Feed and Intakt. At more than 55 minutes, there is almost too much great music here. I've listened to this disc more than a half dozen times over the past month and continually find another highlight amongst the ten great tracks. Mr. Delbecq, who is an expert at playing inside the piano, adds some occasional spice with selective electronics and eerie inside-the-piano shades. Is this the CD of the Month? No doubt, no doubt, NO DOUBT! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12
FRANCOIS HOULE/HAVARD WIIK - Aves (Songlines 1601; Canada)Featuring Francois Houle on clarinets and Havard Wiik on piano. This is a first time recorded collaboration between the Vancouver-based clarinet ace, Francois Houle and Norwegian pianist Havard Wiik. Mr. Houle has worked at length with another pianist Benoit Delbecq, as well as with Gordon Grdina, Joelle Leandre, Yitzhak Yedid and a trio called LaConnor. You should know of Mr. Wiik from his work with Atomic, Ken Vandermark and Axel Dorner. Both musicians contributed compositions to this discs as well as doing a number of duo improvisations. This is a live recording from the Vancouver Academy of Music and the sound is superb. There is something special going on here, you can tell from the first note. The first piece, "Father Demo" by Mr. Houle is a well-written, formal sounding work closer to modern classical than jazz, with Francois' clarinet dancing carefully between the categories of jazz and beyond. Playful, serious, complex, tight. thoughtfully composed with no flashiness. On "Sparrowhawk", Houle plays two clarinets at once, creating soft, haunting harmonies with Mr. Wiik's sparse, elegant piano. It is difficult to tell that a third of these pieces are improvised since this duo works so well together, seamlessly weaving several lines or ideas into one stream. Each piece gives the duo a chance to stretch out and/or explore a variety of approaches. The main difference between the piano/clarinet duo with Francois & Mr. Ebelbecq and this duo is that Mr. Wiik doesn't play inside the piano, which is a specialty of Delbecq's. Hence, the adventure is in the more focused written or improvised material. This is an outstanding duo who play together extremely well, no matter where they go. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $12
HUMAN FEEL [CHRIS SPEED/JIM BLACK/ANDREW D'ANGELO/KURT ROSENWINKEL] - Speak To It (Songlines 1514; Canada) “Boston (now Brooklyn) collective - Andrew D'Angelo (alto sax, bass clarinet), Chris Speed (tenor sax, clarinet), Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar), and Jim Black (drums) - move between jazz and jazz-rock, improv, and classical new music forms. With guest Holly Palmer interpreting the Billie Holiday classic "Left Alone". Audiophile analogue recording. "Recording under the group name of Human Feel, are Jim Black (percussion), Andrew D'Angelo (reeds) and Chris Speed, who emerges as the dominant voice with his sometimes frenetic tenor saxophone and clarinet. Speed is a compelling player with an original voice, and he contributed three of the ten tunes. Andrew D'Angelo joins him on alto and bass clarinet, the latter of which is particularly effective. As to be expected, Jim Black's dynamic, swirling drums are a continual highlight. Kurt Rosenwinkel rounds out the group with his sometimes aggressive, sometimes atmospheric, often horn-like guitar. The music is mostly a group effort and succeeds on its own terms. If there is a criticism, it is a slight and occasional lack of focus. Overall, though, there is much to enjoy." - Steve Loewy, AMG
CD $12
HILMAR JENSSON With HERB ROBERTSON / ANDREW D'ANGELO / TREVOR DUNN / JIM BLACK - ditty blei (Songlines 1547; Canada) Featuring Herb Robertson on trumpet, Andrew D'Angelo on alto sax & bass clarinet, Hilmar Jensson on guitars & compositions, Trevor Dunn on acoustic bass and Jim Black on drums. This is Icelandic guitar hero Hilmar's second great release for Songlines and it features his swell all-star quintet, where each member is also a bandleader, busy collaborator and composer as well. Hilmar expands his fine bass-less trio from last year into a quintet and expands his palette as well. "Latta" has that fractured rock groove that Jim Black's cds often include. Both Andrew's bass clarinet & alto sax and Herb's trumpet take swell nervous twisted solos, as the bent guitar, bass and drums dance around them with tight abandon. "larf" begins more freely, but soon gets back to a great rockin' groove with an infectious melody. Hilmar's great fractured guitar solo is orchestrated with Jim's equally fractured drumming - perfectly matched. I dig the way the guitar, alto and trumpet swirl around one another on "mayla mayla", and connect on the chorus. Hilmar takes a great solo made more from just sounds and not really notes, a most modern approach. Hilmar plays some fine acoustic guitar on "correct me if I'm right" which a righteous laid back and sunny melody, some of the loveliest and most soulful playing we'll (ever?) hear from Andrew and Herb. The unstoppable Herb Robertson squeezes out one of those grand, loopy yet explosive muted solos that he is a master of on "abbi". "grinning" is another twisted rocker with some great shimmering guitar and joyous horns that just keep ringing in my head long after the song is over. It feels great when the quintet finally explodes on "gobbles", with short sick solos from the frontline. "everything is temporary" sound again one of those great slow motion rockers from the last Jim Black gem, with another great tortured guitar solo from Hilmar and sly, spirited horn harmonies. Immensely tasty and quietly riveting. - BLG/DMG
SA-CD $10
HILMAR JENSSON'S TYFT With ANDREW D'ANGELO / JIM BLACK - Tyft (Songlines 1542; Canada) Hilmar is that fabulous Icelandic guitarist that plays in the ever-popular Jim Black Alasnoaxis unit. Andrew D'Angelo plays consistently inspired alto sax and bass clarinet, once for Human Feel, Matt Wilson and more recently in that great duo with Jaime Fennelly. Jim Black remains one downtown's most in demand and dynamic drummers, from Bloodcount, to Tiny Bell Trio to Laurie Anderson to that superb longtime trio with Ellery Eskelin & Andrea Parkins. This is Hilmar's debut cd in the US after a few hard-to-find imports. All three members of this trio double on electronics. This is a rambunctious trio that often erupts freely, yet sails through tight charted areas as well. "Short or Hairy" moves through a variety of twisted sections, some quick and abrupt, some fractured blues licks and completely tight and focused. Hilmar plays some eloquent acoustic solo guitar on a few on these pieces. The trio does a fine job of adding eerie electronics to some of the suspenseful pieces, blending electric ghost-like sounds to squeaky reeds, melodica and percussion. Hilmar seems to coax a lot of quirky sounds from his guitars, making it difficult to figure out who is doing what. Like Alasnoaxis, this trio create a variety of moods, each one filled with different soundtrack like images, from somber to more agitated, fascinating throughout. - BLG/DMG
CD $12
JUNK GENIUS with BEN GOLDBERG / JOHN SCHOTT / TREVOR DUNN / KENNY WOLLESEN - Ghost Of Electricity (Songlines 1525; Canada) Junk Genius's first record (on Knitting Factory ) consisted of fractured, go-for-broke treatments of difficult bebop compositions, and earned high praise from Down Beat, Option, etc. Five years later they return with a different focus: original songs that sound as if they'd come from old field recordings, recovered artifacts inspiring a new oral tradition. Through hymns, stomps, hollers, and anarchic strum-alongs, Junk Genius trace the border regions between alternative jazz, improvisation, and the primal music of Dock Boggs, Son House, the Carter Family, and the Georgia Sea Islands. Ben Goldberg (clarinet), John Schott (guitars), Trevor Dunn (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums) play together as one, and are beautifully recorded. But this is no exercise in nostalgia: while it moves the listener with the reverence of its melodies, the rhythmic feel is dynamic and unsettling and the overall tone of the record bothliberating and tragic. "Junk Genius is basically the New Klezmer Trio plus John Schott on guitars (both record for Tzadik). This is their second release & they are co-led by the excellent Bay area clarinetist Ben Goldberg, with bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle & Secret Chiefs) and the above mentioned wonder-drummer Kenny Wollesen! Their last cd was a few years back on KFW & it was rather klezmerized versions of bebop tunes. This release is much different and even better. All the pieces are originals this time and were written by Ben and/or John. Although the first piece "Gone Away" is quite somber & haunting, this vibe doesn't last long. On "Hollersdale"- the pace is frenzied and the excitement builds to powerful conclusion. Each piece seems to be a different challenge on a variety of levels for each of these maturing players & composers. "Angle" sustains an eerie tension throughout, while the clarinet & guitar erupt together in waves. John Schott plays national steel guitar on "Aberdeen" and the quartet does a fine job on maintaining somber suspense by evoking ghost-like entities. What makes Junk Genius so special is the way in which both Ben's clarinet & John's guitars always anticipate and compliment each other's sound. The rhythm team also sounds as if they have been playing together for many moons and although Kenny has been living here for quite some time, Trevor will also be moving here sometime soon. It seems to me that each of Ben Goldberg's half dozen cds have been superb - here is yet another wonderful addition to his growing collection of clarinet treasures. I just wish he would come to NYC more often" - BLG
CD $10
KARTET [GUILLAUME ORTI / BENOIT DELBECQ / HUBERT DUPONT / CHANDER SARDJOE] - The Bay Window (Songlines 1560; Canada) Kartet is a French quartet featuring Guillaume Orti on saxes, Benoit Delbecq on piano, Hubert Dupont on bass and Stephane Galland on drums. Although this quartet has been around for 25 years and this is their sixth release, this is only the third disc that I've seen for myself. The personnel for the previous discs is the same except that the drummer has been different on each past disc. Mr. Delbecq is a master of playing inside and on the piano keyboard. Pretty much everything I've heard from him has knocked me out. This disc is a well-recorded studio effort, the balance and attention to detail is superb. All of the members of the quartet except for the drummer contribute pieces as this is not just a group improv effort. "XY" falls between jazz and chamber music, with a quirky rhythmic structure which is hard to predict. Each piece is uniquely constructed with odd, unexpected twists. It sounds almost like Monk writing for a chamber quartet. There is a rather playful yet clever quality to this that I find most charming, no one is showing off yet the structure or strategy is constantly shifting into something else. While solos are kept to a minimum, when they do happen, they are well integrated into whatever the rest of the quartet is doing. You can tell that a great deal of thought went into the composing of each of these pieces as each some is challenging in different ways but never too complex to be difficult to listen to. With each listen, another layer is revealed. Is Erik Satie the guiding light behind this band? In certain ways, he is indeed. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
H-SACD $12
ANDY LASTER'S LESSNESS With CUONG VU / ERIK FRIEDLANDER / KENNY WOLLESEN - Interpretations Of Lessness (Songlines 1515; Canada) A chamber-jazz suite inspired by Samuel Beckett's short prose work, featuring Laster (baritone and alto sax), Erik Friedlander (cello), Cuong Vu (trumpet), and Kenny Wollesen (drums/ percussion). Laster establishes a richly appealing sound world, catching something of Beckett's rhythms, colors, sadness, and obtuse, oddly-vaudevillian humor. 20-bit recording. "One of the recent gems of the downtown improvising scene." - Ben Ratliff, New York Times
CD $10
ANDY MILNE - Dreams And False Alarms (Songlines 1565; Canada) Canadian pianist and keyboard player Andy Milne has been based in the US since the early 90s, performing with Steve Coleman's groups and with Cassandra Wilson, then leading his own quintet Dapp Theory, a band which combines jazz grooves with funk and hip-hop. Dreams and False Alarms, his first solo piano record, contains deeply considered re-workings of long-remembered pop/rock/folk/reggae classics (and three originals), reaffirming and expanding his creative process as a jazz improviser. The social and artistic idealism which Milne brings to his work has influenced both his choice of music and its interpretation. "For me, I have to discover how I'm going to assume my own temporary ownership of a song before I can determine my approach. So in the case of these songs, I played them a bunch of different ways for a while, until a path revealed itself....Deciding what songs to record wasn't easy, but essentially I looked for material rich with meaningful, strong melodic content and just enough room for some personal harmonic development. What draws me to this music? I think it's the combined artistry of the poetry, songwriting and performance of their creators. Artists like Bruce Cockburn, Bob Marley, and Joni Mitchell use their songs to speak about important things that need to be heard in this world, yesterday and today. I guess I'm drawn to them for their courage and ideology." In terms of style, Andy cites a long list of keyboard heroes and mentors, from Tatum, Monk, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Nichols, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock to Muhal Richard Abrams, Mulgrew Miller, Geri Allen, Kenny Werner and Brad Mehldau, not forgetting Glenn Gould or Stevie Wonder. 24 bit/88.2kHz recording mixed to stereo and 5.0.
SA-CD $10
ANDY MILNE & BENOIT DELBECQ - Where is Pannonica? (Songlines 1579; Canada) This collaboration between two masters extends the scope of the piano duo. Weaving complex rhythmic relationships, poetry-infused melodies, and contemporary harmonic structures, Milne and Delbecq construct some truly 'new' sounds, each with their own place in the room. Enhanced CD features a 15-minute making-of video that explores the musicians' creative process. Whereas I know of French pianist Benoit Delbecq from the eight great discs he has on Songlines, I am not familiar with Vancouver-based pianist Andy Milne, who has one but well-regarded solo piano disc out also on Songlines. So I wasn't too sure what to expect from this piano duo, but I knew I was in store for something special since that is what the Songlines label is all about. Piano duos are relatively rare but certainly not unprecedented. Keith Tippett has played duos with both Stan Tracey and Howard Riley and just last week (May, 2009) I reviewed a disc with Myra Melford and Satoko Fujii. Benoit's inside-the-piano sound is quite unique and it gives this a duo a most distinctive taste/sound. Benoit sounds as if he is playing a piano with small blocks of wood inside muting the strings, making it sound more like a percussion instrument while Andy adds more melodic fragments on top. This seems to be the overall structure of many of these pieces (written by Mr. Delbecq) with Benoit setting up the slightly bent scenario and Andy adding selective counterbalance melodies. At times the pianists exchange roles or blend their parts into one another so we don't who is doing which part. There are moments of rich elegance and moments of odd mystery found on this disc. Although there are two pianists they never step on one another and space is used just right. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
H-SACD $12
QUINSIN NACHOFF With MARK HELIAS / JIM BLACK STRING QUARTET - Magic Numbers (Songlines 1556; Canada) Featuring Quinsin Nachoff on tenor & soprano saxes & compositions, Mark Helias on contrabass and Jim Black on drums plus a string quartet with Nathalie Bonin & Noemi Racine Gaudreault on violins, Jean Rene on viola and Julie Trudeau on cello. This is quite an impressive debut disc from Vancouver-based saxist Quinsin Nachoff and his NY rhythm team and a fine string quartet. Considering that I was completely unfamiliar with Mr. Nachof before this, I am even more amazed by ambitious ideas and writing. On each of the eight pieces, Quinsin sets up different tactics, grooves or structures for the sax-led trio and string quartet to navigate through. The string quartet is an integral part of the proceedings, often playing their parts as the trio tightly connects with them. Quinsin's bittersweet tone works well with string quartet that often starts off or continues the phrases that the sax exhales. What is most interesting about this is that it is very hard to define, being in between established categories of jazz and modern classical. There are elements of short somewhat funky grooves interspersed with some further out string sections. It is difficult to combine these extremes without sounding forced, but the entire group does a great job of making it flow together. We received this promo more than a month before we got in copies to sell, so I played it a few times and always met with good response from customers in the store who knew that this was something unique and successful. Another unexpected gem from the consistently superb Songlines folks. - BLG
SA-CD $10
SEAN NOONAN STRING QUARTET - A Gambler's Hand (Songlines 1597; Canada) "I first developed the storyline and in my old basement apartment where there was a man who I could hear inside my wall. I wasn't sure where the sound was coming from but soon realized it was from the apartment next door. I never saw him come outside and I was intrigued by who this person could be. In an absurd moment one day, I imagined he was trapped inside my wall and was trying to get out and communicate with me. Often he was screaming and pounding on the wall and I thought maybe my music and drumming would comfort him. So I began communicating with him through playing my drums.. A few years later I got into Beckett and became interested in expanding the concepts of theater of the absurd and minimalism in plays such as 'That Time' and 'Footfalls'.... Evolving my 'wandering' folk theory has led to extending my study of folklore and storytelling into a more personal form of expression." - Sean Noonan The music draws on a diverse range of compositional styles, from Neoclassical and 20th century American experimentalism (Nancarrow, Cowell) to downtown contemporary (Zorn), as well as punk and free jazz. But for the last few years Noonan has also been telling stories from the drumkit in semi-improvisational counterpoint to his drumming (as can be heard on his self-released jazz-rock quartet record Set the Hammer Free). In the current project the relationship of the drums and strings developed from Sean's experience of hearing/playing music from the drum position - conceptually and even literally, the strings are positioned as extensions of the drummer's limbs: "There are many unique sonic amalgams a drummer experiences sitting behind the drum set that are not heard by the listener. I wanted to capture and exploit these qualities and emulate them in my string arrangements and in the process of mixing the album. So I positioned the two violins far left and right, the viola mid-left, and the cello mid-right. The drum set faces directly towards the quartet. I thought it would be quite interesting to intertwine or overlap the strings and percussion and treat it all as one organism." The string players Sean chose all have experience in improvisation, and it shows: "I want to praise these great musicians....I knew it wouldn't be easy to find players with the right background and the level of concentration to execute and interpret my written compositions and on the turn of a dime be able to improvise in a free-form manner." On A Gambler's Hand the narrative elements are left to the listener's imagination to find in the music, or not find, if one prefers. But an expanded version of the story, "Bruised by Noon," will eventually be available, as will a 30-minute Polish film with music but not words in which Sean plays the role of the gambler. For those in the New York area, the music and film will both be premiered at Roulette on September 24, featuring two string quartets, the Momenta Quartet and a quartet of improvisers including Jason Hwang, Tom Swafford and Mat Maneri.
CD $10
SEAN NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON With JON MADOF/ARAM BAJAKIAN/MARC RIBOT/MAT MANERI/THIERNO CAMARA/JIM PUGLIESE - Stories to Tell (Songlines 1563; Canada) Featuring Marc Ribot, Jon Madof & Aram Bajakian on guitars, Mat Maneri on viola, Thierno Camara on electric bass, Jim Pugliese on percussion, Thiokho Diagne on djembe, Susan McKeown, Dawn Padmore & Abdoulaye Diabate on vocals and Sean Noonan on electro-acoustic drumset & the music with lyrics by the vocalists. I recall Sean coming down to the old DMG store and leaving us with a few different discs from The Hub, an ambitious punk/jazz power trio that had a buzz going a few years back. The Hub was touring in Italy in 2003 when their vehicle collided with a drunk driver, leaving Sean with two broken legs. Sean was lucky to be alive and it took him a few years get his chops back, concentrating on electric drums, as well as his regular drumset. When this disc arrived in the mail last month, I was surprised to see that Sean Noonan was back and that he had put together an extraordinary cast of musicians from both the downtown scene as well as a few fine world music players and singers. Starting with "Massana Cisse", Sean takes an infectious griot melody and let Ribot rip it up. The three guitars play this riff that recalls the Allman Brothers in the early days when their music still unique and joyous. Thiero Camara's slippery electric bass burns superbly underneath as the drummers help the spirits ascend together. Mali vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate passionate voice is at the center of "Esspi" as Mat Maneri's enchanting (more melodic-than-usual) viola and Ribot's searing guitar swirl around the mesmerizing rhythms provided. One of things that makes this disc special is the way the guitarists work together with different inter-connected parts on each piece. Susan McKeown is an old friend of mine and one of those wonderful singers that more folks should know about. Susan sings in a traditional folk song in Gaelic on "Noonbrews", her voice sailing in layers as Mr. Diabate also sings powerfully along her side. The song really doesn't sound very traditional especially when Ribot takes one of his truly sick solos. On three tracks, all three guitarists get a chance to take stretch out and take a couple of inspired solos apiece. Sean's Brewed by Noon band played their CD release gig last Saturday (1/13) at Symphony Space with Jamaladeen Tacuma as their guest. Word is that this gig was pretty great, sorry that I missed it. Don't miss out on this great disc, certain to be one of this year's best and the year has just begun. - BLG
SA-CD $10
SEAN NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON With MARC RIBOT/ARAM BAJAKIAN/MAT MANERI/JAMAALADEEN TACUMA/SUSAN McKEOWN - Boxing Dreams (Songlines 1573; Canada) Featuring: Sean Noonan, electro-acoustic drum set, percussion, compositions; Marc Ribot, electric guitar; Aram Bajakian, electric guitar, Max MSP; Mat Maneri, viola; Jamaaladeen Tacuma, electric bass; Susan McKeown, vocals; Abdoulaye Diabate, vocals, conga; Thierno Camara, electric bass, vocals; Thiokho Diagne, percussion Since the release of his previous Songlines record Stories to Tell in early 2007, Sean Noonan has been busy stirring up the ingredients of his unique "wandering folk music" project, and here's the new brew. Grandiose, intoxicating, and sui generis, Boxing Dreams is a wildly ambitious and idiosyncratic concept album that blends passionate vocals and time-honored lyrics from Ireland, Mali and Senegal, raw power-jamming jazz/rock guitars, shape-shifting improv viola, dense soundscapes, funked or punked up drum and bass grooves and complex, dancing polyrhythms. The musical stories Noonan tells are as diverse as ever, but the overriding metaphor of the record's title suggests how he wrestled its elements and his own restless subconscious into a personal artistic vision: "The main effect I wanted in Boxing Dreams was to give the impression that the entire album is a single boxed dream, where each song captures a different dreamed or imagined story. 'Morpheus' in some ways sets the dreamy mood of the album. Morpheus is the god of dreams, who assumes any shape and form, and on this song Susan McKeown sings from an Irish Gaelic aisling or dream poem called 'Magic Mist.' 'Courage' is a tribute to my hometown (Brockton, Massachusetts) boxing legend Rocky Marciano, who remains the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career. Lately I've been intrigued by the physical intensity and body movements of boxing. I'm beginning to visualize these movements and apply boxing concepts in my drumming. 'The Return of the Peanut Butter Queen' was first an actual dream I had about a queen named Ilylea who taught her fellow peanuts the magic of making peanut butter, creating great prosperity and hope in the land of peanut. Later I wandered this story into a composition. 'Story of Jones' is a country-style instrumental narrative - each of the three sections re-enacts what happened on the famous train engineer's journey to the promised land in 1900. Jones lost his life saving his passengers when he collided with Old No. 9 in Tennessee and was found dead still gripping the train's brakes." Along with the dream concept there's a lot more singing on Boxing Dreams than on Stories to Tell, and generally the songs are multi-lingual (Gaelic, Wolof, Bambara, English)
CD $10
PAUL PLIMLEY - Every Thing in Stages (Songlines 1503; Canada) Playing inside, outside, and all around a Bösendorfer grand, Plimley reveals an idiosyncratic but powerful vision of the piano-as-orchestra. Paying tribute to his pianistic mentors (among them Ellington, Powell, Monk, Ibrahim and Taylor), he synthesizes jazz traditions, classical influences, and elements of new music (Zappa, Steve Reich) into a number of stylistic approaches which he combines and varies throughout a diverse program of original compositions and improvisations.
CD $10
PAUL PLIMLEY & TRICHY SANKARAN - Ivory Ganesh Meets Doctor Drums (Songlines 1523; Canada) This is a collaboration between two eminent Canadians who are masters of different traditions. Plimley is well known for his ecumenical style, involving jazz, improv, and western classical elements among others, as documented on his 1996 solo record Everything in Stages (Songlines) - and he brings it all to the table here. Sankaran is one of the most celebrated practitioners of Karnatak music, the rhythmically complex classical tradition of South India. The result of their meetings is this program of duos, some compositionally based and others improvised, in which the musicians explore the various ways their instruments and musical knowledge can relate. For example, Sankaran's composition "Jhampalaya II" sets the Indian mood immediately with a tamboura drone which continues during his solo on mrdangam (double-headed drum), then lays out as Plimley's solo pulls the piece back into jazz territory. "Sevens and Eights", a joint composition characterized by Cecil Taylorish tone clusters and alternating segments of 7/8 and 4/4, reverts to a freeish 4/4 during the improvised section, a witty stop-start conversation that keeps both players on their toes. Paul's "Skipping" has a syncopated, oddly bluesy feel, while his "Many Happy Returns" contains echoes of stride piano and Schubert; these are tunes that could work equally well in a more conventionally jazzy context but gain in piquancy for their Indian dialect. The other pieces are all improvised, with Sankaran acting as a highly responsive accompanist, displaying a flexible time sense which uses the building blocks of tala but doesn't lock the dialogue within rhythmic cycles, drawing a remarkable range of timbral and dynamic shading from his kanjiras (tambourines), and occasionally taking the lead in shaping the music's development.
CD $10
POOLPLAYERS [ARVE HENRIKSEN / BENOIT DELBECQ / et al] - Way Below The Surface (Songlines 1569; Canada)Featuring Arve Henriksen on trumpet, electronics & voice, Benoit Delbecq on piano & bass station, Steve Arguelles on Usine, delays & filter and Lars Juul on drums & electronics. This is certainly an odd line-up of international sonic explorers from different places and spaces. Arve Henriksen is from the ever-popular Supersilent; Benoit Delbecq plays extraordinary sounds from inside the piano with Francois Houle; Steve Arguelles is a British born, French-based percussionist who turns up a variety of odd combinations and Lars Juul is a Danish drummer that has played on numerous discs, but has escaped my notice until now. I wasn't certain how this unique quartet would turn out, so.. "Beneath the Undercurrent" opens with spacious trumpet, floating piano, delicate cymbals and an eerie ambiance of drifting electronic sounds. Benoit's piano playing has a distinctive sound as he mutes certain notes inside the piano and provides both dreamy and occasionally ominous sounds. Arve Henriksen also his own sound on trumpet, watery, bathed in echo, notes slightly bent both acoustically and with effects. Together, Arve and Benot make haunting sounds that work well together drifting together and around one another in an endlessly dream-like state. "Two Fold" is mainly just using brushes on the drums with subtle effects added to make it more hypnotic. 'Way Below the Surface,' underneath the cosmic currents of the waves is where this sounds like it was recorded. I like the way this was recorded, seamless sounds drifting softly in space with selective melodic fragments and occasional dark puddles to balance the endless flow events. Superb, sublime and submerged in a watery world of free-floating spirits that are often quite mesmerizing. - BLG
H-SACD $12
ROB REDDY'S HONOR SYSTEM With JOSH ROSEMAN / EDDIE ALLEN / PHEEROAN AkLAFF / JEF LEE JOHNSON - Post-War Euphoria (Songlines 1512; Canada) New York soprano and alto saxophonist, a former member of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, has created a personal synthesis of his (early to avant) jazz, blues, funk and gospel roots. His powerhouse band is Eddie Allen(trumpet), Josh Roseman (trombone), Jef Lee Johnson (guitar), Dom Richards (bass), and Pheeroan akLaff (drums). "The Honor System takes an ambitious and passionate ramble through Reddy's limber compositions... An unabashed acknowledgment that jazz has roots outside jazz itself that lead not only in the direction of virtuosic soloing and intricate ensemble performance, but also toward the more populist pleasures of r&b and rock. The results are both impressive and fun." - William Stephenson, Jazziz
CD $10
BRAD SHEPIK With PETER EPSTEIN / SKULI SVERRISSON / MICHAEL SARIN / et al - The Well (Songlines 1531; Canada) with Peter Epstein (saxes), Skuli Sverrisson (electric bass), Michael Sarin (drums & percussion), Seido Salifoski (dumbek & percussion) The follow-up to his critically acclaimed The Loan (SGL 1518-2) finds guitarist/saz player Shepik ( Tiny Bell Trio , Pachora, BABKAS ) deeper in the music of the Balkans, Middle East, and North Africa and deeper in his own style - driving or insinuating grooves and melodies in compound time signatures, with subtle group interplay, effortless solos, and a downtown edge. "With Brad on guitars, saz & tambura, Peter Epstein on saxes, Skuli Sverrisson on el. bass, Seido Salifoski on dumbek & Michael Sarin on drums. Brad Shepik keeps busy in both Pachora and Tiny Bell Trio, and this cd is his second as a leader. Skuli is also in Pachora, Seido is from the Paradox Trio and Michael has drummed with Thomas Chapin, Dave Douglas & Myra Melford. Brad specializes in that middle/eastern/euro sound that both Pachora & Tiny Bell are a part of, his solo cds also come from a similar place. The same infectious exotic groove fuels 'the well' which flies open with a hyper strummed piece called "The Flood". Brad has composed all but one piece found here, the only cover being a traditional Turkish tune called "Zephyr", which sounds no different from the rest of the tunes. Both Brad & Skuli, who plays consistently great fretless bass, switch off on soloing and playing in and around each other with a tight knit connection. The title tune slows down the pace a bit, with Brad playing some smoky acoustic, as well some more mysterious phased electric guitar. Alto & soprano saxist - Peter Epstein also seems just the right choice for this unit, by taking the role of hypnotic snake-charming reed player. Each tune is introduced by a different player, until the groove is established and the memorable melody takes us for a ride once more. The sly & sluggish "Quiver of Veils" has a fine, intoxicating groove which reminds me of sipping an ice cold drink in the arid desert. " - BGL
CD $12
BRAD SHEPIK & THE COMMUTERS With PETER EPSTEIN / TONY SCHERR / KENNY WOLLESEN / et al - The Loan (Songlines 1518; Canada) Debut of BABKAS and Pachora co-leader (and member of Dave Douglas's Tiny Bell Trio and the Paradox Trio) features his compositions arranged for a Balkan/Turkish/Persian (and occasionally Afro/Celtic) flavored quintet. Supercharged world jazz. Shepik, guitars, electric saz, banjo, cumbus, with Peter Epstein (alto and soprano sax), Tony Scherr (electric bass), Kenny Wollesen (drums) and Seido Salifoski (dumbek). Richard Gehr's Top 10 for 1997, Folk Roots. "Shepik excels in a vein of ethnic improv that mines Middle-Eastern and southern European sources with real with and passion... His playing has real flair, and the material is deep, spirited stuff - full of appeal not only for the avant-jazz crowd but also for world music fans and the hippie-groove contingent." - Bradley Bambarger, Billboard
CD $12
CHRIS SPEED'S YEAH NO With CUONG VU / SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - Deviantics (Songlines 1524; Canada)After a half dozen excellent releases with Tim Berne'e Bloodcount, two fine Pachora cds, his work with Myra Melford and Dougie Bowne, this is Chris Speed's second recording as a leader. Chris's palette continues to expand, his tenor sax & clarinet playing, as well as his composing just get richer and stronger. His quartet feature the talents of up & coming trumpet great - Cuong Vu (from Saft/Vu), plus the Pachora rhythm team of Skuli Sverrisson (Mo Boma) on el. bass and Jim Black (Bloodcount also) on drums & melodica. The rhythm team is splendid throughout, shifting gears midstream, stopping on a dime and jumping into or providing the flow of ever - changing events. Considering how young Cuong Vu is, both he and Chris are perfect foils for the demanding compositions found here. Jim's eerie melodica drones and ultra - subtle small percussion flourishes also add a mysterious ambiance. That Pachora - esque middle eastern groove is only found here is small dosage, so this quartet can explore other pathways. One of the things I dig most about Chris Speed is the his endearing warm toned tenor, expansive and rich, out of the cool school, a sigh of relief from those who blow too hard from Traneland. His clarinet also is seems to be coming from a playful and pensive Jimmy Giuffre like sound. - BLG
CD $12
CHRIS SPEED'S YEAH NO With CUONG VU / SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - Emit (Songlines 1532; Canada) This is Chris' third release for Songlines and his second cd this year, the first was his new 'Iffy' trio on KFW. 'Emit' features his stellar Yeah No quartet with Cuong Vu on trumpet, Skuli Sverrisson on el. bass and Jim Black on drums. Chris plays tenor sax and clarinet and keeps very busy juggling commitments with Bloodcount, Same River Twice, Dave Douglas units past & present and currently with Pachora. His playing and composing continue to evolve, expand and just get better with each release. Both Chris and Jim write these nifty tunes with skewed, fragmented structures. "Constance and Georgia" begins with a normal tenor and trumpet head, yet the rhythm team starts to veer off and twists things into strange areas - Skuli and Jim have been playing together for a while and it sounds like they can anticipate each other's moves. "Suggestible" is like a Pachora tune, but a bit more off kilter - both Cuong and Chris on clarinet play quick, inspired and burning solos, the rhythm team soars through this quick piece with ease. Things slow down to a lumbering, broken pace on "Berance", sounding like the entire quartet are about to fall over, but somehow remain tight and eventually erupt near the end. The horns drift like ghosts on "Waltzing" which is filled with suspense and silence. "Kosmia" starts with a sunny, eastern euro melody and lovely clarinet and trumpet solos to follow. Both horns play their slow bopping lines together almost throughout "Tangents" while the rhythm team burns on top spinning dense webs. "Tralala" is gentle, sort-of chamber jazz and "Kompa" has that refreshing, memorable melody line and infectious eastern groove - where's the belly-dancer?!? The closer "Transporter" also has a wonderful, warm head and quaint, hushed solos from Chris' tenor and Cuong's trumpet. - BLG
CD $12
CHRIS SPEED'S YEAH NO With CUONG VU / SKULI SVERRISSON / JIM BLACK - Yeah No (Songlines 1517; Canada) Tenor sax/clarinetist co-leads Human Feel and is a member of Tim Berne's Bloodcount and Myra Melford's The Same River, Twice. His debut CD explores his jazz, contemporary classical and Balkan-inspired compositions with a subtle, simmering kind of freedom. With Cuong Vu (trumpet), Skuli Sverrisson (electric bass) and Jim Black (drums). Writers choice 1997, Steve Vickery, Coda.
CD $12
TALKING PICTURES [PEGGY LEE / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF / RON SAMWORTH / BILL CLARK] JORRIT DIJKSTRA - Humming (Songlines 1523; Canada) From Vancouver and Amsterdam, two centers of creative music that have forged many links over the years, comes this collaboration between Dutch alto saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra and Ron Samworth's quartet, one of Canada's tightest jazz units ("tantalizing adventures that open doors to the labyrinths of improvisation, deep groove swing, and surreal playfulness" - Coda). Talking Pictures responds to Dijkstra's hummable melodies with unusual empathy, producing a lyrical, tough, dreamlike set that integrates live electronic processing with free or structured improv. Featuring Peggy Lee on cello, Dylan van der Schyff on drums, and Bill Clark on trumpet. Talking Pictures, formed in 1993, has toured Canada extensively (as well as Europe) and has received critical recognition for their "cinematic frame of reference", "very fresh sound", and "closely attenuated style of group playing, deliberate yet wholly responsive, with a wonderful sense of space" (Mark Miller, The Globe and Mail). Jorrit Dijkstra has several European CDs under his own name and has performed or recorded with many Dutch musicians as well as Marty Ehrlich, Jim Black, Mat Maneri, Kenny Wheeler, Barre Phillips, Marc Ducret, and Benoît Delbecq.
CD $10
GEBHARD ULLMANN TA LAM - Ta Lam (Songlines 1520; Canada) Music for saxes, flutes, clarinets, bass clarinet, and accordion by a truly original Berlin-based composer-performer and his colleagues. Echoes of tango, Oceanic panpipes, pygmy chants, township jive, gagaku, Turkish music, and Brecht-Weill cabaret are woven here and here through tonally rich ensembles that balance the rhythmic freedom of jazz and the structural rigor of 20th century classical forms. But file under jazz for the solos! This release collects the best music from Ta Lam's two German-only CDs - the first performed entirely by Ullmann (overdubbing himself on a panoply of saxes and woodwinds) with accordionist Hans Hassler, the second by his band (seven reed players and accordion).
CD $10
DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF With MICHAEL MOORE / BRAD TURNER / MARK HELIAS / ACHIM KAUFMANN - The Definition Of A Toy (Songlines 1554; Canada) Featuring Brad Turner on trumpet, Michael Moore on alto sax & clarinets, Achim Kaufmann on piano, Mark Helias on bass and Dylan van der Schyff on drums. Ever in-demand Vancouver-based drummer & composer, Dylan van der Schyff has put together an extraordinary international quintet for his debut as a leader. Each player comes from a different place and each member contributes to the composing of the pieces, with fine trio improves from Michael, Achim and Dylan. The title piece is by Michael Moore, that ICP reeds wiz that we all have come to know and love. "Definition of a Toy" has this joyous, buoyant, slightly twisted theme that changes rhythmically throughout with sparkling, slightly bent solos from Achim, Michael on clarinet & alto and Turner on trumpet. There is a superb duo of Turner and Helias called "Duet" where both players weave their notes intricately around one another. Helias' "Jacques" is a tight, quietly explosive piece with some complex written passages as well as some cautious interaction. Turner's "Queen of the Box Office" has an elegant, thoughtful melody with some superb ultra-subtle bass clarinet, trumpet and piano and Helias' sublime bass at the center. I dig the way Achim's "Siberian Elm and Furrowed Brow" constantly shifts in tempo, speeding up & slowing down & changing dynamics, yet remaining tightly-knit throughout. Moore's exquisite "Gaivotas Sobre Lapa" is a haunting, precious gem that floats in like a dream and is dedicated to Moore's father. Helias' "Broken" closes this wonderful disc with some grand solo piano from Achim, contemplative trumpet from Brad and poignant clarinet from Michael Moore. Another superb offering from the fine folks at Songlines. - BLG
SA-CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI ENSEMBLE With BEN MONDER / STOMU TAKEISHI / SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Explosion (Songlines 1508; Canada) Zimmerli explores the many challenges of incorporating extended harmonic, rhythmic and melodic vocabulary into an improvisational context. Melding jazz and contemporary classical, tonal and atonal, his Ensemble burns brightly even while negotiating intervallic and polyrhythmic complexities seldom encountered in jazz. Immediately arresting and often downright beautiful, this music digs deep.
CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI With KEVIN HAYS/STOMU TAKEISHI/SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Phoenix (Songlines 1548; Canada) Featuring Patrick Zimmerli on soprano sax & compositions, Scott Yoo & Yoon Kwon on violins, Maurycy Banaszek on viola, Inbal Segev on cello, Kevin Hays on piano, Stomu Takeishi on fretless el. bass and Satoshi Takeishi on percussion, programming & electronics. This gem appears to be Zimmerli's fifth disc since his debut a decade ago. I've only heard the last two ('Expansion' & 'The Book of Hours') and I am indeed intrigued by Patrick's rich compositions. His new ensemble features a string quartet plus another quartet of his soprano sax, piano, fretless bass and percussion. You should be familiar with the wonderful Takeishi brothers rhythm team who work independently and together with Henry Threadgill, Myra Melford, Ned Rothenberg, Dave Tronzo & many others. Both quartets are completely intertwined as one solid octet. Patrick's music is a rich blend of sublime and haunting melodies with some intricate strings surrounding his lovely soprano playing. Zimmerli composed all but one piece, which is a cover of Jobim's classic "How Insensitive" and is a quaint rendition. Stomu Takeishi is one of the best and most distinctive electric bassists around, his unique liquid (fretless) tone always rings true and is featured here superbly. On "Wunderlichen Stadt", the group shifts between somber and playful themes, evoking different emotions with every shift in direction. Satoshi plays some elegant mallet work through, as well as the selective use of rhythmic samples, creating different beats with the odd rhythmic loop. All the 14 pieces seem to be connected with recurring themes, in a thread-like suite. Another sublime jewel that hovers nicely between categories. - BLG
SA-CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI ENSEMBLE BEN MONDER / STOMU TAKEISHI / SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Expansion (Songlines 1530; Canada) Five years after Explosion, the debut of his Ensemble on Songlines, award-winning New York composer-saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli returns with another radical re-examination of jazz orthodoxies. Like the earlier program, Expansion combines contemporary classical musical elements with a jazz feel and approach, and includes standards as well as original compositions. This time however Zimmerli has organized his thoughts in longer forms. Built on a drone, "Sand" was inspired in part by Hindustani classical music and the dense, steady-state textures of the Japanese Gagaku ensemble; it's an emotionally compelling and intellectually fascinating piece whose shifting inner complexities reveal themselves slowly (see Kevin Whitehead's liner notes for a guide to its organization, and then try to keep track of who's soloing when). "The Elements Suite" is probably the jazziest work Zimmerli has yet recorded: in contrasting/complementary sections, the Ensemble explore together the blues, ballads, and post-bop through techniques (purists might say distorting lenses) of chromaticism, extended harmony, and polyrhythm. In Monk's "Evidence" and Bronislaw Kaper's "Invitation" Zimmerli pays his respects to the jazz tradition directly: their more conventional (though still slightly off-kilter) swing and melodic/harmonic departures provide a point of entry to his transformed world, with its often wild leaps, shining textures, and deep moods. Throughout the record Zimmerli and his associates (Ben Monder, guitar; Stomu Takeishi, bass; Satoshi Takeishi, percussion) bring advanced performing skills and great intelligence to bear on the interpretive challenges he sets, producing highly polished, exciting, unique music that suggests new creative directions beyond labels.
CD $10
PATRICK ZIMMERLI & OCTURN With BEN MONDER - The Book of Hours (Songlines 1541; Canada) The Book of Hours, by New York-based composer/saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli supported by the Belgian little big band Octurn with previous collaborator Ben Monder guesting on guitar, should appeal to a broad spectrum of jazz listeners from straight-ahead to avant-garde. For those of the more straight-ahead persuasion, the album presents music of great beauty and melodicism; Zimmerli employs often bright and crisp colors and textures (fully realized here by the ten likeminded musicians of Octurn), and there is also a warmth that suggests the post-Gil Evans approaches of a composer like Maria Schneider. In short, The Book of Hours is engaging and accessible throughout, and shouldn't scare potential straight-ahead jazz listeners away, at least those not bound by rigid stylistic constraints. And listeners with a non-traditional streak should find favor in the polyphonic complexity of Zimmerli's scores, which disguise and embellish head-solos-head structures in unconventional ways (the canon-like "Interlude" segments have a particularly strong classical influence, beginning in duet form and adding instruments cumulatively during trio, quartet, and sextet iterations interspersed among the other album tracks). Thematic material (signifying the many moods of a passing day) is stated and restated in variation as soloists enter and exit against an always surprising and involving backdrop -- this is music that could keep even the most dedicated avant-gardist on his or her toes with its constantly evolving permutations. However, if you are an avant-garde jazz fan who favors apocalyptic free jazz filled with outbursts of dissonance, overblown multiphonics, and ear-splitting squeals, The Book of Hours is emphatically not for you. Zimmerli's music can be bold, energetic, and propulsive ("Night"), yet it often maintains a subtle and understated quality; even the seemingly highly improvised dialogue between baritone saxophone and percussion on "Noon" suggests a conversation rather than a shouting match. As for Zimmerli the saxophonist, his soprano solo on the lovely "Sleep" that concludes the disc is a thing of true beauty and one of the album's most striking improvisational moments, even as the piece tends to calm rather than excite the listener's heart. ~ Dave Lynch, AMG
CD $10