Danish, Oslo-baed sax player Signe Emmeluth is one of the busiest musicians
in the Nordic free music scene, leading her bands Emmeluth's Amoeba and
Banshee, playing solo and in duos with Belgian sax player Hanne de Backer
and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood, and member of Paal Nilssen-Love’s Circus,
Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra, Bonanza of Doom, Andreas Røysum Ensemble,
Liv Andrea Hauge Ensemble, and Jonas Cambien's Maca Conu.
Emmeluth joined the hyper-expressive free jazz trio Yes Deer - with
Norwegian guitarist-partner Karl Bjorå (who plays in Emmeluth's Amoeba and
with her in Bonanza of Doomin and the duo Owl), and Danish drummer Anders
Vestergaard - after fellow Danish sax player Signe Dahlgreen left the trio
in 2021. Everything That Shines, Everything That Hurts is the fourth album
of the trio and the first one with Emmeluth.
Fortunately, nothing has changed in this supposedly fresh beginning of the
trio. It still offers its raw and thunderous dynamics and explodes right
from the first second with an intense, merciless ride. Displaced, distorted
guitar riffs, manic saxophone blows, and libidinous drumming blend into an
intoxicating, cacophonous stew that keeps boiling until it completely drains
all energy out of Yes Deer.
Emmeluth, on tenor and alto saxes, has become an organic part of Yes Deer’s
fiery, dense interplay with her stream of stratospheric, commanding blows.
The album features only two pieces, the 14-minute “Everything That Shines”
and the 18-minute “Everything That Hurts”, but you are guaranteed that its
liberating power will trigger immediate, repeated listening. There is
nothing that can compete with an addictive stew of such three musicians
playing in one room, their super-fast instincts, clever thinking, and deep
camaraderie, as well as their willingness to act stupidly, search for the
sound of sabotage, and push away their sticky jazz education.
“My work involves the idea of building my own molecule and then allowing
myself to give meaning to it,” said tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis
in a November 2023 interview with Stewart Smith of the Quietus. In the
interview, Lewis expresses his interest in science – describing the DNA
Helix as a model for his Molecular Systematic Music system. He expounds,
saying “…the transformative experiences that can shape your artistic DNA….
My encounter with the whole idea of molecular biology continues to shape my
music’s personality.”
The DNA helix is well understood in science as the fundamental building
block of who each of us is – from our physical characteristics to our
behavior and personality. Perhaps this is what drives James Brandon Lewis –
his goal – a musical form that emanates who he is deep down – his
core
. Maybe that is what lies behind the album name – Apple Cores.
Lewis and his bandmates, the wonderful Chad Taylor (drums, mbira) and Josh
Werner (bass, guitar) composed all the pieces which grace this effort. The
trio is joined on some of the tracks by two guest artists, Guilherme
Monteiro (guitar) and Stephane San Juan (percussion). Together they deliver
a stunning combination of toe tapping, head nodding, angular musical
geometry chockful of rolling rhythm and bass lines, lines that permit Lewis
to mold the music with his soulful and seductive sax passages.
Like ocean spray on a warm summer day, the music feels almost joyful - in
an abstract sort of way. The geometry of the music suggests paintings of
Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, or the fascinating landscapes of Yves
Tanguy. There is tight coherence to each cut, but also a broadening that
stretches outward. The three Apple Core numbers (“Apple Core #1,” “Apple
Core #2,” and “Apple Core #3”) demonstrate this tight and loose feel – the
rolling Werner bass arpeggios and the Taylor funky, bumpy drumwork behind
Lewis’s wild and undulating sax exhortations and stutters. The music leaps
from ledge to ledge like a mountain goat on a desolate Wyoming Beartooth
mountain.
Then there is the expansive ballad “Of Mind and Feeling,” where the group
is joined by Monteiro and San Juan. Coming in at less than three minutes,
the music here is airy and hazy, a kind of peaceful morning call – and what
a beautiful and introspective morning it is! Listen to Monteiro’s floating
guitar lines above Lewis’s deep and resonant presentation. Werner keeps it
minimal – touching only on the basics while letting the music open up. And
likewise, Taylor adds a minimal approach, his subtle toms apparent at first
before disappearing altogether.
Other numbers are equally impressive – the musical safari of “Prince
Eugene,” the intense climb of “Five Spots to Caravan,” the New York street
feel of “Remember Brooklyn & Moki,” where the music creates a collage
of concrete sidewalks, wall graffiti, urban metal security shutters, dusty
street signs, and brownstones.
“Broken Shadows” generates heat, lit up by Taylor’s fascinating
African-infused beat. There is the hopping dance line of “D.C. Got Pocket.”
Listen for Monteiro’s guitar funk and later his intense blowback intermixed
with the solid but novel Taylor drumming. And on “Exactly, Our Music,” the
tight syncopation is backstopped by Monteiro’s vibrant guitar. After a
brief Monteiro solo, Lewis emerges with his soulful motif and San Juan
jumps in late with irregular patterns that merge seamlessly.
Although all the music presented is excellent, “Don’t Forget About Jane,”
may well be this album’s masterpiece. Here is where - above Taylor’s all
over drumming - Lewis shows off his angular dramatic style in all its
glory. As the piece progresses, Lewis becomes even more extemporaneous,
deploying immense freewheeling arcs and a repetitive motif that reaches for
the sky.
There is never a dull moment on Apple Cores – it is exciting to
its core. This is a record that delivers Punch and Judy – a
ripe bowl of apples - sweet, crisp, with plenty of juice, and ready for
your pleasure.
I rarely analyze cover art in reviews, but maybe I should. In this case,
the cover consists of a photograph flanked on either side by a firey
bundles of wheat (or carpet?) and, below, paintings of a flower and a soft
blue bird. Above is the title, The Ancients, crowned by vine
scrolls, all in black. This highlights the center photo, in which Isaiah
Collier, William Parker, and William Hooker stand on a New York rooftop, two
wearing scarves, one sunglasses, all three staring at the camera. But the
photo looks like a faded polaroid, primary hued with hushed blue and
yellow. It looks old. The three men look like ancients, fuzzy from memory,
almost haunting the image.
In other words, the image is making a claim to lineage and the album lives
up to it. Recorded over two nights of concerts – two at LA’s Arts &
Archives and one at The Chapel in San Francisco – in 2023,
The Ancients
is both urgent and classic, reaching back to the slow methodical modal
build-ups of 1970s free jazz. Collier starts with a patient layering of
phrase upon phrase, which accretes tension until an eruptive release about
17 minutes in. Parker lays a propulsive bass, leaping from furrow to
furrow through additive embellishments and sheer drive. Hooker plays with a
concertedness that betrays not age, but wisdom and experience. He is busy
and rhythmic, but with precision and crisp, discernible arcs rather than
free-for-all clangor. (In that, he is on par with Andrew Cyrille right
now.) With Parker and Collier’s emphasis on process and development, this
works perfectly and brings me back to some of my first encounters with the
music of Noah Howard, Sonny Simmons, Kidd Jordan, and, of course, late
Coltrane. Then again, one would not mistake Collier for them. I am not sure
what it is, exactly. Maybe it is the replacement of patience and slightly
longer tones, or fewer beats per measure, for the rush of those earlier
works. Collier, Parker and Hooker are dealing with similar ideas and
aesthetics but developing them in different ways. Take Parker’s turn to the
hojǒk, a Korean instrument akin to an oboe, at the end of the second LA
night, and Collier’s adoption of various unidentified “little instruments”
and the Aztec death whistle, which sounds like a human scream, as evidence.
Or, take the extended, spacious bass-drum duo in the second LA night, that
replaces some of that early energy music exuberance with special attention
to construction.
My only real criticism is the cuts between tracks. Each set fades out
rather than finishes. One wonders whether this was done to fit each set
onto a side of a record. If so, that is a fine reason, but one is left
wondering what is missing. Somehow 22-minute cuts just are not long enough.
Now, Collier’s own words: “free jazz is an enduring high art. its greatest
expressions belong to their particular moment in history, & live on to
transce-nd & refract in amaranthine ways. inside our present historical
moment, we are fortunate to have the master musicians in the ancients
bringing us their high level creation.” Agreed, but let us also remember
the current moment, and the new generation who are building on that
tradition, Collier himself foremost among them. God damn, this is good
music. Cheers to the ancients, the forebearers, who established this
tradition, and an extra spilled libation to those of whatever generation
who are keeping it alive and relevant.
The Ancientsis available as a download on Bandcamp and as a double-CD and LP through Aguirre Records.
Freedom is a hallmark of any Ivo Perelman album – a freedom governed only
by the interaction he has with his guest artists. Case in point – his double
CD recording Parallel Aesthetics with drummer/pianist Tyshawn Sorey
– a masterpiece of transitions – fast to slow, soft to loud, rhythmic
variations and abrupt changes at a moment’s notice, the way the two
musicians listen carefully and respond to each other’s phrases and
momentum. These improvs are not for the faint of heart or ear. But in their
stream of consciousness approach, they explore the contours of sound in a
meticulous manner, not unlike a seasoned spelunker entering an eons-old
cave for the first time, the darkness pervasive but the footing secure.
Sorey enjoyed an extremely fruitful 2024. The drummer/pianist/composer won
the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for music for his composition “Adagio (For Wadada
Leo Smith).” He was also nominated for the same award in 2023 for his work
“Monochromatic Light (Afterlife),” which was inspired in part by the Rothko
Chapel (the Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX features 14 abstract expressionist
masterpieces by Mark Rothko; Rothko painted the haunting murals that adorn
the chapel walls in 1967, just three years before his untimely death by
suicide). Sorey also received several best of jazz 2024 album nods for his
trio recording The Susceptible Now (Pi Recordings) with pianist
Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan, and his supporting drum work on
two albums - pianist Vijay Iyer’s Compassion (ECM) with bassist
Linda May Han Oh, and bassist Kim Cass’s Levs (Pi Recordings) with
pianist Matt Mitchell [check out Lee Rice Epstein’s review of Levs]
.
Like Sorey, Perelman too enjoyed a productive 2024, issuing collaborative
recordings with such jazz luminaries as trumpeter Nate Wooley, saxophonists
Ingrid Laubrock and Chad Fowler, pianists Matthew Shipp and Aruan Ortiz,
bassists Reggie Workman, Barry Guy and Mark Helias, drummers Tom Rainey,
Ramon Lopez, and Andrew Cyrille, vocalist Fay Victor, and violinist Gabby
Fluke-Mogul. All of Perelman’s work feature mind-expanding improvisation
done with a high level of precision and technique.
As is typical with any Perelman recording, the six numbers that grace this
effort cover a range of feelings and atmospheres. Sorey plays drums on
three and piano on three, which gives him an opportunity to create
phantasmagoric interplay with the excitement and heat elicited by
Perelman’s sax. Look no further than “CD 2 Two” for evidence of this. Sorey
plays inside the piano, creating odd sounds and machinations with the
strings. Sometimes he pairs this with rumbles in the lower register of the
keyboard. The effect is one of interstellar space – a kind of Ligeti-like
coloring behind Ivo’s pause and play method - like a dark dream – Alice
down the rabbit hole. And Ivo’s climb to the summit and beyond highlights
how the two interact to create strange new soundscapes.
There is also the doom and anxiety expressed on “CD1 Four,” which features
Perelman’s outbursts and runs, that, over time, transition into siren calls
above Sorey’s light dancing and pirouettes on the piano keys. Think balance
beam or tightrope, as the music stagger-steps along what feels like a
musical cliff, the rocks hundreds of feet below. Towards the end of the
piece, Sorey creates ear bending tone clusters as Perelman jumps in with
exclamations, hues, and cries.
On the pieces where he plays drums, Sorey exhibits what could be described
as a master class of drumming skills, flipping from cymbal to snare to tom
to bass drum like water storming over a rocky rapid. His fluid playing
flows beneath Perelman’s whirls, swirls, and transpositions. And listen to
the musicality of his bass drum pedal work on “CD2 One.” This same cut
highlights Perelman’s speed to the top of the sax register and then back
down – his dexterous action on the keys not unlike a high-speed racecar,
bobbing and weaving through traffic daredevil style.
Perelman and Sorey bring boundless energy to “Parallel Aesthetics.” Balls
to the walls. Thrilla from Manila. Captured perfectly by expert engineer
Jim Clouse, such high musicianship and improvisatory excellence demands an
audience. Highly recommended!
This week's Sunday video comes to us via Portuguese bassist João Madeira who recently streamed this multi-media performance:
"'Aqui, Dentro #3'
is a multidisciplinary performance imagined by João Madeira, who invited
Cláudio de Pina and António Jorge Gonçalves on this intrepid journey. João
Madeira's original composition for solo double bass solo is fed through the interpretative lens of sound processing by Cláudio de Pina and
real-time digital design by António Jorge Gonçalves.
"This journey intended to open clearings within the sound, to discover
chambers dug into the ground, into the soil of a single note, thus unveiling the electroacoustic depth of this excavation. The instrument is thus played
with four hands and in two dimensions and, in turn, the music that resonates
from it gives visibility to the gestation of an imagetic narrative, an image
of listening itself - the drawing." (Translated from Portuguese via DeepL).
We've all been recommended great music from a friend, a relative, a colleague,
an acquaintance, a parent even; music we would never have found otherwise,
music that goes under the radar, outside the Spotify algorithm recommendations
or advertisements. It's the magic of word of mouth, the result of chance,
interpersonal relationships and curiosity, so many variables that give the
gems we find thanks to it a special quality.
In the internet years, with so much music released every day, independent
labels have taken on the mantle of curator, of that friend that recommends new
and hidden music. We all have our favourites, of course, Clean Feed, Trost,
Thrill Jockey, ECM, Impulse! and hundreds more for virtually every music
genre, and once you find a label whose taste you resonate with a rabbit hole
of great music opens up in front of you, music and artists that will be among
your favourites that you might not have found had you not browsed the label's
catalogue.
Over ten years ago, I came across the album San Sheng Shi by Chinese
avant-garde musician Li Jianhong, falling in love with his music and his
particular approach to the guitar. Ever since then I've amassed a small
collection of his releases and one day, while browsing Bandcamp looking to
expand this tiny heap of records, I came across a label I'd never heard of
before: WV Sorcerer Productions, based in France and managed by Chinese
musician Ruotan Shen. In addition to the Li Jianhong material I was looking
for I found a treasure trove of music spanning most genres in the experimental
domain, from free improvisation to traditional folk, most of it focusing on
musicians from China and France, but not exclusively. Although some of the
music in the label's catalogue falls outside the purview of the music we
tackle on this site I encourage everyone to give a chance to the psych rock of
Mong Tong, the tribalistic Pays du Mat or the futuristic singer-songwriter
Otay:onii whose incredible vocals are in high demand lately and who, in my
opinion, will be the next big thing in independent music.
For fans of freely improvised music there's a lot to sink your teeth into,
I've tried to compile some of my favourites here.
Li Jianhong & Wen Zhiyong & Deng Boyu -
Les trois amis de l'hiver
A patient, meditative release that, through its sheer size reaches emotional
highs I've rarely heard in purely improvised music. One massive live
performance split into two CDs of world-class improv, with fantastic interplay
and perfectly balanced peaks and valleys of energy. Li Jianhong's massive
guitar never overshadows Wen Zhiyong's more delicate trumpet, sometimes
exchanged for a flute and often augmented with or possibly used as a
controller for synthesizers that, despite their cold and digital sound, retain
the articulation and phrasing of a brass instrument. The drumming is fluid and
exciting, providing a great foundation for the other instruments while also
showing off Deng Boyu's talent and chops. A fantastic trio that tries
something new and succeedes with flying colors, I hope this isn't the last we
see of this ensemble.
ZAÄAR - Musique cryptique (Live in Liège)
Not the only ZAÄAR release on the label but by far my favourite; the Belgian
collective merges staples of western free improvisation like the tenor
saxophone with middle eastern instruments like the zurna and the iranian
santur without falling into clichéd orientalist faux-traditional music we can
hear on some Hollywood soundtracks. They merge the organic sound of wind and
hammered instruments with inorganic synths and heavily processed vocals that
are more textural and ritualistic than lyrical into a mutant, alien kind of
music that's simply ZAÄAR's signature sound. It's a live album and it embraces
what makes a live album great: the volume, the tactile feel of the recording,
the blemishes and the unmatched energy of being in a room performing in front
of an attentive audience. The stage is where ZAÄAR thrives and here they're
firing on all cylinders for your listening pleasure.
P/O Massacre - Sonic Oblivion
This duo from Anton Ponomarev and Anton Obrazeena pushes free improvisation to
its limit, bordering and often venturing into the realm of pure noise music.
The album is a tour de force, a relentless assault on the senses that needs to
be experienced in one sitting and at dangerously high volume. Its four pieces
are purposeful exercises in tension and sonic exploration through a heavily
distorted guitar, noisy electronics, samples and a screaming saxophone, all
focusing on texture and volume over rhythm or melody in pursuit of pure
catharsis. The final track is a more conceptual piece of contemporary music,
revolving around the processed sample of the plane Obrazeena flew leaving
Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. A long, loud and challenging release,
that's freeing and purifying the way great noise music can be.
Qian Geng & Anton Kaun & Wang Ziheng - Krakatoa
Possibly my favourite release on the label, it prominently features the
saxophone of firebrand Wang Ziheng, one of the wildest, most expressive
saxophonists around today interacting in a live setting with German audio
artist Anton Kaun. The album explores sound in a holistic way, remaining
meditative even in its most aggressive moments, a balancing act between the
electronics, the percussion and the woodwind; there's a delicacy behind the
countless layers of sound. This is truly free music, little to no rules and
expectations of jazz-inspired music remain, no constraints or regulations,
just pure expression. And the fantastic music is only one element of this
release: the physical edition includes a gorgeous 200-page art and photography
book of the artists on the tour that would result in the music on the album.
It's an audio-visual piece of art and, while the music is great and can be
purchased digitally on its own, the book is just as important for the
experience, I highly recommend purchasing the physical edition although the
price can be steep.
As mentioned before, the incredibly talented improvisers on the label's roster
are but one facet of the music that gets released, the latest offerings being
a soundtrack for theater by multimedia artist Cheng Daoyuan and a smokey dark
folk album by singer-songwriter Sophía Djebel Rose.
'Human decadence & cosmic existence' reads the label bio and all
the albums they put out perfectly encapsulate this simple phrase, the push and
pull of the melancholy, decay and sorrow that are part of what it means to be
human with the drive to transcend, to express oneself and create something
beautiful and meaningful.
Another standout band from the young wave of nu-jazz, pushing the
boundaries of traditional jazz by blending it with R&B, hip-hop, and
soul. As they reshape the genre's foundations, many of these artists are
creating a new tradition within jazz itself. This trio is one of those
examples, crafting what I’d call Urban Jazz – a sound deeply rooted in the
new jazz generations. Based in Berlin, the trio quickly developed a unique
style of their own. Even though their debut mini-album only dropped in
2023, they’ve already made a name for themselves among the neo-jazz fans,
performing in clubs around Germany, and now they’re even touring parts of
the world, spreading their sound further.
On their debut mini album, Moses Yoofee’s keys occasionally took a more
classical tone – grounded, down to earth. But on this one, the signature
style of the band becomes clear right from the start, diving headfirst into
the playful, wicked, liquid sound. Beside the spirited piano, breakbeat
drums by Noah Fürbringer pulse through, while Roman Klobe-Barangă crafts
deep bass lines, tying the tracks together. This combo births the Urban
vibe I mentioned earlier – a late-night city feeling resembling those from
the 90s. When the music scene was completely raw, in its purest form and
free from distractions.
The greatness of the album is that there’s something for any type of
listener. For the musicians there’s the great technical aspect of the album,
hip-hop drums combined with the old school jazzy, yet at times contemporary
and bewildering piano. For the instinctive listener, it has the groove that
makes your body move. But for the more imaginative one, it has everything
needed to slip into a state of losing yourself – forgetting everything and
just getting lost in the music.
The music on Rob Mazurek’s Live at the Adler Planetarium is
beautifully crafted and striking – a dramatic mix of emotions and
abstractions. Mazurek directs the ensemble, plays cornet, trumpet, and
bells, and composed the music. He even adds his voice to the proceedings.
The band, aptly named Exploding Star Orchestra, is comprised of a multitude
of incredible talents: Nicole Mitchell (flute, voice, electronics), Damon
Locks (voice, samplers, electronics), Tomeka Reid (cello, electronics),
Craig Taborn (Wurlitzer electric piano, moog, electronics), Angelica
Sanchez (Wurlitzer electric piano, moog), Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (bass),
Chad Taylor (drums), and Gerald Cleaver (drums). Wow… what a crew!!!
Mazurek has been creating music for the orchestra since 2005 and recorded
with the group first in 2007 on We Are All from Somewhere Else
(Mitchell was also on this album). The group has at times featured jazz
luminaries such as Bill Dixon (on the 2008
Bill Dixon with the Exploding Star Orchestra
- sadly, Dixon’s last recording), and Roscoe Mitchell (on the 2009 live
recording Matter Anti-Matter).
While Locks, Sanchez, and Taylor played on the group’s last three albums
(beginning in 2015 with Galactic Parables: Volume 1), Reid and
Flaten joined the unit for 2020’s Dimensional Stardust, and Cleaver
and Taborn made their debut with the band on the unit’s last outing, the
2022 album Lightning Dreamers.
Live at the Adler Planetarium
is a live version of the compositions recorded on
Lightning Dreamers
.
The New Jersey born and Chicago schooled Mazurek presently lives in the
remote artist colony of Marfa, TX, about 60 miles northwest of the Mexican
border. A visual artist (painter and animator) as well as musician, one can
understand Mazurek’s attraction to Marfa, a small desert city known for its
“Marfa Lights,” orbs in the sky that emanate from automobile headlights
distorted by warm desert air. Furthermore, one can understand why Mazurek
seems fascinated with celestial imagery and why this album was recorded in
a planetarium.
Those who have traveled the remote back desert of southwest Texas know how
stunning the night skies can be, and the music on Live is full of
mystery and awe – a kind of masterful interpretation of the overwhelming
sense of being one might experience looking at the vast night sky. The
album is also noteworthy for its pervasive and ubiquitous use of
electronics. It is as though Mazurek has tapped into the radio wave
emissions of such entities as pulsars and quasars – combining the imagined
sounds of space with an almost Indigenous point of view.
Locks’ poetry can be heard at times above the music:
“Imagine a timeline opening up.”
“Floating in the current.”
“Accept the invitation to feel; accept the invitation to dance.”
“In the dark, we fade away.”
“Toes touch first upon the star dome!”
The first three cuts, “Dream Sleeper,” “Black River,” and “White River”
merge together like rivers flowing toward a junction and then out to a
wide oceanic expanse. Movement is conveyed by the electric piano and bass
lines, which float like buoys above fluid drum lines. Mazurek creates some
striking notes on trumpet, and Michell’s flute and Reid’s cello lines rise
to the foreground.
The sweeping theme of “Underneath the Star Dome” sounds visual. There is a
dance quality to the music – modern ballet weaving and bobbing. Listen to
the precision Cleaver and Taylor bring to the trap sets as they spin atop
the esoteric electronics. When the group reaches the flex point in the
number, the music become looser and freer – unglued – as Mazurek’s trumpet
roars. Voices join in, and the theme dissolves into a bluesy abstraction.
On “Spiral Parable,” there is a forward momentum, like a jostling safari, a
vehicle bouncing along a dusty road on a great plain. In the distance are
plateaus and buttes that front a blue and red sky. Great birds take flight
via Mitchell’s flute arcs. The drummers generate heat, their off beats and
rhythmic flourishes stretch and sway – creating the equivalent of a giant
drum circle around a huge bonfire, the flames lapping high into the evening
sky.
The concert (album) closes with “Parable 3000,” a funky exposition
featuring a repetitive yet interesting piano motif. Mazurek’s trumpet is a
tour de force and Reid’s cello lines splice neatly into the Sanchez/Taborn
chordal structures. There is an almost hallucinogenic quality to this
number - very trippy indeed.
Mazurek and crew deserve a major tip of the hat for this outing. What we
have is a synergy of great musical beauty and intensity that seems to
stretch time, like one momentous singularity, reaching out to the forever
darkness from the sands of an infinite desert.
As Georges Paul’s tenor sax erupted, after brief moments of silence, into
bursts of noisy repeated phrases, provoking equally energetic responses from
Chris Corsano’s drums, the aforementioned phrase came to my mind. A
collective expanding universe of drums, various percussion objects and a
tenor saxophone. Free jazz.
We haven’t seen Chris Corsano live in Athens for some years now, so for us
Athenians it was a big event and a lot of people felt the same about this
gig as me. The rapture of this duo –totally in the magnificent tradition of
the sax-drums duos from the past- was immense, catching many of us off
guard from the very end. Someone could comment that since there is no
recording by this duo, they have forged their musical relationship the
old-fashioned way. Just by playing live together. Their performance, which
lasted for almost an hour, was divided into two sets. Not knowing what to
expect, the two musicians allowed a big flow of energy through aggressive
playing, filling the room with excitement, as I could see on many faces.
Trying to be objective when writing or reviewing is a difficult task by
itself, becoming even more difficult, I believe, when it comes to the live
experience. Their two sets where at times fragmentary, at times fully
cohesive. They , in my eyes and ears at least, that they followed an
invisible trajectory that involved pushing each other to go ahead, while
listening attentively to what each one had to say. There were no actual
solos, but, from time to time, room for both to play on their own. Phrases
and gurgles from the tenor saxophone were intertwined with Corsano’s full
use of his modified kit. Joyful noises, many of them, were followed by very
short passages of silence. But mostly aggressive, passionate playing
leading to what this music has always been about: transcendence and
catharsis.
With a tenor sax that rose over the roof and a drum set that expanded into
polyrhythmic territories…
George Cartwright and Bruce Golden were easily my fave purveyors of
improvisational what the fuckery of 2024, and this recording is a
strong entry in their 2025 run for the title. Made up of thirteen short
pieces drawing from the worlds of garage sounds, electronics, lo-fi
musique concrète
, and the duo’s downtown jazz CV, South from a Narrow Arc is a set
that is reckless, heavy, and filled with cinema and humor. I could easily
be projecting my own sense of a good time onto these guys—maybe they’re
actually depressed and maudlin when playing, how would I know?—but the
sense of them creating music to suit their own fancies, tapping into joy,
and just occasionally cracking each other up in the studio is very
tangible. I would love to have heard some of the conversations that fell
between these pieces.
Listing the instrumentation hereon is not particularly helpful because
sometimes I don’t even know what is being played. Here it is anyway: Bruce
Golden - percussion and lots lots more, George Cartwright - saxophones and
guitar. “Lots lots more,” Bruce? Don’t confuse us with technical terms.
What I hear is bass, guitar, sax, someone pushing a heavy piece of
furniture on the sidewalk, bells tolling, as though heard by Quasimodo on
heavy downers. I hear … is that a stritch? As played by Dewey Redman? Well,
some sort of primordial buzzing reed. Hand drums. A maddeningly evasive drum
loop. Klangity-klang-klang. Some groove or other. Etc. Etc.
I’ve been aware of Cartwright and Golden for decades (not exaggerating),
but since reviewing the duo’s
Dilate in March 2024 my fire has been well re-lit. Here’s another for 5 stars.
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