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Showing posts with label feature. Show all posts

Friday, February 16, 2024

“Give The Brummer Some” – An Encounter with Ches Smith

Ches Smith @ Festival Sons d’Hiver – Paris, January 2024. (c) Margaux Rodrigues


Alas, fate had other plans for former-pizza-maker turned pro-brummer/congwriter, Ches Smith. When the pizza place relocated, the owners announced to their beloved employees that the moving process could take a while. If anyone wanted to pursue alternative career paths, “Perhaps now would be a good time.”


With a glint in his eye and a gentle smile, Ches speaks fondly of his time working at Escape from New York Pizza, recalling the good old days with waves of nostalgia. One might think he almost regretted his decision to follow the path of "professional musician."

An in-joke from this era, quoted from a colleague in the kitchen, inspired the very title of Laugh Ash, his latest album released February 2, 2024. 
With a similar fondness, he chats about the recording process with a different team of workmates, and the inspiration and gusto each band member brought to the project:

“Everyone was so great – really threw down with the music and all that. [The strings] would just sit there and shed their parts together. And when James [Brandon Lewis] would come over and look at stuff, where he’d call me, it felt good. Shahzad totally too. And he can be a bit of a wild card, but he just was like, 'Yeah, let's do this.' He really learned the music.” The full roster of Laugh Ash’s blockbuster lineup includes a total of ten extraordinarily talented musicians, the coordination and recording of which was indeed serious business. The recurring theme of catering for the massive ensemble, however, became something of a running gag.

“I ordered, like, WAY too much food each day. It kinda got funny when there was like 40,000 pounds of sushi one day. Then, seriously, like 20 pizzas. And people were like, 'I don't think we can eat all this, man.' I just like to make people have a good time.”

And that he does at the very least through the display of his extraordinary talent on the skins.

To watch Ches play live is nothing short of exhilarating. In the constellation of Marc Ribot’s rough and punky Ceramic Dog , cymbals adjusted sky high allow for harder hits, resulting in not only a louder crash, but a noodley spectacle of long flailing limbs. Over the course of the recent European tour, six snare heads were destroyed. He is also known for his "1000 faces" – animated, rubbery, and cartoony facial gestures amplified by the occasional tilting of his long neck. It’s always an endearing, passionate performance: professional, but with a goofy-twist. A bit like Napoleon Dynamite when he’s dancing.

He’s looking remarkably youthful and healthy. Perhaps this can be traced to a relatively clean, mostly vegetarian/pescatarian lifestyle, and a tendency to avoid drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol, especially on tour. After performances, however, open Red Bulls and half-drunk coffee cups can be found scattered around the drum kit. Ches’s energy levels are always somewhere on the border between falling asleep on his feet and hyper focused, almost certainly as a result of over-caffeination. “I’m just gonna fill this up,” he commentates at breakfast while placing a mug under the coffee machine, and hitting the double-espresso button a grand total of three times. Maybe this is the secret to his success.

And if it’s any measure of that success to name his collaborators, here are just a few: Tim Berne, Mary Halvorson, Bill Frisell, Trey Spruance, Jamie Stewart, Sean Ono Lennon, John Zorn … Regardless, It is pointless to try and list all the prominent musicians Ches has worked with. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that he has worked with them all. Suffice to say, he does not experience the sensation of being “star struck,” or at least he hasn’t done so since 1999.

“I didn’t expect it, but when I talked to Ian MacKaye [Fugazi], I was super weird, because I had that feeling… I guess starstruck for someone I had admired from afar, but I didn’t realise it until I came into contact with him. That’s the last time I remember, it’s possible there was another, because that’s a long time ago.”

The Haitian drumming scene however, still causes him some degree of intimidation: “These master drummers that I’m playing with grew up in the tradition, and I’m coming at it from the outside… I don’t do it enough, I think. I wish I could spend a lot more time, but I really have to do all this other music too.“ 

Ches fell into the Haitian scene by accident, after a stand-in was required at a graduate school dance class. His paleness, thankfully overlooked, Ches describes the moment as something like: “Hang on - we can work with this.” It was love at first thump, and ever since that day, his passion has developed into a borderline addiction, sometimes catching himself making up excuses to cover up his sneaking out to go “Vodou” drumming. Never a man to do things by halves, Ches’s study of Haitian culture has even gone as far as learning the language of Haitian Creole – this effort of assimilation in turn earning him a deep level of respect and trust from Haitians worldwide, multiple true friendships, and even a god-daughter. But for someone as committed as Smith, it’s never quite enough: “Last week, I almost gave up Haitian drumming forever. The amount of practice and commitment required to be at the level I want to be at… [but] I’m not going to quit. It's been a while since I played [a ceremony]… It’s something you have to be in shape for, for sure.”

It’s quite a unique situation: one minute performing a Zorn-composed opera piece alongside Barbara Hannigan at the packed out Paris Philharmonic, the next minute immediately Ubering across town, sneaking out to go Haitian drumming (again) in a private, seven-person, Vodou ceremony in a Paris basement. The Haitian preoccupation manifests across the spectrum of Ches’s work, notably his We All Break project, (featuring Matt Mitchell, Nick Duston, and Markus Schwartz to name a few). The compositions draw heavily from traditional Haitian instrumentation, vocals, and rhythms, but are tastefully blended with piano and other "western" accompaniments.

Ches finds ways of incorporating diversity wherever possible, even amongst the rapid-fire genre switching pieces by John Zorn: the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, minute long, machine gun works, for example: “In those small bursts, I try to include that [the Haitian influences] as much as I can.” Taking part in a huge number of eclectic collaborations, and never one to shy away from the role of frontman, some of his most notable projects include the percussive Congs For Brums , the experimental These Arches, and the impressive post-covid combo of Bill Frisell, Craig Taborn, Matt Mineri on Interpret it Well. The cover art for which is a sketch by none other than artist Raymond Pettibon, famous for his work with Black Flag, and his almost comically iconic Sonic Youth’s “Goo” album cover. Ches humbly remarks: “We couldn’t believe we were allowed to use it.”

Matt Hollenberg once stated his theory that drummers can take on more projects because they "don’t have to worry about notes." “Oh yeah, that's true,” agrees Ches, “I think you can memorise more music – I find it easier to memorise music when I'm playing drums than vibes, for instance, but there are other challenges. I think it all ends up being the same.” Once declaring that he was “looking forward to playing more jazz and less of that classical shit,” he now officially retracts this statement. Ches Smith would like to clarify that he believes classical music is not shit: ”I think I was talking about the amount of dense music I had to have in my head [at the time]. I think after concert after concert of that, it's nice to just kind of swing. That's what I felt I probably meant. Sometimes I say things in a ham-fisted kind of way.”

Further traces of Ches’ ham-fisting can be found scattered around his discography, with songs and album titles such as: “Hammered”, “My Motherfuckin Roda!”, or “Speak Up If You Hate This”. So what is it that drives a man to label a serious tune “The Most Fucked”? “[It was] a kind of version of what I was trying to do, like there were versions where it was super streamlined. You know, without all that shit going on… [That title] just stuck.”

Festival Sons d’Hiver – Paris, January 2024. (c) Margaux Rodrigues

With the Big Ears Festival on the horizon, the brummer can be found playing in no less than four supergroups: Ceramic Dog, Laugh Ash, Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant avec Folie à Quatre, and Secret Chiefs 3.

On reuniting with Secret Chiefs 3: “I’m looking forward to it. I was just relearning the music today and it kind of all came back really fast, and it's a lot of tunes I've played a lot, but it's just been a long time. I'm glad Shahzad’s back in it, too. And Shanir [Ezra Blumenkranz] together. There's like two on every instrument: Kenny Grohowski and myself, Shahzad and Shanir, Matt [Hollenberg] and Trey [Spruance]... It's fun. It’s really a fun band to play in.“

According to Ches, there’s two things in life that he was born to do: play the drums and be a dad. A devoted husband and father of one, he can often be found juggling meetings and commitments abroad with simultaneous phone calls back home. His passion for his little family clearly runs deep, as he frequently recalls family-related anecdotes amongst his everyday conversations. Although he relishes the natural excitement of touring, the underlying desire to return home and be with them is omnipresent. In terms of priority, “family” always dominates.

Having said that, he did maybe tell a teeny tiny fib to the love of his life about buying a full octave-and-a-half set of orchestral bells. “I told her I was not gonna buy them. And then suddenly there were just…” he trails off. “[John] Zorn was using them more than once. I kept having to borrow them from Kenny Wollesen and I found a set that I could afford, and I was like, ’I'm just doing this.’ But everyone thinks it's completely ridiculous. It’s like the heaviest instrument I own, easily. It’s like metal bars and a huge frame with a pedal.”

In this all-too serious world, it’s refreshing to know that artists like Ches are out there keeping it fun. God knows, the scene could certainly benefit from an occasional injection of humour. But what does the future hold, and where does he see himself in 5 years time?

“I wanna be the first legacy artist on Bandcamp'… I said that? That was a joke, man.
… but I do see myself as a legacy artist on Bandcamp.”


Additional Bandcamp links:

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Against Empire: an Interview with Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell. Photo by Ziga Koritnik
 

By Paul Acquaro and David Cristol

Both David and I have seen Bill Laswell perform a few times. For me, once at the old Stone in NYC and once at the A'LARME Festival in Berlin, and for David, starting in 2003, seeing Material in France, then Massacre at Lisbon’s Jazz em Agosto, and in Milano in 2018 in duet with John Zorn – and each time he was a stoic, somewhat ghostly, musically giant presence. His influence in modern music is, to me, similar. Whether as a player or producer, what he touches bears his sonic imprint, expressed in the sound of the drums, and of course, the bass, with elements of dub, funk, ambient and even a bit of jazz. From his discographic beginnings in the downtown New York scene in the late 1970s with Material and Massacre, and working with, among many others, Brian Eno, Ginger Baker, Laurie Anderson, Fred Frith and John Zorn, he has created his own musical universe.

While a career breakthrough was, of course, creating 'RockIt' with Herbie Hancock in the early 1980s, introducing the world to "electro-funk," the credits really go on and on. (For a more comprehensive listing, check out the Laswell discography at Dave Brunelle’s website silent-watcher.) Laswell's reconstruction of Miles Davis' electric music, Panthalassa, is a desert island disc. His vision for Davis' electric music, presented as fluid suite, flowed through my ears and cut new pathways in my brain. Filling these pathways was then the music of Arcana, with Derek Bailey, Tony Williams and later Nicky Skopelitis and Buckethead as well as Last Exit, with Peter Brötzmann, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Sonny Sharrock.

Photo by Ziga Koritnik
In 2020, Laswell released Against Empire, a stunning atmospheric album with contributions from Pharaoh Sanders and Hancock. A duo album with John Zorn, Memoria, came out this year - essentially a freely improvised meeting of two friends and masterful musicians. However, Laswell's ability to work in recent years has been greatly impacted by health issues. A Go-Fund-Me was established in 2018 to help him with maintaining his famous Orange Studio and continues to provide support for him as he manages his health. Additionally, a new subscription effort through Bandcamp, BASSMATTER, was launched in 2020 to make music from his wide-ranging recorded corpus available.

Earlier this fall, we had an opportunity to chat with Laswell from his home in Inwood, New York City, where he is recuperating and continuing his mixing and production work, to talk about some of the music that can found on the Bandcamp site, as well upcoming work, and a bit more. In addition, some of his colleagues from over the years, namely Bachir Attar, Hamid Drake, Kristo Rodzevski, Akira Sakata, Wadada Leo Smith, John Zorn, as well as Slovenian photographer Ziga Koritnik, share some thoughts.

***

The Interview

Free Jazz Blog: I'd like to start asking how are you doing? We know that you've been dealing with some health and other issues with the studio, but at the same time, you're keen on writing another chapter.

Bill Laswell: Well, yeah, I think I can get one more.

FJB: What would you like to see in there?

BL: I just want to continue. There's a lot of records that I've done that need to come out. We have to work on that. And I have wanted to do a lot of drum and bass records without so much music. Just rhythm. There are a few key people that I would work with and want to work with. But again, there's quite a few things in the can that should come out soon.

FJB: About some recent and upcoming projects. In 2020 you started getting a dazzling number of unreleased live recordings out there, from different eras and bands that you had organized.

BL: Yeah, that's still going on. It's on Bandcamp. Why do you do music in the first place? It's so people can hear it. And there is a kind of base of people that want to hear it, so, you know, I keep digging it out and we put it on Bandcamp and there's a subscription that gives access to it. You can get all that stuff from digital places.

FJB: Yeah, the subscription model is interesting. How has that been working for you?

BL: I don't monitor it so much, but I think it's going OK. It's not really selling because the thing is, it's more to do with people getting access to things that they would normally not have heard. I'm glad that people hear it and it's a good document and it measures history in a way. I like the idea.

FJB: How many recordings would you say you have unreleased?

BL: Not many. I have the things that are finished and that will be coming out soon. That's unreleased as of now. But I don't keep a lot of things around that are unreleased. I try to use all.

FJB: As you have gone back to the vaults, were there any projects that you heard differently than you remembered?

BL: All of them, you know, it’s a long time ago. There's a lot of music there and a lot of live recordings. I don't go back to my vault because I don't have a vault. And I don't know how to go back, so…

FJB: I’d like to ask about an upcoming album with The Last Poets...

BL: It should come out soon. Pharoah Sanders played on it. I've worked with The Last Poets for many years. A few years ago, I said let's make a record and go back to the original idea which is just rhythm, percussion and voice and then add a few sounds from Pharoah and Graham Haynes. And that's how this happened. The Poets have done a lot of releases, with bands and one was reggae, one was kind of fusion. I wanted to go back to the original source, reel it in and bring it back to this kind of African concept, rhythm and voice for the most part.

FJB: What about other upcoming albums?

BL: I also have Massacre live in Japan. And one with Sam Morrison, who played with Miles Davis. That's a really good record. And I want to do this project with Ginger Baker. Of course he's gone; but we have tapes. And the Revelator band with Peter Apfelbaum, Will Bernard and Aaron Johnston. I really want to do something with Sly Dunbar again. We've been in touch.

FJB: On Memoria, a recent recording you did with John Zorn, the titles are dedicated to Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, Milford Graves. What connects these artists, besides that you worked with them?

BL: Not everything needs to connect, but it often does. These are human beings. They live on the earth. They make their contributions or they don't. And you know, these guys did a lot. And we just mentioned their names. Because of their willingness and openness to give and to share and to bring all this music to the world and they all did. So, it's just congratulations to them.

FJB: It's very intense and has a lot of texture to it. You have a long-standing collaboration with John Zorn, of course. What has helped create that connection?

BL: It’s been many years, yeah. We couldn't be more different in terms of music, but there's a level of intelligence that I find in him and some of the things that we value are similar, but it's not from music so much. It's writers and painters, film makers, that connection and not so much music. We come from very different backgrounds. And it's always been kind of interesting to me to do that.

FJB: You've done a lot of work in recent years with trumpet players Wadada Leo Smith and Dave Douglas…

Sacred Ceremonies
BL: Wadada called me and I did a lot of things with him, we didn't tour anywhere but we played a little bit in New York. And we did a few records and it was always good for me. Dave Douglas, I met through Zorn and we did a recording with Louie Belogenis and Tyshawn Sorey [“Blue Buddah”, on Tzadik]. Also a live recording with Dave and drummer Hideo Yamaki, “The Drawing Center” [released in Japan, 2017]. And he invited me on some recordings [“Uplift”, Greenleaf, 2018] and a short tour in Europe [with Mary Halvorson, Jon Irabagon, Rafiq Bathia, Ian Chang and Ches Smith] . I'm grateful I am able to do it, because I'm not a jazz musician. They don't put down the sheet music and I play the charts, nothing like that, but I enjoy being in those bands where I have no idea what they're doing and I just sort of play along.

FJB: Then you must have an amazing intuitive feel!

BL: Well, I hope. I hope that's the case.

FJB: What about a trio like “On Common Ground” with Mike Sopko and Tyshawn Sorey? With a group like that, do you have a concept beforehand, or is it improvised?

BL: That was Mike Sopko’s idea, he had the drummer and he wanted to do a record. We did it very quickly, and I enjoyed working with them. I'm sure Mike has a concept, but I don't. I don't like to put music into these designs. That's why I like to play in these bands where they have structured music, written music and I just sort of try to make it work for myself. I like that a lot. With Zorn it is all always improv but with other people, they have their own music and I just kind of improvise around what they have, finding my way into the music.

FJB: With John Zorn, how might that work? Would you start with a bassline, or an idea, or John would play something?

BL: You don't think like that, you just play and you know we've been doing that for so long that I think we have a repertoire, a language, and we just talk like that, with that language and bring back the memories and go forward into the future.

FJB: We’ve been talking about all these recordings that you're releasing and some other ones that have been released with Ulf Ivarsson, Kristo Rodzevski, Simon Berz, Monte Cimino, there's a whole bunch, a full spectrum of aesthetics from ambient to dub global to electronic and other styles. Do you enjoy juxtaposing so many styles?

BL: I'm existing, continuing, and trying to survive at the moment, but I don't see it as styles, and I certainly don't like the idea of juxtaposing them or juggling them. It's music to me. I have been lucky to have the time to understand, or misunderstand, the concept of sound. It's all about the sound. I don't play styles, I don't play genres, I don't play jazz. I play my repertoire, my language, my own poetry.

FJB: Earlier you were mentioning a recording of Massacre in Japan that you're planning to release.

BL: That should come soon. I don't know how everybody else feels, but I thought it was the best thing we ever did, and that's a heavy thing considering I started with Fred [Frith] in the late 70s. Charles Hayward described it as telepathy, like we were communicating on an outside of the space, outside of the environment that you're in, and he had it right, the word is telepathy.

FJB: About the creative process or just sort of how music develops like we've been discussing, I want to ask you about Against Empire your album from 2020. This one features a rich cast of musicians, with Pharoah Sanders, Peter Apfelbaum, even Herbie Hancock to some extent, and others. And the music is seamless, very fluid. How did this one come to be?

BL: I think that's an intuitive approach to production more than playing. Things come in from different angles. Like something someone played might have been five years before, and it all just collides, and when it's right, it just flows, and I felt really good about the work.

FJB: I feel it when listening to it, it's really a cohesive piece. Was there live playing or composition that went into this?

BL: A little of everything. It's improv, it's juxtaposing improv, and creating composition. It’s using technology to arrange music, to place it, tune it, make it relate. There is a certain degree of that there, but there's also just that you rely on your experience and your concept of freedom with sounds.

FJB: With all of the advances that we're hearing about and experiencing with artificial intelligence, do you see a place for it in music making?

BL: Absolutely. I don't know how, when or where, but of course.

FJB: This year marks the 40th anniversary of Rock It and the Future Shock album. That was an absolute paradigm shifter for everyone, mixing hip-hop and electronics and jazz in unique and new ways. I’m wondering just how you feel about this recording now, looking back on it?

BL: Well, I made it but you know, I don't think about it so much. When you’re in the process of creating it, you're not thinking, you're applying the means and the delivery of your current experience and it's spontaneous, and it all happens very quickly. If it doesn't happen quickly, it won't happen.

FJB: You then embarked on a much different adventure with Last Exit.

BL: Last Exit was a little later, from ‘86 to ‘89 on and off, and it was just a way to get away from pop music and obligations and record labels. It was kind of fun to do.

FJB: I think there was a little bit of a crossover? Herbie Hancock guested with Last Exit.

BL: In Japan, yeah, just one concert.

FJB: Regarding Last Exit, you worked with very strong personalities there, Peter Brötzmann, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Sonny Sharrock. What was the creative process like in the group?

BL: It was improvisation then. I had a band with Brötzmann and we were working with Fred Frith and Anton Fier, and there was a tour that came up, and both Fred and Anton were busy. I had been working with Shannon Jackson and I said, “well, why don't we keep Brötzmann and let's bring in Sonny Sharrock." We started in Europe playing festivals, it was pretty intense. We carried on with that for a few years.

FJB: You worked with Brötzmann and Pharoah Sanders and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Toshinori Kondo. Looking back, what was it like working with these folks?

BL: It was like friendship and camaraderie. They're your friends and you go out and you play and you hope people like it, then if they don't, so what? For the most part, it always worked. All those guys are dead. Sakamoto, Kondo. All of Last Exit.

FJB: Your last concerts were with Method of Defiance in early 2020. Do you miss playing live?

BL: Not so much. I don't miss flying on planes and taking a car to the hotel. I've been everywhere twice, so I don't need to go back. I'm good. I just need to try to record as much as I can. Performing live is a lot of work, and traveling is a lot of work.

FJB: Do you feel there's a big difference? Between what you get from playing live compared to what you do in the studio?

BL: It's not the same of course, but it's pretty connected, very much connected.

FJB: Are there any trends in music today that you find interesting?

BL: I used to listen to everything. I mean, absolutely everything. And lately not so much. And if I had to name 10 people that are great, that are doing good things, and are new, I probably wouldn't be able to do that. Nothing new is going to happen, but there are going to be great things coming, that's a definite, but are they new things? Something you haven't heard before? Everything that you're going to hear, you've heard before. It's just going to be in different contexts.


FJB: You've done a lot of recordings with percussionists and drummers like Hamid Drake, Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams. Drummers are often at the forefront of your work, even Against Empire, which we spoke about, is built around four drummers. What is the importance of drums in your work?

BL: Well, you know, it's the foundation in most cases, so building on rhythm and it's usually the core foundation of building something. It depends on the drummer, if it's innovative drummers, you can really build on it. If it's just somebody playing a beat, doesn't really matter.

FJB: I would say that your approach down to mixing really brings the drums to the forefront, very clear. Is that something that you consciously developed or was it more intuitive?

BL: Both really. If it's innovative drumming, you want to hear every detail, so you bring it up and push it to the front.

FJB: You have produced hundreds of recordings in addition to your own projects. Are you very selective when you get involved with the process?

BL: I guess so, yeah, probably before I get involved. It depends on the work and who's involved. If it's for me, I look to just make it the best I can. I'm obliged to be in charge of something. If it's for someone else, I take a different approach, because everyone's got different opinions about it.

FJB: How much would you say you influence such projects, the ones that you are producing? And what might be the first thing you do when you get to work on a new project?

BL: Well, quite a bit, you know. Otherwise I wouldn't be there, or I wouldn't be needed really to do it. Everything is different, it depends on what the work is and everything is going to have a different beginning.

FJB: Do you often have a complete idea of what you think you'll end up with when you start?

BL: Sometimes I do, not always. But sometimes I do.


FJB: Looking over your Bandcamp site, something that caught my eye were the recordings of your Stone and other residencies. What do you recall from putting these together?

BL: Well, it's not curating work really. I got people involved that I respected or I thought were doing something good and, in some cases, just needed exposure.

FJB: Then in addition, there's the one called the Tokyo Rotation. Did these come from events that you organized as well?

BL: Well, that was the five years of where once a year, we would do a series of concerts in the same venue and it was all Japanese musicians and again picking people that I liked and that I worked with and I thought might be interested and you know it goes like that. A lot of great musicians played there, that impressed me.

FJB: Another thing that strikes me is all the different album covers. There's a real aesthetic sense. It's often a dark or mysterious imagery. How do you decide on the artwork? How do you conceive or think of it? Are there any recordings whose artwork you think really matches the music?

BL: Well, I hope that it fits the music and I have a lot of help with that. There's so many… Against Empire, Arcana with Tony Williams. But there's a lot, I can't just name two or three. Hundreds of them.

FJB: Going back to people you have worked with, one relationship I'd like to ask about is with Ornette Coleman. What was your relationship like?

BL: When I came to New York in the 70s, my kind of goal was to meet Ornette Coleman and maybe Miles Davis. And I met them both right away. With Ornette, he always lived kind of near where I was. I started going to his place and invite him to concerts I was doing and stayed in touch with him for a very long time. It was a good experience. We did play in his loft and I recorded everything, I'm going to release a record in the next year or two. Just bass and saxophone. We released a track a couple years ago. Ornette influenced me on just being independent and having your own idea, you own concept about sound and music, I guess that's the way it went.

FJB: Your creative path spans many different sound worlds and collaborations, likely contains many stories. Do you have any plans of working on an autobiography?

BL: No, but I would like to. I just have to have the right people involved. I don't have that at the moment, but there are a couple of people doing books and I hope they do the right thing.

FJB: I just I wish you the best with everything and I really look forward to hearing more from you.

BL: Well, you will, if I can get it together you'll hear it. You just wait. And listen. And then you make up your own mind. I hope I can do more work and you look forward to getting some work.

***

Some Links:

Bill Laswell, Photo by Ziga Korotnik
Photos by Ziga Koritnik


 

Against Empire: Co-conspirators Weigh In

By David Cristol

In addition to our interview with Bill Laswell, we asked some of the artists and musicians who have worked with him to share some thoughts on their work and experiences together.

These are their stories:

Bachir Attar

Photo by Cherie Nutting

"Bill Laswell is a wonderful producer and a great musician. We were honoured to have him come to the village of Jajouka to record Apocalypse Across the Sky with the group "The Master Musicians of Jajouka" in 1992. I remember the donkeys climbing the mountain road to the village carrying Bill’s recording equipment to my father's house where we spent three days playing our music under a sky holding a big moon. This was the first record after the 1972 recording The Master Musicians of Jajouka with my father Hadj Abdesalam Attar who led the group before me. My brothers and I were all born in this house and famous people like Ornette Coleman, Paul Bowles, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and many others stayed. We call it the "History house" but sadly today it is falling down and it needs repair. We hope to save it someday.

We had a 3-day recording session. The old musician Mfdal was too ill to play with us but we carried him in a chair to the house and he watched everything. Later, Boujeloud, his son, danced around a big fire when we played our ghaitas.

Bill took me to America to record a solo album with Maceo Parker and Ayib Dieng. Writer and composer Paul Bowles [living in Tangier at that time] once said that Bill had "perfect pitch". We thank Bill for all he has done for me and The Master Musicians of Jajouka."

  • The Master Musicians of Jajouka - Apocalypse across the sky (Axiom, 1992)
  • Bachir Attar - The Next Dream (CMP, 1992)
  • Various – The Road to Jajouka : a Benefit Album (Howe Records, 2013)
    With John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Medeski Martin & Wood, Mickey Hart, Lee Ranaldo, Ornette Coleman…
  • The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar with Material - Apocalypse live (M.O.D. Technologies, 2017) 

Hamid Drake

Hamid Drake
Photo By Ziga Koritnik

“I first met Bill in the 1980s, at a recording session with Mandingo Griot Society. It was the third release for the group and Bill was producing it. He changed the trajectory of the group in several ways. At the time he also asked me to do some fills on Herbie Hancock’s “Sound System” that he was also producing. That was the beginning of our relationship. He introduced me to Pharoah Sanders and from that I got the chance to record and tour with Pharoah for several years. So many great people I met through my association with Bill. I am honoured to have been involved in many projects. Sometimes he would bring me to New York and Bill, Bernie Worrell and myself would just record a bunch of rhythm tracks that he would use for various records. I feel like we made a pretty good bass and drum team. The work with Bill does differ in many ways from some of my other work. But it makes sense. It has always been a pleasure to play and travel together. Both of us have a deep love for improvised and so-called free music. I consider Bill a dear friend and brother, with an amazing sense of humour. He’s quite a scholar when it comes to the diversity of music styles and history, and without a doubt one the musical production geniuses of our time. On a side note Bill has helped many musicians from many cultures. I am truly indebted to brother Bill. Thank you, Bill.”

Hamid Drake and Bill Laswell selected collaborations:
  • Pharoah Sanders - Message from Home (Verve, 1995)
  • Sacred System - Nagual Site (Wicklow, 1998)
  • Akira Sakata - Fisherman's.com (Starlets Japan, 2001; reissued on Trost, 2018)
  • Charged - Live (Innerhythmic, 2002)
  • Painkiller – 50th birthday celebration volume 12 (Tzadik, 2005)
  • Gigi & Material -  Mesgana Ethiopia (M.O.D. Technologies, 2010)
  • Lee "Scratch" Perry - Rise Again (M.O.D. Technologies, 2011)
  • Peter Brötzmann - Long Story Short - Wels 2011 (Trost, 2013)


Ziga Koritnik

Photo by Borut Peterlin

“In 2001, I got the opportunity to spend several weeks in the Slovenian studio of the Ministry of Culture in New York. I went with the aim of getting to know the photography and music scene, and find opportunities to exhibit. I visited the Vision festival for the first time, hung out at the Knitting Factory, Tonic and other jazz clubs. Amazing coincidences were happening to me, as a result of which the phrase "Space is the place!" constantly appeared in my mind. One of those coincidences, which I believe was not, was meeting Bill Laswell. I'd been a fan of his for a while, listening to Material, Last Exit and other projects. At that time, the idea of ​​making a photo book dedicated to jazz began to simmer. I was thinking about who could write a text for it and the idea came up that it could be Bill Laswell. I unsuccessfully called him at the studio where he worked. One day, I was walking around the galleries, when we met completely by chance in the immediate vicinity of his home in Chelsea. I didn't know where he lived, it was completely random. I explained my idea to him and he kindly invited me to his home, where I showed him my portfolio. He agreed to write the text and he gave me a then unreleased Operazone CD. Unfortunately, I did not follow up on the possibility because I was not sufficiently prepared and persistent in my desire. I completed my book Cloud Arrangers in 2019, unfortunately without Bill's text. Now a new opportunity is arising. I am finishing work on a photo book focusing on Peter Brötzmann and Bill has written some words for it. Book should be printed at the end of spring 2024.

I have attended a large number of Brötzmann’s concerts. The most vivid in my memory is a show in Salzburg's “Jazz-it” club in 1997, where he performed with Bill Laswell and Hamid Drake. Louis Moholo also joined them for a short span. No other concert has so profoundly and decisively transported me into a parallel existence. Another concert with Bill was with fellow bass player Jah Wobble. While the walls of the Knitting Factory were shaking from the strong vibrations from the two basses, people were shouting “More bass! More bass!”. We never have enough of good music.”

Kristo Rodzevski 

Photo by Angel Sitnovski

“During the pandemic lockdown, I found my old Macedonian tambura in the closet of my East Village apartment, buried behind clothes, books, and old boots. Over the next few days, I spontaneously started playing some traditional melodies and phrases – old songs that my grandparents used to sing to me or that I overheard during family celebrations, weddings, etc. – while I was growing up in Macedonia. I decided to record a few of them on my phone and sent them to Bill. I was curious to know what he would hear in the sound and the irregular rhythms. Bill called that night and said we should blend the phrases and record this material in a way George Russell’s Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature album was arranged. "It can work out," he said. The supernatural thing, or pure coincidence of that moment was that when I answered his call I was already holding that very LP in my hands and was putting it on the turntable, unaware of my motivation to do so. He knew what my idea was before I opened my mouth or had it clarified for myself.

 Bill is a man of few words, but his silence and restraint have all the sounds, wisdom, and aesthetics you can hear in his works – from Last Exit, Massacre to Henry Threadgill’s Too Much Sugar for a Dime, Masters of Jajouka, etc. A truly remarkable artist and friend.”

  • Kristo Rodzevski - The Rabbit and The Fallen Sycamore (Much Prefer Records, 2017) with Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson, Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock, Brian Drye. Mixed by Bill Laswell.
  • Kristo Rodzevski - Hubris (M.O.D. Reloaded, 2020) with Tomas Fujiwara, Ikue Mori, Bill Laswell, Mary Halvorson. Produced by Bill Laswell.
  • Kristo Rodzevski - Black Earth (Defkaz Record, 2023) with Dominic James, Josh Werner, Adam Rudolph. Mixed and produced by Bill Laswell.

Akira Sakata

Photo by Ziga Koritnik

“I met Bill in 1981, he was playing in Berlin Jazz Festival with Material, and I was there with my orchestra [live performance released the next year as Sakata Orchestra “Berlin 28”, Better Days label] . After that Bill Laswell asked me to join his band when he came to play with Last Exit, a few years later in Tokyo [as heard on “The Noise of Trouble”, Enemy Records 1986] . I asked Shannon Jackson, “could you please produce my record?” when I was in New York and Shannon said “You should ask Bill about it, he’s a good producer, I’m not.” Bill said yes and we made the Mooko record in 1988, and the “Japan Concerts” live recording by Mooko that same year. When we were recording at a New York studio, Bill and I talked about Mongolia. We said, let’s go to Mongolia. I would find some money, get some Japanese musicians involved, and Bill would gather some New York musicians. We put together the Flying Mijinko Band, went to Mongolia, China, Uzbekistan and Japan in 1994 [as recorded on “Central Asian Tour” double CD, The Japan Foundation 1995]. And before that we had recorded Silent Plankton with Bill [1991] . A few years later we made Fisherman’s.com with Pete Cosey and Hamid Drake [2001, reissued on Trost Records in 2018]. That’s the last one we did. There were other concerts, one of which just released on Bandcamp this year, Imabari with Peter Brötzmann, Kiyohiko Semba and Anton Fier in 1991. My English is very bad, my understanding of it as well, and it is very easy to understand Bill, he speaks in a simple way. He’s a big producer, and you know I didn’t have money to produce my albums, and he did them out of friendship. I met other musicians through him, like Nicky Skopelitis, Ayib Dieng, Foday Musa Suso and Anton Fier. I also met Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker, although we didn’t play together. Last time I met him in New York it was before Covid, I had a concert with Chikamorashi (Darin Gray & Chris Corsano). We are friends, he’s like family. I wish for his sickness to go away.”

Wadada Leo Smith

Photo by Ziga Koritnik

"We did several sessions starting in 2014. There is a septet with two guitars and rhythm section, and a trio with Milford Graves. On the latter we celebrate the memory of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Ronald Shannon Jackson, an extraordinary drummer with whom we have played respectively at different  periods. With Bill, no need for lengthy talks. We just grab our instruments and the music happens."

  • Wadada Leo Smith/Bill Laswell – The Stone (MOD Technologies, 2014)
  • Wadada Leo Smith – Najwa (TUM, 2017)
  • Wadada Leo Smith with Milford Graves and Bill Laswell – Sacred Ceremonies (TUM, 2021)
  • Wadada Leo Smith & Orange Wave Electric – Fire Illuminations (Kabell, 2023)

John Zorn

Photo by Dvid Garland

Notes from « Memoria » (Tzadik, 2023). Reprinted with John Zorn’s authorization.

"Bill and I have been working together for over forty-five years. I have guested on a variety of his studio recordings, and he has performed and recorded my game pieces, various studio projects, and several film soundtracks. Together we have performed in countless live situations, most notably in Painkiller with several legendary drummers, including Mick Harris, Milford Graves and Dave Lombardo. The trio format of sax-bass-drums has long been a formidable challenge for every saxophonist. In it, each musician is naked, occupying a very different sonic territory. All their musical contributions are clearly exposed. Our interest was more focused on pioneering extreme new territory in the musical firmament, and along the way we made many friends, a few enemies, and even some enemies who later came around and became fans. One story involves one of my heroes – Lee Konitz. Lee came to see one of my concerts at the Knitting Factory, and later that same night he left a message on my answering machine. “Hey Zorn, can’t say I liked your concert, but afterwards I went up to Dizzy’s Coca-Cola room at Lincoln Center – and compared to what you are doing, the music up there sounded pretty old fashioned and predictable.” In recent years Bill and I have forged a new language in duo format. It is more nuanced than our trio outings, a bit less of an onslaught, but still embodying that level of intensity that we both strive for. The music here moved in a more ambient direction, capturing the feeling tones of a requiem – hence the CD title Memoria – a tribute to three friends and musical heroes that we have lost in recent years – Pharoah Sanders, Milford Graves, and Wayne Shorter."

John Zorn and Bill Laswell selected collaborations:

  • The Dream Membrane (Tzadik, 2014) (with David Chaim Smith)
  • The Cleansing (Tzadik, 2022)
  • Memoria (Tzadik, 2023)
  • John Zorn – Nosferatu (Tzadik, 2012) with Rob Burger & Kevin Norton
  • Painkiller – Talisman (Tzadik, 2002) with Mick Harris
  • Painkiller – Execution Ground (Subharmonic, 1994), reissued on the box set “Painkiller Collected works” (Tzadik, 1998)
  • Painkiller – 50th birthday celebration volume 12 (Tzadik, 2005) with Hamid Drake & Mike Patton
  • John Zorn – IAO – Music in Sacred Light (Tzadik, 2002)
  • John Zorn – Taboo and Exile (Tzadik, 1999)
  • Various artists – Celebrate Ornette (Song X Records, 2016) Ornette Reverb Quartet : Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Stewart Hurwood  


... And a special thank you to Yoko Yamabe for all of her help!

Photo by Yoko Yamabe

 

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Abdul Moimême: Sound Sculpter / Sonic Architect

Abdul Moiméme. Photo (c) Nuno Martins
 
Introduction 

By Paul Acquaro

This past summer, late July to be more precise, I had a partial chance encounter with guitarist/sound sculpture Abdul Moimême outside of the Jazz Messengers record shop in Lisbon. I say 'partial' because we had been in touch about his latest recordings and had made loose plans to meet up during the Jazz em Agosto festival. This turned out to be one of several impromptu meet-ups we had during the week, the rest at an outdoor cafe after the evening concerts.

Going back a bit further, my first encounter with Moimême, and his music, was at Jazz em Agosto in 2019. He performed in a hall with a set up where the audience was seated over the performer, a bit like a lecture hall, a bit like a surgical theater. I remember being intrigued and a bit confused. Going back to the sentences I wrote about the performance:

It's a microscopic moment blown up into a 45-minute expose, where all the vibrations, magnetization, and charge of a strummed chord on an electric guitar is turned inside out as the audience follows the note through the wires and out the speakers. Or, rather, as a fellow I spoke with after the show described, "it's like we are ants in a universe of sound."

On the landing outside the record shop, amongst the fantastic open steel staircases and exposed gangways, on the second level of a bookshop inside an old industrial building in Lisbon's LX Factory, we spoke about the record that Moimême had just picked-up. If I recall correctly is was Joe Pass' For Django - a must hear for any guitarist, any musician, or really, anybody. I suspected the was already quite well aware of the album, but such a treasure on 180 gram vinyl cannot be easily passed up. I likely recalled a story about when a friend and I 'snuck' to a jazz bar (we weren't yet 21) in New Jersey and saw Joe Pass play shortly before he passed away, and then about a guitar I built when I was in high school, an electric that looked good but whose intonation was a bit um … crude. I called it the "More or Less Paul." The conversation shifted to Moimême's art as he described how he had also built his instruments, the guitars that he lays flat on the table and he uses to perform and record. 

Photo (c) Nuno Martins

The conversation slowly turned into a plan, but as it often goes with a plan, it was interrupted by a few things unplanned, however now, finally, in the budding moments of 2023, here it is. Over the past two days, Stuart Broomer and I reviewed two of Moimême's recent works, Ciel-Cristal and Livro das Grutas and what follows here is an account written by Moimême about his life, influences and music. He takes quite a wide view, looking at traditions of music from both historical and personal perspectives. This is followed by an annotated discography, with comments from both Moimême and me.

***

Abdul on Abdul

By Abdul Moimême

Early years:

I was born in the heart of Lisbon, but at the age of 3 my family moved to New Mexico. At age 5 we moved to Dublin, where I began school, studying the English language alongside Irish. At age 9 my family moved to Madrid where I completed English secondary school, during the turbulent years that elapsed between the Portuguese ‘Carnation Revolution’ and the conclusion of Spain’s drawn-out and agitated transition into Democracy. Though we lived in Madrid, my holidays were spent in Portugal, which implied living in two totally contrasting worlds; the repressive governance of the latter-day Franco regime and, contrastingly, the euphoric and unbridled freedom of the early Portuguese revolutionary process, which culminated in our current Democratic regime.

Transition:

During the days of the ancien régime, music was both a means of resistance, as well as a way of attaining a modest degree of freedom. I believe the title of the Jazz em Agosto festival, in its 2019 edition, Resistance, somewhat echoes the spirit of that time. After all, the code that unleashed the ‘Carnation Revolution’ and the demise of the Portuguese dictatorship was basically a protest song, played on the radio; Grandola Vila Morena, to which Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra paid a beautiful tribute. This to say that, for me, very early on, music and especially improved music, became an existential and aesthetic necessity of the utmost urgency.

Movida:

Alongside both of these major political and social changes came an ample exposure to live jazz, as both countries began to frequently promote concerts and festivals. For me, some of the highlights in those years were (literally) sitting beside Bill Evan’s piano, during his stellar performance at Madrid’s Balboa Jazz Club, as well as listening to the Jazz Messengers playing totally acoustic, as the minute size of the same club so permitted. This was in the Madrid of the early Pedro Almodovar’s films and La Movida Madrileña, the counterculture movement that was to rock the very foundations of Spain’s intrinsically reactionary society.

During this period, I moved to Boston for a year, to begin college; living in Lexington, with a group of jazz musicians, which included pianist Bruce Torff. Though at the time I wasn’t actively playing music, I was exposed to the prolific scene there, topped off with the odd trip to New York’s jazz and rock clubs.

In 1983, after two decades of living abroad, I made Lisbon my permanent residence, where I concluded my degree; living for a short period in the Azores islands, where I began my career as a professional architect.

Musical background:

My itinerant life inevitably had an impact on my interest and approach to music. The necessity of adapting to regularly changing environments, as well as being exposed to different cultures, not only broadened my tastes as it also directed me toward improvisation, as if it were an inevitability of my own fate. Though many genres of music were played in my house, essentially, I discovered jazz and contemporary ‘classical’ music on my own.

I started learning the guitar at the age of 11, with a private teacher; later studying with her brother, Raul, a proficient flamenco and rock guitarist. With him I studied both genres. At the time flamenco was evolving from its traditional form, incorporating rock and other styles of music into its lexicon. Around that period, Paco de Lucia released his album Fuente y Caudal, which incorporated electric bass; the very same year Santana brought his Welcome album tour to Madrid’s Monumental Theatre. I was a young adolescent and very impressed by the latter’s band. By then, I had already worn out the grooves of Caravanserai and Axis: Bold as Love. In those formative years such LP releases as George Benson’s Body Talk, Jim Hall’s Jim Hall, Live!, Anthony Braxton Five Pieces, Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life and Miles Davis’ Aragtha were soon to suffer the same fortune.

As far as influences are concerned I am wary of acknowledging any, merely because it implies assuming the responsibility of a legacy; something I refuse to invoke light-heartedly. Besides, one tends to idealize one’s own work beyond realistic proportions. Contrarily, I acknowledge that the musicians with whom I have played have influenced me greatly.

Essentially, I consider myself a ‘street musician’.

Approach:

The reason I became aware of the electric guitar as a very distinct instrument, as compared to the Spanish guitar, was the moment I discovered notes could be prolonged indefinitely by positioning the guitar in a certain spatial relationship to the amplifier. I’m talking about the kind of sustain Carlos Santana used to achieve simply with guitar and amp, with no added electronic effects. It took me a long time to realize how that simple physical phenomenon could open so many doors and help me sculpt my particular sound. Amplification became much more than an accessory of the guitar; it became an integral part of the instrument, modulating the vibration of the guitar’s strings in an array of possible forms.

It took me many years to really begin to fully explore these possibilities, something which has become an ongoing work in progress. It has come to the point where I have a metallic bar that attaches the guitar stand to the speaker. Laying the guitar horizontally also allowed me to use gravity as a technical resource, permitting me to constantly shift approaches and discover new techniques; though technique is only but a means to an end. For me, the most interesting musicians are those capable of subjugating their skills to the critical reflection of what makes a sound meaningful.

Only recently have I begun to incorporate electronics. Previously I only relied on straightforward amplification. Though it sounded like electronic music the only electronics involved were various stages of pre-amplification and amplification; the bulk of my sound palette relying solely on objects and the way I ‘prepare’ the guitar with them.

Although I acquired my first electric guitar when I was 16, a 1973 Fender Stratocaster which I still have, in the same year I decided to build another solid body guitar with a humbucking pickup, from scratch, starting with a raw block of mahogany. At the time, guitar parts were not on sale in Portugal, so my father had to bring them from the US. I ended up installing an early super distortion pickup and for the truss rod a solid brass bar, embedded into the neck with epoxy glue did the trick. The guitar has a beautiful tone and I use it more often than not. Recently, I designed and built a slightly more sophisticated instrument, a lap steel with a 27, 5 in. scale. Both these instruments constitute what I consider as one single instrument, as I frequently play them in tandem. 

Photo (c) Nuno Martins

Saxophone:

In the early nineties I started taking saxophone lessons with Patrick Brennan. For the greater part of the decade I focused solely on the tenor; at the time I was also playing with an indie rock band called Hipnotica, with whom I recorded 2 CDs, also doubling on flute and the clarinet.

2007 was a year of significant change for me, as I abandoned the tenor and returned to the electric guitar, beginning to explore the possibilities of playing two guitars simultaneously. That change is documented in the Variable Geometry Orchestra’s CD, Stills (cs100). My first solo CD, Nekhephthu, followed in 2008, with the two guitar combination; at which point I also began playing solo concerts.

Lisbon Scene:

Returning to Lisbon had a huge impact on my listening and playing; especially due to the music scene that started to emerge from the early 2000s onwards. Through Ernesto Rodrigues’ Variable Geometry Orchestra and his smaller format groups, in which I participated, such as Suspensão, IKB, String Theory and the isotope Ensemble, I encountered a fertile environment for experimentation. As Lisbon became a hub for jazz and free improvisation, I was also fortunate to play with many visiting artists, something that clearly impacted both my listening as well as my playing.

The advent of a new generation of extremely well equipped and creative Portuguese improvisers has been a most welcomed occurrence.

Ongoing projects:

Currently, apart from playing in the various aforementioned ensembles led by Ernesto Rodrigues, some of the ongoing projects in which I’m involved include:

  • A duo with Wade Matthews (digital synthesis);
  • A duo with Patrick Brennan (alto saxophone)
  • A duo with Lionel Marchetti (analogue synthesizer)
  • Dissection Room trio with Albert Cirera (soprano & tenor sax), Alvaro Rosso (double bass);
  • A trio with Maria do Mar (violin), Sofia Borges (percussion);
  • Transition Zone trio with Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Carlos Santos (analogue synthesis)
  • MJAJA a quintet with Mariana Dionisio (vocals), João Almeida (trumpet), Alvaro Rosso (double bass), João Valinho (percussion)
  • A duo with performer Lorena Izquierdo

***

Selected Discography

By Abdul Moimême and Paul Acquaro

In this section, Abdul Moimême reflects on select moments in his discography with additional commentary by Paul Acquaro. 

Complaintes De Marée Basse / with Diatribes (Insub,  2010)

Abdul Moimême: In March 2009 the Swiss duo, Diatribes, including electronics musician D'Incise and percussionist Cyril Bondi and I played our first trio performance at the Clean Feed Record store; playing at the Mapping Festival, in Geneva, the following year. In 2011 we tour in Portugal and southern Europe, culminating in a concert with the Insub Meta Orchestra, in Strasbourg. Complaintes De Marée Basse is a product of that collaboration. We later recorded a second CD, Queixas, touring in Switzerland in 2013.

Paul Acquaro: Drums, laptop, percussion large and small, prepared guitars (of course!) and as the CD notes say "metallic objects" - just the ingredients should give you a sense of the final product. From this inventory, you know that the the trio will begin building something with a lot of scraping, clattering and clanging and that the sonic structure the construct will be something never before seen heard. Each track is like a new floor, another layer of creativity, a new arrangement of tones. Track two, 'Crustaćes,' becomes beguiling as the tempo increases and the sounds merge, while track five, 'Entre Les Haut-Fonds,' is the audio commentary for a tour through the HVAC system, leading to track 6 'Pavillon Noir,' where it all comes tensely together.

- - -

 Khettahu / with Ricardo Guerreiro (Creative Sources, 2011)

AM: At the time, as part of his approach, electronics musician Ricardo Guerreiro was especially interested in processing other people’s sound, using this as the foundation of his playing. We worked for a year, improvising together regularly, culminating in Khettahu, a live studio recording of improvised pieces.

PA: Real-time re-processing is fascinating. Taking something that in some ways is familiar and turning it into something new and unexpected can yield exciting results. Here we are invited deep into the visceral percussive and vibrating world that Moiméme builds with his two guitars and whatever he has prepared them with. By the middle of track two (#34), it feels like we are outside, blown by wind, sheets of metal clanging around us, and the middle tracks (#29.1, 29.2 and 29.3) are a trek through a barren land of blustery snow and bare tree branches.

- - -

Fabula / with Axel Dörner, Ernesto Rodrigues, Ricardo Guerreiro (Creative Sources, 2012)

AM: As a follow-up to Khettahu, Ricardo and I invited German trumpeter and composer Axel Dörner to play and record with us. Violinist Ernesto Rodrigues joined the trio in this concert, recorded in central Portugal, on a freezing night in the winter of 2011. Stuart Broomer kindly wrote the brilliant liner notes. The piece was an improvisation and the quartet was playing together for the very first time.

PA: Adding the Dörner and Rodrigues to the collaboration between Moiméme and Guerreiro amps up the "unfamiliar" in many ways. Dörner's own foray into the sonic unknown with his trumpet and electronics can already be a riveting experience. With Rodrigues' viola, the undulating audio-landscape is filled with flashes of something identifiable, yet still out of reach. At times, certainly in the later third of the recording, the sounds become almost subconscious, leaving more of a feeling of something being there than a distinct memory of exactly what it was.

- - - 

Mekhaanu / Solo (Insub,  2013)

AM: Mekhaanu is my second solo CD and, as in all my solo works thus far, it was totally improvised, as I like to approach studio session similarly to live performances. In other words, using the solo context as a laboratory for experimentation. D’Incise, who had recently created his net label INSUB was amply impressed by the rough mix as to volunteer to concoct the final mix and master and release it on his label. It’s one of their first releases.

PA:  Moiméme's liner notes are particular interesting, as he draws contrasts between mechanisms and digitization. For the most part, Moiméme's work is "analog," in terms that he manipulates the sounds that naturally come from his prepared guitars and the waves between them and his amplifiers. In his notes, he writes"our daily lives are also permeated by mechanical sounds," and if we pay attention, we will hear "a territory where wild mechanisms live unbridled by any human restraint." So, what we hear in this solo recording is the unprocessed guitars and endless variation of sound generation - and for what it is worth, the sounds of a plucked string stands out of the drones, oscillations, overtones, and all out audio assaults. 

- - -

Rumor / with Marco Scarassatti, Eduardo Chagas, Gloria Damijan (Creative Sources, 2015)

AM: Rumor was the result of our meeting at the MIA improvisation festival, held yearly in Atoughia da Baleia, Portugal. Marco Scrassatti is a specialist on Walter Smetak, the Swiss composer and instrument inventor, as well as being an improviser and composer himself, also teaching music at the University in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Gloria Damijan is an Austrian pianist and Eduardo Chagas a Lisbon based trombonist and improviser. Marco builds all his instruments and, at the time, Gloria frequently improviser with an assortment of small objects and the inside of a toy piano. This project was also a consequence of an invitation, the previous year, to a committee of Portuguese musicians, by the UFMG University (Minas Gerais), to play in Brazil.

PA: The opening moments of Rumor instantly have a different feel than the other recordings so far visited. There is the possibility of a melody, of some sort of musical structure, that seems to pervade 'Improvisation I,' then about half-way through, Chagas' trombone can be heard, pushing through the  layers of sound. It's a ghost though, submerging back into the restrained collective drone. Then, there is chiming tone, it too fade away, but each time noticeably suggestive. 'Improvisation II' continues with restraint and the feeling that something is lurking, about to happen. About two-thirds through there is a peak of energy that trails off to a exploratory exchange of sounds.

- - -

Exosphere - live at the Pantheon / Solo (Creative Sources, 2017)

AM: Exosphere results from an invitation by the ‘Escuta Profunda’ festival, curated by João Silva, to play in Lisbon’s pantheon, where amongst the cenotaphs of various prestigious Portuguese historical figures is buried the seminal singer Amália Rodrigues. The building is also the culminating piece of Portuguese Baroque architecture.

The concert was totally improvised as I had no preconceived idea, at all, of what might be played.

Once again, Stuart Broomer wrote the wonderful liner notes.

PA: Broomer's notes contain all of the important points needed to navigate this 'music.' He discusses the physicality of the sounds, the metallic scrapings, the sonic spaces and the vastness of the landscapes. There is a point where he writes, "there is a sense in which Moiméme's guitar music is at once epic and abstract, physical and metaphysical, the reimagined instrument itself become projectile ... but both its launching mechanism and target are here subject to inquiry..." This incomplete quote sums up for me the haunting and emphemeral (but also so very real and tangible) sounds that Moiméme conjures from his instruments. Eyal Hareuveni also wrote about this work on the Free Jazz Blog here.

- - -

Lisbon: 10 Sound Portraits / with Wade Matthews (Creative Sources, 2017)

AM: I believe my liner notes for this work are self-explanatory.

PA:  Again, I could hardly offer a better overview of this music than Stuart Broomer does in his article about the making of the source materials of this recording. In my articles about Jazz em Agosto over the past few years, I have indulged myself in writing about my wanderings around Lisbon, a city that really must experienced by foot - as dangerous as that can get on some of those tight, twisting streets. In addition to the sights, there are the sounds, sounds of the waterfront, the aqueduct, the scrape of a historic street trolly as it climbs the hills of the city, and much more. On this album, Moiméme has worked with Wade Matthews to record the sounds of the city - one whose sounds themselves are changing. The resulting recording is a pairing of Moiméme's sound sculptures with the field recordings, intertwining and becoming their own tone poems.

- - -

Dissection Room / with Albert Cirera, Alvaro Rosso (Creative Sources, 2018)

AM: Dissection Room, as the trio is called (formerly AAA) was formed in 2015 and has since then played regularly. Catalan saxophonist Albert Cirera apart from his outstanding solo work and various formations, has worked regularly with pianist Agustí Fernandez. Uruguayan double bass player currently lives in Lisbon, playing with some of the most relevant Portuguese improvisation groups, including ensembles with violinist Carlos Zingaro.

PA: One long track, over 53 minutes in total, begins with some blurted notes from saxophonist Albert Cirera. Moiméme's distinct metallic clangs and warping strings are discernible. We are still waiting to hear from Alvaro Rosso's double bass ... and there it is, a low droning below the droplets of sound. A few minutes and this long standing trio's individual contributions are congealing into a cohesive, lightly abrasive blanket of tone. Around 10 minutes in the bass is hopping about a bit, while Moiméme is adding reverberating augmentation. Again around the 18 minute mark the interplay, especially between Cirera and Rosso is alight - though still firmly rooted in the atonal sound-world. The intensity ebbs and flows, but the tension is always present, until the recording's minimalist ending. Of the recordings so far in this list, Dissection Room seems to be the most musically varied. Eyal Hareuveni also reviewed Dissection Room here.

- - -

Terraphonia / with patrick brennan* (Creative Sources, 2018)

AM: My association with Patrick dates back to the early 1990 when I was his student and played percussion in one of the piece of his landmark CD Which Way What. Which Way What was important for Patrick as it consolidated his career as composer and bandleader but also because it was, I believe, Acacio Salero’s debut as jazz drummer, an outstanding Portuguese percussionist who has since disappeared from the local scene.

In Terraphonia patrick and I establish a continuous dialogues, where the rhythmic and melodic lines of the alto are constantly interwoven with the rhythmic and textural material of the electric guitars (played in tandem). 

PA: For this one, I'm going to quote myself from my original review here on the Free Jazz Blog: "This is hard to define music, but even when the harshest tones are at play, the duo presents them with care and precision. Brennan compliments Moimême's sudden tonal attacks with quickly formed ideas, while Moimême fills the silences that the saxophonist's leave with unexpected sounds. The track 'gotabrilhar' stands out, the short track, mid-album, features a buzzing-bee sax and a darkly lit landscape painted by a droning and moaning guitar."

*spelled in lower case at the musicians request

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Aura / with Ernesto Rodrigues, Nuno Torres (Creative Sources, 2019)

AM: Aura is another trio improvised concert with two musician with whom I play regularly in Lisbon, in the various ensembles led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues.

PA: This short recording (31:28 minutes in total) is sort of an exercise in self-restraint. The three musicians, Ernesto Rodriques on viola, Nuno Torres on also saxophone, and, of course, Moiméme, blend their respective intruments seamlessly. All of the small sounds, long tones, crunchy textures, whistling tones that make up the bulk of the exploratory concert set reach a knotty crescendo in the final moment of the recording.

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Transition Zone / with Fred Lonberg-Holm, Carlos Santos(Creative Sources, 2019)

AM: Carlos Santos (analogue and digital synthesis) and I have an ongoing duo project where we invite or are invited to play with a third musician. Wade Matthews (digital synthesis), Wilfrido Terrazas (flute), Emidio Buchinho (guitar), Mariana Dionisio (voice) and José Bruno Parrinha (clarinets) have all been our partners.

Here we invited cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm to join forces with us. This improvised studio session was the very first time we played together as a trio. Since then we frequently play together when Fred is in town.

Rather than a traditional liner note, Stuart Broomer’s text functions as a conceptual extension of the music. 

PA: Quite true, the liner notes are a tone poem themselves. Playing with the sound of the words as they transition from the cardboard sleeve to the readers/listeners mind, and playing with the very words on the cardboard themselves, the notes should be read to the beat-less music with their own cadence. The music - well sound - pulsates with energy. With Fred-Lonberg-Holm providing eviserating, electroncally enhanced cello work, couple with Carlos Santos' synthesizer, Moiméme is in electric company here.  The opening 'Whirr' begins without reservation, buzzing, zapping, clattering from the count of ... whatever. Follow up 'Hush' begins with searing legato notes from the cello and vibrations from the prepared guitars. Crackles of electronic sound emanate from (likely) the synthesizer. As the track continues, sounds stretch like Silly-Putty being stretched to its breaking point. The wealth of sounds and their imaginative application abound on fascinating this recording.

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Ciel-Cristal / with Lionel Marchetti (Sonoscopi, 2022)

 

AM: When Wade Matthews and I played in duo, in the COPLEXA festival (2017), organized by the Sonoscopia Association, I was extremely impressed by Lionel’s duo with Xavier Garcia. Providentially, Sonoscopia invited Lionel and myself to do a residency at their premises, culminating in a concert at Porto’s planetarium. 

See Stuart Broomer's review of Ciel-Cristal here.

 

 

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Livro das Grutas / with Wilfrido Terrazas, Mariana Carvalho (Creative Sources, 2022)

AM: My association with Wilfrido dates back to 2016, when we played together at the Spanish Cervantes institute in Lisbon. Since then Wilfrido has returned on regular visits and consequently he proposed a studio session, to which we invited the upcoming Brazilian pianist, Mariana Carvalho, now residing in Berlin. 

See my review of Livro das Grutas here.