Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly - Cyrillic (482 Records, 2010) ****

Member of the Vandermark 5 and the Territory Band, saxophonist Dave Rempis is creating his own name and fame through his Rempis Percussion Quartet and other initiatives, including the Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Quintet. In these various line-ups he has played substantially with drummers Tim Daisy and Frank Rosaly, who form the rhythmic backbone of his Percussion Quartet. A couple of years ago, Rempis released a great duo recording, "Back To The Circle", with Tim Daisy, now he's back with another duet recording with Frank Rosaly on drums. Just to keep the balance, I presume. The difference between both albums is great.
Whereas the former still has an endeavor of melody and lyricism, this album is an energetic powerhouse of rhythmic interaction, and more abstract. The long central track "How To Cross When Bridges Are Out" by itself is worth to get the album, for its unrelenting forward drive and rapidfire execution. The following slow track demonstrates the saxophonist's skills in timbral explorations, creating a very open-textured and sensitive interplay with the more subtle side of Rosaly, and moving closer to European free improv than real jazz. "Don't Trade Here", follows in the same vein. The other tracks are full of rhythmic dialogues, based on nervous bop tempo "In Plain Sight", or funky "Antiphony", with lots of counter-rhythms. To make the album even more varied, Rempis switches between alto, tenor and baritone. Sax-drums duos are boring? Well, think again!

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Watch a clip from Youtube (the CD is better)



Frank Rosaly - Milkwork (Contraphonic, 2010) 

Frank Rosaly also released a solo percussion CD, almost simultaneously. Yes, it's percussion only, but Rosaly uses all the tricks possible to give his sound a much wider scope, with electronically amplified and altered sounds, using "contact microphones, oscillators, effects pedals and analog synthesizers ", giving the impression that it's actually a band playing. Most percussion only albums are pretty boring, but his inventiveness, both rhythmically and in terms of new sounds, make this a quite captivating listen for drummers and those of you with open ears. But the best parts are when he plays just plain acoustic drums, without any alterations or gimmicks, which he best compares himself on the two tracks "NY Prices", which is only drums, and "NY Prices!", which used every trick in the bag, and offers interesting sound explorations. His playing is astonishing at times and does not need the electronics. 

The album is available as a limited edition vinyl LP, or can be downloaded.

Listen and download from eMusic.

© stef