James Singleton is the go-to bassist for the New Orleans free music scene.
Actually, he is a go-to for many other corners of this strange musical enclave,
as well, which speaks to the far-ranging influences strewn throughout Malabar,
his recent release with a sextet comprised of Mike Dillon on vibes and
percussion (who, with Singleton, opened for the Messthetics when they passed
through town a few years ago), Justin Peake on drums and electronics, Rex
Gregory on clarinet, flute, and saxophone, Brad Walker on saxophone, and
Jonathan Freilich (New Orleans Klezmer All Stars, et al.) on guitar.
If you want an entry point to the free jazz scene in New Orleans
today, this might just be it. It does not quite reach the grit of the
NY-downtown and Chicago scenes. It does not approach the new sounds bent of
Berlin, Lisbon, and Tokyo. There is no noise here. Instead, this is free jazz
peppered with country inflection flavored with a healthy dose of funk jamboree.
And it works.
Singleton is from Chicago, and some of that origin
shows through here. The influences are varied, from musical song structures –
frequently changing tempos and moods – to post-bop horns to steady but heavy
rock drumming to a thicker lather of New Orleans groove. Singleton’s vamping and
bass runs form the background to these pieces more than anything else, though
all participants get their space to shine. Dillon shows some chops especially as
he races around the vibraphone on the spirited title track, which, pars pro
totem, is very much a composition of various stylings and elements. It starts as
a contemporary progressive jazz piece and ends with an expansive passage of
neoclassical ambling. The next piece, Where Where Is, picks up with that thread
of openness, but avoids the protean rhythm-melody structure that characterizes
most other pieces on the album. Instead, Where Where Is doubles down on the
textured soundscape. Other tracks, such as the wistful So Long Tall Rex, the
spirited opener Black Sheep Squared, the playfully sinister Bluebelly and others
rely much more on curious harmonies and phrasings on reeds and guitar and a
persistent driving bass coupled with some evenhanded percussion and vigorous
vibes.
The liner notes bring up commonalities with some classics of
free jazz composition: Conference of the Birds, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
and the Liberation Music Orchestra. I hear the influence in the complex and
entangled compositions. That said, Malabar hits on different aesthetic points,
and the fact that it works so convincingly is testament to the musicians as well
as the vision of Singleton. Something different is going on in New Orleans
free(er) music. More effectively than I have heard before, Malabar balances the
whimsy of the city’s musical history (and the funk that flavors much of the
music here, for better or worse) with broader trends in the avant-garde.
Malabar is available as a record and download and is available
here.
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