Variations On The Canon

Evan Parker and Georg Graewe, 

Dortmund Variations
Nuscope Recordings

Evan Parker - Tenor Saxophone
Georg Graewe - Piano

No one has conquered the demands of free improv like Evan Parker. And while at this stage of his career you pretty much know what to expect from him, his mastery of the idiom still makes it a pleasure to hear one of his performances. Dortmund Variations, recorded as part of a Graewe-curated Ruhr 2010 series, consists of three improvisations lasting from eleven to thirty-seven minutes. Parker sticks with tenor throughout, and he and Graewe engage in meaningful conversation that is characterized by subtle shifts in emphasis and tone rather than demonstrative displays of emotion. Think of a stream that’s polished the stones below as opposed to waves crashing over coral. (Wow, I’m going to have to work on my analogies!) Graewe’s notes unspool at a pretty consistent pace, and that’s my one quibble with the performance; a little more contrast from him would have benefited the whole. Still, it’s a dialogue that’s worth listening in on – and attention to the shades of meaning proves a rewarding experience.

New From Nils

Nils Wogram Septet, Complete Soul
NWog Records

Nils Wogram - trombone
Stephan Meinberg - trumpet
Claudio Puntin - clarinet
Frank Speer - alto sax
Tilman Ehrhorn - tenor sax
Steffen Schorn - bass clarinet, baritone sax
John Schröder - drums

An unusual lineup from Nils, 4 reeds, 2 brass plus drums. From the description on the site of his new self-owned label, I gather he wrote and arranged all the selections. As he puts it, "...the horns mix such that one attains these organ-like sounds. The chords function as a whole and do not simply result in six tones that somehow blend together."

The compositions on Soul have a circular feel to them, like you're hearing a different facet each time a section comes back into view. Some reminded me of the way Mingus arranged for horns, with the prominent trombone and the languid bluesy feel. Other compositions had more of a Balkans influence to them. There are sections where the drums lay out that emphasize the wind ensemble, and other sections that have a lot of rhythmic drive. It's a record that I immediately played again after it finished, because I wanted to figure out what was going on.

This is one of the strongest albums I've heard from Wogram, and it could be the start of a new chapter in his career, as I haven't heard arrangements this complex and engaging from him before.

Nils Wogram & Simon Nabatov, Moods & Modes

NWog Records

Nils Wogram - trombone

Simon Nabatov - piano

No one brings out the best in Nils Wogram's playing like Simon Nabatov. This is at least the third duo album the two have recorded, and it's a little jem. Rather than being freely-improvised, Moods & Modes splits compositional duties between the two of them, with 4 selections from Wogram and 5 from Nabatov. It's a joy to hear two artists so closely in sync, whether playing themes in unison or engaging in spirited back- and- forth exchanges in the improvised sections.

A Jackson In Your House

An appreciative crowd of around 90-100 saw Ronald Shannon Jackson fight through an atrocious sound mix to bring the noise Saturday night, July 7 in Dallas. Appearing at the historic Kessler Theatre, Jackson unveiled a new version of his Decoding Society, with only Melvin Gibbs a holdover from previous incarnations.

The night opened with some intense verses from national poetry slam champion Janean Livingston, speaking truth to power to those who could embrace the storms she unleashed. To those suckas who couldn't, better go find your momma.

This new Society began their set with Wayne Shorter's Deluge, off his JuJu album. This was as straight-ahead as things got, as remaining compositions were by Jackson and his band, veering between atmospheric, almost meditative pieces and those with his brand of harmolodics. Jackson has always had a pronounced rock feel to his playing, and this was on full display. At 72, the man can still play the hell out of the drums. The standout among his band was trumpeter John Wier, who combined great articulation with the ability to generate forward momentum, even on tunes with relatively static backdrops.

The biggest disappointment for me was someone I thought would be the biggest asset, at least on paper, and that was Melvin Gibbs. His bass was way too high in the mix, which wasn't his fault, but he turned on a fuzz device for his solos which flattened everything in its path. I know he was playing notes, because I could see his fingers move, but only noise was produced. Still, the crowd seemed to dig what he was doing.

The band played Gibb's Howard Beach Memoirs, originally done by Power Tools with Bill Frisell on their Strange Meeting album, and finished with a bang with Jackson's Bloodlife. All said, it was a solid performance by the band, who with a little tightening could prove to be a worthy addition to the lineage of The Decoding Society.

P.S. As an added bonus I was finally able to meet Mr. Dennis Gonzalez, who was there with his sons.

Deep Listening

“I am in the glories of winnowing,” Cecil Taylor states while reading his poem “Laryngeals, laryngeals…” as part of the 2008 opening festivities of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The performances surrounding the event are captured in a new DVD, Cecil Taylor/Pauline Oliveros Solo-Duo-Poetry.

And his solo and duo performances as part of that event provide aural evidence of such a winnowing process, although it is not a wholesale change in his approach. Rather, the listener gets a strong sense of the architecture of his improvisations, and the contrast between light and dark sections. There’s space to this music, the feeling of every note being well-considered, of course in the blink of an eye, given that we’re talking about Cecil Taylor.

The DVD consists of a 32 minute solo Taylor performance, a 16 minute solo Pauline Oliveros performance, a 22 minute duo performance, a 75 minute (!) poetry reading and 20 or so minutes of excerpts of other performances from the opening.

Considering poetry, let’s be clear: Taylor’s hands are poetry. The solo performance is concise, disciplined, exhilarating to watch. This was my first exposure to Oliveros’ work, and it wasn’t to my taste, although I’d like to hear from a fan, as she's obviously well-regarded. And she came through in the duo performance with Taylor; there’s a wonderful interplay between the two, deep listening going on throughout. And while I’m sure the fact that I’m on pain medication had something to do with this, the final section is so tender, so lyrical even, and so filled with mutual respect that it brought tears to my eyes. They hug at the conclusion, capping off a wonderful performance.

If you’re a fan of either artist this is a no-brainer.

Subcutaneous 

Subcutaneous arising
Origins
The root of the syntax
Of the music
Arising rippling following
The code the ancients
Demanding our genuflection
They smile they approve
The ceremony is their praise
The root of the music
Uncovered flowing
Tapping into the source
Language myth science astronomy
Currents uncovered existing
Unknowable

Snake Charmer

Tim Berne, Snakeoil
ECM

Tim Berne - Alto Sax
Oscar Noriega - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Matt Mitchell - Piano
Ches Smith - Drums, Percussion

As a long-time Tim Berne fan, I looked forward to hearing this new line-up. I enjoyed Oscar Noriega's Luciano's Dream from several years back, and I've also liked what Craig Taborn has brought to Berne's music, so I wanted to hear Matt Mitchell's contribution. Listening to Snakeoil is an adjustment when compared to his previous work, but it's rewarding, and can be viewed as a maturation of his approach. There's more subtlety, more shading, helped in large part by Mitchell as well as Noriega's clarinet textures. Whereas Bloodcount and Paraphrase were about building sustained tension with little release, Berne's compositions here are more varied and episodic. This is not a perfect record; there are spots where the thread gets lost and my attention wanders, but overall it's a great addition to his body of work. Between Snakeoil and his guest role on Simon Fell's wonderful large group work, Positions and Descriptions, we may be witnessing a fruitful new stage in Tim Berne's career.

Pete Cosey RIP

Guitarist Pete Cosey passed away this week at the age of 69. Althought he never achieved widespread acclaim, he’s best known as the lead guitarist in Miles Davis’s early 70’s band that recorded Agartha, Pangaea, and Dark Magus. While the jazz police disdained this unit, it was beautiful, intense, mysterious and scary, sometimes within the same piece. Miles in his autobiography said it captured the sound of deepest Africa, and while I’ve never been there, I can imagine what he meant. Listening to this band brings to mind vivid hues of red, orange and deep blue, on a field of black. The music that they produced presaged a lot of what was to come, and I think it directly or indirectly influenced drum n’bass, electronica, and the use of noise elements in rock and improvised music. If you want to dive in, I recommend starting with Agartha, recorded live in Japan. Here’s a clip of the band in Vienna in 1973: