Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

Riccardo Fassi New York
Pocket Orchestra
Sitting In A Song
Alice Records
HHHH
Michael Bisio/Matthew
Shipp Duo
Floating Ice
Relative Pitch 1005
HHHH
Matthew Shipp has an interest in the sweet
science of boxing, and it doesn’t surprise
given his knuckle-dusting duck ’n’ dive pianism.
He’s partial to the pugilist’s braggadocio,
but like Muhammad Ali, the posturing is
just that, an attempt to draw attention to his
talent. Shipp’s music is speedball attack and
shadow boxing.
“Holographic Rag” has Shipp taking fairly
wild and unpredictable swings, and it starts
punch-drunk. Bassist Michael Bisio spars
leaning forward, absorbing the hits but moving
around the ring, gloves tight. The pianist has
such kaleidoscopic range and feverish intensity,
it’s as if this could be his last bout, his last
chance as a contender, and he’s determined to
KO or be KO’d. Bisio’s rampant energy stokes
this. Just before the nine-minute mark on
“Holographic Rag,” both musicians’ parallel
universes collide as if one were striding atop
the other’s Lonsdale boots.
“Decay” is more intriguing from the out-
“The Hawk,” a tune from keyboardist Riccardo
Fassi’s Sitting In A Song, toys with a dub reggae
groove. Bassist Essiet Essiet plucks a stuttering
line; drummer Antonio Sanchez fires
rim shots; Fassi’s buttery Rhodes emits staccato
chords; and the horns—trumpeter Alex
Sipiagin, trombonist Andy Hunter, alto saxophonist
Dave Binney and baritone saxophonist
Gary Smulyan—deal an idea that nods to Bob
Marley’s “Lively Up Yourself.” And yet “The
Hawk” never touches down in Trenchtown;
from Essiet’s rubbery solo bass digression to
a passage that sees Hunter and Sipiagin improvising
simultaneously, the piece never succumbs
to formula, or tradition. The same could
be said of Sitting In A Song; the album positions
familiar elements—jazz harmony, twisting
melodies, swing—in ways that feel fresh.
A lifelong resident of Italy, Fassi wrote the
pieces on Sitting with the members of his
“New York Pocket Orchestra” in mind. In
2009, after working the music out at the 55
Bar in Manhattan, Fassi and his associates
ventured out to a Brooklyn studio, where the
disc was brought to life.
The most acrobatic song of the set,
“Random Sequencer” places spiraling, harmonica-like
horn harmonies over crunchy
Rhodes riffs and a metronomic rhythm.
“Seven Loops” snakes unpredictable brassand-alto-sax
lines around dense bass-andbari-sax
chattering in anticipation of smart,
questing solos from Sipiagin and Binney.
And “Twelve Mirrors” uncages Smulyan over
Sanchez’s steady time and Essiet’s walking,
but only after the full ensemble has successfully
navigated a series of complex, lurching
figures.
Fassi is a dynamic player, too. His shining
moment as pianist is the gorgeous title track, a
solo performance that leaves the listener wondering
how much was written out and how
much was simply waiting to be discovered.
—Brad Farberman
Sitting In A Song: Random Sequencer; Twelve Mirrors; The
Hawk; Seven Loops; Sitting In A Song; Summer’s Solstice; Shuffle
Bone; Moving Line; Berlin; Dionysia. (72:06)
Personnel: Riccardo Fassi, piano, Rhodes piano; Alex Sipiagin,
trumpet, flugelhorn; Dave Binney, alto saxophone; Gary Smulyan,
baritone saxophone; Andy Hunter, trombone; Essiet Essiet, bass;
Antonio Sanchez, drums.
Ordering info: alicerecords.it
set, with Bisio’s whinnying arco Smee to
Shipp’s sinister Captain Hook, as the latter
messes inside the piano looking for clues.
Bisio’s cover photograph of a crystallized tree
after an ice storm neatly suggests the multifarious
tendrils in the music, which peaks decisively
during “The Queen’s Ballad.” Bisio
springs out of his corner with a vengeance on
“Swing Laser,” Shipp’s knuckles spasmodically
pursuing him. —Michael Jackson
Floating Ice: Floating Ice; The Queen’s Ballad; Swing Laser; Disc;
Supernova; Holographic Rag; Decay. (57:18)
Personnel: Michael Bisio, bass; Matthew Shipp, piano.
Ordering info: relativepitchrecords.com
Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut
Joe Fielder’s Big Sackbut
Yellow Sound Label 566843
HHH
Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut is a low brass quartet
consisting of Fiedler, Ryan Keberle and Josh
Roseman on trombone, and Marcus Rojas on
tuba. On this album the group rips, dances and
converses through 10 tracks in a quasi-thirdstream
fashion that balances composition and
improvisation equally.
All of the arrangements and the bulk of the
compositions are Fiedler’s. He adeptly mixes
polyphonic with homophonic textures, writes
lush harmonies and presents several compelling
antiphonal call and response sections. Solos
and composed sections segue and flow seamlessly,
and Fiedler gives little pockets of space
where players can inject a quick solo statement.
His writing is most effective when simultaneous
solos are mixed with written parts, as on
“Mixed Bag.” The disc’s other standout track
is Willie Colon’s romping “Calle Luna, Calle
Sol,” which has a ton of forward energy.
The quartet is so tight that they sound like
one big, polyphonic low-brass organ. Each
trombonist kills it. Solos are divvied up evenly
and each player brings an individual approach
to phrasing, sound and melodic line. They are
equally at home whether playing soft balladic
and chorale passages or ratcheting things
up when more snarl is required. Rojas’ bass
lines hold everything together and never waver.
During his great unaccompanied introduction
to “Ging Gong,” he taps his horn and hums
while playing, getting a didgeridoo type drone.
Despite how well written, arranged and performed
the music on this album is, it becomes
a bit monotonous after a while. The tempi are
all in the medium range, forms begin to be a little
predictable, and except for the few instances
where mutes are used, each piece uses the same
timbral palette. It all gradually blurs together.
—Chris Robinson
Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut: Mixed Bag; The Crab; Don Pullen; A
Call For All Demons; #11; Calle Luna, Calle Sol; Blabber And Smoke;
Ging Gong; Does This Make My Sackbut Look Big?; Urban Groovy.
(60:49)
Personnel: Joe Fiedler, Ryan Keberle, Josh Roseman, trombone;
Marcus Rojas, tuba.
Ordering info: yellowsoundlabel.com
96 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2012