Volume 21 Issue 2 - October 2015

sympathetic ending. As for the consecutive Free Bop Statement One
and Free Bop Statement Two, a flexible intro works up from creamy
Johnny Hodges-like alto playing plus juddering, pre-modern jungleband
keyboard splashes to attain a series of motifs encompassing key
clips and dissonant reed squawks, though never abandoning underlying
swing. Conventional and avant-garde simultaneously, Black Rain
may be the CD’s most evocative track. A soothing duet, characterized
by gentle keyboard patterning and graceful bass clarinet breathing, as
if Shipp and Walerian were a long-time married couple finishing each
other’s sentences, it’s suddenly ripped apart and replaced with Shipp’s
key clips and harp-like piano string strums hewing out an ascending
sonic path and Walerian’s intermittent tongue stops and flute peeps.
Concluded with sparse sounds that wouldn’t be out of place in a new
music recital, the two confirm their versatility and the vitality of
the disc.
Another application of this international formula is the Ocean
Fanfare quartet. Consisting of Polish trumpeter
Tomasz Dąbrowski, two Danes, alto and tenor
saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild and bassist
Richard Andersson, and American drummer
Tyshawn Sorey, the fusion results in an exceptional
modern mainstream unit on its cleanly
recorded CD Imagine Sounds Imagine Silences
(Barefoot Records BFREC O40 barefootrecords.com),
which consist of six Dąbrowski
and three Meinild originals. Despite having composed the bulk of the
material, Dąbrowski isn’t any more prominent in performance than
other members. Like a new drawing superimposed over an existing
one, Ocean Fanfare has the instrumentation and left-field orientation
of an Ornette Coleman quartet plus the stamina of the Jazz
Messengers. Crucially, Sorey’s broken time sense and cymbal swishes
are less prominent than Art Blakey’s, leaving supple booms from
Andersson’s bass to define the rhythmic bottom. Featuring the drummer’s
time-clock-like pacing, a track such as Lotus positions crying
split tones from the saxophonist and melancholic plunger work from
the trumpeter for an emotional narrative. 7 Days to Go extends the
Coleman-like comparison, starting off echoing Lonely Woman until
the skirmish takes on the strength of a battle with a double bass vamp
and interlocked horn bluster. On the other hand the crackling velocity
that propels US 12 resembles that of a classic bop 78, with each player’s
contributions tossed every which way, until a pseudo-march
sequence introduces some spectacular brass plunger tones and
climaxes with conjoined twin-like horn unison. By the final
Meditation (on a Visit from France), the band appropriately trades in
blunt reed smears, kazoo-like brass hums and popping bass and drum
beats for a stable but buoyant ending. Following trumpet and saxophone
tone slacking, the theme slips away leaving behind a bass string
pluck and cymbal resonation.
Politically Nichi Nichi Kore Ko Nichi by the P.U.R. Collective
(ForTune 0056 006 for-tune.pl) is instructive
in a non-musical manner since the cohesive
seven tracks of free improvisation match a
Polish combo of guitarist Maciej Staszewski,
drummer Tomek Chołoniewski and Krzysztof
Knittel on electronics with two reed players,
Alexey Kruglov from Russia and Yuri
Yaremchuk from Ukraine. Rather than being at
loggerheads like their respective governments,
the players create a collective program where the keening vigour of
Yaremchuk’s bass clarinet and soprano saxophone plus the jagged
bites from Kruglov’s alto saxophone, basset horn and block flute
snuggle alongside the others’ expressions like Matryoshka nesting
dolls. Unlike these wooden Russian toys no player is more inside or
outside than another. You can get an idea of this Eastern Bloc pact on
U 01 where chalumeau lowing from the clarinet moves alongside
uniform guitar strums as electronics create a convulsive ostinato of
peeps and static. Even after the line mutates into a free jazz blowout
from the saxophonists, intricate finger-style guitar lines and drum
pops mute the explosions enough, while a moving block flute cadenza
signals the finale. These ex-Soviets have a sense of humour as well.
Cutting through the harsh flamenco-like runs from Staszewski and
unorthodox beats from Chołoniewski on Extreme 07, Kruglov inserts
some mocking rooster crows that presage his quicksilver reed smears
and split tones as the factions unify distinctively.
Of course it’s still common for a visiting international soloist to
hook up with Polish musicians to tour and
record. One notable instance of this is Panta
Rei (ForTune 0047 034 for-tune.pl), where
Marco Eneidi Streamin’ 4 consists of the
leader, an American alto saxophonist living
in Vienna, plus three high-functioning Poles:
tenor saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski, bassist
Ksawery Wójciński and drummer Michał
Trela. Comfortable in two-saxophone situations,
Eneidi’s communication with Pospieszalski is at the highest
level, often suggesting a funhouse mirror, where similar phrases from
each are distorted with unique reflections. Ironically titled, Made
in Pole Land highlights an emotional two-step which breaks down
into speedy tremolos with snorts, horks and nasal buzzes goosed by
Wójciński’s pacing and Trela’s wooden cracks. The swirl of buzzing
double bass strings energizes White Bats Yodelling, although whether
the flying rodents saluted with violent mammalian split tones,
rumbling basso honks and agitated wing-like swishes are Polish or
American isn’t made clear. What is clear is that, like intrepid (tone)
scientists, the two saxophonists chase every phrase and note to the
end, wringing each sonic nuance, expansion and implication from
it. With measured bumps, but no bombast, the drummer follows up
Wójciński’s sul ponticello intro to the concluding wordplay of Arco M.
Adding additional string twanging later on, both he and Trela maintain
the swinging pulse as the soloing of Eneidi and Pospieszalski
contrast their intercontinental styles. When one architecturally builds
a sleek Le Corbusier-like modernist line, the other counters with
rococo detailing; then they switch roles with conclusive cooperation.
Panta Rei may have been a first meeting for the American
and the Poles, but the high level of musicianship exhibited by all
confirms why collaborations involving adventurous Polish stylists and
equally impressive out-of-country musicians are becoming increasingly
common.
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Find the reviews on the following pages:
András Schiff: Schubert.....................................................................61
Lars Vogt: Bach – Goldberg Variations...........................................61
Stefano Molardi: Kuhanu - Complete Organ Music....................62
Ives Quartet: Porter String Quartets...............................................63
Soile Isokoski: Chausson, Berlioz and Duparc..............................64
Philidor: Les Femmes Vengées.........................................................65
Barenboim & Dudamel: Brahms: Piano Concertos....................65
Andrew Staniland: Talking Down the Tiger...................................67
Charles Lloyd: Wild Man Dance.........................................................70
Ocean Fanfare: Imagine Sound Imagine Silence.........................72
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