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John Lindberg BC3
Born In An Urban Ruin
CLEAN FEED 388
John Lindberg
Raptor Trio
Western Edges
CLEAN FEED 389
½
Two different trios, two disparate approaches.
For many musicians, the simultaneous delivery
of such dissimilar recordings would be a watershed
moment, but for bassist John Lindberg,
these are just two more entries in an already
crowded discography. On top of 40-plus recordings
under his own name, Lindberg appears
on dozens of albums—by Anthony Braxton,
Wadada Leo Smith, the Human Arts Ensemble,
the New York String Trio—that run the gamut
of contemporary improvised music.
For BC3, Lindberg takes a quasi-chamber-music
approach. Wendell Harrison, whose
tenor saxophone is a familiar sound on the
Detroit scene, here uses only clarinet and bass
clarinet, while drummer/percussionist Kevin
Norton mostly sticks to vibes. Although the
instrumentation may evoke post-war serialists,
only “Devastation Of Vegetation,”
which employs double bass multiphonics and
tongue-slapping bass clarinet, approaches that
degree of avant-gardism.
Instead, most of Born In An Urban Ruin
strikes a balance between inside and out,
anchoring free improvisation on sturdily
melodic themes that often recur. “The Left
Wrist,” a three-part tribute to trumpeter Roy
Campbell Jr., is probably the best example,
veering as it does between strongly rhythmic
diatonic riffs and angular motifs that push
chromaticism to the edge of tonality.
Lindberg’s Raptor Trio uses a more conventional
lineup, with Lindberg flanked by baritone
saxophonist Pablo Calogero and drummer
Joe LaBarbera, and the music, too, follows
more of the traditional tropes. “Ashoka,” a
lumbering, slow-swinging tune by Calogero,
immediately sets the album in post-Coltrane
territory, but it isn’t the saxophone work that
makes the connection; rather, the similarity
has more to do with the rhythm section. In
the tradition of Jimmy Garrison, Lindberg’s
bass offers a contrapuntal line, with skittering
figures in thumb position over a booming
E pedal, while LaBarbera’s drums deliver roiling
polyrhythms.
Lindberg describes the Raptor Trio as
embodying a “West Coast aesthetic,” and there
is an underlying “cool” to the sound here. Still,
there’s plenty potential for combustion in the
chemistry between these three, and tracks like
“Raptors” positively quiver with edgy rhythmic
interplay.
—J.D. Considine
Born In An Urban Ruin: Swooping Deep (Clarinet Version);
Vermont Roadside Family; The Left Wrist (For Roy Campbell, In
Memoriam) Part I; Part II; Part III; The Excavation; Swooping Deep;
Devastation Of Vegetation; Born In An Urban Ruin; Swooping Deep
(Bass Version). (49:33)
Personnel: John Lindberg, double bass; Wendell Harrison, clarinet,
bass clarinet; Kevin Norton, vibraharp, percussion.
Western Edges: Ashoka; Ethereal Extensions (For Carleton
Watkins, In Memoriam); T’witxt D And E; Raptors; The Great Escape;
Rumble Paint; At Home. (42:44)
Personnel: Pablo Calogero, baritone saxophone; John Lindberg,
double bass; Joe LaBarbera, drums.
Ordering info: cleanfeed-records.com
FEBRUARY 2017 DOWNBEAT 81