Volume 23 Issue 3 - November 2017
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
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quartet take, followed later in the program<br />
by a smooth and beautiful brass arrangement<br />
of the same composition. Other superb<br />
tracks include the evocative title track, which<br />
features excellent solos from the quartet<br />
and the stirring Good Help, replete with the<br />
distinctive, percussive sound of the Wurlitzer<br />
electric piano as well as concise and solid bass<br />
work from LeFleming.<br />
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke<br />
Slightly Higher in Canada<br />
Kite Trio<br />
Sunset Hill Music SHM-021703<br />
(kitetrio.com)<br />
!!<br />
With their third<br />
release, this fine<br />
Montreal-based jazz<br />
trio has pushed past<br />
the boundaries of<br />
contemporary jazz<br />
and into a zone of<br />
pure expression and<br />
freedom. Produced<br />
by Dave King (The Bad Plus), the recording is<br />
both raw and experimental. Of the 12 explorations<br />
here, half are composed by the trio,<br />
and half by the talented individual members<br />
of the ensemble, which include Eric Couture-<br />
Telmosse on guitar, Paul Van Dyk on bass and<br />
Eric Dew on drums, synthesizer and banjo.<br />
On the opening track, Pidgin, the ensemble<br />
creeps in with a subtle, and then an insistent,<br />
guitar-defined rhythm and melody. The<br />
seemingly simple becomes complex as the<br />
composition dis-assembles into molecular<br />
form and re-assembles into kinesthetic<br />
harmonic and percussive exultation. The<br />
next track up is Paul Van Dyk’s Estranged –<br />
a solemn solo journey to the netherworld of<br />
the acoustic bass, where dark double-stops<br />
transport the listener deep into the chasm of<br />
the bass clef. The appealing That Good Old<br />
Feeling features the trio in an energetic and<br />
joyous light. Bombastic and masterful drum<br />
and guitar work as well as solid, innovative<br />
bass lines (arco and pizzicato) and some wellplaced<br />
banjo embellishments define this fine<br />
arrangement.<br />
The dynamic title track establishes a<br />
complex pulse of opposition and contrast,<br />
while lyrical sections seductively lure the<br />
listener into a thrilling guitar-infused realm<br />
of vibrancy, rife with the goose-bump raising<br />
excitement of possible danger. Another<br />
standout is Milkman, which represents<br />
the perfect integration of rock and free jazz<br />
sensibilities, and also features more superb<br />
Richter-scale musicianship from the trio a<br />
well as intriguing synthesizer sequences.<br />
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke<br />
Sometimes Y<br />
Lina Allemano Four<br />
Lumo Records <strong>2017</strong>-7<br />
Squish It!<br />
Lina Allemano’s Titanium Riot<br />
Lumo Records <strong>2017</strong>-8 (linaallemano.com)<br />
!!<br />
Trumpeter<br />
Lina Allemano<br />
has been playing<br />
in Toronto for two<br />
decades, becoming<br />
a central figure<br />
among the city’s<br />
more creative musicians<br />
and developing<br />
enduring musical associations that tip<br />
over into a variety of bands. In recent years,<br />
Allemano has been splitting her time between<br />
Toronto and Berlin, where her musical life<br />
includes work with improvising ensembles<br />
from duos to the Berlin Improvisers<br />
Orchestra as well as studies with Axel Dörner,<br />
whose exploration of extended techniques<br />
has given the trumpet new life. On the home<br />
front, Allemano is releasing work by her two<br />
ongoing Toronto bands, each CD testifying<br />
to the virtues of longstanding partnerships<br />
combined with questing musical minds.<br />
The Lina Allemano Four first recorded in<br />
2003 and the current lineup has been in place<br />
since 2006, with alto saxophonist Brodie<br />
West, bassist Andrew Downing and drummer<br />
Nick Fraser. The group has apparent roots in<br />
classic free jazz ensembles like the Ornette<br />
Coleman Quartet, with similar emphasis on<br />
the leader’s compositions and an almost stark<br />
principle of dialogue consistently informing<br />
the music. There’s a frequent emphasis on<br />
speech patterns in Allemano’s compositions,<br />
sometimes consisting of short, emphatic<br />
truncated phrases, and their realizations here<br />
are just as conversational, with West consistently<br />
adding supportive counterlines to<br />
Allemano’s solos and the trumpeter returning<br />
the favour. Kanada, a high point, ends with<br />
an extended group dialogue that grows naturally<br />
from Downing’s arco lead.<br />
Allemano first<br />
assembled Titanium<br />
Riot in 2013 and<br />
released the group’s<br />
debut Kiss the<br />
Brain a year later.<br />
Including Ryan<br />
Driver on analogue<br />
synthesizer, Rob<br />
Clutton on electric bass and Nick Fraser on<br />
drums, the group, devoted to free collective<br />
improvisation, undoubtedly benefits from the<br />
years working together in different contexts.<br />
The <strong>2017</strong> recording Squish It! is a dramatic<br />
continuation of the process. In this context,<br />
Allemano combines a distilled and pointed<br />
lyricism with striking timbral explorations<br />
to provide the music with an essential<br />
focus. It’s evident in the opening moments<br />
of the title track as she concentrates on long<br />
tones and a sound that’s a striking combination<br />
of subtle muting and the light buzz of<br />
air through the horn, the effect suggesting<br />
more than one trumpet. The quartet’s close<br />
listening and attention to texture consistently<br />
create an almost orchestral feel. Allemano’s<br />
focused concentration on sonority dovetails<br />
with Clutton’s rich sustained bass tones<br />
and mobile lines, Fraser’s shifting, energizing<br />
patterns and Driver’s creative mix of environmental,<br />
vintage cartoon and sci-fi sounds. The<br />
results range from the playful to the genuinely<br />
mysterious.<br />
While the methodologies of Allemano’s two<br />
quartets differ, the groups share a collective<br />
passion for creative interaction as well as<br />
admirable results.<br />
Stuart Broomer<br />
Concert Note: The official double release<br />
party takes place at the Tranzac on Tuesday,<br />
<strong>November</strong> 28.<br />
Thoughtful Fun<br />
Heillig Manoeuvre<br />
Independent HM<strong>2017</strong> (heilligman.com)<br />
! ! Canada’s onetime<br />
boy wonder of<br />
neo-mainstream,<br />
Henry Heillig, has<br />
now, unbelievably,<br />
spent over 30<br />
years ploughing<br />
his fertile furrow<br />
across the continent<br />
and elsewhere with the Heillig Manoeuvre,<br />
among other well-known ensembles. With<br />
Thoughtful Fun, the Manoeuvre’s sixth<br />
album, the bassist continues to entertain<br />
and dazzle in his virtuoso playing together<br />
with the extraordinary musicianship of other<br />
members of this ensemble.<br />
Every piece here is played by Heillig with<br />
a languid ease, each rhythmic variation<br />
following the other, quietly inexorabe, his<br />
sumptuous bass sound brilliantly caught in<br />
this recording. There is an unhurried quality<br />
to his approach, a lived-in character to his<br />
phrase-making that is very engaging; and<br />
while it might lack the fire and brimstone of<br />
youth, it is more than compensated for by the<br />
well-honed values of experience.<br />
Stacie McGregor on piano and organ, Charlie<br />
Cooley on drums and Alison Young on saxophones<br />
also bring their own exceptional musicianship<br />
to the eight songs on this disc. Their<br />
own playing puts a special spotlight on these<br />
beautifully crafted arrangements of beguiling<br />
variety and sensuousness, each informed by<br />
lovingly caressed phrases at every turn.<br />
Vocalist Alex Tait not only sings on Extreme<br />
Strolling and El Niño, but has also written<br />
poetic lyrics for the latter song. She too is<br />
completely attuned to the vision of the Heillig<br />
Manoeuvre. Hers is a voice whose mellifluous<br />
timbre beguiles and swings in the spacious<br />
arrangements of both songs.<br />
Raul da Gama<br />
thewholenote.com <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong> | 79