Volume 23 Issue 9 - June / July / August 2018

Libération – Jazz Flute
François Richard
Effendi Records CMFR004
(effendirecords.com)
!!
How many
times can one
reach the pinnacle
of his compositional
and fluteplaying
powers?
Well, if you are the
Québécois virtuoso
François Richard,
then the answer is probably several times; in
fact, it might even be a bit risqué to suggest
a definitive figure. He may scale even greater
heights in future, but if he never achieves
anything better than Libération he still has
ample reason to be proud. Richard’s take on
the lineage of the cool, spacey flute is infinitely
less than conventional here, seeing him
summoning woody tones from the instrument
that float benignly over Guillaume
Martineau’s languid piano, the growling gravitas
of Rémi-Jean Leblanc’s contrabass and the
delicate thunder of Martin Auguste’s drums.
Each musician takes turns adding rich and
not entirely predictable harmonic inventions
to the music. The opener Ponctuation
is a joyous, dancing piece which engages
the senses. It’s followed by Winter Blues, a
slow, slightly mysterious and ballad-edged
tune with a rueful feel. Winter Blues features
a thoughtful melodic solo by Richard, as
does Une tempête, which reminds one of
the leaping virtuosity of the late, great Eric
Dolphy. Richard continues to ring in the
changes in mood, structure and tempo,
making Libération a program of constantly
interesting repertoire.
The considerable degree of balance and
integration of melody, harmony and rhythm,
of composition and improvisation, of exploration,
individuality and tradition, is impressively
maintained throughout.
Raul da Gama
Pardes
Amos Hoffman; Noam Lemish
Independent (hoffmanlemish.com)
!!
Pardes
(pronounced
par-DES) is the
Hebrew word
for orchard or
“fruit garden”
and, according to
the liner notes,
the origin of the
word “paradise.” This makes a lot of sense:
listening to Pardes, the Amos Hoffman and
Noam Lemish Quartet’s first collaborative
CD release, it’s easy to feel like you’ve
been transported to a musically intoxicating
Garden of Eden.
Both Israeli-born and exceptional musicians,
oudist, guitarist and innovator
Hoffman, now based in South Carolina, and
Toronto-based pianist and composer Lemish,
have been collecting Jewish melodies from
around the world for over 20 years. With
Pardes, Kurdish, Ladino, Yemenite, Moroccan,
Russian, Bukharian and Israeli songs have
been uniquely transformed by Hoffman
and Lemish’s shared jazz sensibilities and
inspired arrangements. The results? These
songs – many well-known and beloved – have
been reimagined into sultry, sexy, evocative,
compelling and just plain gorgeous jazzinfused
jewels.
Each track is worthy of its own review
but for now, some “quick pick” standouts:
Hoffman’s stunning oud work on
Adon Haslichot; Lemish’s exhilarating
piano on Dror Yikra; the exquisite contribution
by guest clarinettist Jacob Gorzhaltsan
on Äji Tü, Yormä, Äji?; the exuberant
exchanges between guitar and piano on
Tchol Hamitpachat; and the deeply expressive
work by both Lemish and Hoffman on
Ets Harimon. Guest tombak player, Pedram
Khavarzamini, adds yet another layer of
beauty on three tracks, and the Gray brothers,
Justin (bass) and Derek (drums and percussion),
round out this remarkable quartet with
their skilful and sensitive musicianship.
Plug into Pardes and enjoy your stay
in paradise!
Sharna Searle
Concert note: The Amos Hoffman/Noam
Lemish Quartet performs at Lula Lounge on
June 3, co-presented by Jewish Music Week
in Toronto and Lulaworld 2018; June 7, 8pm
Silence in Guelph; June 8-9 Diese Onze,
Montreal; June 10, 9pm Black Squirrel Books,
Ottawa; June 24, 12pm Toronto Jazz Festival
OLD Stage Yorkville Park.
Blued Dharma
Adrean Farrugia; Joel Frahm
GB Records GBCD1804 (gbrecords.ca)
!!
It was while
on tour with
drummer Ernesto
Cervini’s band in
2014 that the idea
of recording a duo
album emerged
for Toronto-based
pianist Adrean
Farrugia and New York City-based saxophonist
Joel Frahm. Fortunately for us, Blued
Dharma, released last month, is the result of
a splendid idea taken seriously and brought,
beautifully, to fruition.
Farrugia and Frahm are masterful musicians
and improvisers. And clearly, these
two mutual fans and musical friends revel in
playing together. Simpatico, musical connection,
uncanny understanding, empathy –
call it what you will – these two have it,
and it permeates the CD. Of the album’s
eight tracks, five are originals by Farrugia –
as insightful a composer as he is a pianist
– two are utterly refreshing and intriguingly
different turns on Roy Noble’s Cherokee, and
track five is Farrugia and Frahm’s joyful jaunt
through Kern and Hammerstein’s Showboat
classic, Nobody Else But Me; listen for the
brief, playful nod to Over the Rainbow. The
title track sounds like what you’d imagine
something called Blued Dharma would:
contemplative, expressive, deeply personal.
The third track, For Murray Gold, is a heartaching
ballad. If someone ever writes a piece
of music for me, please let it be that gorgeous!
Farrugia and Frahm do not merely improvise.
They complement, interact with,
enhance, cajole, inspire, coax and charm
each other. Blued Dharma is nothing short of
magical. You, too, will be charmed.
Sharna Searle
Plant
Éric Normand & Jim Denley
Smeraldina-Rima 26/Tour de Bras
TDBLP990002 (tourdebras.com)
! ! Quebec’s smaller
cities sometimes
spawn radical
music. Michel
Levasseur has
produced 34 annual
editions of the epic
FIMAV festival in
Victoriaville, while
Éric Normand has created an extraordinarily
active scene – complete with record label and
improvising orchestra – even further afield in
Rimouski. One of Normand’s ongoing collaborations
is with Australian saxophonist/flutist
Jim Denley: they first recorded together in a
Rimouski quintet in 2010 on Transition de
Phase. Plant, available as a beautifully packaged,
limited-edition LP or a download,
presents the two in a 2013 performance. If the
title suggests organic growth, a first hearing
suggests it’s a pun, linking garden and industrial
plants.
If the combination of flute or saxophone
and electric bass might suggest sparse work,
that’s hardly the case here. There are dense,
sustained sounds, whether alternating or
layered, coming from Normand’s electric bass
and Denley’s “field recordings” of a clothing
factory. Whether playing flute or saxophone,
Denley often focuses on the slow alternated
notes and trills, sometimes sustained with
circular breathing. Normand and the field
recordings suggest the factory, Denley’s winds
in the glade.
Together they create a kind of post-industrial
pastoral in which the vibrating amplified
strings and machinery ultimately fuse
with Denley’s minimalist, gestural language,
his flute sound almost a kind of first brush
with music in a primeval forest. The result is
an extended meditation on the nature and
meaning of sound, its threats, codes and
ambiguities transfigured into resonant repose.
Stuart Broomer
84 | June | July | August 2018 thewholenote.com