Volume 23 Issue 9 - June / July / August 2018

saxophonist Gerd Dudek and Schoof, the
band’s eldest member at 80 in 2016) and
seven significantly younger newcomers.
Among the members are some of the most
lyrical of improvisers (Dudek and trumpeter
Tomasz Stańko [both joined in 1970])
and great sonic explorers (saxophonist
Evan Parker [also 1970] and trumpeter Axel
Dörner [2006]).
From the pointillist beginnings in which
the members assemble in pecking isolation,
the work moves organically through subensembles
and solo turns and moments of
full-tilt incandescent glory. The trumpeters
and trombonists – functioning with nothing
resembling a conventional score – stretch
a swing-era harmonic model to a mindmelding
vision. The ultimate 44-minute piece
celebrates the joy of untrammelled improvisation,
testimony to the invention, openness
and generosity of its members.
Stuart Broomer
Echo Painting
Peggy Lee
Songlines SGL1626-2 (songlines.com)
!!
The artistic
genius of
Vancouverbased
composer/
performer/leader
Peggy Lee is in
top form in Echo
Painting, a suite
commissioned
by the 2016 Vancouver International Jazz
Festival. The Lee-composed tracks touch on
free improvisation, jazz, and classical genres,
providing her new ten-piece ensemble
(comprising veteran and younger Vancouver
area musicians) eloquent music to interpret.
The opening Incantation sets the stage
with mellow, slow, full ensemble held-note
soundscapes and a jazz-tinged tenor saxophone
solo against florid drumming. A
Strange Visit touches on many styles with
its fast, almost minimalistic string opening
leading to a slower atonal improvisational
section, and finishing with a march-like
groove. More diverse style references emerge
in Snappy, as Lee’s opening cello improvisation
leads to atonal squeaks and repetition. A
surprise polka-sounding section with string
lead follows, with more fun in the subsequent
wall-of-sound drum section. It all ends
with crackling new music sounds. Hymn
is a relaxing, reflective work with classical
tonal harmonic changes. which develops
into a more modern-day jazz number. All
but three tracks were composed by Lee, the
most notable being a straightforward cover of
Robbie Robertson’s The Unfaithful Servant
sung by guest vocalist Robin Holcomb, a
surprising yet gratifying closing musical
moment.
Lee and her musicians move seamlessly
between musical ideas with tight ensemble
playing whether from notated scores or
improvising. This is an original, detailed,
unique recording.
Tiina Kiik
The Core-Tet Project
Dame Evelyn Glennie; Jon Hemmersam;
Szilárd Mezei; Michael Jefry Stevens
Naxos 8.573804 (naxos.com)
!!
All of us who
love to free improvise
(and all the
rest of you too)
need to listen to
The Core-tet Project
improvising over 70
minutes of in-themoment
illuminating,
live musical sounds. Members Dame
Evelyn Glennie (percussion), Jon Hemmersam
(guitar), Szilárd Mezei (viola) and Michael
Jefry Stevens (piano) are each musical superstars,
but the big surprise here is how well
they create music together.
From the initial piano ping in Steel-Ribbed
Dance, each soloist joins the cohesive tight
group with virtuosic rapid lines, beating
repeated notes and tinges of guitar and piano
jazz flavours. The Calling is a quieter, slower
soundscape. I love the hypnotic percussion
and piano opening leading to a classic middle
free improv section with piano and percussion
strikes, guitar lines and viola slides. A
sense of humour and individuality shines
in Walk of Intensity. From the opening
pacing piano feel, each instrumentalist
runs at their own pace, building to a higher
pitch, then gradually subsiding to a final
piano note. Silver Shore is a moving, expressive
piano and viola duet with its counterpoint
and harmonies emulating a notated
piece of music. Black Box Thinking features
a wall-of-sound setting with the percussion
and viola in a “Who will win this percussive
banging conversation?” contest. The closing
Rusty Locks has a fun groove-driven upbeat
dance feel.
The booklet notes, penned by Glennie and
Stevens, give a sneak peek to each track.
Recording is clean and alive. Enjoy!
Tiina Kiik
D’Agala
Sylvie Courvoisier Trio
Intakt Records CD 300 (intaktrec.ch)
!!
Nearly 15 years
of collective rumination
about the jazz
trio tradition has
led to this collection
of original
compositions by
Swiss pianist Sylvie
Courvoisier, dedicated
to many of her inspirations. Here,
Courvoisier is joined by her American associates,
bassist Drew Gress and drummer
Kenny Wollesen. Intense, but not insensate,
Courvoisier’s tunes are unique enough
to equally incorporate brooding meditations,
solemn threnodies and springy
acknowledgments.
Dedicated to pianist Geri Allen, for
instance, D’Agala is actually more reminiscent
of Bill Evans’ trio elaborations, where
emphasized keyboard tones move forward
crab-like, as each texture is shadowed by
connective double bass thumps and underscored
by echoing bell-tree-like and chainshaking
percussion that frames each carefully
thought-out pattern. Éclats for Ornette,
honouring saxophonist Coleman, jostles with
a wobbly effervescence as the semi-blues
melody and walking bass emphasis work into
a clanking climax that’s as self-possessed as
it is solid. South Side Rules for guitarist John
Abercrombie is as sparse, distant and darkened
as his work, yet each isolated note is
kept from formalism by cymbal swirls and
drum shuffles; while Fly Whisk, for Irène
Schweizer, isolates the celebrated pianist’s
distinctive keyboard tapestry, relieved by
bursts of forceful chording, without every
compromising Courvoisier’s singular identity.
Immersing herself in these nine demonstrations
of jazz trio wizardry, the pianist
does more than appropriately honour her
important influences. Her playing and
compositions confirm her membership
in the coterie of innovative improvising
keyboardists.
Ken Waxman
Thoughts Become Matter
Zero Point
MTM 006 (zeropoint-music.com)
! ! Controlled free
improvisation of
the precise kind,
this quartet demonstrates
that free
music doesn’t have
to reach zero point
– the lowest form
of energy – to foam.
Harmonized like a chemical formula, without
one element missing, the band is Swiss
guitarist Marius Duboule, Canadian bassist
Michael Bates, plus Americans, drummer
Deric Dickens and multi-instrumentalist
Daniel Carter.
Never exceeding the boiling point on any
track, the group improvisations are nudged
along by Bates’ paced and responsive thumps
and Dickens’ mediated shuffles and nerve
beats. From that point, sound actualization
usually depends on whether Duboule
is accenting his acoustic guitar strings or
crunching rough timbres from his electric
instrument, as Carter moves with equal
facility among flute, clarinet, trumpet or
soprano, alto and tenor saxophones. Carter
slips from one to another with such discretion
that he’ll often be playing another instrument
instants before you’ve finally identified
the first. Arabesques and flutter tonguing
86 | June | July | August 2018 thewholenote.com