Ingrid Laubrock’s Anti-House, Strong Place (Intakt)

New York-based German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock continues to assert herself as one of today’s most promising jazz musicians. Since the release of its debut, the unit known as Anti-House has expanded from a quartet to a quintet with pianist Kris Davis now being officially inducted into the group – she had previously appeared as a guest artist. 

The band is probably a flag bearer for a new New York sound detached from what was known as the Downtown scene – ironically, none of the musicians is originally from the Big Apple. Laubrock, Davis, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and bass player John Hebert are all rising stars. And experienced drummer Tom Rainey whose name has been associated with countless sessions adds even more credibility. 

Each piece would require a second-by-second description. Indeed, Laubrock’s compositions are dense and malleable patchworks of insistent codas, melody bits, dissonant and angular statements, or jagged rhythms and lines, and make use of the many tools that are part of each musician’s arsenal. 

Anti-House makes challenging music but provides enough hooks to grab and retain the attention, most notable on the Henry Threadgill tribute, “Cup in a Teastorm.” Preeminently and perhaps facetiously featuring Davis’s piano – an instrument Threadgill rarely uses – Rainey’s busy and choppy drumming propels this faithful homage reminiscent of his Sextett days. Playfulness also comes into play, as evidenced in the middle of “Count ‘Em” at the injunction of Rainey, which underlines the authority that each musician can exercise to take the music in a new direction or to cue a new segment. Because what impresses most is how nimbly the band can negotiate shifts and, in particular, move from textures to a melody. 

Finally, Strong Place will remain a great entry point to admire Laubrock’s soprano playing which is gaining in personality even if the fat lines she can conjure lean towards Joe McPhee. 

- Alain Droulot

 

TrioVD, Maze (Naim Edge)

It is easy to see how this recording might puzzle or even create some dismay among jazz fans. This is not jazz, many will exclaim. It is quite certain that the members of this trio which hails from Leeds, England, do not really care what label is going to be stamped over their music. Running the risk of over-simplification, trioVD can be reminiscent of John Zorn’s Naked City at their most abrasive and violent. Indeed, Maze owes as much to jazz and improvised music as to speed metal and industrial rock.

However, after paying closer attention to the work of saxophonist Christophe de Bezenac, guitarist Chris Sharkey, and drummer Chris Bussey, the initial impression of mayhem tends to dissipate to reveal a band that is far from being one-dimensional. They can diversify their approach and go past the in-your-face formula to assemble a careful collage of sounds. Moreover, the electronics add to the atmosphere, providing a dense and textural backdrop.

The music of trioVD can be oppressive and full of imminent danger.  Pounded drum toms and harsh metallic cymbals often set the tone. Trouncing guitar and saxophone riffs are dealt without mercy. A frantic saxophone cuts through the magma in fusion like a buzzing saw. Morse-like phrases and a seemingly dyslexic discourse abound. This is sometimes offset by silly humor and unexpected turns as quiet passages are frequently the sign of a storm waiting to be unleashed.

If this was not already obvious, to best approach trioVD, it is recommended to leave expectations and preconceived definitions at home and let oneself be carried away by the irresistible adrenaline rush and the maelstrom of emotions.

- Alain Drouot

Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center

On Friday  night the New Jersey Performing Arts Center screened Jazz on a Summer’s Day (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052942/) in the Victoria Theatre. The feature-length documentary captured the spirit and highlights of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

It was a little magical to be able to see and hear the giants who performed at the festival that year: Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, Pops, Jo Jones, Gerry Mulligan, Chuck Berry or Mahalia Jackson…

The screening was followed by a lovely panel discussion with none other than Woody Shaw III, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Charlap and Stanley Crouch. Jimmy Cobb, who played at the festival that year (with Miles Davis!), explained that all the musicians were trying to play better than everybody else, and that the level was unparalleled.

The interviewer for the panel explained that the filmmaker put a lot of his own money into the film, and that at the time he was only 28.

Some audience members asked where jazz was heading now, and whom one should listen to. Cobb explained that at the time, musicians had Pops, Eric Dolphy and Miles, and that meant that they had ‘everything.’

 

Functional Arrhythmias, by Steve Coleman and Five Elements (Pi Recordings)

Alto sax Steve Coleman is a highly conceptual artist who enjoys combining his interests outside the music realm with his compositional research. This time, he focuses on the relationship “between the human soul, biology and music” and, in particular, the various rhythms of the biological systems. 

His velocity and fluid articulation could land him the title of the archetypical 21st century bebopper, but this time his delivery is more closely connected to the rich and complex backdrop supplied by drummer Sean Rickman and electric bassist Anthony Tidd who are both making their return with Five Elements. Resisting the impetus to rush, Coleman and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson are measured as if they constantly search and probe – never following a straight line – the best path to navigate over Rickman’s polyrhythms and Tidd’s supple yet muscular bass lines.

More than a dozen-year partnership has enabled Coleman and Finlayson to seal a special bond. It is utterly impressive to hear both men so closely attuned while dealing with the complex  rhythmic requirements of the material. It is almost as if they were connected by an invisible umbilical tie. Whether they work in unison, part ways, or solo, Coleman and Finlayson follow the same modus operandi and their interplay is almost of telepathic nature.

On about a third of the tracks, guitarist Miles Okazaki joins the quartet, but his presence neither detracts from the performance nor enhances it. His contributions have more to do with a duplication of the process. Only on “Lymph Swag (Dance of the Leukocytes)” does he make an impression and affect the mood by switching to his distinctive nylon-string guitar. 

Alain Drouot

Charles McPherson on the blues, at the Savannah Music Festival, 3/27/2013

I was recently fortunate enough to interview Charles McPherson, who told me about the blues, and what it means to him. 

Charles McPherson: The reason why I think the blues are important is because they should be, to me, the essence of what jazz is. It should be always a part of the fabric of jazz, I think. Everybody does not think that. But I do.

(….) The blues [is] a musical form, (….) harmonically and technically, that set a miles for pretty much the full range of human emotions. At least the really important emotions, I think…can be expressed by way of the blues.

To me music is just a metaphor for human emotionality. The human emotions are the real thing. So when you use art, whether in music, writing, or whatever it is! the particular mode of art – whatever the art is – …to me it’s supposed to be able to express the human condition. And so if you play music, then music is supposed to express that. And I think to be multidimentional – and that’s what people are: human beings are multidimentional: they are complex – so I think that the music should be multidimentional in that it can portray all the emotions: sadness, happiness, extreme depression, extreme gaity, and everything in the middle.

And the blues as a form covers a lot of emotionality because there are different kinds of blues: some blues are very dark and almost sad. But some are happy; some are glad to be unhappy – that’s a strange one there, ‘glad to be unhappy’ that’s a dichotomy – but it is a strange emotion that people can feel – and then just happy and/or hopeful, humorous, sexy – not even sexy but also …what’s the word….agape (as opposed to eros). So the blues, besides it being sexy (you know, it can be that), it can be not sexy, but almost reverent.

Because when the blues was first concocted by people, essentially… there was no sexual….because it’s an outbirst of spirituals. It’s like spirituals. And then maybe the blues comes from that. The evolution. But you know the spirituals are really saying “help, help me; ah…you’re all I got.” Meaning the big soul of the universe. So it’s a plaintive. This is you know….And then the blues comes from that. So there’s a part of the blues that deals with not just eros, or sex, or I lost my girlfriend, my love is gone….it’s that too, but it’s also ‘help’. You know. So those things are very interesting. When you have that to use, you have that kind of vehicle, there’s a lot of emotions…if you know as an artist how to do it; so to me the blues….that’s another reason why the blues is important. Because it’s a wonderful vehicle for a lot of different kinds of emotionality that humans feel.

And I will say this too: I travel a lot. I have been all around the world. I play for a lot of different cultures, a lot of different people, languages and the whole bit; and we can play certain tunes and I can tell they can’t truly relate to that. I can sense it; even if they are polite. [Charles is clapping]

But I have never been to any place where we played the blues and they didn’t understand it. I played in places where maybe they didn’t like anything else we did; but when we played that, they got it.

So I think it has a universal appeal. That’s another reason why I think the blues are almost special in a way because they appeal almost universally cross culture, cross race, cross gender, cross tribal, whatever… because in some kind of way, it speaks to a broad mass of humanity. That maybe other kind of jazz/music doesn’t. That one does.

So that’s another reason why I think it’s special and that I play it. It saved us a lot of times. When we weren’t really connecting with the audience, and it’s like ‘okay, let’s play one of these blues…’ and we can be in Ireland, you know, and it works. And definitely it is very American.

Catherine Russell at Dizzy’s

Last night Catherine Russell performed at Dizzy’s with luminaries Matt Munisteri on guitar, Mark Shane on piano, Mark McLean on drums and Lee Hudson on bass. It was my first time seeing and hearing her, and I was impressed. The club was absolutely packed and Tom Hanks and Wynton Marsalis were attending the show. The crowd really enjoyed Russell, who got to sing two encores.

The first two tunes Russell sang were Armstrong tunes, the second being “There’s so little time and so much to do.” And Russell added “Since that’s the case, we’re gonna get to the blues right now” and she sang “Shake that thing.” Russell also sang a tune with Matt Munisteri (who by then was playing the banjo) and she sang several Ellington tunes, which was a nice reminder of the Duke Ellington festival Jazz at Lincoln Center is organizing this weekend.

Russell also sang the blues “Aged and mellow.” She really masters the blues. Her voice is perfectly fit for it and she embodies the swing area. She also mentioned most of the dates when the tunes she sang were recorded, so that her performance was not only musically enjoyable, but also instructive, which is what Jazz at Lincoln Center is all about.

No wonder Russell, who has so much character and soul, is so popular. Her voice makes you shiver.

Yusef Lateef at Roulette, April 6th 2013

I have been meaning to mention the last Yusef Lateef show I saw at Roulette in Brooklyn on April 6th. After the show, I was literally elated. Lateef played the saxophone, the flute, various percussions and read poems. The last poem dealt with how one should replace thorns in one’s heart with love. It was mesmerizing.

And Howard Mandel’s blogpost on the matter is enlightening: http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2013/04/yusef-lateef-the-autophysiopsychics-valedictory.html