AERCINE
Aercine
Drimala
DR 02-347-06
MICHAEL
JEFRY STEVENS
The Survivor's Suite
Jazz'halo
015
Part of the underappreciated generation of expressive improvisers, pianist
Michael Jefry Stevens, 52, is one of those musicians who plied his craft
in the fallow years between the 1960s heyday of experimental jazz and
before the current free music uptick.
Now co-leader of the peripatetic Fonda-Stevens bands with bassist Joe
Fonda, Stevens is a committed, no-holds-barred improviser. His technically
imposing stylings draw as much -- if not more -- from the severe formalism
of early modern classical composers as the jazz tradition.
Both Aercine, a studio quintet effort, and The Survivor's Suite, a live
solo disc, are distinctive examples of his art. Although both are technically
impressive, on scrupulous analysis it seems that his monochromic approach
often needs the supplemental colors of other, brighter instruments to
be put in bolder relief.
That's why the quintet session is so impressive. Another reason is that
on the CD Stevens' trio, filled out by drummer Harvey Sorgen -- who also
produced and mastered the discs -- and bassist Steve Rust, is joined by
an usual front line. Violinist Mark Feldman has worked in every medium
from Nashville studios to John Zorn's formal compositions, while trumpeter
Herb Robertson has been a favorite brassman for leaders ranging from altoist
Tim Berne to bassist Barry Guy.
Although all the music is completely improvised it also phases in references
from impressionism and Eastern European airs on one hand and hard bop
and the Cool school at other times. Sometimes, in fact, Stevens' touch
appears to be a weird amalgam of Lennie Tristano's and Dave Burrell's.
Then on something like "The Shokoe Slip" he will turn pure hard
bopper, complete with double-timed key clipping. Brassy plunger work from
Robertson and romantic triple and double stopping from Feldman in the
virtuosic Jascha Heifetz tradition mute the harsh keyboarding until the
entire tune explodes into high pitched cacophony.
Alternately, "As I Was Saying" features dark, fine-boned pianisms,
as Stevens ranges all over the tune with underscored cadenzas of altered
fantasias. Rust and Sorgen stick to straight jazz time, while the trumpeter
produces brassy lip farts and the violinist shapely, wiggling mellow sweeps.
There's "Roundup", which seems to have escaped from an upscale
roadhouse, situated midway between the Red Neck and Urban parts of a Southern
city. With a theme that sounds itchingly familiar, Stevens tries out some
rollicking modern barrelhouse piano that mixes with some bleached Jungle
stylings from Robertson. The brassman's muted grace notes then comment
on Feldman's clear, legato, but very speedy, runs. Robertson appears to
be working the inside of his valves with buzzing shakes and ascending
runs, while the fiddler slides out notes so sizzlingly quick and so sharp
that he sometimes goes flat as he touches many strings at once. The drummer
contributes press rolls, with the final ferment built up with triple-time,
tremolo piano pounding. By that point everyone is in such a state that
someone shouts out a loud "gee haw!". Now when's the last time
you heard that on an improv CD?
Elsewhere,
romantic themes share space with Balkan echoes; banjo-like plucks from
fiddle meet high-pitched almost celeste-like sound from the piano; and
when Robertson sounds out what could be traditional muted Miles-like lines,
bassman Rust Rust follows along as a dependable Paul Chambers.
If the quintet disc shows what can be accomplished when sympathetic associates
gather, the other CD shows the vulnerability of having to celebrate an
important milestone by yourself.
A 50th birthday present to himself, the session was recorded in Brugge,
Belgium at the end of Stevens' first-ever solo piano tour. That it's an
impressive display of keyboard skill is unquestionable. But, unfortunately,
freed from the leavening jazz-inflections of other players, the pianist's
classical impressionism mixed with hyper romantic Bill Evansisms and indulgent
Keith Jarrettisms become paramount.
You notice this most of all in the so-called jazzier tunes. Thelonious
Monk's "Ask Me Now" is given a florid reading that, even with
a hint of stride, seems to extract the composer's angularity and substitute
even temperament and too many notes. "The Search" showcases
echoes of more down-to-earth and stalwart pianists like McCoy Tyner and
Wynton Kelley. However the double-timing decorative curlicues from the
left hand and powerful, note-ringing pressure from the right don't really
turn the restrained syncopation into anything more than a pianist's showcase.
It appears that nearly every skill and technique extant makes it's appearance
on the more than 33-minute title track. Light-fingered, introductory,
right-handed motifs allow the theme to be advanced with strong-armed emphasized
tremolos and occasional inside-the-piano forays. As elaborations of the
theme are repeated and circled, sustained pedal action gives significance
to the output. The overall effect is the sound of variations on variations
instead of forward motion. Midway through the five linked sections, the
hint of blues-like melisma appears, with the very trebly top of the keys
tinkled, but that soon is subsumed under something that could as easily
arise from Rachmoninov's emotionalism as anything Evans or Jarrett played.
Moving all over the frame and soundboard, notes are paced largo to andante,
prior to the entire sequence almost fading into a New Agey mist. More
hushed, the coda first reprises the theme then forms a timbre that seems
to be informed more by 19th century recital standards than anything in
the North American jazz/improv tradition.
Piano devotees and Stevens' enthusiasts may give The Survivor's Suite
and all its rigorous pianisms a higher grade. But most will prefer Stevens'
creations served up with the garnish provided from other players.
--
Ken Waxman
Track
Listing: Aercine: 1. Twofold Twice; 2. The Shokoe Slip; 3. Aercine; 4.
As I Was Saying; 5. Renata; 6. Changeling; 7. Kaaterskill Falls; 8. Occam's
Razor; 9. Maracaibo; 10. Roundup
Track Listing: Suite: 1. For Galo; 2. Ask Me Now; 3. Musica Callada #1;
4. Quiet; 5. The Search; 6. Survivor's Suite I. Praeludium II. Yin/Tang
III. Interludium IV. The Eternal Spring Of Hope V. Postlude
Personnel:
Aercine: Herb Robertson, trumpet; Mark Feldman, violin; Michel Jefry Stevens,
piano; Steve Rust, bass; Harvey Sorgen, drums
Personnel:
Suite: Michel Jefry Stevens, piano