AMH TRIO
Live at the Field & Frame
Plutonium
PLU-001

Releases like Live at the Field & Frame serve notice that free improvisation and outside jazz (…or whatever you want to call it) are alive and well outside of NYC, Chicago and San Francisco. Though New Mexico may conjure images of cacti, cowboys and the Cerro Grande fire, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos all support an enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience for new music. Thanks to venues such as Albuquerque’s Outpost Performance Space (operated by multi-reed great Tom Guralnick), and fearlessly eclectic record labels, such as Zerx Records (started by writer, raconteur, and DJ Mark Weber as a vehicle for his own mixed-media creations), some of the artists at the epicenter of the New Mexico scene (Guralnick, J. A. Deane, Steve Feld, Stefan Dill, Mark Weaver, and David Parlato – to name just a few) are getting some exposure. Conversely, New Mexico’s home-grown talent is also getting some recognition from the rest of the world. Tuba-ist Mark Weaver, a member of ensembles led by Deane, Feld, and Parlato, encountered San Diego-based multi-woodwind player Alan Lechusza while playing in Portland, OR, in groups led by trumpeter Rob Blakeslee and trombonist Michael Vlatkovich. To quote Weaver’s own liner note, he and Lechusza "immediately felt an affinity" for each others’ playing, and planned their own project.

Though Live at the Field & Frame is dominated by Weaver’s compositions (6 out of 8 tracks), there is plenty of variety here. Eisenstadt’s "There are So Many Stars…" is a floating, free-jazz ballad featuring Lechusza on flute. Lechusza’s "Number 5" is a more chaotic, angular piece which wouldn’t sound out of place on one of Anthony Braxton’s LPs from the mid-70s. Though not overly complex, Weaver’s tunes are replete with unexpected twists and turns, space for extended improvisations, and opportunities for all sorts of musical zingers. Percussionist Eisenstadt does a wonderful job of picking up on the latter on "Stitches": his instincts are as sure as his reflexes, in this regard. Weaver, though he blends magically with Lechusza on several of the themes and launches a vigorous extended solo on "Stitches," spends most of his time providing a pliant ‘air bass’ springboard for Lechusza’s (and Eisenstadt’s) flights of fancy.

"Pentimento" starts off with a quirky, angular theme over an edgy rockish groove, dissolves into a dialogue between tuba and drumkit, and climaxes with an expressive, Surman-ish, baritone sax solo. "In Place Of" is somewhat more somber, with Lechusza’s Klezmer-ish clarinet fluttering over Eisenstadt’s purring snare, and Weaver’s muttering tuba. My favorite track, however, is "Every Cubic Centimeter," which alternates duo and trio free improvisations with a choppy 5/4 groove over which Lechusza (on bass clarinet, here) solos magnificently. Alan Lechusza is definitely a name you ought to take note of: he is one of those rare multi-woodwind players who has truly mastered each of his axes. I can’t really say which instrument he sounds best on because he sounds great on each one (…and I am told his primary instrument is oboe!). Finally, the bare-bones "live-to-two- track" digital recording is surprisingly crisp and dimensional, though Weaver’s tuba suffers somewhat at the expense of Eisenstadt’s drums and cymbals.

Live at the Field & Frame, available directly from Plutonium Records (www.flash.net/~bee) and Cadence/Northcountry (www.cadencebuilding.com), is a great example of what can happen when creative musicians in out-of-the-way places get to have friends in for a visit and stretch out a little. I hope that whatever is going on in Albuquerque is also happening in a town near you.

Dave Wayne

Track Listing: 1. Pentimento; 2. There Are So Many Stars in the New Mexico Sky; 3. In Place Of; 4. Every Cubic
Centimeter; 5. Elements; 6. Number 5; 7. Stitches; 8. Pentimento (encore)

Personnel: Alan Lechusza, baritone and alto saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute; Mark Weaver, tuba; Harris Eisenstadt, drums