ALAN SILVA / OLUYEMI THOMAS
Transmissions
Eremite
MTE 027


A duet concert with the unlikely pairing of Alan Silva and Oakland multi-instrumentalist Oluyemi Thomas was one of the better ideas to spring from brainstormers in the last few years.

Silva's (whose discography undergoes questionable gaps in the last twenty years) welcome resurgence into creative music is punctuated here on his native instrument, the bass violin. Not that he has really been absent. The music that Silva authored in his heyday in the 60's and 70's, most particularly his work with the bow, was for many years the least common denominator in the jazz bass collective. Silva carved his own style out of an audacity to circumvent the instrument's role in rhythmic traditionalism. With the release of Transmissions, we are reminded that he has been with us all along. The opportunity to hear him perform and simultaneously compose with a West Coast multi-instrumentalist is an attractive one.

Regarding Thomas, his playing bears all of the staples of an original voice: the matchless tone, the adventurous phrasing, the humility in expression. To those who sense a divine, or perhaps mystical, spirituality in his playing, you couldn't be more certain. Thomas is in fact a practitioner of the Bahá'í faith, whose followers uphold the ideas of unification and compassion among all mankind. In listening to him play his instruments, there is certainly more than just a series of systematically placed notes. His sounds go beyond lyricism and straight for the story, which, when successful, is more a matter of timing than vocabulary, isn't it?

Stories are supported, translated and restructured between Silva and Thomas throughout this collection of five improvisations. The music never runs long or stale, a product of musicians who seem to be exploring for our benefit, rather than their own. Silva's arco style is bronzed on this disc; hearty doses of the bow will satiate those who hunger for it. And anyone unfamiliar with Thomas should welcome Transmissions as an inauguration to his truly original style. On "Connecting with the Divine," Thomas delivers some frighteningly beautiful phrases that dare you to predict his next move. Truth be told, you can't. Further evidence to his originality can be heard chasing Silva's gorgeous entry in "Lofty Flight," where Thomas begins a round on c-melody sax that will stir the emotions. The music has substance beyond the musicians' delivery. Even the transitions that take place are compelling.

Thomas and Silva have flung the shackles of conformity to the ground, so effectively captured by the unfailing production of the Eremite label. You have to wonder what larger instrumentation, among other possibilities, would bring under the direction of Thomas and Silva. Even if this becomes the sole recording on which their music was documented, jazz, or whatever we are calling it this week, was very alive in their embrace.

Recorded on October 16, 1999, at the Unitarian Meetinghouse, Amherst, MA.


--Alan Jones


Personnel: Alan Silva, double bass; Oluyemi Thomas, bass clarinet, c-melody saxophone, wooden flute, percussion


Track Listing: 1. Connecting with the Divine; 2. Lofty Flight; 3. Root & Branch; 4. Offering to the Exalted One; 5. Soft Flowing Waters