DIFFERENCE STRING QUARTET
Take Care of the Difference
Riga
800

EMERGENCY STRING QUARTET
Hill Music: Improvisations for String Quartet
Spring Garden Music
008

String quartets playing jazz! A bizarre proposition – especially for those subjected to the Euro-centric musical bias perpetrated upon most of the so-called civilized world. Groups such as the Kronos Quartet and Abdul Wadud’s Black Swan Quartet have already invested considerable effort in attempting convincing jazz using this unlikely musical configuration. To my ears, only the Black Swan Quartet, and Maxine Roach’s Uptown String Quartet, have had any measure of success in this venture thus far. Kronos’ interpretations of pieces by Monk and Bill Evans, though earnest and beautifully played, seemed rather stiff and formal.

Much the same could be said of the Difference String Quartet’s interpretations of jazz standards: lovingly arranged (by Pierre Tassone, a violinist who does not play on the disc), flawlessly executed, and mechanical. The quartet, which hails from Latvia, clearly comes from the classical tradition. As individual soloists, they may well be able to play jazz in a convincing fashion if backed by the right musicians, but they don’t show it on this CD. There’s something in their phrasing and attack that smacks of the classical conservatory. I also found the near-total lack of dynamic contours in these interpretations to be quite disconcerting. The feel of jazz simply isn’t present on Take Care of the Difference, even though the cellist can play a pretty decent walking bass line. Yet, Take Care of the Difference is a pleasant enough disc. Tassone has done a really nice job of thinking through the pieces –
it’s a credit to his skill as an arranger that they don’t all come off as musical fluff. Tassone’s intricate reworking of Alice In Wonderland is by far the most rhythmically complex piece on the CD. The quartet tackles it with appreciable gusto. Other enjoyable pieces are “Blue and Green” and “Solar” – the former for its harmonic and melodic vagaries, the latter because it’s the one other piece (besides Alice) where the players really dig in and show a little spirit. The two originals (both by Tassone) have a chamber-jazz feel, and the quartet handles them nicely (albeit too carefully). On the other hand, “Summertime”, “Impanema”, and “A Child is Born” are little more than music-box confections.

“Hill Music” is the dead opposite of “Take Care of the Difference”. The Emergency String Quartet specializes in total free improvisation wherein extended techniques and non-standard approaches to music-making are emphasized. Two of the players in this quartet – bassist Damon Smith and cellist Bob Marsh – are pretty well-known in free music circles. Smith is a powerful, energetic player, and a protégé of the great Peter Kowald, who has maintained a high profile in the Bay Area as a first-call bassist for all manner of jazz, free jazz and improvised music gigs. Marsh, who hails from Chicago, is a multi-instrumentalist and frequent associate of saxophonist Jack Wright. Here, Marsh sticks to the cello. I am not at all familiar with Hobbs and Swafford – in the company of Smith and Marsh, they more than hold their own.

The first track on “Hill Music” contains more in the way of energy, dynamics and timbre than the entire 50+ minutes of “Take Care of the Difference”. It’s also remarkably rich in harmonies, timbres, all sorts of holes and contours, and tons of sheer musical drama. From this lofty creative hilltop, the quartet goes on to explore all sorts of unexpected and unconventional terrain. Though each piece covers quite a bit of ground, certain aspects deserve special mention. On Hill 6, Smith’s bass harmonics are as wondrous as they are eerie - his strong statement pushes the entire ensemble into startling musical territory – some of which could be mistaken for a malfunctioning CD player. Hill 3 explores both the percussive possibilities of stringed instruments, and the intervening silences. Hill 2 is remarkable for its density – it sounds almost like a 20th Century Avant-Classical piece being played backwards. Hill 5 has all sorts of activity: ghostly harmonics, mechanized whirrings and rustlings, and a highly warped, but heroically Paganini esque, violin cadenza. There is little, if any, background or foreground to these pieces. Only on rare occasions, most notably on Hill 5, do two or three members of the ensemble coalesce to play a supporting role to a single lead voice. Hill Music is highly subversive, and a ceaselessly challenging listen that I found most palatable in small doses – a track or two at a time. Finally, pianist Bob Falesch deserves kudos for his particularly insightful and intelligent liner notes.


--Dave Wayne

Track Listing Take Care of the Difference: 1. Alice in Wonderland; 2. Summertime; 3. Blue in Green; 4. Solar; 5. Errances; 6. Girl from Impanema; 7. Helle; 8. My Favorite Things; 9. A Child is Born.

Track Listing Hill Music: Improvisations for String Quartet: 1. Hill 1; 2. Hill 2; 3. Hill 3; 4. Hill 4; 5. Hill 5; 6. Hill 6

Personnel Take Care of the Difference: Ilze Pence, violin (1st); Inga Grase, violin (2nd); Ingars Girnis, viola; Juris Lakutis, cello; Pierre Tassone, string arrangements

Personnel Hill Music: Improvisations for String Quartet: Jeff Hobbs, violin; Tom Swafford, violin; Bob Marsh, cello; Damon Smith, double bass