KEN VANDERMARK
Furniture Music
Okka Disk
OD 12046
ALESSANDRO BOSETTI/GREGOR HOTZ/KAI FAGASCHINKSI/RUDI MAHALL
Berlin Reeds
Absinth Records
001
EVAN PARKER/GEORGE HASLAM /JOHN EDWARDS
Parker - Haslam - Edwards
SLAM
CD314
BERTRAND DENZLER/HANS KOCH
Asymétries
Ambiance Magnétiques
AM 112 CD
Woodwind players galore in solo or duo settings are featured on these
CDs, which not only replicate the stratagems reedists evolve to cope with
such concentrated playing, but confirm the divisions between Continental
and Anglo Saxon interpreters. On show are seven reed blowers: one American,
one Italian, two Britons, two Germans and three Swiss. The horns used
include almost all the members of the saxophone family: soprano, alto,
tenor baritone and bass; plus clarinet, bass clarinet and Hungarian tarogato.
Oh, and on two tracks, a British bassist makes an appearance.
Taken together, the results seem to show that the English speakers, no
matter how experimental, are still trying for a consistent musical statement,
while the continental Europeans are moving into the realm of pure sound.
You can't chalk this difference up to age either. Chicago's Ken Vandermark,
whose almost-661/2 minute, 18-track solo session using four different
horns is the most audacious disc, is around the same age as a couple of
the players on Berlin Reeds and younger than the others on that CD and
Asymétries, whose playing is ostensibly further-out than his. Moreover
British saxophonist Evan Parker, whose solo experiments began around the
time some of the junior woodwind players here had their lips on a pacifier,
rather than a reed, creates one of the most concordant extended solos
of all.
Furniture Music is the first solo CD from Vandermark, who has already
successfully forged a group identity with his own bands, and been praised
for his contributions in groups ranging from Peter Brötzmann's Chicago
Tenet to duos with saxmen such as Joe McPhee and Mars Williams. Here he
solos on clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone,
and that may be part of the difficulty. Very few musicians are inventive
on four different horns, and exposing himself alone magnifies Vandermark's
shortcomings on each. Even someone like Sonny Stitt, who was an exceptional
blower on alto, tenor and baritone saxophone never attempted solo work
on any of his axes.
On tenor, his most familiar horn, Vandermark has his elliptical sounds
down pat, but seems to do little more than chirp altissimo multiphonics
and push out swollen notes in pedal point from deep within his horn's
body. Even his version of the country blues is cut off before it reaches
critical mass.
He's a bit better off on clarinet and bass clarinet, the other reeds that
have been in his arsenal for a while. On clarinet, his most impressive
moments come on "Melodica" and "Leaves." The former,
dedicated to McPhee, finds him reverberating whole notes in the unruffled
contralto register. Melodic enough, it could probably celebrate the other
reedist more appropriately, though, if the resulting sound was faster
and livelier.
The later tune, honoring filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, claims to be
crosscutting images and sounds from two of the Italian director's films.
Here nose breaths, chirping split tones, tongue pressure and the hiss
of colored air are what Vandermark hears as approximations of cinematic
techniques. Yet rather than reflecting Antonioni's hyper realism, the
end result is more like that of a Hollywood-oriented American indie flick,
at least when compared to the outright radical aural cinema of Kai Fagaschinski
on the Berlin Reeds set.
Reverberations within the body tube and tongue slapping percussion characterize
Vandermark's work on bass clarinet. On "Indeterminate Action,"
for instance -- tellingly dedicated to composer John Cage -- he appears
to be applying any extended techniques he may have neglected on other
tracks, including altissimo screeches, semi-snorts, irregular vibratos,
internal growls in false registers and propelled ghost notes.
His most impressive achievement -- coincidentally the longest track on
the CD -- is "Color Fields to Darkness." Here he manages to
produce a ghostly doppelgänger reedist, with one producing strident
squeals and the other a foghorn tone that deepens and elongates as he
plays. All this is followed by tongue slaps and twittering vibratos.
These two pieces are more exploratory than the first two tracks on Berlin
Reeds by Rudi Mahall. The Nürnberg, Germany-born bass clarinetist,
who has worked with musicians such as trumpeter Axel Dörner and pianist
Aki Takase, performs what could be termed standard EuroImprov on these
tracks dedicated to his guinea pig [!]. Unruffled and legato, the first
piece is mostly concerned with circular trills and bass echoes, not expanding
until the very end into freak high-pitched squeaks, reed buzzes and a
few microscopically examined wild-boar snorts. With echoing tone and reverberating
bass tones the second is more of the same.
Back in Chicago, Vandermark seems most comfortable with the baritone,
his newest horn. On the bouncy "Lines," it's almost as if he's
one-quarter of the Four Brothers, creating a chugging, foot-tapping melodic
sound, almost like 1950s Jimmy Giuffre. Other tunes show off arching split
tones, glissandos that give him sympathetic echoes within horn's body
tube and phrases held so long that they break apart into reed tweets and
low-pitched tongue slaps. Built around unvarying lower level multiphonics,
"(brüllt)," again manages to push more than one timbre
from his bell, and these join and split apart amoebae-like before turning
to unrelentless honks. He's honorable in his efforts. But by dedicating
all his improvisation, Vandermark has set himself up for sometimes unflattering
comparisons to other woodwind players. Furthermore, by packing 18 tunes
into 73 minutes, he may have bitten off more than he can chew, which can
be quite painful with a reed instrument.
The Chicagoan's shortcomings are put into bolder relief when compared
to the solo and duo creations of Britons Parker on soprano and tenor saxophones
and George Haslam on baritone saxophone and tarogato -- a sort of Hungarian
wooden soprano saxophone -- on Parker-Edwards-Haslam. Bassist John Edwards
is the odd man out here.
Largely self-taught, Haslam has worked extensively in Eastern Europe and
South America and in many different types of music. He brings a melodious
tinge to his solo playing. On baritone his dynamic sense is paramount
with the lines mostly smooth and legato. Coming across like a hipper Gerry
Mulligan, his rhythm always swings on an even keel. Of course, Mulligan
may have been shocked by Haslam's sometimes irregular vibrato, rhythmic
tongue slaps and an ending which moves up from traditional baritone bottom-feeding
tones to a bit of overblowing, side slipping and split tones.
Uniquely Magyar, the tarogato has an elastic tone that seems to add a
resonant buzz to every note played, More experimental with it than his
larger horn, Haslam applies spetrofluctuation, circular breathing and
double timing to shake loose new avenues for his improvisations.
Wooden soprano and Vandermark's clarinet output has to bow to the solo
methodology developed and perfected by Parker and exhibited on the CD,
however. Here overblowing and circular breathing allow him to slur out
two very different tones, one in mid-range and the other high-pitched.
Soon, with glissandos, he's producing continuous squeak and sympathetic
overtones, then smearing out a bagpipe-style irregular vibratos with high-pitched
chirps on top. Like a conveyer belt of notes, he plays on and on, appearing
to be triple tonguing so that there are echoing vibrations for every previous
echoing vibration, and ending with a coda of one long smeared tone. At
more than three times the length of any Vandermark track, his solo is
also more synchronous, pointed and in context, easily related to the ongoing
improv tradition.
Those who wonder where reed exploration can go post-Parker, are directed
to Berlin Reeds, made up of four, 3-inch CDs packaged in an oversized
cardboard sleeve. In terms of higher-pitched woodwinds, Italian Alessandro
Bosetti on soprano saxophone and feedback and German clarinetist Fagaschinski
may have definite answers to that question.
Bosetti, 30, who has worked with fellow soprano saxophone excavators like
France's Michel Doneda and Boston's Bhob Rainey, and been part of the
band Phosphor with aural explorers like trumpeter Dörner and inside
piano specialis
Andrea Neumann, states that he's "developed an instrumental language
that incorporates extended techniques, noises, and a strong influence
from electronic music." There are times on his more than 18-minute
solo track here, in fact, that the electro-acoustic suggestions seem to
involve more than feedback.
Beginning with the rotating injection of pure air moving through the horn's
body tube, skids and stops then imply electronic static. Almost continuous,
his tone soon gets noticeably thinner and more diffuse, taking on the
oscillation of an electric guitar. With lips formed into a Bronx cheer
and watery spit tones predominating, his metallic timbre almost reaches
dog whistle territory. Interrupted only for the odd breath, you can hear
undulating wind sounds and the clinks of keys being depressed. Soon even
these give way to reed hisses, reed kisses and growling breaths amplified
by key manipulation. It's a performance that sounds more like more sibilant
larynx than sax licks.
Fagaschinski, 29, a German clarinetist who has also played with Dörner
and in a duo with computer manipulator Christof Kurzmann, is as radical
in his presentation as his politics. On "I'm afraid of Americans
too," he's the most
reductionist of any of the extant soloists, and ironically, one whose
work is reminiscent of American Rainey's. He's also someone who will send
you scrambling for your headphones, since his almost 151/2-minute solo
alternates up-to-60-second pauses with tiny breaths and tongue noises
plus echoing whistles. Most of the time he appears to be wheezing colored
air through the instrument's body, with even that oxygen sometimes dissolving
into stillness. Fascinating in his audacity, in comparison, it's as if
he and Vandermark are playing two completely different woodwinds, rather
than the same instrument.
Almost the same thing could be said about "Weggebracht!," bass
clarinetist Mahall's final solo piece. Firmly placing himself in the ranks
of Teutonic body tube travelers he screeches out extended, mountain-top
high, resonating tones that then liquefy into singular, tart note spits
and gritty, reed-biting double tones. All this takes place in the altissimo
range and ends with a final high-pitched honk.
Zürich-born, Berlin-resident Gregor Hotz is an organizer in that
city's music scene as well as a bass saxophonist. Someone who has also
played with Dörner, Mahall, Neumann and fellow Swiss reedist Hans
Koch, his sax sound on "Friendly Fire" is as far removed from
the mainstream and semi-mainstream conceptions of Vandermark and Haslam
as their sax conception is from the 1920s and 1930s work of jazz's first
-- and for a time only -- bass saxophonist, Adrian Rollini.
Offering up a chamber music recital of prolonged exhalation, Hotz's strategy
is to start from a certain point and suspire until no more air can be
expelled. He keeps repeating that trope as his vibrato gets more intense.
Inserting respiratory pauses of up to 60 seconds, at times he sounds out
deep-sea tones that resemble tuba blats. Avoiding that traditional low
tone most of the time, though, he also bests the Anglo Saxons by frequently
creating echoing, dissonant timbres and multi-tones. Coda is a heavy,
snorting vibrato of few notes that transforms the sax into a percussive
drone machine.
Doubling the pleasure and fun, Asymétries joins tenor saxophonist
and bass clarinetist Koch with Swiss countryman Bertrand Denzler on tenor
saxophone for afour track, less-than-38-minute, reed recital. Koch who
is best known for his ongoing trio with cellist Martin Schütz and
drummer Fredy Studer, and Denzler, who is part of the otherwise all-French
HUBBUB band, have been working as a duo since 1999. EuroImprovisers par
excellence, between their squeaks, whistles, warbles, small animal peeps,
flattement, reed-biting, rumbles, irregular vibrations and Bronx cheer
approximations, the two are often able to create three -- or more -- distinct
sounds from only two horns.
Most descriptive of their talents, the almost 17-minute first track finds
them off-handedly -- or perhaps just using the thumb rest -- showcasing
reed prestidigitation without Anglo-Saxon braggadocio. Building on percussive
key pops, understated tongue slaps and shakes, they create sounds that
aurally mirror ghostly wind whistles, radio signals, the shuffling of
cards and oscillating sine waves. Individual instrument identification
is put aside, although among the tiny nursing piglet squeals, it seems
that one man is expelling a watery underlying tone, while the other builds
up multiple breaths that reconstitute themselves into percussion-like
licks. Only on a couple of other tracks can you distinguish the woody
tone of the bass clarinet, its identity is more subsumed than in Mahall's
or Vandermark's improvisations. Elsewhere, bassist John Edwards, who has
also duetted with reedists like Paul Dunmall and John Butcher, is on hand
to second Haslam on baritone and Parker on both soprano and tenor on their
sax face off on the Slam disc. Unlike the Swiss, the Englishmen limit
themselves to straight staccato lines with irregular vibrations, tossing
phrases and notes back-and-forth. Chirping, Parker flaunts his circular
breathing as Haslam's baritone pedal point provides the undercurrent.
At the same time the soprano saxist makes sure that he relates as much
to Edwards' string tugging as the baritone's gritty slurs. Later on, the
baritonist slides out someidiosyncratic constructions and Parker providing
the pepping ostinato that reflects them. With Edwards' bass bottom suggesting
a third saxophone, the two realreedists turn to flutter tonguing and slurs,
with Haslam more ornamental in his exhalation. Finally the two confront
one another for a robust miasma of pliantreed timbres, circling around
and uniting for a medley of honks, in congruent but contrasted high pitches.
Unlike Koch and Denzler there's never any doubt as to which sax is playing
or who is playing it.
Every one of these sessions is valuable for reed fanciers, although some
experiments are more accomplished than others. The duos confirm their
talents, the Berlin collection highlights new reed researchers and Vandermark
once he learns to edit himself, shows on his first effort that he can
probably soon expose more elevated solo work.
-- Ken Waxman
Track Listing: Furniture: 1. Resistance [for Evan Parker]*; 2. Horizontal
Weight [for Peter Brötzmann]#; 3. So Is This [for Michael Snow]+;
4. Lines [for Lennie Tristano]&; 5. Immediate Action [for Jackson
Pollock]&; 6. Panels [for Piet Mondrian and Erik Satie]*; 7. Color
Fields to Darkness [for Mark Rothko]+; 8. Would a Proud Man Rather Break
Than Bend [for Mississippi Fred MacDowell]& ; 9. Beck and Fall [for
Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman]#; 10. Melodica [for Joe McPhee]*; 11.
Indeterminate Action [for John Cage]+; 12. Leaves [for Michelangelo Antonioni]*;
13. (brüllt) after Jaap Blonk # Live:; 14. Panels [live]; 15. Immediate
Action [live]; 16. Horizontal Weight [live]; 17. Color Fields to Darkness
[live]; 18. Would a Proud Man Rather Break Than Bend [live]
Track Listing: Berlin: CD 1: 1. Unplayed saxophone CD; 2: 1. Friendly
fire CD; 3: 1. I'm afraid of Americans too; 2. No body can leave its skin
CD; 4: 1. Mein meerschweinchen kann das nicht; 2. Mein meerschweinchen
will das nicht; 3. Weggebracht!
Track Listing: Parker: 1. Solo for baritone saxophone; 2. Solo for tarogato;
3. Solo for soprano saxophone; 4. Solo for double bass; 5. Duet for saxophone
and bass; 6. Trio for two saxophones and bass
Track Listing: Asymétries: 1. Asymétries 1; 2. Asymétries
2; 3. Asymétries 3; 4. Asymétries 4
Personnel: Furniture: Ken Vandermark, clarinet*, bass clarinet+, tenor
saxophone&, baritone saxophone#
Personnel:
Berlin: CD 1: Alessandro Bosetti, soprano saxophone, feedback; CD 2: Gregor
Hotz, bass saxophone; CD 3: Kai Fagaschinski, clarinet; CD 4: Rudi Mahall,
bass clarinet
Personnel: Parker: Evan Parker, soprano and tenor saxophones; George Haslam,
baritone saxophone, tarogato; John Edwards, bass
Personnel: Asymétries: Bertrand Denzler, tenor saxophone; Hans
Koch, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet