MARTIN FONDSE
OKTEMBLE
Ere Ibeji
Bvhaast
CD 1401
Add the name of Martin Fondse to the short list of composer/arrangers
who are able to create a multi-part suite with sections that are melancholy
without being mawkish and celebratory without being frivolous.
Written to honor Fondse's deceased twin sister, Ere Ibeji, is based on
the language and rituals of the Yoruba people in Africa, who use the ere
ibjeii or carved twin figures to bridge the gap between the living and
the dead and the seen and unseen world.
In the 13 compositions here, the Dutch composer uses his 10-year-old,
10-member Oktemble in a similar fashion. The delicacy and voicing of some
tunes brings to mind similar low-key work for comparable ensembles led
by Northamericans Teddy Charles and Gil Evans. Conversely, the sense of
fun that radiates from other pieces relates to the jocund musical expressions
of Europeans such as Italian Gianluigi Trovesi or fellow Dutchman Willem
Breuker.
Fondse, who also teaches composition and leads jazz and improvisation
workshops, shows his American influences most strongly on "Kehinde,"
with some Lee Morgan-style trumpeting from Eric Vloeimans and hard bop
drumming from Pieter Bast. Vloeimans, who has worked with American big
band colorists like Bob Brookmeyer and Maria Schneider and in smaller
groups with Italian bassist Furio Di Castri and British pianist John Taylor,
easily moves between open horned riple tonguing that morphs into horse
neighing, and growling split tones here.
Despite its title, which is in Yoruba, as are the names of all the other
tunes, "Ibeji" also appears to celebrate rock-ribbed Americana.
This praise song for twins' strong right-handed, classical style piano
theme is interrupted by Ernst Reijseger's virtuoso cello work. Probably
the best-known soloist here following his stints in the ICP Orchestra
and Clusone Trio, the cellist introduces a touch of atonality to his solo
as he instantaneously switches from strumming his instrument so that it
sounds like a blues guitar to bowing it like a C&W fiddle. Similarly
"Ejire," a scraped cello and piano duet, has an infectious,
folksy melody borne on glissando string flourishes. But it's a melody
that seems to be Western American or European not African.
Later, baroque intimations issue from the cello on "Beji, Beija La,"
which features the sound of the horn section played off against Fondse's
piano. This five-minute piece also contains what appears to be a through-composed
theme featuring the clip clop of cowbell and drums joined with unison
clarinet and soprano saxophone.
Musicologists has always noted a connection between Yoruba praise ritual
and early jazz and this is made most clear on "Taiyewo," the
CD's longest tune, which translates as the celebratory "come taste
life." Here the twined saxophone lines of Miguel Boelens and Mete
Erker work in perfect counterpoint as one or the other probes the skies.
With simple, but effective piano chording linking muted but distinct background
contributions from the rest of the horns, German trombonist Nils Wogram
then moves to the foreground. Wogram, whose experience encompasses a quartet
with Russian-American pianist Simon Nabatov, at different times comes
across like a combination of urbane, melodic Lawrence Brown with Duke
Ellington and gutbucket plunger Al Grey with Count Basie.
If there is one clinker here, though, it's Louis Mhlanga singing of "Abiku,"
a poem by Wole Soyinka. Unlike the other musicians who besides Wogram
and American woodwind player Michael Moore are all Dutch, Mhlanga is really
African, from Zimbabwe. But his heavy accent somehow inadvertently reduces
the words to sound, while his soft-spoken delivery seems to owe more to
California vocalists like Michael Franks than anyone living near the Yoruba's
home in Nigeria, Benin and Togo.
All in all, despite its leitmotif, Ere Ibeji is impressive because of
what Fondse does with the conception, not how true he is to its source.
Pieces like "Oriki" subtitled "song of praise in honor
of twins" may get their titles from Africa, but the result is pure
jazz. Blowtorch saxophone solos and stratospheric trumpet barrages here
are certainly not from the African tradition and when the composer's version
of 19th century drawing room piano rhythmically surges forward it turns
to so-called American Black classical music, not anything else.
Fondse bookends his achievement with a first and final composition both
subtitled "Inhale/Exhale." They provide the perfect frame for
an epic session that should awaken the world beyond Holland to another
deep-thinking composer.
-- Ken Waxman
Track Listing: 1. EMI I: Inhale/Exhale; 2. Ibeji; 3. EMI II: Evanescent;
4. Kehinde; 5. Emi III: Silent Respiration; 6. Beji, Beija La; 7. Abiku;
8. EMI IV: The Joy of Living; 9. Ejire; 10. Taiyewo; 11. EMI V: Lamentation;
12. Oriki; 13. EMI VI: Inhale/Exhale
Personnel: Eric Vloeimans, trumpet; Nils Wogram, trombone; Michael Moore,
clarinet and bass clarinet; Miguel Boelens, soprano and alto saxophone;
Mete Erker, tenor and soprano saxophones; Martin Fondse, piano; Ernst
Reijseger, cello; Eric van der Westen, bass; Pieter Bast, drums, vibes;
Louis Mhlanga, vocals