PRISKA WALSS/GABREELA FRIEDLI
Intervista
Intakt
CD 087

ULHER/THOMA
Slants
Unit
UTR 4142


For some reason duos featuring a brass player are far less common than those involving a saxophonist. Perhaps it's because the three valves on the cylindrically bored instrument don't seem to allow as much textural scope as the sax's many keys.

Yet the trombonist and trumpeter involved in these noteworthy CDs aren't bothered by these limitations, using valve, lip, mouthpiece and tube construction -- not to mention the occasional mute -- to create heterogeneity and display their ideas to best advantage. At the same time they don't create individual solipsistic solutions, but rely on their partners' contributions to further amply their ideas.

Priska Walss, playing trombone and occasionally alphorn, has this freedom since she can rely on her 10-year association with fellow Swiss musician Gabriela Friedli who plays piano and organ. German trumpeter Birgit Ulher, whose horn has an even more limited palate, relies on the talents of veteran Swiss sound designer Ernst Thoma, whose instruments of choice here include live-electronics and the blue wheel instant composing machine.
In this context, the 13 collaborations between Walss, who worked with the late pianist Urs Voerkel, and Friedli, who is part of saxophonist Omri Ziegele's Billiger Bauer band, appear pretty mainstream despite the unconventional instrumentation. This is especially apparent on pieces like "Fil bleu", where the trombonist offers up the sort of muted, plunger work that recall Tricky Sam Nanton of Duke Ellington's Jungle band. These dedicated wah-wahs are extended even more with an a cappella cup mute solo on "Clara" that supplants almost 19th Century classical formalism from Friedli's piano.

On the other hand it's the pianist who backs Walss' uninterrupted pumping and growling triplets with first low-frequency, Swing-oriented, right handed color then an allegro interlude that's midway between 1920s' stride and 1950s' comping. There's even a point during Friedli's solo on "Ursa min," where she bears down heavily on the keys and fills out the sound with up-and-down chording that resembles something Thelonious Monk could have played. Her approach, though, is much more two-handed than Monk's ever was.

Extended techniques aren't neglected either. One tune features intermittent 'bone blasts that open up into buzzed metal sharpness that at one point is met with low-frequency single note cadenzas that evolve into steady rolling contrasting dynamics. Another finds the pianist scattering tinkled notes from her highest register in the middle of Walss' circular breathed tone like so many raisins in a rice pudding A third matches skittering animal-like tremolos from the pianist with pouting muted trills from Walss.

Finally there's "The lost trombone's adventure", where Walss' notes come from so far back in her horn that the honks, growls and embouchure raspberries are reduced from notes to mere vibration during the course of her solo exposition.

Resonance rather than melody is the leitmotif of Ulher and Thoma's work on SLANTS, where the extended techniques on the six proceeding tracks seems to act as a prelude for the innocuously titled "Skyblue". At almost 28 minutes long, the piece begins with trumpet breaths growling through the bell, plus reed-like squeaks from the brasswoman. These face opposition from massive bell-like resonation, what appears to be the grating of a wooden stick on a gourd, plus what could be the tracking of an LP on a turntable. Some of these noises arise from Thoma's instant composing machine that uses the spectrum of sound between sine wave purism and white noise to facilitate polyphony of sound layers and tonal qualities

Surely the doubled, undulating church organ tones, buzz of an electrical interface, cymbal vibration and distorted guitar phaser textures are from the same sound source. On her own, though, the trumpeter turns her mouthpiece buzzes and kisses to klaxon-like warnings and plunger flutters. As she neglects her valves to blow out pure air, Thoma unveils music box filigree, a near perfect double bass pluck and the ambient noise of what could be a toy manufacturer's assembly line. With whirling mechanized sonority behind her, Ulher turns to flutter tonguing, blaring out notes at a higher pitch and breaking them up into smaller sound molecules as she exposes new textures and tones.

Earlier, on "Midnight", she aurally extracts something that resembles a sewer draining and brassy bubbling patterns from her bell. These parry small animal scampering, whirling propeller pressure and sandpaper abrasions from Thoma. Someone who has worked in a trio with inventive BritImprov percussionist Roger Turner, Ulher treats the live electronics as she would his percussion forays.

Elsewhere her output of spits, Bronx cheers, smears and trills is amplified with a tone that makes it appear as if she's blasting away with her trumpet bell pressed against a sheet of thin, but solid copper. In another section a mournful brass tone echoes as if it's coming from within a deep cavern. For his part the sound designer replicates tones that could come from a busy word processor, rolling metal bowls, oscillating wave radio signals, a mechanized marimba and an unvarying motorized drone.

With an abundance of sounds and ideas -- not to mention the proper partners -- both of these brass players showcase memorable and unusual sounds that can be wrenched from their unadorned instruments.


-- Ken Waxman


Track Listing: Intervista: 1. Weibs 2. Fil bleu 3.Drilch 4. Furggelti 5. Rough 6. Intervista 7. Iisblueme 8. Clara 9. Traulich 10. Bubalus bubalis 11. Ursa min. 12. The lost trombone's adventure 13.Yayla

Track Listing: Slants: 1. Aquamarin 2. Forestgreen 3. Orangered 4. Violet 5. Midnight 6. Pongopink 7. Skyblue

Personnel: Intervista: Priska Walss (trombone, alphorn); Gabriela Friedli (piano, organ)

Personnel: Slants: Birgit Ulher (trumpet); Ernst Thoma (live-electronics and the blue wheel instant composing machine)