a couple of discs from the nyc trip

Last week I was in New York City and, as I usually try to do, I stopped by the Jazz Record Center and Downtown Music Gallery - I managed to behave, limiting myself to one album from each store. All jazz fans who make it to NYC need add these two stores to their schedules.

The Jimmy Giuffre 3 & 4: New York Concerts (Elemental Records)
The two concerts were recorded during 1965 for broadcast of on WKCR-FM, the tapes recently came to light and were released earlier this year filling a spot in the decade-long gap in Giuffre's discography following the release of Free Fall.
The first disc features the trio of Jimmy Giuffre (clarinet & tenor sax) Richard Davis (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums) and opens with Giuffre on Tenor sax. The tone is robust and not what many would associate with Giuffre if they have only heard the airy whispers his earlier work (although there are recordings from 1952 with Howard Rumsey where he honks, growls and wails).

Fans of Ornette Coleman will be interested to hear the trio's sparse and slower take on Coleman's "Crossroads" with Giuffre on clarinet.

It's great hearing Giuffre playing this music with drums. Chambers fits in well and uses space nicely, mixing up broken time, color/texture playing and time. Check out drive "Drive" where his playing flows between approaches very smoothly. Davis sounds great here too (duo spots with Giuffre and solo playing) - the excellent recording quality is a bonus too. It's an interesting piece that mixes up fairly introspective sections with more full throttle playing. At 11 minutes it's the longest track on the disc and the trio keep it interesting throughout.

The last two pieces - "Quadrangles" and "Angles" - contrast one another. The former being a quieter piece with Giuffre on clarinet, the later a kicking off with some powerful tenor playing moving into a section with Giuffre playing high, single note attacks before taking the tune out.

The second disc is from a concert from earlier in 1965 featuring the quartet of Jimmy Giuffre (clarinet & tenor sax) Don Friedman (piano) Barre Phillips (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums). The two concerts have four tunes in common and a more listenings will be required before I draw to many comparisons. On the surface the obvious change is the fuller sound of the ensemble due to the addition of piano. Even so, the change is not as dramatic as I expected. There is still plenty of space and density/texture seems to be a detail Giuffre paid plenty of attention to. On many occasions only two or three of the quartet are playing. When all four are present often a couple of them are keeping their roles to interjections and responses. Players entering and dropping out (seemingly at will) caught my ear and I found it compelling listening.

The recording quality is very nice and it's a nice package too - 27 pages of photographs and notes from Zev Feldman (Producer) Philippe Carles (author) Bob Blumenthal (critic) George Klabin (Recording engineer) Juanita Giuffre (Jimmy's Wife) Paul Bley (an except from his book Stopping Time) Jim Hall and Steve Swallow. A must for fans of Giuffre. I've added this to the my "best of 2014" list.

Stephen Gosling Trio: John Zorn's In The Hall Of Mirrors (Tzadik)
I recently heard Gosling playing "Illuminations" on Zorn's Rimbaud and a quick search brought up this recently released album (recorded in February, 2014). For this album (like on "Illuminations"), Stephen Gosling performs works by composed by John Zorn (yes, the piano pieces are 100% notated) with improvised accompaniment from Greg Cohen (bass) Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

I'm curios about the preparation of the rhythm section. Did they have scores or had they heard the pieces before the recording? If the answer is no, then their playing is all the more remarkable. There is a high level of communication between the bass and drums as a pair and in combination with the piano.

The six compositions span from 2010 - 2014 and there is plenty of variety - from the mellow opening "Epode" to the rumbling intensity of "Maldoror" and power of "Illuminations" to the balladry of "In Lovely Blueness" to the minimal and abstract "Nightwood."

A small complaint - I understand the visual confusion of being in a hall of mirrors but did that require them to make the liner notes so difficult to read?

It's a recording that blurs the lines…. classical…. jazz ….. third stream….. other? Worth while checking out for those interesting in piano trios, new music or something a bit different. A fantastic candidate for a blindfold test!

Recent Listening: End of 2013

It has been a while since I last checked in. Here are a few albums that have been making the rounds.

When I stumbled upon Owls Talk (Hote Marge 2010) I had know idea who Alexandra Grimal was. It was the other personnel that grabbed my eye - Gary Peacock (b) Paul Motian (d) & Lee Konitz (as). Grimal splits time between tenor and soprano, and I feel the latter suits her best. Lyrical and open interplay from all, plenty of space and in general the album has an unhurried feel to it. Very nice recorded sound too.

Le Vent et la Gorge (Leo 2012) is the latest from the Frank Gratkowski Quartet with Gratkowski  (as/cl/b.cl/contrabass cl) Wolter Wierbos (tb) Dieter Manderschied (b) Gerry Hemingway (d).

The first part of the album is the 8-part suite "Harm-oh-nie," mixing up composed and improvised material -which at times is very hard to differentiate (a good thing). The piece tends to alter movements of held notes/multiphonics/harmonics/glissandi with more rhythmically aggressive movements. The movements are quite short, most fall between 3 and 5 minutes and this helps keep things moving.

The second part of the album is made up of four pieces, three of which are longer works (between 9 and 17 minutes) - I have only given these an initial listen. Perhaps I will report back once I've spent some more time with them. I'm sure the quartet members long association together (formed from the Gratkowski trio in 2000)  plays a role in the ensemble sound they create. This blurb from Gratkowski's website sums up the group well, "In the music of the quartet, I am trying to form a synthesis of composition and improvisation where all instruments have equal functions to build a unified whole."

The Rock On The Hill (Nato 2011) by the trio Lol Coxhill (ss) Barre Phillips (b) JT Bates (d) has been as nice surprise. It has only been in the last year that I have started listening to Coxhill and I find his playing quite fascinating. Not nearly as virtuosic as Steve Lacy or Evan Parker but he is most definitely his own man. There's something about his tone that draws me in. The seven improvisations that make up the album move through moments that are lyrical, abstract, calm, minimal, light, and there's even some groove in there. It's an album with plenty of space and the trio work very well together with Coxhill & Phillips taking the lead. A good one to check out if you have an interest in less frenetic free improvising.