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Recorded at a specially
organized bonus event during Sunnie
Sutton's Rocky Mountain Jazz Party in Denver, “Cocktails For Two”
presents the
soulful baritone sax of Joe Temperley (he turned 77 a week before the
session)
and the singular tenor of 40 year old Harry Allen, with a wonderfully
supportive rhythm section of the elegant pianist John Bunch, solid Greg
Cohen
on bass and the irrepressible Jake Hanna on drums. These great players
often cross paths at similar jazz party
events, and that comfort level allows them to pick up their horns and
cruise
through a session of standards like this one. While mostly the full
quintet,
they mix it up a bit with a trio feature for Bunch/Cohen/Hanna, the
gently
swinging My Romance; Allen's ballad
feature Everything Happens To Me; and
a pretty one for Temperley, Polka Dots
and Moonbeams. The title track opens
the disc, with Tangerine, I've Got The
World
On A String (popping out of what you think will be Satin Doll, but
isn't),
and Sweet And Lovely representing Tin
Pan Alley. Jazz favourites are Oscar Pettiford's Blues In
The Closet, Ellington's In A Mellotone and the
swinging wrap up, Basie's Jumpin' At The Woodside,
which fairly
leaps as well as jumps. The sound on this
recording is unaffected and natural. Makes
you wish you were there, and you better be next time, or this kind of
jazz
won't be around to enjoy. Ted O'Reilly
Best described as a
reductionist nocturne, “Stengam”, a solo
piano outing, is more hypnotic than harmonic. Featuring one continuous
20-minute performance, plus two shorter introductory tracks, the CD
highlights
the talents of Dutch keyboardist Cor Fuhler who uses such stimulators
as e-bows
and magnets to transform the sound of an acoustic grand piano as if
electronic
add-ons are altering its function. Without overdubbing, yet
in full control of the instrument's
keyboard, strings and soundboard, Fuhler's internal action include
buzzy
scratches with affiliated resonations so that each string's overtone
reflects
back on the externally sounded note. Similarly, plucks and slides
produce
wave-form-like hisses that resonate like tam-tam timbres, prolonged by
pedaling. Widely spaced, low-frequency drones vibrate powerfully, but
are
weighed just so in order not to mask the dynamic cadences or
guitar-like
resonations above. One standout is Ferrous,
which in performance is more buoyant than the title would have you
believe.
This 12-minute, crepuscule portrait resonates with repeated drum-like
textures
and fluttering oscillations, yet attains a delicate calm at its
climatic
finale. Moving unhurriedly from
glistening, strummed arpeggios to
sharper, dynamic chords throughout the CD, Fuhler delineates a uniquely
constructed,
hermitic yet fascinating sound world. Overall, he demonstrates that
with proper
spatial organization unexpected, sustained tones from inside and
outside the
piano can be structured to create organic coherence. Ken Waxman Concert
note: Cor Fuhler's
Corkestra is featured in the Jazz Avant series presented by the Music
Gallery
and Rough Idea at the Church of Saint George the Martyr on May 15.
