Apperceptions
Taylor Brook
Independent (taylorbrook.info)

Canadian-born, US-based guitarist/improviser/composer/lecturer and computer programming whiz, Taylor Brook, performs with a new “improvising colleague” in his self-described “music for human improviser with computer improviser.” He designed audio-corpus-based AI computer software which listened, analyzed and then improvised music to Brook’s preceding new music guitar improvisations.  

Brook tuned his solo electric guitar in a different just intonation tuning on each of the ten tracks. My skepticism vanished immediately as the slow reflective Track 1 E opens with held-note guitar string ringing being matched by the subsequent computer colours which develop into more dissonant intervals alternating with occasional guitar strums. Quiet, calming breaks, contrasting atonalities and surprising dynamic “duo” swells lead to a guitar and computer-generated blended final fade.  

Track 4 F#’s longer, faster guitar melody opening “inspires” ringing computer high tones matching the guitar’s lines which gradually unite to build musical tension. Attention grabbing guitar strums and repeated notes with computer echo ideas in the lower pitched intense Track 5 A+51 which are expanded with cymbal-like computer ringing in Track 6 Interlude. 

Track 8 G# is a welcome gentler contrast to the other tracks, as Brook’s virtuosic opening guitar playing is answered by high computer single notes and chordal rings. More guitar fun in Track 9 A as computer plucks match the real guitar ones!

As a free improviser myself, I am amazed at Brook’s fantastic creation of a computer program to interact with his live guitar improvisations. Looking forward to future duets expanding on these contemporary sounds.

mirrors – 21st Century American Piano Trios
Lysander Piano Trio
First Hand Records FHR11 (lysandertrio.com)

The formidable Lysander Piano Trio celebrates its ten-year anniversary with an attractive new disc, featuring music hot-off-the-press by living American composers. The trio is fervently committed to new music and to the commissioning thereof: no less than six world-premiere recordings populate this disc.

Ne’er to shy away from muscular playing and athletic feats of prowess, the members of Lysander crack on through these works (generally having been constructed with their triply impressive strengths in mind). The composers represented here do seem to ensure a freshness of concept, sometimes sojourning in new directions. Thankfully, the result is a 21st-century deliverance of the genre from the shackles of a 19th-century canon.

The extra musical inspiration throughout the record is notable. Reinaldo Moya’s Ghostwritten Variations has been inspired by four novels that highlight composers as protagonists, namely those of Thomas Mann, David Mitchell, Richard Powers and Kim Stanley Robinson. Moya’s piece offers a reimagining of what music by these four might sound like – a compelling conceit. The Black Mirror by Jakub Ciupinski turns to the visual arts for incentive, referencing a portable painting aid, curiously known as a “Claude glass.”  And Sofia Belimova’s brief, Titania and Her Suite, reaches our eyes by way of A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

Without doubt, a highlight of this release is Love Sweet by Jennifer Higdon, as sung by Sarah Shafer. The young soprano’s narrative abilities and refined vocal colour bring the new, five-song cycle to life.

Wang Lu – An Atlas of Time
Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Momenta Quartet; Ryan Muncy; Daniel Lippel; Miranda Cuckson
New Focus Recordings FCR277 (newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue)

Chinese-American composer Wang Lu’s works excite like a case of sudden-onset-fireworks display. Frenetic bombast prevails amid haunting breath-like interjections that induce enjoyable sonic nightmares of a welcome kind. This whirlwind of activity is ever-present throughout the composer’s latest release titled An Atlas of Time – a disc with recent orchestral and chamber compositions. 

The title track, performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, is modernist excitement at its finest. Set in five character pieces, this is the gem of the disc and provides compelling landscapes and novel environments for the ear. Another exemplary selection of the release is the solo violin work Unbreathable Colours, performed by Miranda Cuckson. This piece is Wang’s artistic response to the unrelenting smog encountered on a recent visit to China – her native land. The hesitant, yet sharp, plucks and swells in this work truly provoke a suffocating listening experience – one that brilliantly paints a simultaneously eerie and beautiful musical haze. 

Each piece on this release is an example of why Wang is one of the most original voices in contemporary classical composition, and each track unfolds with some of the most organic and strikingly enjoyable pacing in recent memory – I’ll be listening many more times!

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Scott Lee – Through the Mangrove Tunnels
JACK Quartet; Steven Beck; Russell Lacy
Panoramic Recordings PAN20 (newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue)

I was lucky to receive this album during the latest COVID-19 lockdown, as it provided a welcome escape from my own four walls. This album is great storytelling, an audio film of tales of imaginative discoveries by the composer growing up wandering the swamps and bayous of Florida. Drawn from Lee’s memories of exploring the Weedon Island nature preserve as a youth, from one movement to the next I was captivated. From the opening track, Through the Mangrove Tunnels, we are transported to a small craft, peeking around corners through overgrown channels, encountering the unexpected. This album is an expertly played audio escapade featuring pianist Steven Beck, drummer Russell Lacy and the JACK Quartet. 

Part historical narrative, and part personal reflection, Lee manages to engage the listener with his blend of contemporary classical and extended jazz techniques, travelling seamlessly between tonalities and polyrhythmic styles without a single extraneous or gratuitous beat. Each track is expertly crafted to tell a tale of mystery: from shootouts, strange figures, ceremonial Native American gatherings, bootlegging, plane crashes and marvellous natural phenomena, the accompanying stories are fantasmic sketches perfectly enhancing each gorgeous composition almost to the scale of Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. The tracks Playthings of Desire and The Ballad of Willie Cole are both full compositions almost on their own, but presented here they remind us that although the album provides some entertaining and humorous listening, these are compositions of great depth. The final track, Floating Away, takes us home in a way that evokes the end of a long and mysterious voyage.

Be sure to get a hard copy or a download of the booklet if possible, and follow along with the stories, as this is an album that deserves to be experienced as we used to, when a composer shared a journey with us, and we stayed in one place to listen and receive it in full. Perfect lockdown listening.

lanterne
Richard Carrick
New Focus Recordings FCR273 (newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue)

American Richard Carrick’s phenomenal artistic abilities, including composer, pianist, artistic director and educator, are showcased in his sparsely orchestrated compositions. 

Title track laterne, for solo bass flute, performed by Margaret Lancaster, is an exciting listen, with breath and voice vocalizations, booming sounds, repeated rhythms and held notes driving the intense climax and the final faster fade with closing yelp. Carrick joins her on piano in une, a short and sweet roughly one-minute musical delight! Carrick performs with bass clarinettist Vasko Dukovski in the Korean vocal-music-influenced Sarang Ga. A quiet start leads to abrupt low piano chords and wide-ranging bass clarinet accents, melodies with dramatic squeaks, and a very modern tonality “echo” ending. Three works draw on the traditional Korean Gugak music. Highlight is the unique ensemble colours that surface in sandstone(s), as Western (New York New Music Ensemble) and Korean traditional instruments (Musicians of the Gugak Contemporary Orchestra) perform together.

The four-movement Space:Time – String Quartet # 2, performed by the Mivos Quartet, is musical space travel. Movement I, Claustrophobia, recreates spaceship solitude, with high-pitched, almost painful tight dissonances, accents at the end of ascending lines and tension-breaking brief use of lower lines. Low pulling down grounding tones and floating high counterpoint drive the storytelling in movement II, Gravity.

Four additional works and other great performers complete this Carrick collection of beautiful intimate sounds to appreciate even in pandemic isolation!

The Bells Bow Down – Chamber Music of Ilari Kaila
Adrienne Kim; Isabel Gleicher; Aizuri Quartet
Innova Recordings innova 036 (innova.mu)

This well-conceived and well-crafted recording is a magnificent presentation of works by Finnish-American contemporary classical and theatrical composer, Ilari Kaila. Produced by Kaila and Silas Brown, the album features his noted single-movement piano quartet, The Bells Bow Down (Kellojen kumarrus) In Memorium Hanna Sarvala, the five-movement Taonta and four other works. The interpreters of this challenging music are the internationally regarded, multiple award-winning Aizuri Quartet, which includes Ariana Kim and Miho Saegusa, violins; Ayane Kozasa, viola; and Karen Ouzounian, cello. Also joining the stellar cast are the luminous pianist, Adrienne Kim; and flutist, Isabel Gleicher.

The title track is constructed out of non-corporeal gossamer light and sonorous strings, which wrap themselves lovingly around the heart of the listener. The grief, pain and loss contained in this work are palpable. Pianist Kim enters with elemental, percussive chords, bringing to mind tolling church bells, as she wends her way through the turgid waters of raw emotion. The majesty of this composition demands complete commitment, bravery and technical skill from all of the artists involved, which it receives in spades.

The nearly unbearable beauty of Hum and Drum’s Philip Glass-like repetitive themes easily floats the listener into a trance-like state and Wisteria seems to speak to loneliness and isolation, and perhaps the long winter of the Norse soul. Kaila’s Taonta is also a triumph for the pianist, and one cannot imagine a truer manifestation of the composer’s intent. A modern masterpiece.

Tavener – No Longer Mourn for Me
Steven Isserlis; Philharmonia Orchestra; Omer Meir Wellber
Hyperion CDA68246 (hyperion-records.co.uk/find.asp?f=CDA68246)

Some albums follow a linear and straightforward path through their conception, recording and release, while others take many years of behind-the-scenes planning and work before finally reaching a listening audience. Tavener: No longer mourn for me falls into this latter category, starting its gestation as cellist Steven Isserlis’ own passion project in 2013, thrown into disarray by Tavener’s death later that year and, after a long and labyrinthine journey, eventually unveiled seven years later, in October 2020.

As is the case with much of Tavener’s output, many of the works on this disc defy strict categorization, a reflection of the composer’s numerous and eclectic influences including the Orthodox Church, the Anglican Cathedral tradition, Catholicism, Islam, Tolstoy and Shakespeare. The two principal tracks, The death of Ivan Ilyich and Mahámátar, are fascinating and stunningly beautiful cross-cultural experiences: in Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy’s text (sung in English by bass Matthew Rose) draws on Tavener’s influences to form a uniquely dramatic work resembling a one-act opera; Mahámátar features Sufi singer Abi Sampa, along with Isserlis and the Trinity Boys Choir, in a magnificent exploration of East-meets-West through Tavener’s eyes and ears.

The remaining works on No longer mourn for me are, although smaller in scale and performing forces, no less impressive, either from a compositional or interpretive perspective. Of particular interest are the two arrangements for eight-cello ensemble: Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXI, No longer mourn for me; and the Preces and Responses, a sublime setting of the prayers traditionally sung at the Anglican service of Evensong, originally composed for choir.

John Tavener’s lengthy and highly regarded career resulted in an extraordinary range of material, as varied as the composer’s influences and inspirations. Although only a portion of his late works is represented on No longer mourn for me, their depth and breadth serve both as an introduction for those previously unfamiliar with Tavener, as well as a point of exploration and discovery for those seeking to delve deeper into this great composer’s eclectic and evocative style.

Nature
Fie Schouten
SOL Classics SOL010 (fieschouten.nl/en/discografie/)

Fie Schouten makes the bass clarinet ring with a gorgeous sound. Nature is a collection of contemporary pieces that refer to our environment. They’re cleverly ordered, drawing attention first to the earth and sea, to the sky, and finally to the moon and stars. 

Jonathan Harvey’s Cirrus Light is juxtaposed with Abîme des oiseaux, from Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps. Harvey’s piece, which is played on soprano clarinet, was written in the final year of the composer’s life, and sounds almost like an homage to the Messiaen. Schouten elects to present the Messiaen on basset horn, bringing more Abyss and less Bird to the performance. This is not all a bad thing: at a perfect fourth below the original pitch, desolation is powerfully rendered by the lower voice. Some of the sustained crescendi are marred by unintended timbre alterations, and I think the bird calls are more brilliant on the soprano instrument. Although it’s a fine rendering, on balance, I prefer the original. 

Oi Kuu, by Kaija Saariaho, is a duo for bass clarinet and cello that references the moon. It’s beautiful. George Aperghis’ Façade-Trio is also stunning. Written for two bass clarinets and percussion, it sounds like a dialogue of mad twins: two enraged geese, perhaps, arguing by the abyss. The extremely recent (August 2020) Mankind ReMix by Michael Finnissy is another solo bass clarinet piece, right in Schouten’s wheelhouse: singing tone and powerful expression.

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Once/Memory/Night: Paul Celan
Ensemble for These Times
E4TT (e4tt.org/discography.html)

Paul Celan was one of the 20th century’s most profound poets. To listen to this breathtaking recording of his poetry is to be drawn to its haunting beauty as if by gossamer strings. Elliptical, rhythmically spellbinding, each word obdurate and as inward as a geode, Celan’s poems embody a conviction that the truth of what has been broken and torn must be told with a jagged grace. And few – if any – recordings of his work tell their truth better than Once/Memory/Night: Paul Celan by Ensemble for These Times. 

This recording features almost an hour of poetry echoing with heart-aching emotion delivered in a kind of near-spiritual quietude. A unique atmosphere is created by the disc’s opening track: Libby Larsen’s 4½: A Piano Suite brought to eloquent life by pianist Xin Zhao. Then follows Die eichne Tür, the cycle of Celan poems set to music by David Garner. The Ensemble’s performance is both poised and haunting, and is raised to a rarefied realm by lustrous and soaring, songful recitatives executed by the inimitable Nanette McGuinness,

More of the transcendent beauty of Celan’s work unfolds in Jared Redmond’s Nachtlang before we are treated to the extraordinary recitation of another celebrated poet, Czeslaw Milosz’s A Song on the End of the World by Milosz’s son Anthony, followed by the disc’s dénouement: a rapturous performance of Milosz’s poem which unfolds with poise and sensual fluidity from the lips of the magnificent McGuinness.

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Albores
Dino Saluzzi
ECM New Series ECM 2638 (ecmrecords.com/shop)

Albores – meaning “daybreak” – is Argentinian bandoneonist/composer Dino Saluzzi’s first solo album in decades. Born in 1935, Saluzzi is renowned for his performances with his family band and orchestra, other ensembles and orchestras, and work with many jazz musicians such as Charlie Haden and Gato Barbieri. Here Saluzzi plays nine of his compositions on solo bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument popular in Argentinian folk music and tangos. Even though Saluzzi uses tango references, he also develops other styles in this emotional, storytelling music chronicling his life and musical adventures.

The opening track, Adiós Maestro Kancheli, is a reflective, mournful musical tribute to his late friend Georgian composer Giya Kancheli, highlighted by a high-pitched melody against a lower chordal accompaniment, reminiscent of a two-person conversation. Superb controlled bellows during held notes and volume changes makes the slow sparse Ausencias equally moving. 

Don Caye – Variaciones sobre obra de Cayetano Saluzzi pays homage to Saluzzi’s  bandoneonist father, who taught him about music from a young age, in a more traditional joyous tango with steady rhythms, arpeggiated melodies and a short, slightly dissonate slower section. Según me cuenta la vida –Milonga briefly alludes to Piazzolla-flavoured tango nuevo yet Saluzzi’s shorter contrasting melodies, dissonances and repeated notes make this contemporary milonga more his own.  

Throughout, Saluzzi performs on bandoneon with detailed personal musicality, conviction, dedication and thorough technical understanding. His compositional reflections awaken a lifetime of countless feelings from happiness to grief in his own personal sound.

The Nimmons Tribute Volume One – To The Nth
Kevin Turcotte; Tara Davidson; Mike Murley; William Carn et al
Independent n/a (nimmonstribute.ca)

Forgive the tired expression, but Phil Nimmons needs no introduction. As far as contributors to the Canadian music landscape go, it would be hard to find many as seismic as Nimmons. I am sadly too young to have appreciated him first hand, but his legacy at 97 is such that I can still get a sense of his transcendence both through his music and through his countless talented former students who constantly sing his praises. Case in point is this new tribute album that combines the best of both aforementioned worlds. Featuring an astonishing roster, spearheaded by Nimmons’ grandson and accomplished pianist Sean Nimmons, this album is a fitting tribute full of heart and brilliance. 

Sean’s arranging and production are a highlight, as this record’s pristine sound allows for a modern, yet faithful, interpretation of his grandfather’s music. Another bright spot is the sample of Nimmons’ work selected for these recordings. Some of his finest compositions are featured spanning across multiple decades, which goes a long way to showcase the sheer scope of his prolific output. The Sean Nimmons-composed track Rista’s Vista is the one outlier here, and serves as the album’s centrepiece. Dedicated to his grandfather, it’s a love letter to a man who continues to inspire.

Very Well & Good
Richard Whiteman
Cornerstone Records CRST CD 153 (cornerstonerecordsinc.com)

Multi-instrumentalist Richard Whiteman is one of the most in-demand and respected jazz pianists and educators in Toronto. In 2004, he began studying the double bass and quickly became an adept and experienced performer on this instrument. In 2012 he formed his “bass” quartet featuring guitarist Reg Schwager, pianist Amanda Tosoff and drummer Morgan Childs – the group that forms the backbone for this new recording. The quartet is augmented on several tracks by Canadian tenor saxophone giants, Pat LaBarbera and Mike Murley. 

The set kicks off with the catchy Whiteman-penned title track, based on the chord progression of the standard, Fine and Dandy. The lyrical Not So Early pays tribute to the late jazz pianist Bill Evans, a musical reply of sorts to his famous composition, Very Early. This song features thoughtful and inventive solos from Whiteman, Tosoff and Schwager. 

Pat and Mike pays tribute to LaBarbera and Murley, who both get a chance to ably stretch out in solos and trading on this minor blues. They are clearly enjoying playing with each other! Selohssa is a change of pace, an even-eighth, 32-bar form that features a strong and personal statement from Schwager.

Tosoff deserves special mention for turning in one sparkling solo after another. Childs also stands out for his propulsive swing, musical sensitivity and crisp cymbal work. All told, one of the finest acoustic jazz recordings of the past year.

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The Latest Tech
Dan Fortin
Elastic Recordings (danfortinthewebsite.com)

It seems to make sense that in the middle of a pandemic year, a solo upright bass album would be the perfect choice to record. Eliminating the band is a simple way to maintain physical distancing while exploring the many nuances of your instrument. 

Dan Fortin has played with many groups and recorded multiple albums as sideman and leader and he currently teaches bass in the University of Toronto’s jazz program. The Latest Tech pares away the other traditional jazz instruments and we can listen to the full, fat sound of acoustic bass. On the title song, a series of repeated ostinato patterns cycle through different tonal centres and slight alterations of rhythmic emphasis create an intriguing journey. Beautiful Psychic Dream has a loping and sustained minor-sounding melodic line which seems to hang and shimmer as it moves onward. Mega Wish opens with a faster series of repeated melodic fragments which become more dispersed and exploratory before picking up speed and ending with a final repetition of the opening phrase. 

The Latest Tech is a clean and meditative album produced during a time when we can all use some music that is calming and thought-provoking.

All the Little Things You Do
Rebecca Hennessy
Independent RH003 (rebeccahennessy.com)

Toronto-based trumpet player, singer and songwriter, Rebecca Hennessy, has released her second full-length album and it’s an interesting and eclectic mix of styles. Although Hennessy generally gets categorized as a jazz musician, All the Little Things You Do has shades of art song, country blues, New Orleans horn band and jazz-rock, all playing together nicely. A mandolin orchestra even makes an appearance on a couple of tracks.

All of the songs were either written by Hennessy or co-written by her with bandmates Michael Herring and Dave Clark (and others). Although her background is as a trumpet player, voice is her main instrument on this album and she has an endearingly unembellished singing style that suits the straightforward lyrics of the majority of the songs. 

Hennessy has gathered a renowned and eclectic mix of players for the album, including pianist Tania Gill, bassist Herring and drummer Clark. Guitarist Kevin Breit (who has played with Norah Jones and Cassandra Wilson) has a strong presence throughout the album with the inventive soundscapes he creates. And when he’s unleashed on a solo, it can be quite a wild ride. Other notable guests include Alex Samaras – a phenomenal singer who I keep seeing pop up on other people’s albums – and violinist and strings-arranger Drew Jureka, whose work on Eclipse is especially compelling. On the whole, All the Little Things You Do is an artful and thoughtful musical journey.

One Fine Morning
Denise Leslie
Independent (deniselesliesings.com)

With the release of her new recording, delightful contemporary jazz vocalist, Denise Leslie, has created a sumptuous journey through some of the most potent and skillfully composed jazz/rock/pop hits of the 1970s. Leslie has also included two of her own well-crafted tunes in the collection. Her fine crew includes gifted producer/arranger/guitarist Bob McAlpine; first call jazz bassist/arranger Pat Collins; the iconic Paul DeLong on drums; the Lighthouse Horns (Simon Wallis on tenor sax; Chris Howells and Bruce Cassidy on trumpet, Russ Little on trombone); Arturo Avalos on percussion; Don Baird on Hammond B3; and the Brass Transit Horns (Phil Poppa on tenor and baritone sax, Doug Gibson on trombone and Tony Carlucci on trumpet).

Things kick off with a funky cool reimagining of the Badfinger hit, Day After Day. Insistent, potent bass lines by Collins and thrilling drumming by DeLong are ensconced in a delicious vocal arrangement. Leslie is right in the pocket, bringing to mind (but not derivative of) another soulful gal, legendary British diva Cilla Black. Other highlights include Sting’s Driven to Tears, presented here as a bluesy, sexy, evocative lament that resonates easily with our contemporary chaos. Collins plumbs the lower depths here, while McAlpine lashes out with a spine-tingling guitar solo. 

An absolute standout is Little River Band’s tender reverie, Reminiscing, presented here with a stunning, succinct vocal arrangement; truly a compelling version of one of the loveliest contemporary pop ballads ever written. The tasty closer is a charming take on the Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields’ standard I’m in the Mood for Love, which cleverly segues into Eddie Jefferson and James Moody’s Moody’s Mood.

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