Wind Forms
Greg Burk; Michel Lambert
Tonos Records (gregburk.bandcamp.com/album/wind-forms)
This idea of putting Wind Forms to music is interesting, especially when you pair piano and drums and more especially when the musicians are as adventurous as Greg Burk and Michel Lambert. The “trick” (a word used with caution so as not to denigrate the musical gestures employed here) would be to astutely meld the majestic chordal power of the piano and extend its percussive possibilities.
This seems easy thanks to the intrepid technical ingenuity of Burk. Conversely it is the extension of Lambert’s facility as a percussion colourist by finding ways to turn the rolling thunder of the drums and the hissing of cymbals into the realm of melody and harmony. These strange bedfellows coalesce in a dynamic partnership.
The disc gets off to a fiery start with Scirocco, a searing desert wind that sweeps across the sand dunes that could scorch anything in its path. Other ingenious improvisations may be heard on Aeolian Awakenings (a clever little play on an ancient mode), the darkness of the play on Hamartian (Aristote’s fatal syllogistic flaw) in which piano and drums incessantly – but brilliantly – argue musically. And then there is the majestic Zephyrus, crafted as a wall of music to recall both the Greek demi-god and winds heralding the arrival of spring. The collision of intellectuality with poetic imagery makes for a wonderful study in improvised music.
