08 Myriad3Moons
Myriad3
Alma Records ACD52062
(almarecords.com)

The collective musical spirit is alive and well in Moons, the third release by Toronto-based jazz trio Myriad3. Like the group’s name, a myriad of traditional, experimental and popular influences are quoted and/or superimposed while masterfully performed by pianist Chris Donnelly, bassist Dan Fortin and drummer Ernesto Cervini.

Each member is a composer too which makes for an eclectic listening experience. Donnelly’s Skeleton Key abounds with minimalism and new age melodic influences, with a flamboyant drum part and a surprise sudden stop ending adding welcome contrast. His Unnamed Cells is driven in a funky direction by speedy repeated notes in conversation between instruments. In contrast, Fortin’s appropriately titled Stoner is a slow and meditative journey that aches for the resolution of the chord changes while his Exhausted Clock ticks away gently to dreamland in a calming acoustic trio performance. The title track, Moons by Cervini, is a tranquil and reflective work with the subtle use of percussion colours creating a memorable space-age effect. The more traditional jazz acoustic stylings of his Ameliasburg make this exercise in simplicity a highlight. The trio really knows how to rock too, especially in Cervini’s more-in-your-face tune Brother Dom, and their feisty cover of Counter of the Cumulus by electronic whiz Disasterpeace.

Myriad3 is a strong trio no matter what style they tackle. From traditional to hybrid, their take on modern jazz is intelligent, groundbreaking and satisfying.

09 Steve KovenBeyond the C
Steve Koven Trio
Bungalow Records SK 010 4
(stevekoven.com)

Established in 1993, the Steve Koven Trio is a well-respected, internationally renowned Toronto-based jazz trio. This new release reinforces their professionalism, musicality and improvisational skills as pianist/composer Steve Koven, bassist Rob Clutton and drummer Anthony Michelli perform Koven’s compositions with precision, drive and the overwhelming sense of delight that comes from playing together for a very long time.

The title track, Beyond the C, is an upbeat playful jazz tune with a bouncing groove. The almost-stadium-anthem sing-along quality of the two tracks Brooklyn and Bathsheba form a solid backdrop to Koven’s improvisational stylings. The Learned is a more lyrical work embellished with piano runs and trills, and a surprisingly dense virtuosic drum part by Michelli which builds excitement until the final gentle chord. Cymbal washes and broken-chord-flavoured lines evoke programmatic sonic images in Mist-ic. More programmatic touches in Swamp Water Bullfrog as Clutton’s brilliant colourful bass playing resonates with rhythmic and melodic expertise. The closing waltz-like Moments is a reflective lyrical treat.

Koven and Michelli are also producers here, along with co-producer Roman Klun, so it comes as no surprise that all the trio’s group and individual musical nuances, idiosyncrasies and teamwork are captured in the recording. Check out the cover design by Hugh Syme with smart touches of the sea and birds flying in C-formation.

Listen and enjoy the Steve Koven Trio here as they play every note beyond and including the C!

10 Super PetiteSuper Petite
Claudia Quintet
Cuneiform Records Rune 427 (cuneiformrecords.com)

Acclaimed long before he joined the faculty of McGill’s Schulich School of Music last year, American composer-percussionist John Hollenbeck indicates with Super Petite one of many reasons why a Donald Trump-obsessed United States’ loss is our gain. Each of its ten tracks, which are meticulously crafted as if shaped by a master diamond cutter, manages to convey a flowing simplicity, but includes enough worldly sonic jolts to stave off placidity.

Tunes such as JFK Beagle and Newark Beagle for instance, use accordionist Red Wierenga’s tremolo shimmers to replicate a canine’s exuberance, while their serious airport-sniffing work is characterized by a stringent tone conveyed by tenor saxophonist Chris Speed. Alternately, if Drew Gress’ walking double bass grounds the movement of those on the A-List, then squeeze-box surges lustily underlie the swing in the step of the participants. Although the titles are evocative, tracks aren’t really programmatic but are there to balance the players’ interpretative skills. For instance Speed’s clarinet line that stretches outwards like a fire hose defines the near-static mood piece that is mangold as effectively as melded vibes-accordion ripples atop percussion pops.

Although uncompromised animation buoys the majority of the tracks, the most remarkable are those which buttress contemporary jazz smarts. Peterborough – named for the city in New Hampshire not Ontario – is reminiscent of a Benny Goodman-Lionel Hampton duet via Speed’s clarinet tone and Matt Moran’s spangling vibes. But once the stop-time theme kicks in, introduced by Gress’ duple rhythms and the reedist’s turn to aviary sibilance, 21st-century musical orientation is evident. Philly is a deconstructed bebop line that honours Philly Joe Jones, one of Hollenbeck’s drum influences from that city. Yet while the vibe rattle and percussion splatters relate to more formal sounds, Speed’s gutty saxophone flutters and Wierenga’s organ-like tremolos reflect Philly’s soul-jazz heritage.

With none of these gently swinging tracks lengthier than six minutes and most in the three-to-four minute range, not one wears out its welcome. If he keeps turning out discs like Super Petite Hollenbeck won’t wear out his welcome on either side of the border.

01 enoughMulti-Disc Box Sets Offer Depth As Well As Quantity

When a CD box of improvised music appears it customarily marks a critical occasion. So it is with these recent four-disc sets. One celebrates an anniversary tour by nine of London’s most accomplished improvisers. Another collects small group interactions in Krakow by musicians gathered to perform as an orchestra. A third is a souvenir of concerts celebrating Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson’s 50th birthday. Finally enough still not to know captures extended improvisations by pianist John Tilbury and tabletop guitarist Keith Rowe, who have worked with one another on and off for 40 years.

Although the other sets can be likened to North American self-serve buffets that on the same sideboard offer an assortment of dishes, the Rowe-Tilbury box (SOFA 548 sofamusic.no) is like a superior fish-and-chips restaurant. The fare is phenomenal, but no substitutions are entertained. At points each musician appears to be following an intense chess game from another room – you know concentrated cerebral strategy is taking place, but you’re unable to observe the participants. A good portion of the four, hour-long Tilbury-Rowe faceoffs also involve protracted silences. Perhaps the liveliest disc is Second Part where interactions are more audible. Like the tantalizing hints of understated perfume before a person enters a room, Tilbury’s single note chiming unfolds into serialism-like suggestions and more surprising near-impressionist echoes. Perhaps fancifully reflecting his radical-left politics, Rowe sets himself up as the disrupter, twisting dials and shuffling objects with percussive gestures. The upshot is desiccated textures that still reflect back on the pianist’s paced narrative. If anything the music is Feldmanesque – like Morton Feldman. The performances take a great amount of time to not advance that much. Still the final section of Second Part spawns a sequence where what sounds like heavy-object moving transforms into conga-like slaps and cymbal-resembling pings on the guitarist’s part met by piano bottom board rapping from the keyboardist. Tilbury’s noodling that dwindles to a single key stroke at the end relates back to the piece’s low-pitched introduction. A similar bagpipe-like tremolo shuddering on Rowe’s part is matched by mallet-on-strings pop from the piano innards during the ending of Third Part. Those cognizant with the ingredients of improvised music will revel in the set. But most should approach it one disc at a time.

03 MopomosoA British pianist whose style is Tilbury’s antithesis is Pat Thomas, whose solo CD, Nasqsh, is one of the highpoints of Making Rooms (Weekertoft 1-4 weekertoft.com). With Mopomoso Tour 2013 celebrating the 21st year of this initiative in free-form music, the others discs in the set are vocalist Kay Grant and clarinetist Alex Ward’s Seven Cities; violinist Allison Blunt, violist Benedict Taylor and bassist David Leahy’s Knottings; and Chasing the Peripanjarda with saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist John Edwards plus Mopomoso founder, guitarist John Russell. Playing nine selections Thomas ranges chameleon-like over and inside the piano producing textures ranging from buzzing string swirls to aggressive, staccato lines that involve the piano’s wooden components as much as its strings and keys. On for Martin Lings Thomas’ theme balances echoing glissandi, key clicks and a faux waltz; whereas for al Battani is a near-boogie-woogie with flashing chords reflecting back unto one another. The letter is as romantic in execution as ibn Arabi could be musique concrète, with Thomas cascading harp-like arpeggios from the strings. Named for the seven cities in which it was recorded, the Grant-Ward recital finds the vocalist and reedist operating like conjoined twins, with fascination lying in how many timbres each replicates from the other. With Ward’s tone frequently altissimo and atomized, and Grant eschewing lyricism for quickened yelps and screeches, the effect is like peering at two near-identical drawings from which you have to intuit the subtle differences. Like a distorted funhouse mirror, Blunt/Taylor/Leahy create loosened-up chamber music. They use so-called classical tunings to rub and wiggle unexpected, contradictions from their instruments. Thickened pizzicato with mandolin-like plucks keeps a track like Sheet Bend exciting. A sense of hairline-triggered dynamics allows Noose to loosen from nearly inaudible to detonate into an exercise in col legno and sul ponticello trills. Slip Knot is like an upstairs-downstairs soundtrack as Edwardian drawing room formality is swept aside by shrill runs which jump and split like a jitterbug dancer. The trio’s skill is confirmed in how it manages to impart a romantic patina while distorting themes. The latter skill is habitual for Parker/Edwards/Russell. Like a reversible garment that’s both familiar and flashy, each of their tracks defines in-the-moment improv. Gunpowder, for example, never detonates into smithereens but stretches elastically without breaking. Parker’s focused snarls and tongue extensions transmit the theme decorated with no-nonsense strums and smacks from Russell, as Edwards holds the road like a racing car driver. The triple connection is such that partway through you notice that the tempo has sped up immeasurably from a canter to a Olympic-level race yet neither the tune’s seemingly limitless motion nor the trio’s interaction has perceptibly altered. The Auction of Pictures is even more animated as the saxophone unleashes just the proper amount of circular breathing.

02 PeaceFireCircular breathing is just one of techniques exhibited by birthday boy Mats Gustafsson, on MG50 Peace & Fire at Porgy & Bess (Trost Records TR 140 trost.at). In honour of his 50th the Swedish saxophonist mixed and matched 30 associates in various ensembles. Although the effect is somewhat like moving through a raucous, outdoor carnival into a near-soundproof laboratory and back out onto a noisy speedway, the tracks confirm the reedist’s breadth. Gustafsson sounds exactly like himself whether he plays alto, tenor, baritone, bass saxophones or self-invented flutophone and whether he’s lobbing power shards against the industrial-style drumming of Didi Kern on Peace or advancing hard pitches that are descriptive without being disruptive while embedded among the reeds, brass and strings of Klangforum Wien on Konstellation. A track such as Molting Slowly (without noticing), where his Fire trio of electric bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin is augmented with two vocalists, electric organ and bagpipes [!], sashays from bedlam-styled vocalizing and reed shrieks to Death Metal-like melodrama without letting the menacing theme overcome the supple voice and instrumental interaction. Similarly a meeting of his The Thing trio – bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love – with saxophonist Ken Vandermark on tracks like Unheard. I Yield may feature a saxophone faceoff with tones winding around one another like snakes in a mating ritual, but a final bass-led descent to an R&B-like pulse adds swing to the tough reed mass. Suspended within an electrified concerto with synthesizer player Thomas Lehn, drummer Paul Lovens and trombonist/cellist Günter Christmann, Gustafsson meshes thick reed tones with hissing synth vibrations as carefully as he uses singular puffs to connect with isolated drum strokes and string plinks. Plus, when his Swedish Azz quintet which include Dieb13’s turntables plus tuba, saxophone, vibe and drums gets going on a piece like Quincy processed samples and unexpected reed tongue flutters confirm the band’s contemporary bona fides even as the theme salutes Sweden’s mid-century modern jazz roots.

04 TensegrityAnother variation on a similar theme is Tensegrity (NotTwo MW938-2 nottwo.com). Here the 14 members of British bassist Barry Guy’s Blue Shroud Band, gathered in Krakow to perform the bassist’s orchestral Blue Shroud, were recorded in Small Formations. The set features 26 tracks where band members from 10 countries demonstrate their skills. Some improvisations are unexpected, as when four reed players stack up so many timbres that are alternately shrill, subterranean, harsh and gentle, that it appears critical mass is reached. Then they’re joined by serpent-player Michael Godard, whose hunting-horn-like subtly adds a further subterrestrial dimension. On one track, Bach specialist Maya Homburger reads her violin part, but backed by Guy’s four-square bass and the creative accents of percussionist Lucas Niggli the result is easy swing. Other assemblages are more customary. Guy’s mufti-directional arpeggios and percussionist Ramón López’s pacing draw out the best from saxophonist Julius Gabriel so that his flutters, reed kisses and slurps culminate in a set that salutes both the hushed improv of Mopomoso and Gustafsson-style Energy Music. Vocalist Savina Yannatou showcases her tonal sensitivity or creates a hubbub of sounds scatted and otherwise equal to the instrumentalists’ free playing. Overall the MVP is Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández. On his own he mixes highly technical carefully prepared string additions to create a kaleidoscopic solo that’s as percussively syncopated as it is breezy. On the set’s final track he joins Guy, López, trumpeter Peter Evans and Yannatou for a matchless half-hour improvisation. Sequences successively resemble a classic piano trio; a rhythmic safety net for Evans’ tongue gymnastics; and focused backing for the vocalist’s mumbles and speaking in tongues. Throughout, the pianist draws unexpected glissandi and inner-piano resonations like gold nuggets from a stream to both match and accompany the other soloists.

Each box here has something to offer the adventurous. Together they add up to a faultless picture of contemporary improvised music.

01 AutobahnOf the Tree
Autobahn
Independent (autobahntrio.com)

Toronto-based trio Autobahn is a magical, whimsical and rocking jazz trio. Band members Jeff LaRochelle (tenor sax and bass clarinet), James Hill (piano) and Ian Wright (drums) are equally astute in just playing the notes on set tunes, improvising on them and exploring soundscapes in a freer improvisational style. The absence of a bass instrument in the group opens up new sonic territory both for the listener and the musicians, adding to Autobahn’s distinct original sound.

The 12-track release features many highlights. The opening Grounded sets the listening stage with its abstract ambient colours and dynamics. The more mainstream Forgiveness features both soaring sax and driving piano solos over an upbeat energetic drum kit backdrop. Roots (Of the Tree) is a welcome diversion as LaRochelle plays a solo sax track with spontaneity and musicality. The slower Tribute features LaRochelle now on a lyrical bass clarinet with Hill’s tinkling piano lines and repetitive chords, and Wright’s atmospheric drums creating a futuristic jazz ballad grounded in the past. The closing track Airborne is reminiscent of the initial track, with its opening washes of sound leading into a brief rhythmic rocking segment before ending the show with a long-held tone.

Autobahn is a band capable of playing solidly both in the classic jazz tradition and more contemporary atonal styles. Of the Tree is the perfect aural calling card for the band and its individual players.

02 Trevor Giancola TrioFundamental
Trevor Giancola Trio
Independent (trevorgiancola.com)

It is still a brave thing for a young guitarist, fresh from playing with Mike Murley, Seamus Blake, Sophie Millman, Dave Douglas and a slew of other contemporary musicians, to resist the blandishments of management, producers and well-wishers to record his debut disc. But that is exactly what Trevor Giancola has done. And that’s not the only thing about Giancola that counts as a victory of sorts. The guitarist’s deep feelings for music are obvious in the breadth and emotional resonance he brings to Just One Of Those Things, Turn Out The Stars and You Go To My Head. The fluttering figurations of his guitar speak with a delicate poignancy and the music blossoms into exaltation so characteristic of this music. Playing with innate grace and beautiful, loping lines, Giancola plays wise beyond his years.

Especially striking is the pristine clarity that he invests in the music’s often murky textures. Giancola’s lean sound is especially welcome in Joe Henderson’s Punjab, where it helps activate the forward thrust of the musical argument. Everything stays on the rails, with an abundance of skill and sentiment, veering perilously at times, but never derailing from preciousness of purpose. The guitarist’s energy provides bracing contrast with flight paths tethered to Neil Swainson’s bass. The trio interaction with Swainson and drummer Adam Arruda makes for a truly impressive first outing for this talented guitarist. Surely Giancola will return to share with us his evolving love of more challenging music.

03 Hutchison Andrew TrioHollow Trees
Hutchinson Andrew Trio; Lily String Quartet
Chronograph Records CR 048 (chronographrecords.com)

Review

Chris Andrew appears to savour the experience of rising to the challenge. The Edmonton-based musician is the composer of this daring project. Hollow Trees is an adventurous work that tests the versatility of the musicians who participate in it, especially in the wonderfully provocative and angular manner of the contrapuntal writing that pits the trio (pianist Andrew, bassist Kodi Hutchinson and drummer Karl Schwonik) against the string quartet. Andrew conveys the striking image of his “hollow trees” through an elemental, whispering melody that he creates on the piano and the intoxicating and lyrical harmony that ensues as the Lily String Quartet puts its indelible stamp on the proceedings. The performance juxtaposes utmost delicacy with eruptive power.

The musicians’ playing is intensely alive to expressive nuance, textural clarity and elastic shaping, all delivered in a recording that maintains the glow of the music from end to end. The noble artistry of the Hutchinson Andrew Trio is as vibrantly controlled in the dramatic episodes on this disc – Zep Tepi and Wilds, for instance – as it is in music of lilting pensiveness of which Grey Dawn and Peaceful Journey are outstanding examples. Most compelling of all is the interplay between the trio and the string quartet, a magical encounter that treats the listener to the luminosity, spaciousness and enthusiasm of a striking chamber performance. The stellar arrangements also allow solo instruments to assert themselves with lyrical and expressive urgency. It’s a lovely release that makes one eager for more.

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