12 AllochtonePlaît-il
Allochtone
Tour der bras tdb 000067cd (tourdebras.com)

Quebec-recorded, but ingeniously expressing its so-called foreign background with a band name that translates as non-native person, Allochtone uniquely mixes currents of electronica, rock, folk and free jazz. Created at the Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska music camp, 195 kilometres north of Quebec City, the group includes local percussionist/turntablist Rémi Leclerc; pianist André Pelletier from Saint-Pascal; guitarist Olivier D’Amours and accordionist Robin Servant from Rimouski; Montreal bassist Alexandre Dubuc and Parisian Cathy Heyden playing alto saxophone and bagpipe chanter.

Each musician also uses some version of electronic instruments giving the eight selections electro-acoustic timbres that are as much otherworldly as they are terrestrial. The result can range from strained reed squeals, piano clicks and tremolo accordion vibrations meeting voltage buzzes and blats or keyboard clusters and metallic guitar flanges establishing a linear theme which must balance on top of consistent electronic drones. Throughout, almost ceaseless percussion ruffs are as prominent as programmed oscillations and stop-start voltage buzzing. Leclerc’s vinyl manipulation also means that tracks like rouge interject snatches of bel canto singing and backwards running syllables into the electronic- and percussion-dominated mix. The tracks aren’t all opaque however. The occasional calliope-like accordion squeeze and slide-whistle or split tone reed trill adds needed airiness at certain junctions.

As an exercise in group improvisation fusing multiple sonic streams, Plaît-il achieves its goals. But more indications of what each musician can contribute individually could have prevented some sequences from descending into near-impenetrable density and lightened the mood.

13 Jeb PattonJeb Patton – Preludes
Jeb Patton; John Ellis; David Wong; Quincy Davis
Cellar Music CM091822 (cellarlive.com)

New York-based pianist Jeb Patton has made a name for himself in the jazz world, having played with famed acts such as Etta Jones, George Coleman, the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars and many more. On this latest release though, we see Patton’s compositional and musical talents really shine. The album is chock-full of tunes composed by the pianist himself and features an all-star group of musicians backing him, with renowned names such as Mike Rodriguez on horns, Quincy Davis on drums and David Wong on bass. Born during the dreary times of the pandemic, the record is overflowing with creativity and brings a true, enjoyable musical experience. 

Patton grew up in a household where both classical music and jazz were deeply appreciated, with his father being a self-taught pianist. We often think of there being a very strict divisional line between classical and jazz, that the two don’t really ever mix and that mindset is just what Patton sets out to change throughout this record. Inspired by his childhood, each of these songs features notable technical elements we would usually hear in classical music blended in seamlessly with swing rhythms and mellow horn solos attributed to jazz. The result? A terrific record end-to-end, showcasing Patton’s proficiency in genre-crossing and blurring that distinct line between the two genres. A fantastic record for jazz lovers that love broadening their horizons and delving into new musical territories that they have yet to explore.

14 CounterclockCounterclock
Clark Gibson; Sean Jones; Michael Dease; Lewis Nash; Nick Mancini
Cellar Music CMR111022 (cellarlive.com)

Renowned jazz saxophonist, educator and composer Clark Gibson’s latest release is a toe-tapping pick-me-up and a breath of musical fresh air. Featuring a roster of talented musicians such as Sean Jones on trumpet, Pat Bianchi on organ and Nick Mancini on vibraphone, Gibson’s sweeping saxophone riffs are supported by a fantastic backing band. This fourth release includes songs that are penned and arranged, for the most part, by the stellar musician himself and his talents as a composer are truly highlighted throughout the record. For those jazz aficionados that like a fresh, modern take on a traditional jazz sound, this is definitely one for your collection. 

Gibson reflects, “Counterclock refers to looking back and not discounting art you created in your early stages as an artist.” The focus of the album, then, is how the saxophonist came to embrace his compositions from the time that he was just starting out. Throughout the tunes there is a definite continuous, broader theme of “looking back to yesteryear,” a hark back to the traditional and appreciating the roots of modern jazz music and many of the greats. Gibson and band have a knack for finding the perfect balance of classic and current, enlivening that jazz sound we’ve all come to know and love yet adding just enough of a contemporary twist to bring it into today’s musical landscape. From start to finish, this album is a sonically pleasing, immersive and snazzy musical journey.

15 Vincente ArcherShort Stories
Vicente Archer; Gerald Clayton; Bill Stewart
Cellar Music CM060922 (cellarlive.com)

New York City-based bassist and composer, Vincente Archer is a bit of a gifted chameleon, and with the release of his first recording as a leader Archer feels that he has finally revealeds his authentic self – personally and musically. Archer’s inspired collaborators here include pianist Gerald Clayton and drummer Bill Stewart. This compelling project was propelled by executive producer Cory Weeds, along with producer and noted trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. With the exception of three tracks, all compositions were created by the gifted triumvirate. 

First up is Mirai (Archer), a gossamer-like jazz ballad, replete with a steady, heartbeat of bass punctuated by contrapuntal electric and acoustic piano work from Clayton and incredibly sensitive and yet powerful drumming by Stewart. Clayton’s Round Comes Round follows with boppish motifs coming into play, along with a dizzying piano intro by Clayton, followed by a symbiotic entrance of bass and drums. The trio seems to communicate with pure telepathy here, and the ESP continues in the form of a sinuous bass solo and superb, nuanced drumming from Stewart. 

Another of Archer’s tunes, Lighthouse, is an energizing highlight, featuring Archer’s lithe fingers flying across the bass fingerboard and laying it down with his unique voice. Of rare beauty is Stewart’s Drop of Dusk which exemplifies the “art of the trio” – replete with its stirring, Romantic sub-text, punctuated by brilliant, complex piano work from Clayton. On every track here, Archer’s bass sings and deftly touches those deep, subcutaneous parts of us that are shared by all human beings, underscoring and celebrating our one-ness. The only flaw with Short Stories is that the stories should be longer!

16 Mike JonesAre You Sure You Three Guys Know What You’re Doing?
Mike Jones; Penn Jillette; Jeff Hamilton
Capri Records (caprirecords.com)

This enjoyable recording features the prodigious talents of pianist/arranger/producer Mike Jones, the potent and thrilling drum work of Jeff Hamilton, and solid, musical bass playing from internationally known magician, Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller). The tongue-in-cheek title of the CD is a reference to when The Three Stooges would show up as house painters, carpenters or God forbid, doctors! It was in 2002 that Jones was hired to be the opening act of Penn and Teller’s irreverent and entertaining magic show – a hot ticket in Las Vegas for more than 30 years – the only proviso being that Jillette (who had taken up the bass at the age of 48) would join Jones in a duo format for the opening set – which turned out to be six nights a week, for 21 years. After stopping by to see a show, it was actually Hamilton’s idea that the three record together.

Fresh, energetic takes on a number of beloved jazz standards are included here. On the zesty opener, Gershwin’s ‘S Wonderful, Jillette more than holds his own – digging in with authority while generating a big, fat, satisfying sound. Jones masterfully lays it down in the stylistic mode of the greats and Hamilton is simply one of the finest jazz drummers of his (and any other) time. A standout is a swinging take on the great Sonny Rollins’ Doxy. The trio grooves like a single-celled animal, and Jones’ solo is a thing of rare beauty. Other fine tracks include Jobim’s classic The Girl From Ipanema, which features an extended bass solo from Jillette where he carries the melodic line, and is also consistently expressive, in tune and in time. The stunning ballad, You’ve Changed, displays the trio’s skilled use of space as well as a formidable lyrical sensibility. 

These guys know what they’re doing; they should do it more often!

17 James Brandon LewisFor Mahalia, with Love
James Brandon Lewis; Red Lily Quintet
Tao Forms 13 (taoforms.bandcamp.com)

Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis’s previous CD with his Red Lily Quintet, Jesup Wagon, dedicated to George Washinton Carver, resided at or near the top of 2022 jazz polls. This homage to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, to whose work Lewis was introduced in childhood by his grandmother, is even stronger – at once impassioned, reverent and nuance-alert throughout its 71-minute-playing time. The homage may extend to saxophonist Albert Ayler’s similar recording from 1964, Swing Low, Sweet Spiritual, with Lewis frequently referencing Ayler’s distinctive tone and phrasing. 

Lewis is intensely expressive here, in part through his taut control, holding his lines in check until they explode. Trumpeter Kirk Knuffke is a brilliant foil, on theme statements, solos and counter melodies, while cellist Chris Hoffman, bassist William Parker and drummer Chad Taylor supply stellar support, from a certain formal but empathetic rigour to the haunting bowed strings that introduce Calvary. The quintet’s special closeness comes through in extended theme statements that are simultaneously loose, collective improvisations, melodic components passed among the instrumental voices, for example, Were You There and Precious Lord.    

The limited first edition CD comes with an additional CD, These Are Soulful Days, Lewis’ eight-part composition for his tenor saxophone and string quartet, performed with the Lutosławski Quartet

of Poland. It’s a lucid work imbued with the spirit of gospel music (Wade in the Water emerges at one point). Its spacious melodic clarity suggests the compositions of another American master, Virgil Thomson. 

Violas and viola players have been the butt of musicians’ jokes for centuries. A sample: What is the difference between a radio and a viola? A radio plays music. How do you know there’s a group of viola players at your door? None of them can find the key. Apparently this notoriety dates from the mid-18th century after violinist Francesco Geminiani was named conductor of a Naples orchestra. His timing was so erratic and so confused the players that he was demoted to the viola chair. Despite this reputation violas still remain a vital part of so-called classical music. For the past few years as well a growing number of improvising musicians have found that, tuned a fifth lower than the violin, the viola’s alto tone, thicker strings and heavier bow creates a more compatible sound for their creativity.

01 Live at ArmouryOne player who has abandoned the violin and turned completely to viola is American Mat Maneri. On Live at the Armoury (Clean Feed CF 619 CD cleanfeed-records.com) he demonstrates his skill in a trio with German drummer Christian Lillinger and Vancouver’s Gordon Grdina playing guitar and oud. It’s timbres from the latter instrument which help define Maneri’s approach. Especially on the concluding Communion, the nagging sweeps and deliberate oscillations from the viola suggest the choked and arched patterns of an Indian violin, which align alongside Grdina’s staccato strumming which suggest isolated sitar echoes as much as those expected from a Middle Eastern instrument. The true indication of this fiddle’s versatility within this trio arrangement comes during Conjure, the almost 30-minute introductory improvisation. What the three conjure up is almost a history of cross-cultural currents. Grdina’s guitar motifs run from the sophisticated strums and plucks of Europeanized sounds to the extended twangs of simple folk music to the sophisticated slurred fingering and unexpected flanges and multi-string emphasis of exploratory jazz. Responsive and restrained, the usually overenthusiastic drumming of Lillinger is kept on a slow boil. Splashing cymbal colour and bass drum accents are proffered in place of a ceaseless beat to keep the track horizontal and harmonious. As for Maneri, besides asserting himself with bent notes, clenched stops and caustic glissandi, he sometimes pivots to formalism adding decorative frills to complement the guitarist’s playing, especially when Grdina slows down to magnify a melodic interlude. As well as relaxed motifs injected into the flowing narrative by both string players, they confirm comprehensive use of extended techniques and tandem connections during those interludes when they almost transform stop-start variations into tremolo drones that could come from a pipe organ.

02 KolnStacking up viola textures as part of a trio committed to even more cutting-edge forms is what French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot does on Köln (CD Editions 013 jasonkahn.net) with a single 32½-minute improvisation with Swiss percussionist Christian Wolfarth and the electronics of Zürich-based American Jason Kahn. Treating the viola as another sound source, Loriot’s sul ponticello strokes and concentrated glissandi add rugged tension alongside Kahn’s whooshing drones and Wolfarth’s muted clunks and patterning. As the improvisation evolves, the viola meets imprecise drum beats and electronic squalls with angled frog taps against the strings and single pizzicato strokes until all three musicians’ timbres progress in tandem. Kahn’s programming also takes in radio-sourced voices and music which is countered when the violist creates a metallic run that is almost vocal. Expanding past percussion rumbles and tremolo voltage buzzing from the others, Loriot eventually twangs and plucks a near-melodic line that, with variations, is combined with drum rattles and electronic hisses with a climax that becomes more distant, then vanishes.

03 Perch Hen BrockA different sort of viola interaction is featured on Elegiacal (Wig 33 stichtingwig.com). As Perch Hen Brock & Rain, Dutch violist Ig Henneman plays not only with her regular partner reedist Ab Baars from Amsterdam, but also with German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and American drummer Tom Rainey. Despite playing the only chordal instrument, Henneman mostly affiliates her sul ponticello pressure and spiccato strokes as part of the reed continuum. That often leaves Rainey’s pumps, ruffs and patterning as the main vehicle for narratives. Because of this, evolution is initially low energy with reed squeaks and slurps, string judders and drum beats undulated sporadically rather than harmonized. However the thin articulation begins to intersect by the mid-point Kites, as timbres left hanging in the air begin to coagulate due to the fiddler’s clenched string pressure plus dynamic forward motion created by the interconnection of Baars’ clarinet trills and Laubrock’s tenor saxophone slurs. By the time sounds on the concluding tracks are heard, the conundrum has been resolved. Still powerful, Rainey’s pops and ruffs are subtle enough to preserve a linear focus, while swelling string curves and pointed stops carve out a counter theme to the one projected by treble flutters from Baars’ clarinet or shakuhachi and energetic low breaths from the saxophonist. Henneman’s string sawing challenges Rainey’s tolling beats on the penultimate Walking Art, with renal sax honks and Baars’ aviary clarinet squeezes serving as the continuum. Stretching the narrative still further on the concluding title track, the other instruments concentrate their timbres as a backdrop to Rainey’s power paradiddles. Jagged reed bites and thin viola strokes finally express individual definition as they join forceful percussion strokes to lessen the tension and return to initial cooperation.

04 DeriveAttuned to a semi-traditional setting is the viola playing of Portuguese Ernesto Rodrigues with the Dérive quintet on its self-titled CD (Creative Sources CS 772 CD creativesourcesrec.com). Also featuring the cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, bassist João Madeira, flutist/bass clarinetist Bruno Parrinha and percussionist Monsieur Trinité, the nine-part Dérive suite evolves on the cusp of contemporary chamber music and free form improv. At various junctures, especially on Dérive VI and Dérive VII, there are melodic intervals which stack moving viola swipes against chalumeau bass clarinet buzzes and feathery flute trills swaddled in layered string rubs that undulate up and down the scale. But while the unfolding suite stays linear, its dynamic is defined by contrapuntal evolution, where shaking and swelling string parts vibrate collectively, sometimes interrupted by cymbal claps or maracas-like shakes from Trinité. Further consistency results from Madeira’s low pitched plucks. While this formula is constantly present as a continuum, other techniques are present elsewhere. For instance, the extended fourth sequence is introduced with a powerful arco twang that precedes the other strings’ entry and stretches the exposition so that all three soon create squeaking but harmonized timbres. For added variety throughout, the cello, bass and viola sometimes divide into separate duos to contrast high and low pitches. Elsewhere group string glissandi serve as a backdrop for the violist to initially shake out a theme statement, latterly use spiccato strokes and sawing squalls to torque all the players to produce theme variations, and finally use double strokes to outline a reconstituted sequel to the initial statement. In the end this statement is preserved among metal-banging percussion, energetic double bass rubs, multiple string stops and jittery flute whistles or deadened reed blowing to mark a sense of connection.

05 Regis HubyA more conventional – but no less invigorating – use of the viola and other strings takes place on French violinist Régis Huby Large Ensemble – The Ellipse (Abalone ABU 34 regishuby.bandcamp.com) with longtime collaborator violist Guillaume Roy. Both part of the 15-member Large Ensemble, Huby has cannily arranged his three-movement suite so that almost all of the four reeds, seven strings, two percussionists, pianist and trombonist are featured. A notable throwdown between the violist and violinist occurs as the introduction to The Ellipse Mvt III. But as slick, stretched and spiccato buzzes from the higher-pitched strings join with cellist Marion Martineau’s ostinato, dissonance turns to tonality to affiliate with the swing motifs which appear at intervals during this more-than-one-hour suite. Backed by bell-shaking, idiophone smashes and electronic vibrations from percussionist Michele Rabbia, first Olivier Benoit’s accelerating guitar riffs then Catherine Delaunay’s clarinet trills animate the exposition. Following a pause, all the musicians participate in a connective crescendo that lists southwards with no loss of power or colour. Similar section/solos interaction often come forward during the preceding sections. Although there are several tutti crescendos and unison string section sequences, these harmonic crescendos are muted for individual or small group expression. Among the standouts are trombonist Matthias Mahler’s contrapuntal smears, Baroque-like flute interjections from Joce Mienniel and sequences where guitar licks are cushioned by the strings or the viola and violin stretch a pressured line over accelerating horn vamps. Besides using marimba strokes to set up passages, Illya Amar’s vibraphone clanks constantly join percussive comping from Bruno Angelini’s keyboard to accent certain sequences while preserving linear flow.

As demonstrated here, despite its less than stellar reputation, the viola remains a valued music-making partner, At least it’s true in the jazz and improvised music community – and that’s no joke.

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