Okay, so no one’s gonna make the argument that the ‘new’ ESP-Disk roster comes anywhere close to the perfectly articulated vision of their sainted first run. But this is one album, along with the recent Dunmall/Corsano side, that would’ve sat real nice in that first series. Keszler is, of course, a string-thinker of the magnitude of Alan Silva or Iancu Dumitrescu and here he presents two sidelong works. The first is a trio, with Keszler playing drums with installed motor set-up, crotales, guitar, prepared/riveted 4×10 foot sheet metal, microphones, spring harp, bass board and soprano and tenor harp, Ashley Paul on clarinet and Andrew Fenlon (fresh from American Idol!) on trumpet, tuba, French horn and trombone. Keszler plays fast, scatter-shot, knitting needle percussion over dooming metal tones and distant scraping drones, generating layers of strata that run from Neubauten-esque sex grit through Bertoia style overtones. Over on the flip Keszler plays piano with a motor set-up, switches, cymbal, crotales, snare drum and microphones while Sakiko Mori plays prepared piano. It comes over as something between Philip Corner’s demolition actions and a junkyard take on Dietrich Eichmann’s pugilistic vision. Hand-numbered edition of 300 copies with beautiful fold-out silkscreened inserts from Keszler.
This April 2007 recording from New York City’s Roulette performance space captures the distinctive sound of veteran drummer William Hooker’s intimate and welcoming trio. David Soldier is credited as playing mandolin, banjo, and violin, although it sure sounds like he also plays a guitar on at least the first track, which is poetry/spoken word from Hooker in a duo format before Sabir Mateen enters on sax (he’s heard on flute and clarinet elsewhere). Hooker’s splashy, bottom-heavy approach to the trap-set is reined in a bit in this context and the disc features subtle yet energized playing in addition to balls-to-the-wall drive. Things hang together organically; it’s open-form music that breathes, morphs and creates its own space. When the intensity level and “busyness quotient” rises the pulse in potent and infectious. Space/silence isn’t ignored either, and the cliffhanger suspense of Hooker’s solo interlude on the title track (ushering Mateen’s questing flute) is a highlight. All three players are in top form throughout. Hooker’s spoken word material provides some vivid images and is delivered with compelling rhythmic immediacy.
Paul Dunmall & Chris Corsano Identical Sunsets (ESP-Disk’, ESP 4058)
Chris Corsano bridges musical worlds with his roiling trap-kit thwack, reaching levels of intensity not unlike being pummeled by unseen fists. On Identical Sunsets, Corsano and tenor saxophonist Paul Dunmall lock horn-n-drum on four tracks that can’t help but conjure Rashied Ali’s eviscerating duets with Frank Lowe and John Coltrane. “Living Proof” stretches for some 17 minutes, and manages to leave room for sections of near-silence between stealthily constructed climaxes. “Better Get Another Lighthouse” has Corsano going it alone for the first three-plus minutes before Dunmall enters, suggesting variations on a phrase, worrying over them for a few seconds before using them as apoint of possible reference.l HIs tone is more than a little like Coltrane’s on this final quartet recordings (Expressions and Stellar Regions), and his phrasing circles territory makred out by the late master. In a world where every post-free tenor player owes at least something to the man, it’s baffling how big a similarity there is here. In fact, the only place where this disc strays from this is on the title track, which features Dunmall alone on Scottish border pipes. Here, he ululates in the highest register while simultaneously creating a low drone.
In 1966, avant-garde jazz composer and bandleader Sun Ra took his Arkestra on a tour of North Country colleges and upon returning released the ESP live album Nothing Is. Archivist Michael D. Anderson has added over an hour of previously un-released material for this expanded reissue. This gives a fascinating glimpse of the Arkestra live in concert in the mid ’60’s with a fine mix of space chants, extended improvisation and fine solos. Ra sticks to piano throughout and he takes a number of solo spots that display a complex Monkish sensibility, especially on “It Is Eternal” and “State Street.” He builds the opening “Sun Ra And His Band From Outer Space” from a hokey lounge sing along to a torrid full band improvisation, adding pieces and deploying his musicians strategically for maximum impact. Two versions of “The Exotic Forest” show band members doubling on percussion and developing a complex fascinating rhythm. Ra’s unbeatable saxophone trio of John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on alto and Pat Patrick on baritone is on display throughout the album taking excellent solos and riffing enthusiastically. Everybody chips in singing along on Ra space standards like “The Satellites are Spinning” and “Second Stop is Jupiter.” It is a very good concert, with the band playing like a well oiled machine throughout. There are a few hiccups in the sound, but they don’t disrupt from the flow of the music to any great extent. It would be interesting to know the response of the students to this singing, dancing and playing juggernaut that was the Sun Ra Arkestra. The applause ranges from the polite to the enthusiastic, but the the quality of the music never lags, making this a great addition to the already massive Sun Ra discography.
There is nothing quite as breathtaking as one of the early recordings of Sun Ra and his Arkestra. After his explosive and historic recordings The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Vol. IVol. II were first released in 1965 and 1966, modern music was never the same. It is, in fact, debatable that guitarist Jimi Hendrix was an early acolyte, as were so many musicians of the new wave who emerged after Ra. None had his antecedents—none had descended from the Egyptian pantheon, that is—none had his energy or could see and hear the music of the future as clearly and as wondrously as Sun Ra. This album, The Complete Nothing Is… with tons of undiscovered music from that sainted College tour, brought forth by music historian Michael D. Anderson for ESP-Disk, is priceless.
Drummer William Hooker can tell stories in many more ways than one. On Yearn for Certainty, he works his majestic tenor vocal chords as he recites a poem that accompanies the initial track, “Ingratiated Beam—Leroy.” One track later, on the superbly crafted, rhapsodic melody of “Century’s Soles,” Hooker manipulates his ensemble of drums to tell a wholly different story, reaching deep into the African-ness of the origin of all civilization, as he follows footprints in the proverbial sands of time. These are the highlights of this album and also present the two sides of Hooker’s artistry. [Read more →]
The wondrous nature of Jugendstil II is ensconced in the breathtaking improvisations of alto saxophone giant Lee Konitz, the way they intersect with the ideas of brilliant young tenor saxophonist Chris Cheek, and the effect they have on the birth of new compositions by virtuoso bassist Stéphane Furic Leibovici. The miraculous glue that holds it all together is the magnificently spare songs, both written and suggested. Add to that the exacting melodious bass lines that the maestro, Stéphane Furic Leibovici, annunciates and declares with his fluid pizzicato. Without intending to pick up from where Jugendstil I (ESP Disk, 2008) left off, this is a maiden voyage—beginning, appropriately, with the Homeric legend of Odysseus, “Odysseus Returns Home.” [Read more →]
Alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons embraces music with his whole body, soul, mind and spirit; that much is clear from Staying on the Watch, recorded in August 1966 and reissued by ESP-Disk in 2010. Not everything that he did got its due: when Simmons came on the scene, he remained too close to Charlie Parker. When he discovered his own brooding voice with that characteristic, sharp intonation that made his alto sound almost like ashenai (Indian flute), he floated on a seemingly endless wave of music that was ancient yet modern. Simmons has always stood in the future to look back at his lonely African-ness, and he coaxed a storm to remind anyone who would listen that the harshness of life could be turned into something raw, beautiful and memorable for its beauty rather than its ugliness. [Read more →]
Michael Gregory is the quintessential modern troubadour. He may not sing in a Romancelanguage, but he turns his instruments of choice—guitar and voice—into a powerful language that enables him to recreate the sensuous, reverential and spiritual literature that, in turn, enormously enhances his songbook. Gregory turns on the charm on Clarity, a short, but memorable album that provides a telling snapshot of the musician’s art. He is joined here by the power trio of alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, tenor saxophonist David Murray and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith—who, at times, eclipse Gregory’s enormous presence. This is gracious on the part of the guitarist, who often moves the music to his whims and fancies. [Read more →]
The sixties were a time of turmoil and invention. Jazz was cast into several shapes by musicians who were willing to take chances, were not afraid to go against the grain, and believed in their vision to fathom and articulate new territory. Alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons was among those who added to lore. He could fathom a cry of anguish just as easily as he could herald a shout of joy, as he created an ambience that spread its wings to encompass melody and lyricism. This balance is seen to advantage on Staying on the Watch, his first record as leader. [Read more →]
