Mar 29 2015
Recommended: Ben Goldberg – Orphic Machine
Sneaky avant-garde is a phrase that’s been thrown out there to describe the music of Ben Goldberg. His style is strikingly unconventional, and he seems to abide by cryptic rules of engagement when it comes to his creative vision and the listener’s ear. Whether it’s a modern post-bop style or something more traditional, or, in other instances, immersions into klezmer, folk, blues, classical or music that simply falls under the heading of experimental, Goldberg deftly crafts his inspirations into something immutably tuneful. No matter how many walls a listener might have to scale to engage with Goldberg’s challenging music, he always manages to leave plenty of plateaus and footholds along the way so that, surprisingly, it feels like a walk in the park. It’s not an easy to thing to make an avant-garde project wholly embraceable, but Goldberg pulls it off time and again.
No better example of this can be found than his newest release, the 2015 recording, Orphic Machine, which features an all-star line-up of trumpeter Ron Miles, pianist Myra Melford, vibraphonist Kenny Wollesen, drummer Ches Smith, bassist Greg Cohen, tenor saxophonist Rob Sudduth, guitarist Nels Cline, and violinist Carla Kihlstedt, who also has an outstanding turn at singing words taken from a book about poetry.
Not actual poetry. Just words about writing and reading poetry. A treatise on the subject, with not a bit of actual poetic verse to be found. And yet, Goldberg’s ensemble brings it to life in a way that takes it out of the classroom and sends it out running free and wild. This is the equivalent of novelist John Barth scripting an epic story by including instructions on how to write an epic story. It illustrates that art is what we view it to be, and the ability to frame something didactic into something majestic is just a creative inspiration away.
As Kihlstedt’s voice, like a plume of smoke, sings about “the function of poetry” and “the act of care” and the “autonomic systems of which consciousness is a contingency,” the ensemble matches her enthralling vocal turns with passages of New Orleans traditional, blistering guitar rock, angular post-bop, Motown R&B and more. They are walking down the halls of the traditional and the past while humming a new tune for the new day.
On this album, quiet lullabies grow into grand celebrations, get-up-and-dance grooves transition to electric guitar burns, and the strong pulse of bass and crash of drums disperse for lighthearted passages and sunny jaunts. For as challenging as this project is, there is an irrepressible charm that is as winning as it gets.
It’s the kind of thing that should be clunky or cheesy or disingenuous or simply fall flat on its face. But Goldberg’s ensemble brings an immaculate lyricism to the affair that is simply magnetic, not to mention unabashedly fun.
The words are taken from a book by Allen Grossman (The Sighted Singer: Two Works on Poetry for Readers and Writers), a former professor of Goldberg’s from back in the day. Sadly, Allen Grossman recently passed away. But what a lovely thing to do, to give new life to old words, and expressed in a way, perhaps, the original creator never envisioned.
An absolutely striking album, supremely enchanting, and when measured in terms of difficulty of challenge, an outstanding achievement.
Go buy this album. It’s one of the best purchases you’ll make all year.
Your album personnel: Ben Goldberg (clarinets), Ron Miles (trumpet), Rob Sudduth (tenor sax), Myra Melford (piano), Nels Cline (electric guitars), Kenny Wollesen (vibraphone, percussion), Greg Cohen (bass) and Ches Smith (drums, percussion).
Released on Goldberg’s label BAG Productions in collaboration with Royal Potato Family.
Jazz from NYC.
*****
Explore more of Goldberg’s music on his Bandcamp page. The first album I’d recommend is his excellent 2013 release, Unfold Ordinary Mind. Read more about that recording on this site (LINK).
Mar 31 2015
Recommended: Jeremy Udden & Nicolas Moreaux – “Belleville Project”
It’s only natural, logical even, that bassist Nicolas Moreaux and saxophonist Jeremy Udden would one day collaborate. They both possess an enormous talent at meshing jazz and folk into dreamy reveries of country roads, forest streams and small town languor. Moreaux’s excellent 2013 release Fall Somewhere and Udden’s equally excellent 2009 release Plainville captured these qualities in full, expressing a potent serenity on the back of strong melodies and a conversational chatter for a cadence.
What began as a correspondence between two artists who’d decided they’d found a bird of the same feather in one another was given momentum by the Doris Duke and Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation French-American Jazz Exchange Grant… funding which allowed the musicians to travel, hire, record and turn their long-distance exchange of ideas into an in-person collaboration. It began with rehearsals and live performances, and it culminated in the recording, Belleville Project… named after the French town where the recording happened.
They surround themselves with musicians who have made a home in similar territory. Saxophonist Robert Stillman’s Archaic Future Players grabbed hold tight of the jazz-folk equation with their 2012 release Station Wagon Interior Perspective… a tribute to folk musician John Fahey. Pierre Perchaud‘s 2013 release Waterfalls, with Moreaux and saxophonist Chris Cheek, melts hearts with thick melodies and a seaside ease, and works a hazy European style of jazz that hints, at times, of a folk music form. And in addition to being a collaborator on some of Udden’s previous Plainville projects, RJ Miller‘s 2013 release Ronald’s Rhythm was a captivating mix of Brian Eno ambient minimalism, jazz and folk. All of these projects, including those of Moreaux and Udden, all sound quite distinct from one another, and from anything else for that matter, but they all hover over territory where folk and jazz share a border and the expressions have plenty in common. These were the right people for this project. They’ve been there before, doing this kind of New.
The echoes of both Plainville and Fall Somewhere resonate throughout the album. “MJH” opens things up with the intermingled sighs and yawns of saxophones and the talkative charisma of banjo and the rustle & hush of brushes and drums. It’s got a melody made for humming, built from the materials of heartbreak and hopefulness.
The song “Belleville” crackles with life, and it’s one of the few instances of a raised temperature on the recording. But by retaining a loose, ambling motion, it locks right into place with the other album tracks.
“Jeremy” is back to the folk sound. The susurrus of steel-string guitar lays a comforting blanket, a haze, swaying to and fro while propelling the song forward in collaboration with drums. Saxophones sing out the melody just overhead.
“Epilogue” gets back to languorous, peaceful expressions. Sax, out front, coos the melody. Electric guitar twitters in the background, sometimes slipping into the foreground… its melodic accompaniment is essential, adding some depth and detail to sax’s simple, gorgeous statements. The song very much has a sound reminiscent of Moreaux’s Fall Somewhere.
“11” has a melody that melts as it plays. There’s a slow, almost sleepy expressiveness to it. Set against a brisk shuffle tempo, it’s a nifty bit of subtle contrast that goes a long way, perhaps unnoticed.
The perky “Bibi” ambles along, in no hurry, but its conversational style is pointed and direct. Likewise, “Nico” also toys subtly with the cadence, slipping abrupt motions into an otherwise laid-back tune.
The album ends with two brief tunes. The toy piano of “Albert’s Place” contrasts sweetly with the wavering tones of organ. “Healing Process” closes things out with a rare instance of elevated heat. Electric guitar and crashing drums highlight the grand finale. It’s a nice, fun way to bring down the curtain on an album whose every breath is one of calm serenity.
Your album personnel: Jeremy Udden (alto sax, pump organ, Prophet 5 synth), Nicolas Moreaux (acoustic bass, toy piano), Robert Stillman (tenor sax, pump organ, piano), Pierre Perchaud (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo), RJ Miller (drums) and guest: Pete Rende (CS-60 keyboard, Prophet 5 synth, pump organ, organ).
Released on Sunnyside Records.
Jazz from the NYC and Paris scenes.
Available at: Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2015 Releases • 2 • Tags: Jeremy Udden, Nicolas Moreaux, Sunnyside Records