Astral Plane Crash BPA 018 — Reviewed by Robert Bush, NYC Jazz Record
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018
Musicians: Vinny Golia - kawala (Egyptian flute) sopranino, soprano, baritone saxophones, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo
Henry Kaiser - guitar
Ra-Kalam Bob Moses - drums, percussion
Damon Smith - amplified double bass
Weasel Walter - drums, percussion
Reviewed by Robert Bush, NYC Jazz Record
This is a scorching session of pure group improvisation with Vinny Golia’s arsenal of reeds and flute, Henry Kaiser’s electric guitar, Damon Smith’s resilient bass and the twin drums of Bob Moses and Weasel Walter. The disc is divided into two long pieces. “Fountain of Dreams” opens the program with a stunning duet between effusively gruff baritone saxophone and the explosive traps of Moses; there’s more action than a Marvel movie in this pairing. At about six minutes in, the baton is handed to Kaiser, who begins assaulting his instrument in much the same sonic fashion as the venerable master Derek Bailey, the vituperative Walter shoving him towards a constant state of agitation, producing a profound distorted, orgiastic caterwaul. Both subgroups realign at the 11-minute mark with Golia switching to Egyptian flute (similar in range to the piccolo) and the drummers filling the stereo curtain. Golia toys with heroic multiphonics reminiscent of the late Dewey Redman singing and gurgling into his horn while Kaiser tortures Western tuning ideals with dangerous manipulation of the machine-heads of his guitar and wild pitch-bend
electronics. Smith chooses his moments to emerge judiciously but his resonant, woody sound is always a welcome addition. Golia switches to sopranino and Kaiser takes on the nature of a swarm of aggressive bees on the attack before the drummers take their turn in the spotlight. Golia returns to the baritone as he and Kaiser wrap around each other in serpentine fashion. Clocking in at 44 minutes, “opus” could be a considerable understatement in terms of a description. “Mysterious Journey” begins with Kaiser scraping strings, plucking beneath the bridge and above the nut, activating natural and artificial harmonics in a stunning display of the history of free guitar. Golia enters, over the sound of Walter’s fingertips on toms, as Kaiser gently arpeggiates amorphous chords. The music ebbs and flows from the relatively pensive to the extremely volcanic and back again.
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018 — Reviewed by Bill Meyer, Dusted
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018
Musicians: Vinny Golia - kawala (Egyptian flute) sopranino, soprano, baritone saxophones, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo
Henry Kaiser - guitar
Ra-Kalam Bob Moses - drums, percussion
Damon Smith - amplified double bass
Weasel Walter - drums, percussion
Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter are Plane Crash, a guitar-bass-drums trio tough enough that it doesn’t have to act tough. The musicians’ common bonds are an appreciation for the atomized activity of vintage English free improvisation and a shared determination to communicate intensity through intent and focus, not bluster. Things get cosmic when you bring in West coast woodwind veteran Vinny Golia and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, who played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk at an age when most kids are first trying to cadge their parents’ car keys. Moses and Golia had never played together, but they roomed in the 1960s, and their presence complicates Astral Plane Crash’s prevailing MO of quick micro-interaction in interesting ways. The flutes and saxophones run thick and slow under APC’s dust devil swirl. And Moses and Walter sound like their having a blast making like converging storm clouds, each pelting hail stones from a different direction so there’s no way you won’t get a chill down your neck. At two tracks and a hair under 80 minutes, this is all-in stuff, but when the changes come as quick and compelling as they do here that’s a feature, not a bug.
Bill Meyer
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018 — Reviewed by Bruce Gallanter, DMG
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018
Musicians: Vinny Golia - kawala (Egyptian flute) sopranino, soprano, baritone saxophones, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo
Henry Kaiser - guitar
Ra-Kalam Bob Moses - drums, percussion
Damon Smith - amplified double bass
Weasel Walter - drums, percussion
Reviewed by Bruce Gallanter, DMG
Review of Astral Plane Crash from the great Downtown Music Gallery:
VINNY GOLIA / HENRY KAISER / DAMON SMITH / RAKALAM BOB MOSES / WEASEL WALTER - Astral Plane Crash (BPA Spa 018; USA) Featuring Vinny Golia on assorted reeds, Henry Kaiser on guitar, Damon Smith on amplified acoustic bass and Rakalam Bob Moses & Weasel Walter on drums & percussion. Amongst the two dozen or so releases that Bay Area guitarist Henry Kaiser has been involved in over the past few years, the Plane Crash Trio, ranks near the top of the great heap. Their two previous releases, ‘Plane Crash’ (on ugExplode) and ‘Plane Crash Two’ (New Atlantis), showed them to be one of the best free/jazz/rock power trios of the past decade! Originally this trio was based in the Bay Area, but since then bassist Damon Smith moved to Texas and now lives in Boston. Drum wizard, Weasel Walter, now lives in Brooklyn and works with a number of NY’s finest: from Lydia Lunch to Peter Evans. A few months ago, in the Spring of 2018, the Plane Crash Trio reunited in Boston to play one gig and record in the studio. They decided to add two other special musicians: Vinny Golia (on reeds: bari sax, sopranino, flute) from L.A. and Rakalam Bob Moses (drums & percussion). Both of these players are veteran musicians with long, diverse & creative resumes. And both push the level of focused interaction higher and higher. Weasel Walter came to visit us at DMG last month to drop off his duo CD with Peter Evans. He talked about this session and mentioned that working (& hanging out with) with legendary drummer Rakalam Bob Moses was a wonderful experience. Both drummers here come from varied backgrounds yet they work together incredibly well, the interplay is often extraordinary. Mr. Golia also brings something special here, switching between bari sax, sopranino & flute, taking his time to solo at length with each axe. As I write this review/blurb (8/1/18), the discs are on their way and should be here shortly. Mr. Kaiser did send me an promotional excerpt video which can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1793&v=2E0wVVnR1TU - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $15
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018 — Reviewed by By Eyal Hareuveni, Free Jazz Blog
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018
Musicians: Vinny Golia - kawala (Egyptian flute) sopranino, soprano, baritone saxophones, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo
Henry Kaiser - guitar
Ra-Kalam Bob Moses - drums, percussion
Damon Smith - amplified double bass
Weasel Walter - drums, percussion
Astral Plane Crash is an expanded version of the long-running, free-improv trio Plane Crash with master guitarist Henry Kaiser, double bass player Damon Smith and drummer Weasel Walter. Kaiser wanted to form such an outfit that is well-versed in different forms of free improvisation - AACM, the distinct European schools, Japanese, Art Rock, Karlheinz Stockhausen intuitive music, the free jazz of Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and Sun Ra, and post-WWII modern music strategies of improvisation as suggested by composers like Cornelius Cardew, Terry Riley and Iannis Xenakis.
Kaiser chose Smith and Walter, commenting that both know that “music is created in dimensions far beyond melody, harmony, and rhythm”. The Plane Crash trio released two albums so far, Plane Crash (ugExplode, 2009) and Plane Crash Two (New Atlantis, 2015), The Astral Plane Crash quintet introduces two highly experienced improvisers - multi-reedist Vinny Golia and jazz drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses. Kaiser and Smith have collaborated before with Golia but it was their first musical meeting with Moses. Golia brought to the to Astral Plane Crash recording session - conducted on April, 2018, in Quincy, Massachusetts - a wide range of woodwind instruments, including an Egyptian flute - kawala,, multiplying the timbral variety of the core trio. Moses anchored the dynamic interplay of the quintet with great sensitivity and clear rhythmic patterns.
Astral Plane Crash offers two epic, collective improvisations. The first, 44-minutes of “Fountain of Dreams” begins like a fiery free jazz improvisation, with Moses suggesting a loose, rolling pulse while Golia articulates the dark atmospheres with his earthy baritone sax, but suddenly the original Plane Crash trio erupts and offers an alternative course, fast, thorny and restless that refuses to settle on any form, pulse or narrative. When these two contrasting courses merge all five musicians sketch an open, supportive interplay that swings between Golia’s dominant, singing tone and Kaiser’s challenging, sharp and dissonant attacks. Moses and Weasel attempt to balance these poles by weaving powerful rhythmic layers while Smith aligns with Kaiser and intensifies the tension with his bowed, amplified double bass. Kaiser introduces the second, 35-minutes of the aptly-titled “Mysterious Journey” with a contemplative, acoustic solo guitar that later interacts gently with Golia’s folk flute, innocent melodies and the light percussive contributions of Moses and Walter.
When Kaiser switches to the electric guitar and Golia takes the soprano sax the interplay becomes tougher and packed with nervous density, but soars fast into cosmic-psychedelic atmospheres and burns with the percolating pulses of Moses and Walter. Astral Plane Crash comes with a 12-page booklet featuring the artwork of Kaiser’s inspiring hero and artistic influence, San Francisco-based, artist-filmmaker Jordan Belson’ series “Death and Transfiguration” (2003), as a mystical visual counterpart to the cosmic mindscapes of this recording. Kaiser writes that Belson’s “films’ imagery was exactly like my dreams… only clouds of light and patterns in space. Synesthetically, I see this same sort of imagery when I listen to and when I play music”. And he adds: “playing music for me is largely an internally visual experience… I'm drifting through glowing clouds of light among coruscating fractal and geometric forms that shimmer in and out of existence… It's pretty much like I have a Jordan Belson movie running inside my head all the time”. No doubt, Astral Plane Crash is a pretty wild experience.
Since 2010, Plane Crash featured the improvisatory skills of Henry Kaiser (guitar), Damon Smith (bass) and Weasel Walter (drums). But a new release finds the ensemble expanding to a quintet, taking improv into the zone of melting, vacuum-suck extremity.
Astral Plane Crash is out on Smith’s own Balance Point Acoustics label, the crew now also including Vinny Golia (reeds) and Ra Kalam Bob Moses (drums). The latter is a veteran percussionist who has played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Larry Coryell, Gary Burton and Dave Liebman, but who previously hasn’t recorded much within the world of free improvisation. His meeting with fellow sticksman Walter creates a blend of ritual invocation and clipped outbursts, as Golia’s gritty baritone saxophone faces up to Kaiser’s roaring guitar. But there also are gentler stretches on Astral Plane Crash, with Golia blowing delicate kawala, an Egyptian cane flute, and Kaiser probing space with spectrally hanging slide phrases.
Smith spoke with DownBeat from his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, a few streets away from Native Pulse studio, where Astral Plane Crash was recorded, and where Moses is the creative adviser.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
What happened when Plane Crash become Astral Plane Crash?
When I moved to Quincy in 2016, it turned out I lived near the great Ra Kalam Bob Moses, unquestionably one of the greatest living drummers. The first project I did on the East Coast was a trio with Joe McPhee and Alvin Fielder. I contacted Ra Kalam, so he and Alvin could meet, and we spent the afternoon at his place with Al and Ra Kalam talking drums and drummers, mostly. It came out how committed Bob was to free music. He has a bass in his studio, and we played a bit. After that, we did a few projects, a quartet with Joe McPhee and Jeb Bishop, and trios with Mark Whitecage and Burton Greene. Henry is probably the third or fourth person I ever played an improvised music concert with, in the early ’90s. He is a huge fan of Tisziji Muñoz, who is a very important collaborator for Ra Kalam.
How would you describe the rapport with new bandmates Golia and Moses?
We started planning a project, deciding on our longstanding Plane Crash trio. Weasel is in New York, not far away, and [we expected] the tension between the two drummers’ different approaches would be interesting. I’ve been playing with Vinny, one of the greatest woodwind players alive, nearly as long as Henry, and he had done several projects with us. He let me know he would be there around that time, and it turned out Vinny and Bob had been roommates in the 1960s, but had never played together.
I actually love the quintet format; it presents more interesting problems to solve than a trio, but it’s not unwieldy. It’s really about the amazing drummers on this one.
While the three of us have many interests, I’ve always felt the Plane Crash trio is bonded by our shared interest in British free improvisation, and moves out from there.
Vinny and Ra Kalam brought different ideas to the music and ultimately pushed things in a fresh direction with their completely original approaches. Ra Kalam, in particular, has his own “Ra Kalam rhythms” he brings to the music: completely open, swinging and grounded at the same time. My primary focus is free improvisation. I do some new music here and there, and I’ll play compositions with and by the old masters. However, I think there’s a lot to do with free improvising. I feel I have lots of “compositions,” but I can express and contain them on the bass. Many years ago, I decided not to play with anyone I felt that I needed to tell what to do. The music here is completely improvised with a few edits to make the two big pieces. After a break in the session, Ra Kalam walked into the room and proclaimed the project “Astral Plane Crash.”
Why did you decide on Native Pulse as a recording location?
The studio is in Moses’ home, and he has an amazing expanded kit there. The primary reason was to work with the sounds he’s developed on that kit. It meant playing in very close quarters, but that’s something Henry has always loved anyway, and it actually gives good results in the interactions. Engineer David Sullivan runs Native Pulse, and got an incredible sound.
What’s the manifesto of your label, Balance Point Acoustics? It started in 2001 with a duo bass recording I made with the great Peter Kowald. The focus is free improvisation and free jazz. The artwork for each album is very important to me, and I like having a place where I can make a release look and sound exactly how I want, which helps when I work with other labels. I can just go with the concepts they are working with, knowing I have an outlet for making releases exactly how I want. I have good luck getting labels to release my music, but BPA is really for releases I want to keep control of, and release when I want to.
One of the reasons this was able to come out so soon after recording is that we’d chosen the cover art before we even played. I saw an article on the pastel drawings of the important abstract filmmaker Jordan Belson. Henry knows the family and was able to get permission to use them; the CD release of Astral Plane Crash has a 12-page booklet with 10 of the drawings, instead of liner notes. DB
Recorded in 2016, Six Situations is a prime example of McPhee’s ability to make a first-time meeting jell quickly. Though McPhee has known both Smith and Fielder for nearly 20 years, the three had never played together before this concert at Manhattan performance space Roulette. “We never said anything to each other about the music before playing,” recalls McPhee. “And it developed at its own pace.” The result includes both short tracks with lots of speed and energy—see the hollering whirlwind “Alternate Diagonals”—and longer pieces in which the trio stretch through a variety of moods.
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018 — Reviewed by Avant Scena, https://avantscena.wordpress.com
Astral Plane Crash BPA 018
Musicians: Vinny Golia - kawala (Egyptian flute) sopranino, soprano, baritone saxophones, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo
Henry Kaiser - guitar
Ra-Kalam Bob Moses - drums, percussion
Damon Smith - amplified double bass
Weasel Walter - drums, percussion
Reviewed by Avant Scena, https://avantscena.wordpress.com
“Astral Plane Crash” is the newest album of “Balance Point Acoustics” – it will be released on August, 1. Album was recorded by group of talented, famous and creative jazz masters – Vinny Golia ( kawala (Egyptian flute) sopranino, soprano, baritone saxophones, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo), Henry Kaiser (guitar), Ra-Kalam Bob Moses (drums, percussion), Damon Smith (amplified double bass) and Weasel Walter (drums, percussion). All musicians have original and interesting improvising style, which is based on expressive, vivid and vivacious playing manner. Musicians have much experience in experimenting in all sections of musical language. They are always concentrating on huge variety of colorful and extended expressions, playing techniques, different forms, unusual sounds and extraction of strange timbres. Music is filled with dynamic, energetic, live and variable sound – all kinds of different playing techniques, fascinating musical experiments and extraordinary ways of playing are gently connected together. Bright, moody, energetic and vibrant collective improvisations by this ensemble have remarkable and interesting sound.
“Astral Plane Crash” is based on avant-garde jazz, experimental music and the basics of free improvisation. It also has many relations with modern jazz styles, such as bebop, neobop, progressive jazz, post bop and many others. The intonations of rock and avant-rock styles also are heard very much, especially in guitar section. Musicians are making interesting musical decisions and using inventive ways of playing. That’s why this music is so active, has engaging, charming and original sound. The contrasts between various music styles are used very frequently and effectively – musicians are putting together absolutely different music styles, moods and characters which are the opposites to each other. The music is based on sudden changes, rigorous blow outs, energetic, frantic and roaring bursts of energy, vivacious solos, gentle, length and free solos, expressive and bright melodies or silent and peaceful episodes. These elements are just the part of the compositions. The main part of the album has expressive and active mood. Vinny Golia reeds solos are especially bright and touching. This music is filled with rapid and frantic solos, gorgeous musical experiments, inventive and astonishing sound experiments and ways of playing and charming solos. Improviser masterfully switches between different moods and styles – he puts together energetic ad spontaneous solos, bright and vivacious melodies, sharp atonal harmony and soft consonances, free improvisation and many other things. His music has marvelous and remarkable sound. It makes an effort to sound of whole album. Guitar melodies by Henry Kaiser is based on organic synthesis between experimental music, rock avant rock and avantžgarde jazz. Energetic and vibrant solos are filled with hard and monotonic rhythmic, solid beat, sparkling riffs and many other things. Musician is experimenting in all ways of musical language. He tries out new and original ways of playing and fuses them with tradtional ones. Damon Smith solo improvisation are used here very rarely. His music is subtly – it doesn’t have remarkable melodies and inventive sound. By using dozens of different playing techniques, musician improvises and creates bright, new and fresh sound. Ra-Kalam Bob Moses and Weasel Walter drums sections are different from each other. All kinds of dfferent rhythms, sounds and expressions are used here to create interesting and create sound. Roaring and turbulent bright sounds, original and inventive musical decision, soft anf gentle pizzicato, vivacious melodies, dynamic stylistic surprises and other unpredictable things of musical language. The music of this albun was recorded by inventive, talente and extraordinary improvising by five musicians, which are the masters of improvising. That najes an etatic, engaging, fresh and new sound.
Six Situations NotTwo MW 954-2 + 1 — Reviewed by Ken Waxman, Jazzword
Six Situations NotTwo MW 954-2 + 1
Musicians: Joe McPhee, Damon Smith, Alvin Fielder
Reviewed by Ken Waxman, Jazzword
McPhee/Niggenkemper/Solberg
Imaginary Numbers
Clean Feed CF 455 CD
Banal as it may appear to repeat it, but Joe McPhee continues to produce triumphant performances, even in his late seventies and almost a half century after releasing his first LP. Sophisticated in many sub genres, these high-quality trio performances pivot from the admiration the Poughkeepsie. N.Y.-based multi instrumentalist maintains for John Coltrane. Recorded with different bass and drum teams and consisting of original improvisations, the programs articulate Trane’s legacy more clearly than any number of discs recapitulating Trane tributes.
More obvious since it includes a poem dedicated to Trane, is Six Situations which matches McPhee’s tenor saxophone and voice to the contributions from Quincy, Mass.-based double bassist Damon Smith who has recorded with reedist ranging from John Butcher to Biggi Vinkeloe and Jackson, Miss- drummer Alvin Fielder whose saxophone partners include Kidd Jordan and Roscoe Mitchell. Tweaking the Trans legacy sideways is Imaginary Numbers, one track of which is entitled “Zero Supreme Love (For John Coltrane)”. McPhee compatriots here are both European: German-French bassist Pascal Niggenkemper, who has worked with saxophonists like Frode Gjerstad, and Mette Rasmussen and Norwegian percussionist Ståle Liavik Solberg who has also recorded with Butcher. To further mix things up McPhee plays pocket trumpet as well as tenor saxophone. Still that upfront Trane salute is Imaginary Numbers’ most toned-down track, with slurping reed vibrations, drum clip-clops and rugged string strums. It’s of a piece with the more expected Free Jazz playing on Six Situations and could join that CD without fissure.
Otherwise Imaginary Numbers’ narratives are more experimental. Not only does McPhee snarl, stutter and scream multiphonics throughout, but his trumpet tones also take on multiple identities. Plunger tones and capillary crackles situate the brass forays midway between such Trane brass partners as Don Cherry and Freddie Hubbard, with McPhee’s magisterial presence dominant. Contrasts affect all three players on “A”, especially when the tenor saxophonist alternates intense glottal punctuation with passages that could accompany standards. Solberg’s reverberating rolls, bell whumps and shuffles amplify the latter expositions, while the bassist’s swabbing string friction dovetails in with McPhee’s atonal snarls and bleats.
The minimally titled but extended “i” is the session’s tour-de-force. As the bassist lays down a series of pumps and pops and the drummer startling percussive echoes, McPhee unleashes blistering brass notes that buzz in double counterpoint with first one and then the other player. As Niggenkemper pushes forward with sul tasto scrawls, McPhee alters his narrative so that skyscraper-high brass tones are replaced by nuanced saxophone slurs that lock in with bass string stops and drum rim shots, suggesting Trane’s quartet explorations. Following the saxophonist’s slippery tongue and air motifs, McPhee complements that sequence with high-pitched trumpet tones, until all three finally construct an appropriate climax out of screeches, slices and smacks.
More traditional in comparison are the six situations on the other disc. However this CD’s extended track, “Red and Green Alternatives” while notable for an expansion of the musical thesis that melds pure free improvisation with more studied Free Jazz motifs, allows the adaptations to unroll at too great a length. More compact tracks better convey the program. Among them is the almost-as-lengthy introduction, “The Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy”. Set up with drum rolls, McPhee asserts himself with double-tongued Tranesque contours within 90 seconds and soon extends his vibrations alongside Smith’s string pinches. Reaching a Blues progression, the saxophonist splutters and squeezes out sheets of sound which by the track’s final minutes abate enough to create a calming conclusion
This in-and-out salute to Trane’s accustomed and exploratory impulses continues throughout the disc. The saxophonist is able to personify both roles so well, that on “Blue Trees in Wind” at one point he shreds textures alongside Smith’s swabbing string reverberations, but surrounds that avant highpoint with a more conventional progression that by the ending works in quotes from “God Bless the Child”. By the time “The Blood of a Martyr” and “Green Crossing Greens”, the penultimate and final improvisations arrive, the musical schizophrenia is perfectly balanced. Honking irregular vibrations are encased within a regular groove on the penultimate track, whereas the bass drum and cymbal showcase from Fielder that introduces “Green Crossing Greens”, is surmounted by a supple moderato tenor solo that suggests many sides of Trane throughout the years. As moderato as the late saxophonist’s pre-avant-garde soloing, backed by exercise-rubber-band thick strokes from the bassist and another drum display, this track, in fact, the two CDs in general are a fitting tribute to Trane as well as McPhee.
Thirteen years younger than Coltrane and having lived, so far, almost 40 years longer, appreciation for McPhee have only been universally acknowledged during the past two decades. Although none of his discs have become part of Jazz’s lingua franca as some of Trane’s have, that the number of high-quality McPhee CDs like these continues to multiply, is cause enough for celebration.
—Ken Waxman
Track Listing: Imaginary: 1. i 2. A 3. Zero Supreme Love (For John Coltrane)
Personnel: Imaginary: Joe McPhee (pocket trumpet and tenor saxophone); Pascal Niggenkemper (bass) and Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums and percussion)
Track Listing: Six: 1. The Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy 2. Blue Trees in Wind 3. Alternate Diagonals 4. Red and Green Alternatives 5. The Blood of a Martyr 6. Green Crossing Greens
Personnel: Six: Joe McPhee (tenor saxophone and voice); Damon Smith (bass) and Alvin Fielder (drums)
The Catastrophe of Minimalism (Balance Point Acoustics) — Reviewed by Andrzej Nowak, Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej (Spontaneous Music Tribune
The Catastrophe of Minimalism (Balance Point Acoustics)
Musicians: John Butcher/ Damon Smith/ Weasel Walter
Reviewed by Andrzej Nowak, Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej (Spontaneous Music Tribune
Nowe wydawnictwo nie zawsze oznacza … nowe nagranie. Taka sytuacja ma miejsce w przypadku Katastrofy Minimalizmu, po części, dotyczy także drugiej z omawianych dziś płyt. Oto bowiem błyskotliwa, dalece swobodna improwizacja w składzie: John Butcher – saksofon tenorowy i sopranowy, Damon Smith – kontrabas (a także odrobina elektroniki) i Weasel Walter – instrumenty perkusyjne, zarejestrowana została w czerwcu … 2008 roku (koncert w Grand Oakland, Kanada). Płytę, jak najbardziej świeżą, dostarcza Balance Point Acoustic – 5 utworów, blisko 55 minut muzyki.
One. Start improwizacji wyznacza gęsty, soczysty tembr silnego kontrabasu Damona (on sam też jest … potężnie zbudowany). Tenor Johna jest rozwibrowany, a działania perkusjonalne Weasela, dla odmiany, dość delikatne i wysublimowane (za pełnym zestawem drummerskim, muzyk ten bywa ogniście wybuchowy!). Intro trwa niespełna trzy minuty.
Two. Ostry werbel i szczypta talerzykowania stanowi początek kolejnej improwizacji, już pełnowymiarowej w aspekcie czasowym. Krótkie solo perkusyjne zostaje zmysłowo skomentowane przez kontrabas. Saksofon pojawia się po 120 sekundach. To drastycznie zmutowany sopran (i tu, walory akustyczne są wyjątkowe). Muzycy improwizują w stanie permanentnego zwarcia. Akcja! Reakcja! Nie żałują energii, nie stronią od emocji na scenie. Smykowy kontrabas nabiera demonicznego wymiaru, drumming jest szybki, zwinny, nie mniej błyskotliwy niż rozpędzony saksofon. 6 minuta oznacza krok w doom improv. Oniryczna, zmysłowa, wstrząsająca narracja, który z każdą sekundą zagłębia się w ciszy.
Three. Powrót do krwistej dynamiki! Improwizacja leje się, jak niewystudzony napalm, który pali wszystko do gołej ziemi. Tenor Butchera jest agresywny, sekcja pędzi, jak szalona. Zgodnie z wyjątkowo udanym tytułem całej płyty, muzycy definitywnie stronią od zachowań minimalistycznych. Kontrabas rządzi i rozrywa struny ostrym smykiem. Tu także, 6 minuta oznacza zejście w cichsze rejestry. Wyrafinowana sonorystyka, to naturalna kolej rzeczy. Kilka minut zadumy i muzycy ponownie ruszają na wyprawę! Ta ma wyjątkowo free jazzowy wymiar, czemu sprzyja dynamiczny walking Smitha. Nie po raz pierwszy, nie po raz ostatni, Butcher schodzi na dalszy plan i daje się Jankesom wyszaleć. A Ci, jakby dostawali dodatkowy zastrzyk energii! Powrót saksofonu jest precyzyjny, szumi kropelkowo i zdaje się kiełznać ambicje partnerów. Piękny, sopranowy taniec, prawdziwie ptasia eskalacja. Dwudziestominutowa epopeja dobiega końca, a jej główną cechą charakterystyczną – ciągła zmiana biegu narracji. Na sam finał, liryczny dialog Johna i Damona.
Four. Odrobina wzajemnego siłowania się. Kontrabas brzmi jak piła mechaniczna, saksofon jak kosa, a drummer stawia upocone stemple. Dynamika rośnie, ekspresja leje się po ścianach, a jedyny, który nie milknie na całej płycie, to kontrabasista. Galop przy wtórze kropelkowej ekspozycji sopranu. Bodaj najszybszy fragment Katastrofy. Zdaje się także, iż Damon wreszcie podłączył swoje elektroniczne akcesoria. Groźne, soczyste tło dla improwizacji, i tak wprowadzonej bardzo nisko. Drżenie, które ostrzega przed konsekwencjami zaniechania. Ale nie na tej płycie! Solo Waltera, rodzaj bezczelnej odpowiedzi. Burza z piorunami, to z kolej efekt działań Smitha. W 10 minucie smykowa ekspozycja studzi emocje (by the way… sax milczy od dość dawna). Kontrabas zjeżdża na sam dół! Sopran powraca! Panowie czynią swoją powinność, zmysłowo dyskutując na niezobowiązujące tematy.
Five. Prychanie saksofonisty, trochę jak komentarz w kontekście brudnych paluchów kontrabasisty na skwierczących strunach, grających niczym dobosz na odpuście. Bystry free jazz! Konwulsje na zestawie perkusjonalnym! Baa, wszyscy muzycy zdają się szczytować w tym właśnie momencie! Stop w błyskotliwą sonorystykę znów jest mistrzowskim pociągnięciem! Ta, osadzona jest jednak w podskórnym rytmie, przez co finał tej dramatycznie dobrej płyty jest niecodzienny. Erupcja tenoru wieńczy dzieło! To bodaj pierwsze spotkanie muzyków w takim układzie personalnym. Wszakże poziom synergii wewnątrz tria, jakby zadawał kłam temu faktowi. Brawo!
Google Translate Version:
A new release does not always mean ... a new recording. Such a situation takes place in the case of the Minimalism Catastrophe , in part, it also concerns the second of the discs discussed today. Here is a brilliant, deeply free improvisation composed of: John Butcher - tenor and soprano saxophone, Damon Smith - double bass (and also a bit of electronics) and Weasel Walter - percussion instruments, recorded in June 2008 (concert in Grand Oakland, Canada) . The album, as fresh as possible, is provided by Balance Point Acoustic - 5 songs, nearly 55 minutes of music.
One. The start of improvisation is determined by the thick, juicy temples of Damon's strong double bass (he is also ... powerful). Tenor John is vibrated, and Weasel's percussion actions, for a change, are quite delicate and sophisticated (behind a full set of drummers , this musician is fieryly explosive!). The intro takes less than three minutes.
Two . A sharp snare drum and a pinch of plate-making is the beginning of another improvisation, already full-time in terms of time. The short percussion solo is sensually commented on by the double bass. The saxophone appears after 120 seconds. This is a drastically mutated soprano (and here, the acoustic qualities are exceptional). The musicians improvise in a state of permanent short circuit. Share! Reaction! They do not regret energy, they do not avoid emotions on the stage. A double contrabass takes on a demonic dimension, drumming is fast, agile, no less brilliant than a speeding saxophone. 6 minutes means a step in doom improv. Terrifying, sensual, shocking narrative, which with each second delves into silence.
Three . Return to the bloody dynamics! Improvisation pours like an impassioned napalm that burns everything to the bare earth. Tenor Butchera is aggressive, the section rushes like crazy. According to the exceptionally successful title of the whole album, the musicians definitively avoid minimalistic behavior. The double bass rules and breaks the strings with a sharp knot. Here, too, 6 minutes means descending into quieter registers. Sophisticated sonoristics is the natural turn of things. A few minutes of reverie and musicians start their journey again! This one has an exceptionally free jazz dimension, which is favored by Smith'sdynamic walk . Not for the first time, not for the last time, Butcher goes down in the background and gives to the Yankeeslet off steam. And you, as if they were given an extra boost of energy! The return of the saxophone is precise, hums drily, and seems to confuse the partners' ambitions. Beautiful, soprano dance, truly bird escalation. The twenty-minute epic comes to an end, and its main characteristic is the constant change in the flow of the narrative. For the finale, the lyrical dialogue of John and Damon.
BPA 017 The Catastrophe of Minimalism — Reviewed by Bill Meyer, The Wire
BPA 017 The Catastrophe of Minimalism
Musicians: John Butcher - soprano and tenor saxophones
Damon Smith - double bass, field recordings & lloopp software
Weasel Walter - percussion
BPA 017 The Catastrophe of Minimalism — Reviewed by Martin Longley, Downbeat
BPA 017 The Catastrophe of Minimalism
Musicians: John Butcher - saxophones
Damon Smith - double bass
Weasel Walter - percussion
Reviewed by Martin Longley, Downbeat
4.5 out of 5 stars in Downbeat
"Recorded live in 2008 at 21 Grand in Oakland, California, The Catastrophe Of Minimalism (Balance Point Acoustics; 54:29 ++++½) finds Butcher in a similar instrumental setting, with Damon Smith (bass) and Weasel Walter (drums). The improvisation sounds less directly derived from the jazz idiom, with pieces of wildly varying length, operating on a much more aggressively spiky level. This trio makes greater use of silences, and then brutal explosions, with ruffled-feather trilling, dragged bass bow and a rumbling skin-barrage. There’s a genuine unpredictability throughout, an extremity of controlled savagery and a belligerent dynamism to Butcher’s roughened tenor sound." - Martin Longley, Downbeat
The Catastrophe of Mininmalism — Reviewed by Paul Acquaro, Free Jazz Blog
The Catastrophe of Mininmalism
Musicians: John Butcher / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter
Reviewed by Paul Acquaro, Free Jazz Blog
Bassist Damon Smith writes in the notes for this release, which was taped live in Oakland, California in 2008, that he likes to let recordings age: "You are very sure about the music when you live with it for a few years before putting it out in the world."
It makes sense: let the ingredients over time interact, if done right, perhaps an unanticipated richness develops around them, ideas that perhaps didn't seem right at the time turn out to be brilliant moves, something perceived as a mistake when it was played has somehow completely melted into the whole. While uncertain what, if any of these things apply here, what is certain is that Catastrophe of Minimalism is a sumptuous and intense album, sure to tickle the most fickle palette.
Saxophonist John Butcher and percussionist Weasel Walter round out the trio. The first track 'An Illusionistic Panic Part 1' begins among a spate of percussive hits, saxophone smears, and bowed bass. The melange of ingredients exist both together and seeking their own space. Coming together with a cymbal crash, the tone is set for how these three musical provocateurs will proceed. 'A Blank Magic' follows, featuring skittering multi-phonics from Butcher, expressive and unexpected anti-patterns from Walter, and textural friction from Smith. The fevered pitch that Butcher brings the group to with a repetitive circular phrase and the subsequent percussive tangent that follows on 'Modern Technological Fetishes' is worth the price of the album alone.
Each track provides a different angle on the inner workings of this trio, each offering it's own complex arrangements of overtones, undertones, and meaty notes between. The titles, like the ones for Six Situations are inspired and borrowed from the mid-20th century artist Dan Flavin.
Here, have a whiff of this particular good vintage:
After Effects — Reviewed by Rick Joines, Free Jazz Blog
After Effects
Musicians: Danny Kamins / Damon Smith / Alvin Fielder / Joe Hertenstein /
Reviewed by Rick Joines, Free Jazz Blog
So much depends upon a title.
After Effects is Danny Kamins’ first album as bandleader. Kamins (baritone sax), a Houston-native and a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, directs jazz ensembles at Rice University and plays in the lo-fi drone band CARL and the noise band Etched in the Eye. He has good company for his first outing: Damon Smith on bass, and Joe Hertenstein and the legendary Alvin Fielder on lots of things percussive. Fielder, Kamins reports, provided the meteorological titles for these entirely improvised songs, so (I’m guessing) the names postdated the playing. Thus, the titles and their themes would seem to have had no impact on the creation of these songs, but knowing the titles influences how, or what, one hears in them—innocent though they were of their names when brought to life.
Because the first track of After Effects is titled “In the Beginning,” the first two and half minutes of low rumbling of bass and drums, which turns suddenly violent and then rhythmic, which lacks form then gains it, puts me in mind of Genesis. Where there was nothing, now there is something, sorting itself out—gathering and yielding, creeping and flying. The quartet sounds loose and shifty, sometimes hurried or harried, so when Kamins’ baritone finally enters, it is like the spirit moving upon the face of the waters, creating order out of disorder. The rest of the songs’ titles indicate this “beginning” may be of a great storm, so my imaginings may be off track, but if this was called “Improvisation #1,” I may not have imagined anything much at all, and I doubt I would enjoy the song as much.
In the next track, “Land, Sand, Water,” Fielder and Hertenstein sprinkle and grind their percussives like sand accreting and eroding at the water’s edge. Kamins’ baritone flows like waves over their cobbled contours. Then Smith’s bass, like land after the flood recedes, appears. At the cartographic edge of things, each instrument maps its own shapes—intersecting, overflowing, demarcating—until it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. “Storms” (Parts 1 and 2), follows hard upon, as if produced by the confluence of land, sand, and water. Here these musicians hit their stride as a unit. The pair of drummers, one per channel, create constant atmospheric rumbles and irreconcilable rhythms through which Kamins’ breathy, ballsy, red-blooded baritone cuts. Smith’s playing is restrained and pushed back in the mix, but his bruising pizzicato and gashing arco arcs like lightning through the thunderous throatiness of Kamins’ sax.
One’s tempestuous imagination continues to roam over the rest of the album, lulled by Smith’s louré bowing in “The Gentle Breeze,” buoyed and battered by the Doppler effects of Fielder and Hertenstein’s bells and skins in “The Wind,” attentive to Kamins’ lyrical, wavering foghorning in “The Shore,” and magnetized by Smith’s scratch tones and rhythmic walking during “The Hurricane and the Calms.” In “After Effects,” each instrument sounds as if it’s been through the worst of it and is piecing itself back together uncertainly, anxiously assessing the damage in the final song, “The Cleanup.”
Perhaps because of the songs’ titles, everything on this record takes on some added significance. There are often moments of near silence, as when the eye of a hurricane passes over, and, like a hurricane, the playing of the rhythm section swirls, its power rising from within. While an alto sax may zoom like a thunder shower, a tenor squall like a storm front, a baritone lumbers like a slow-moving tropical storm over great space, a behemoth laboring to pick up speed. Kamins has a penchant for long, tremulous notes, but he also has a powerful lyrical ability that avoids the familiar, idiomatic, soporific sounds often associated with the baritone sax. His tone is contemplative, stately, and, like the great storms over the ocean and the beasts beneath, he plays majestically so as to inspire the imagination.
The shape finds its own space — Reviewed by Rick Joines, Free Jazz Blog
The shape finds its own space
Musicians: Frode Gjerstad / Damon Smith / Alvin Fielder
Reviewed by Rick Joines, Free Jazz Blog
The Shape Finds Its Own Space is a set featuring Norwegian Frode Gjerstad on clarinet and alto saxophone and Americans Alvin Fielder on drums and Damon Smith on double bass recorded at the No Idea Festival in Austin, Texas, on February 25, 2016. The album’s title, and the title of the three-part 38-minute improvisation—“angles, curves, edges, & mass”—comes from an artist’s statement by Ellsworth Kelly:
I have worked to free shape from its ground, and then to work the shape so that it has a definite relationship to the space around it; so that it has a clarity and a measure within itself of its parts (angles, curves, edges, and mass); and so that, with color and tonality, the shape finds its own space and always demands its freedom and separateness.
Ellsworth Kelly is an apt muse for an improvising, free jazz musician. He sought to escape representation and the conventions of easel painting on a rectangular canvas, yet his abstractions always abstract from real objects: windows, frames, and the wall around them, the tombstone curves of Tour de France kilometer markers, the way light bounces off rippling water. “The form of my painting is the content,” Ellsworth proclaimed.
Can free jazz musicians transpose this visual artist’s goals into their medium? Kelly’s method of composition was to avoid composition: chance eliminated the need to decide where things go. Likewise, Gjerstad, Fielder, and Smith play without knowing how things will unfold. They work their instruments and shape their music, revealing its plasticity, but music also resists and makes its own demands. It has limits both the body and imagination must respect. Fielder modulates in and out of rhythm, riding a cymbal and at times positively swinging as Smith walks growling, fat-fingered bass lines. Smith’s strings whisper into hazes of harmonics and dive in glassy shrieks. Both flirt with mixtures of pure improvisation and conventional musical beauty, unlike Gjerstad who opts for the unrestrained. I am not a fan of his frightened-wounded-nearly-dying-animal-spinning-on-a-rusty-turnstile-whose-tea-kettle-is-at-the-boil style, but he’s been at it for decades, and others find it enthralling. Like the abstract artist, these improvising musicians wander out to the edge of the real and the imaginable and wobble there on the precipice where the aesthetic ends and its opposite begins.
Song For Chico — Reviewed by By Rick Joines, Free Jazz Blong
Song For Chico
Musicians: Alvin Fielder / Damon Smith
Reviewed by By Rick Joines, Free Jazz Blong
That free, improvised jazz gives pleasure to its connoisseurs seems obvious. Even more obvious is the displeasure it causes everybody else.
Avant-garde music of any genre—for those who play it, compose it, and listen to it—answers a desire to be disoriented, a hankering to indulge in lawlessness, a longing to be free. It makes us happy—we get it, and it gets us. If, like other kinds of music, free jazz resembles language, what sort of communication is it? We often refer to the interplay between musicians as “conversation,” but other than the fact that notes follow notes in linear time, most free, improvised jazz eschews ordinary, idiomatic syntax. To some, it sounds like random noise, yet to us, it is beautiful. Or maybe it’s true: we’re just weird.
The album Song for Chico, with Alvin Fielder (b. 1935) on drums and Damon Smith (b. 1972) on contrabass, contains what lovers of free jazz love in spades. Here is an example of the two of them at work:
Even one versed in the intricacies of improvised music would be hard pressed to describe their playing as a “conversation,” yet we believe there is a sort of communion because the playing sings in a language whose mysteries we feel we understand. But how?
There are six tracks on Song for Chico, and each seems completely improvised (though I’m not certain that is wholly true of “Variations on ‘Untitled’ by Cecil Taylor” or “Roots by Johnny Dyani,” but I’d say their improvisational-to-composed content is high). Watching Alvin Fielder behind the drums and Damon Smith behind his bass, and listening to them, leads one to wonder if they are particularly aware of one another’s presence: what each plays might be what they would play even if the other one wasn’t there. Because what they both play—note by note—so lacks a clear, standard harmonic connection or any melodic sequence, when Fielder quotes “Salt Peanuts” in “Improvisation 1,” even that short bit of something familiar feels, somehow, odd. Yet to me, and probably to them, their songs cohere as songs. Perhaps it is a matter of mood or tone, or of some kind of simpatico.
What is most evident on each of the tracks on Song for Chico is Fielder and Smith’s technique. In fact, the album is almost entirely “about” technique. Fielder wields a battery of sticks and brushes; he makes music using every nut, bolt, stand, skin, cymbal, and underside of his kit. He almost never “keeps time.” In this sort of music, time is not a thing that can be “kept.” It is fluid and unpredictable—like nature. Smith’s technique puts me in mind of Wallace Stevens’ poem “Chaos in Motion and Not in Motion”: Smith’s playing is “like the wind that lashes everything at once.” He is an aggressive bassist, stormy and dramatic. Scratch tones, ponticello, tremolo, spiccato, ricochet, glissando, trills, detaché, legato, louré, slurs, slaps, martelé, jeté, sautillé, staccato, saltato, col legno, saccadé, buzz, snap, and nail pizzicato—name a technique, or extended technique, and chances are it’s in a song and in Smith’s arsenal. There is nowhere he won’t bow or pluck or strum—hard. Sometimes he even rubs his bass’s belly.
The species of free, improvised jazz on display on Song for Chico is what music sounds like when the “like” language barely holds, or does not apply at all. Yet Fielder and Smith are not just two guys in a room making an erratic cacophony. If free jazz is “like” a language, or mode of communication, it must be something like the communication within a murmuration of starlings, or a school of fish, or like a peloton of 120 professional cyclists, elbow-to-elbow, hurtling down Rue d’Somewhere at 40 MPH. The consciousness of the other and the communication between them about speed and direction is immediate, precognitive, innate. They are all headed somewhere, but who knows where, how long it will take, or how they will get there, exactly? There is a pleasure in the practice of working together as one mind and one body, in the stretching and condensing, in the speed or agility that would be impossible if alone.
Alvin Fielder and Damon Smith are masters of their art. Their communication—with each other and with us, the listeners—seems subliminal; it transmits outside of the range of the “normal” consumer of music. It is a signal broadcast to all, but not all receivers are able to pick it up, or decipher it as theme or dialogue. Yet for those attuned to it, the music they make is magical, and “what they have to say” is persuasive and elegant, even if we have a hard time explaining why, or how, it is. “To interpret language,” Adorno claims, “means: to understand language.” And “to interpret music means: to make music.” “Musical interpretation,” he notes, “is performance.” Fielder and Smith interpret a style of music that demands and rewards our interpretation, and demands performance from the critic, too.
Six Situations — Reviewed by Paul Acquaro, Free Jazz Blog
Six Situations
Musicians: Joe McPhee / Damon Smith / Alvin Fielder
Reviewed by Paul Acquaro, Free Jazz Blog
The 19 minutes of the first track off Six Situations, 'The Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy', is a journey through the joys of improvised music making. The core duo of bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Alvin Fielder, first played together in 2010 and their collaborative spirit remains strong through today, as evidenced by their recent duo release Song for Chico. Saxophonist Joe McPhee, of course, is a musician whose presence always enhances the 'situation.'
Launching into a spirited set at Brooklyn's Roulette during September 2016 the newly formed trio's approach is captured well in a line from Smith's liner notes: "What emerged between Alvin and myself is mix of total free improvisation with swinging quarter notes never far away." Add McPhee to the proceeding statement and you have Six Situations in the making: swinging, energetic, and free. It's a winning combination that melds the wild pulse of classic free jazz with edgy and exciting improvisation.
The aforementioned first track begins with a long passage where Smith and Fielder exchange ideas and lay the groundwork for McPhee. He comes in with some hearty sounds which builds momentum over tje looping pulse. Smith's solo passage about half-way into the track deftly incorporates space and dynamics to accentuate the taut scratching passage before an actual howl escapes from McPhee as he re-enters the conversation. The tune winds down with a concise bluesy refrain and an extended percussion outro.
The follow up 'Blue Trees in Wind' is again introduced by Fielder's and Smith's extended techniques – deft plucks and bowed skronks, all applied expertly around Fielder's brushwork. McPhee enters with a laid back melody that begins to fray and fracture as the piece continues. Smith injects a tumultuous counter melody as the tension comes to a head. 'Alternate Diagonals' does indeed offer a different perspective on the previous direction. This time McPhee takes the reins and introduces a Gustafsson-like rhythmic figure that the others rally around. It's short but powerful.
The next track, a 23-minute track entitled 'Red & Green Alternatives' starts off the second half of the album which doesn't disappoint. The song is more textural, starting off with soft percussion and light smears of sounds from Smith. When McPhee shows up, it's nearly 10 minutes in, following an intense duet. He vocalizes through the instrument before settling into a forlorn solo melody.
All said, Six Situations documents three excellent musicians sharing a strong musical rapport. The rich supply of ideas in their collective possession is enough to make the most of any situation.
After Effects (FMR 448; UK) — Reviewed by Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG - 8/9/2017
After Effects (FMR 448; UK)
Musicians: DANNY KAMINS / DAMON SMITH / ALVIN FIELDER / JOE HERTENSTEIN
Reviewed by Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG - 8/9/2017
DANNY KAMINS / DAMON SMITH / ALVIN FIELDER / JOE HERTENSTEIN - After Effects (FMR 448; UK) Featuring Danny Kamins on reeds (bari sax), Damon Smith on bass, Alvin Fielder & Joe Hertenstein on drums. This disc was recorded in a studio in Houston, Texas, where Mr. Kamins lives and where Mr. Smith used to live before moving to Boston more recently. Over the past few years, Damon Smith has been working with legendary drummer Alvin Fielder in a duo and a recent trio with Joe McPhee (on Not Two). Mr. Fielder is a founding member of the AACM while living in Chicago in the sixties, moved back to Mississippi in 1968 and has been involved int music scene in New Orleans and is Houston where he once went to college. I am not sure how German-born drummer Joe Hertenstein fits in this line-up, but I do know that he has been a part of the Downtown Scene for several years paying with a number of key musicians: Jon Irabagon, Thomas Heberer and Mikko Innanen. Alvin Fielder and Damon Smith sound like they are connected, swirling tightly together, expanding and contracting as one force of nature. Mr. Hertenstein is a good listener and work well spinning his lines around Mr. Fielder, neither getting in each others way, often sounding like one drummer and not two. Mr. Kamins often plays quietly and with immense restraint, slowly burning from underneath. He sounds wonderful on bari sax, often soaring without screaming or erupting too much like John Surman in the early days. Damon Smith is one of the best acoustic bassists around and is often at the center of this band, providing the spirit/glue that holds things together. He has an immense, powerful sound whether bowing hard or erupting torrents of plucked notes on his mighty contrabass. There is section here where the bari sax is growling while Smith bows and bends those notes inside out, the drums marching in the distance. It sound like a monster movie soundtrack, warning that we are in some danger with some scary ghosts erupting and spewing their volcanic lava all over. Prepare for the worst. This is one of the best free/jazz quartet disc to come along in quite a while. Don’t miss it! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG - 8/9/2017
It’s hard to think of a better way to spend a humid, rainy Friday evening than in an artists’ bunker in Bushwick bearing witness to free improv and cracked electronic exploration. The venue was Noise Workshop (Jul. 14th), hosting sets from the New York Review of Cocksucking (NYROCS, Michael Foster and Richard Kamerman) and Plane Crash, the volatile but incisive trio of guitarist Henry Kaiser, bassist Damon Smith and drummer Weasel Walter. NYROCS opened, sitting across from one another at card tables festooned with little and not-so-little instruments—harmonicas, rattles, pot lids, cymbals, cassette players, pedals, megaphone, no-input mixer and soprano saxophone— and conjured a landscape of feedback, bilious multiphonic gurgle, percussive clatter and disembodied voices. While both Plane Crash volumes (released on ugEXPLODE and New Atlantis, respectively) have offered sharply-defined acoustic gamesmanship, in person they stuck to a charged energy often veering towards progressive rock, Walter on an expansive rock-drummer’s kit, a sweaty and powerful chug behind Kaiser’s more topographical electric latticework and the throaty incisions of Smith’s arco and meaty pizzicato. The trio worked through one long and one short improvisation, the rhythm section occasionally subsuming Kaiser’s detail under brute force, but the three eventually found a common axis of listening, winnowing their improvisation to a focused, vibrantly undulating language. —Clifford Allen
Six Situations (Not Two 953; Poland) — Reviewed by Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Six Situations (Not Two 953; Poland)
Musicians: JOE McPHEE / DAMON SMITH / ALVIN FIELDER
Reviewed by Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
* JOE McPHEE / DAMON SMITH / ALVIN FIELDER - Six Situations (Not Two 953; Poland) Featuring Joe McPhee on tenor sax, Damon Smith on bass and Alvin Fielder on drums. This disc was recorded live at Roulette in Brooklyn, on September 13th of 2016, in the fall of last year. Multi-reeds wizard and brass-man, international traveler on the move, Joe McPhee, always rises to the occasion and sounds inspired no matter who he is playing with and whatever stage or studio he finds himself in. Bay Area-to-Texas-to Boston bassist, Damon Smith also gets around to playing with a wealth of international musicians. Mr. Smith has worked with original AACM drum legend, Alvin Fielder, on previous recordings with Norwegian saxist Frode Gjerstad and Texas-based players: David Dove and Jason Jackson. This was the first time that McPhee and Fielder had played together live. I attended this set myself and recalled how happy Mr. McPhee was to play with drum legend Alvin Fielder. His excitement was infectious. One of the highlights of this disc is a righteous poem called, “Tell Me, How Long Has Trane Been Gone”, written by Joe McPhee and printed inside the CD case. It is dedicated to both John Coltrane and author James Baldwin. The trio begins quietly, slowly, all three members building and blending their spirits/sounds. You can Trane’s influence in all three players, free yet focused as one deep spirit ascending… On “The Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy”, the trio morph into a sly, blues-like refrain, which feels so good, slowing down our pulse to a safe crawl, peaceful yet probing. There is strong balance of the elements going on here, the trio sound like they are listening closely and creating a strong dialogue. All in all, this is a strong, spirited and intense trio that works together and has their own distinctive sound. I recall enjoying this set but this disc sounds even better than what I remember. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
