Contemporary Jazz

post recent jazz, have no shame

here's some Wolfgang Muthspiel
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This 2017 release on the Clean Feed label documents a live meeting between saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and pianist Craig Taborn, two of the major exponents in the current free jazz world, but who had never played together until this performance at the 2015 Ljubljana jazz festival. The recording consists of two extended improvisations.

The first cut is titled "The Eyes Moving. Slowly." and takes an atmospheric approach, starting off subdued but building very quickly to a plateau which sustains for most of the first eight minutes. Gustafsson lets loose with his trademark unearthly long-tones while Taborn sustains a monochromatic undercurrent around him. There's not much development beyond that and nothing really interesting happens until they settle back into a more spacious, "quiet section." At this point they manage a rather nice, slow buildup to the point where both are busily chasing each other and interacting in rather interesting ways. However this also reaches a plateau rather quickly and coasts along with little development until the final three minutes of the track which are slightly more interesting with both players leaving more space and playing off of each other's patterns.

I have no idea how Muthspiel assembled a band that good on his album :O

Taborn takes the lead for the start of the second cut, entitled "The Ears Facing the Fantasies. Again." He jabs pointedly while Gustafsson adds to the texture, contributing his percussive slap-tonguing and punctuating the proceedings with blasts of overblown sound. Here the duo achieves what is probably their high point with plenty of overt interaction as they bounce abstract ideas off of each other and even achieve a decent amount of dynamic contour. Somewhere around the eight minute mark Taborn begins introducing a new idea which leads Gustafsson to wisely back off and let Taborn explore the idea largely on his own. This in turn leads organically into a brooding and tense segment in which Gustafsson holds low, quiet tones underneath Taborn's sharp stabs of color. As the piece winds down they enter a dialogue of quick flurries of notes to end the set.

Taken as a whole, this recording is really a mixed bag. The first piece is slow to develop and very lacking in interaction or any kind of contour for the majority of its twenty minutes. There are good moments, but they are the exception. The second piece is markedly better, with some genuinely good interaction between the two players and a much more interesting contour as the piece develops. Both players are individualists with well-defined styles and while those styles don't always combine for good results, they do often enough to make this release worth at least one listen (or at the very least- the second track).

For his 2017 ECM release, "Up and Coming," guitarist John Abercrombie reconvenes with the same quartet with whom he recorded "39 Steps," his 2013 release for the label. Besides Abercrombie, this quartet includes pianist Marc Copland, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Joey Baron. The program consists mostly of originals by Abercrombie and Copland, though there is also an interesting new take on the Miles Davis classic "Nardis."

In general, the band sticks mostly to the approach they used for their previous release, adhering to the ECM label's typically minimalist aesthetic by playing relatively simple pieces and focusing on the advanced, but subtle interaction within the quartet. Copland's "Silver Circle" may be the best example of the quartet's style. The piece seems anchored only by a simmering groove from Baron, while Abercrombie, Copland and Gress work closely together within that groove to build the tune piece by piece.

Abercrombie and Copland share the harmonic space remarkably well, especially considering how loose the harmonic restraints seem to be, and they achieve an impressive dialogue that can only come from experience playing together (and it doesn't hurt that both players have great ears). The band's take on "Nardis" stays true to the original melody and form of the tune, but the entire band uses harmonic and rhythmic trickery to obscure the form and challenge each other, with great results. Another standout is Abercrombie's "Sunday School," which has a simple, but memorable melody and a straightforward approach that still manages plenty of interaction between the members of the quartet. Gress also gives a very nice bass solo on the tune.

This release doesn't find the quartet exploring much new ground, but it's a nice extension of the style they debuted on the first release. The original material is not particularly complex or innovative, but is well-crafted and the band uses the material's simplicity to its advantage. The majority of the music falls into the dynamic range of "very quiet" to "medium loud" but the quartet proves that quite a lot of dynamic shape is possisble just within that range, and that it's possible to make a strong statement without shouting. It's strong music that's worth a close listen.

COMPETING REVIEW!

These are two strong dudes, feels like they are sizing each other up - who will take the strong lead.

Gustafsson is on it - Taborn has been creating a scene, but Mats takes the lead strong.

Taborn holds the fort, Mats wails away like a wounded animal - but that is what he does.

Craig seems too conventional, Mats already has the normal wildness.

It's a very conventional meeting of avant-garde minds - they take a long time coming into a place everyone has been expecting for a while.

Clearly Mats is ready for more when they converge - he knows Craig can offer more!

We're about 1/2 through of the first track of two - Taborn needs to step up to make this into a thing about now!

Craig is bringin in dissonance - Mats is responding in a very dull way

Craig is clearly taking control, bringing in a melody line!
Very cool moment when Craig takes control and stuff breaks down, but Mats is right in there. _

Very cool abstract interplay - the role of the piano has clearly flipped even when the notes are the same

Seriously cool how everything is switched - instruments may be the same, but it's like another planer

Really cool how it was the sax clearly in control but now it's the piano - feel remains but all playing is different

Very basic stuff in principle - who is responding to who - but in context feels great!

Really great stuff when the guys get back together

And it just ends beautifully!

One of my very favorite jazz gig memories was John Abercrombie with the Cat 'n' Mouse Band:
Mark Feldman on violin, Joey Baron on drums, Marc Johnson on bass.

They were playing very out - almoust all audience was very ordinary, coming to see a "jazz guitarist" with his band - everyone expected some cool bluesy ordinary playing...

But there was very little of that - Cat n' Mouse band where taking pleasure in the audience not understanding the music!

Great gig, I don't know what the guys were playing, but it was sure to be other than the audience was expecting!

I love that band. I used to write tunes with that instrumentation in mind even though I don't play any of those instruments or know anybody who plays jazz violin.