23 hours ago
3
Sometime in the 1980s, Anthony Braxton left this 3am announcement on his record producer’s answerphone: “Leo Feigin, I’m telling you, our children will be dancing to my music! Bye bye.” At that moment, the awesomely virtuosic and intellectually formidable multi-reeds improviser and composer had probably heard one too many carps from traditionalists that his ideas were too cerebral and unswinging for jazz.
Now 80, Braxton’s cross-genre visions have since fascinated jazz bands, symphony orchestras, opera and experimental modern-dance companies, and the influential imaginations of younger admirers including John Zorn and Mary Halvorson. Feigin’s Leo Records label, and Switzerland’s Intakt, have kept the immense resource of his influence simmering for years. Now the enterprising Burning Ambulance Music (which has also brought much of the now-retired Feigin’s invaluable Leo Records catalogue to Bandcamp) releases Quartet (England) 1985, catching the sound of one of Braxton’s most skilfully intuitive groups on that year’s UK tour.
Salvaged by state-of-the-art tech methods from former Wire magazine writer and Braxton chronicler Graham Lock’s original lo-fi cassette recordings, the set celebrates Braxton’s conviction that triggering loose improv through tightly challenging compositions can mirror the everyday flux of living. On the Sheffield gig, Braxton’s alto sax (the constructions of Charlie Parker, Warne Marsh, John Coltrane and many more fly by) over jostling four-note patterns takes off into flying avant-bebop. Leicester’s show similarly launches on stop-start bop-reminiscent figures that stretch into free-collective passages powered by bassist Mark Dresser’s pizzicato and bowing skills, drummer Gerry Hemingway’s muscularity and mercurial pianist Marilyn Crispell’s cauldron of delicacy and Cecil Taylor-esque intensity. The Bristol takes emphasise that the audio quality of quieter subgroups survives better than the band’s full-on jams, but the brief soundchecks on standard songs are enchanting, and Lock’s notes on Braxton’s methods are essential reading.
Also out this month
Pianist Fred Hersch (an early teacher of Brad Mehldau) has long been one of jazz’s undercover maestros. Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans are his guides, but almost everything he plays sounds fresh. The Surrounding Green (ECM) shares originals and covers with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Joey Baron – including a spirited account of Ornette Coleman’s Law Years and pieces by Egberto Gismonti, Charlie Haden and the Gershwins. Shifa (Discus Music) joins the quirky and inquisitive UK tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson with eclectic pianist Pat Thomas and free-jazz drummer Mark Sanders on a straight-through improv set showcasing Musson’s free-blowing ensemble power and spacious lyricism. And French-Martinican pianist Tony Tixier’s Poems Never End (Whirlwind) takes a seductively global-jazz slant on a hip original repertoire plus Work by Monk, in which his sharp trio is augmented by saxophonists Seamus Blake and Logan Richardson, plus a guest appearance from Miles Davis percussion legend Mino Cinélu.
English (US)