Manny's Miscellany

Juneteenth
William Roper
Asian Improv Records
AIR 0055
Recorded between 4.95 and 6.98 at Pacifica Studios, Culver City, CA. Glenn Nishida, Engineer. Mastered by Wayne Peet at Killzone Studio, Mar Vista, CA.
www.asianimprov.com

William Roper is a familiar name to anyone even remotely in-touch with West Coast improvised music. His participation in any performance guarantees that any walls of preconceptions brought by the audience members AND band members will be broken down. At any performance he might just get up and walk around the audience and talk just as readily as playing his horn. Once, he covered his head with a black towel and started preaching when I was expecting to hear an instrumental solo. And that his axe of choice is the statistically aberrant (In creative improvised music) tuba makes a Roper performance an even more unique experience. Juneteenth is my first exposure to a Roper album that is entirely his. I hope to listen to many more.

The opening track of Juneteenth is appropriately called, Juneteenth. However, upon opening and reading the liner notes you find that the whole title is Juneteenth-Fantasia for a House Negro (Thro'way Dem Chittlins and Bring Me Some Chops) by Roper. As well as tuba, the track features text by Joseph Mitchell. From the opening repeated note, Roper begins by weaving a mesmerizing tuba melody, sans accompaniment, that meanders through classical-like runs, multiphonics, folk tunes, and hints at the blues. When Mitchell's words and percussion enters I was totally startled as Roper had brought me into his world of tuba. I was totally enrapt and focused. His tone is full. He works the full range of the instrument. He has excellent technique and a wide vocabulary, but it is what he does with the technique and vocabulary that makes this a fulfilling listen. This is not a collection of stream of consciousness insect noises, but a well conceived, thought-out performance, a blending of skill and content that is truly rewarding.

Tracks 1-3, 5, and 7 feature his ensemble Judicanti Responsura. Track 2 (Pigs, Pigs, Oh! Those Tasty Pigs by Roper) is a lovely, spacious exploration of form and sound using a wide extended vocabulary of glissandi, bends, and short stark phrases by Roper, Mitchell on vibes, and pianist Glenn Horiuchi getting inside the piano. Literally, it sounds like he is getting inside the piano strumming and muting strings. A lovely, gentle, performance.

Track 3, The Perfect Construction of Decisive Moments (by M. Vlatkovich). Starts out with a glorious tuba solo and moves to a syncopated rhythmic duo between vibes and tuba. The tuba takes the groove and the vibes let loose with a nice solo. Interplay, with the focus on play, is all over this track. The tuba lets loose with some unaccompanied rasps, barks, blurts and melodies before ending on a beautiful sustained tone.

Track 4 is rather startling in its opening of sudden percussion (taiko! by Tom Kurai), flute (Francis Wong) and Glenn Horiuchi and Lillian Nakano (Shamisen). The group is called Zen Tsuba. This is a traditional tune arranged by Horiuchi called Kagami Jishi. What a GREAT musical idea: place a tuba in the midst of delicate shamisen juxtaposed with taiko and flute. This track rocks. I'm not kidding, it really starts to groove about 3 1/2 minutes in. Each player is given plenty of space after the groove to improvise. Then a new groove comes in at about 6:45. The timing, pacing and spacing of themes and improvisations is great. A wonderful track.

Dance of the Sophists (track 5) is by Joseph Mitchell. Long overlapping tones produced by bowed percussion and tuba is quite the contrast to the previous track. A very static, restful form creates the mood of a mournful, slow dance.

A Recondite State of Lorn (Roper, track 6) is a 10:17 showcase of solo tuba. Roper shows his stuff working the full range and dynamics of the horn, not going for easy, showy tricks and novelties, but showing the beauty of the tuba as an instrument of melody.

Lachrimae (Roper, track 7) is the big finale on the disk. A whopping 19:15 excursion. (The titles of this album are delightful and show that Roper has a diverse interest in every thing from the Latin Mass, Greek philosophy, history, Asian music, and food.) Lachrimae is a master work, beginning with dark percussion and tuba melody, it brightens up in the middle with the addition of vibraphone and more spacious tuba playing and evolves from the opening dense tapestry to floating hanging threads eventually returning to recapitulate the dense beginning.

Brevity's Rainbow
A compendium of quick takes on creative music CDs that I like.

Lynn Johnston, master of the whirlwind, and reed virtuoso brings us an album featuring a who's who of SoCal and beyond improvisors. Alex Cline, percussion; Hannes Giger, contrabass; Scot Ray, trombone; Spencer Savage, drums and trumpet. Wow! What a firestorm of music. I keep invoking the elements of nature because Johns ton is an earthy motherfucker. His playing hits you viscerally first, then lingers in your intellect. Buy anything this guy does. An excellent album.

My editor gave me four albums that feature tubist Mark Weaver. Three on the Plutonium label (www.plutoniumrecords.net) and one on Zerx (zerxpress@aol.com), both fine labels based in New Mexico. The albums are entirely different in character, being tied together by presence of Mark Weaver.

Treated and Released (MW, tuba; Paul Pulaski, guitar; Dave Wayne, drums. Zerx 019) is an excursion of tunes varying from groove to free, recorded at KUNM-FM in Albuquerque, NM Weaver shows himself to have masterful control over his instrument in these frequently metrically tricky works. As a soloist he is standout on this album.

Desert Sweets (MW, tuba/trombone; Biggi Vinkeloe, alto sax/flute; Damon Smith, contrabass. Plutonium 005). Beautifully recorded by Scott R. Looney, it is a very adventurous album. This is a band worthy of attention, Smith and Weaver - both on low frequency instruments - compliment each other well, as Vinkeloe works the range of her instruments. From melodic play to the extremes of extended technique, a fun and delightful album. If you can only buy one of these four albums, buy this one!

AMH Trio, Live at Field and Frame (MW, tuba;Harris Eisenstadt, drums; Alan Lechusza, winds. Plutonium 001) Is a fun album (very softly recorded though). It features tunes by all players and lots of wild improv. Eisenstadt has a great touch and moves freely from groove to free. Lechusza shows his knowledge of many instruments in the different contexts given here.

Radius, Witch of Agnesi (MW, Tuba; Alan Lechusza, winds; Damon Smith, contrabass; Dave Wayne, drumset. Plutonium 004) combines members of the previous albums into one. On this album the free sections are particularly engaging. On track 2 (rendezvous of symmetries) oboe and tuba take the forefront. As on the other albums, Weaver shows himself a force to be reckoned with in varied musical environments, from notated to free, from traditional vocabulary to extended.

The next two CDs were my first introduction to guitarist Philip Gayle (www.philipgayle.com) from Houston, TX. The first album, solo live '98 (PG, modified 3-string toy guitar, mandolin, 6-string guitar. Yabyum 002) is a series of live recordings at a music store, concert hall and two radio stations. Occasionally the limitations of live recording show up (hiss, et cetera) but that in NO WAY takes away from this album. Beautiful textures of harmonics open the album moving to scratchy plucky itchy sounds all in the service of MUSIC. This sets the mood for the experience to follow. Banging clunking to staticky droning, I love this album. I hope to see him live some day. Recommended!

Hud Pes (PG, water bottles, mandolin, waterphone, 6-string guitar, 4-string guitar, 12-string guitar, harmonica; Richard Cholakian, percussion. Double CD, Yabyum 003) Three massive performances on two discs (disc one: Sick Bones and OK part 1, disc two: OK part 2 and Available Jones) These discs take me into those mind spaces that I like to go. Wandering into a place where creativity and imagination in the service of creative forces is valued. Beautiful improvisations featuring extended and prepared acoustic guitar techniques.

Phillip Greenlief (Russian Notebooks, Evander Music 007, PG and Vinny Golia, winds
Nels Cline and G.E. Stinson, guitars) Ah! Professor Greenlief! Always a pleasure to listen to his music...very multi-dimensionally pleasing. Four masters in a very unique format: NC in the left channel, GE in the right, VG and PG mixing it up. Not only is this a fin performance (top-notch!) but the recording quality (Wayne Peet and Myles Boisen) is absolutely exquisite. Moments of imposed structure and long stretches of freedom. Imbued with a dark moodiness made other-worldly by electronics and electric guitars. What a great CD. www.eveandermusic.com

More PG! Solo Soprano Sax from the decks of the Artship (Cries or Whispers for Ingmar Bergman, Artship disc34, ww.stringsandmachines.com) A large ship with many rooms sitting in Oakland has become an art gallery and performance space. Wow. Very odd. They have invited musicians to come perform and record in rooms of their choosing. PGs is a great example of the wonderful interaction between artists and the space. The rich reverb amplifies the smallest detail of his performance, you hear his great tone and vocabulary, every melody squeek air burst multiphonic rings out beautifully. A lovely album.

Henry Kuntz offers another exciting Artship Recording (Artship disc 006, ww.stringsandmachines.com) This album features Mexican Log Violin with Power Drone) I don't confess to have any idea as to what a Mexican Log violin is, but it is wild and I love it! With what sounds like a noisy transformer droning in the background, HK gives us 20 minutes of exquisite creaking, scratching, bowing, and what generally sounds like he is trying to saw his mexican log violin in half. It goes and goes and goes in its wonderful never-ending glory. Henry Kuntz rocks.

Joel Futterman and Ike Levin (The Present Gift, IML Music 26-003 and Lifeline -with Kash Killion on cello and african wood whistle, IML Music 26-004. www.futtermanlevingroup.com) Lifeline begins with a track titled Paradox. There seems to be nothing paradoxical to me, just sheer powerful, expressive blowing. Talk about fire, these guys have chops for days. Levin's tenor playing is monstrous, Futterman's piano is energetically and wildly precise, add Killion's skittering full-sounding cello and you have great creative music. And that is just the first track. Each track is equally engaging, all tracks were created on the spot (improvised) but at times you hear chordal progressions that are reminiscent of more traditional jazz (Questions, track 3) but then they leave...and return in a way that draws you into the sections that are more free. Skill in action.

The duo album is equally engaging and energetic. These albums represent what is good in creative music. They never lack fire, but they don't substitute chops for musicality; and the fire never obscures the beauty. Both recommended big-time, but if you can only get one, get Lifeline. (Also: great art on Lifeline by Joseph Schwartzbaum.)

Next up: Two Damons, both Smith. The first with DS and others (Emergency String Quartet, Spring Garden Music 008, springgardenmusic.com) is a beautiful exploration of the possibility of the "classical" string quartet. While not being totally traditional (string quartets are usually 2 violin, viola, cello) this setting with two violins (Jeff Hobbs, Tom Swafford), cello (the inimitable and stupendous Bob Marsh) and contrabass (Damon Smith) goes into territories created spontaneously that pay homage to the massive textures of Penderecki and others, but create something uniquely their own. These players seem steeped in classical training, but use extend techniques (battuto, sul ponticello, harmonics, the bodies of the instruments and more) to make music that feels new and exciting. Unlike Kronos and other groups that are "modern" versions of the quartet, this group seems serious about making their own musical statement, not re-inventing someone else's. Music created out of respect, love and honor for tradition, yet pushing the evolutionary envelope.

Peter Kowald and Damon Smith (Mirrrors-Broken But No Dust, Balance Point Acoustics 001, bayimproviser.com/bpa) Age and experience meets youth and exuberance. The late Peter Kowald, what a genius. Here matched with the young and prolific DS we have a wonderful excursion into an improvised glory of the contrabass. True instant compositions with the players switching roles, each one in turn accompaniment, foreground, then on equal ground. Quickly, near instantaneously switching themes, two great players having fun, working hard, making music. A must have for anyone interested in the contrabass and improvisation.

And our last album for this edition: Jack Wright and Bob Falesch (Clang, ZeroEggzie Recordings 0x-2bdf, zeggz.com) Jack Wright is a guy who is always playing. I swear, he gigs and records more than just about anyone I know (with the possible exception of Ernesto Diaz-Infante). Every creative music magazine I open has a review of him. Very prolific. And I tend to love his recordings as well. This piece has his usual energetic and creative approach to the saxophone (and piano on one track) AND is also wonderfully recorded. Bob Falesch's piano playing is full, improvising more in a Brahms-to-Webern tradition than jazz tradition in his rich use of harmony and counterpoint to light sparse pointillisms: a very dynamic sound working the keyboard in all its possibilities. A varied and worthwhile listen.

[TANGENT ALERT]
This may be a bit of a tangent, but the high quality of recording on this album made me wish that more players would think twice before releasing an album. There is such a proliferation of poorly recorded creative music albums out there...it seems to dilute the amount of all-round strong albums available. I believe that sometimes the memory of a session or performance is so strongly positive in a players head that she/he might let the positive feeling they have internally override the external objective negatives regarding a given recording. The audience won't hear the internal memories of the artist, they will hear the audio. I feel a little bit of the missionary zeal to say players should only release their best all around projects, showing current and potential audiences the best, creating a richer pool of available recordings, instead of a diluted one. But of course, we also have the opposite to worry about ...exquisitely recorded crappy performances...