#Ganelin Trio

[ozkar-krapo]

GANELIN TRIO [Vyacheslav GANELIN, Vladimir TARAZOV & Vladimir CHEKASIN]

"Ancora da Capo part 1 : Live in Leningrad"

(LP. Leo rcds. 1982 / rec. 1980) [RU]

[dustedmagazine]

Valentina Goncharova — Recordings 1987-1991, Vol. 1 (Shukai)

Recordings 1987-1991, Vol. 1 by Valentina Goncharova

It’s a bit of a miracle the tapes compiled on Recordings 1987-1991, Vol. 1 exist. Surviving a house fire and a collapsed roof, these unheard tapes absorbed little to no damage. Ukraine-based archival label Shukai, founded by Sasha Tsapenko, Dmytro Nikolaienko and Dmytro Prutkinwere restored the tapes and have attempted to give the recordings and their backstory new exposure. To the label heads, this release is a small way to provide justice to Valentina Goncharova’s early recordings which to them represent a lost connection between Ukraine, Estonia, and ex-Soviet music histories.

To that effect, violinist and composer Valentina Goncharova’s experimental forays could have gone unexplored too. Coming from a rich classical music study, Goncharova was trained in concert violin first as a child in Kyiv and later, she studied contemporary music composition for ten years in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Engrossed in works by Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Penderecki, Goncharova became enchanted by the free jazz and improv scene developing in Leningrad, specifically Ganelin Trio, and started diving into over experimental music, from komische music to Yoko Ono. She would perform with a few groups in underground clubs, most notably Pop-Mechanik (Popular Mechanics), leading her to explore sound outside of her traditional background. Gonchorava began combining her knowledge of the violin with homemade electronic rigs and a newfound energy for structureless music, a fruitful combination that she would carry with her the rest of musical career through to her teaching position at Tallinn Music College. The collection at hand surfaces those early moments in the turning point of Goncharova’s musical arc.

Goncharova and her husband, electronic engineer Igor Zubkov, relocated to Estonia in 1984. Zubkov built Goncharova her first electric violin, and around 1987, Goncharova began to make home recordings on a modified Olimp reel-to-reel recorder. She attempted to find new colors and rhythmic combinations, creating an orchestra of violin overdubs and electronics. The recordings capture Goncharova at the intersection of her musical explorations: her orchestral proficiency on the violin and fluency in playing styles, the personal discoveries made through electro acoustic experimentation, testing the musicality of piezo pickups, effect chains including a Soviet-made Lel RC Digital Reverb, and overdubbing, and ultimately, the freeing and unchartered dynamics of home recordings. This provided the grounds for ripe, highly attentive moments of experimentation and performance, pooling together seemingly tangible sounds.

Tracks like “Insight” and “Passageway to Eternity” are delightfully hazy with new age-like tones. Goncharova plays the violin softly and incorporates a subtle reverb, altering the natural timbre of the instrument. Other tracks reflect Goncharova’s interest in the compositional freedom and unconventional approaches of contemporary composers and underground musicians. “Metamorphoses” is a sprawling 19-minute recording incorporating many disparate elements, from effected electronics and freely pizzicato violin to echoed vocals and household items fiddled with near piezo pickups. The recordings, overall, are mesmerizing in their ingenuity, as Goncharova elaborately tries to escape the conventions through exploring home taping and electro acoustic devices.

Ian Forsythe

[mosaicrecords]

John Cumming, Serious Producer, Interviewed

John Cumming of Serious Music in London was a dedicated music lover and a brilliant and canny producer of shows in the U.K. and beyond. He was adventurous and always looking to expand the horizons of his audience and the artists that he presented. This 2019 interview with Ethan Iverson tells it all.

-Michael Cuscuna

Read from Do the Math… Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter

[gwendolynlerman]

Langblr culture challenge

Day 21: Music

Until the 18th century, Russian music mainly consisted of church music and folk songs.

The 19th century was defined by the tension between The Mighty Handful, a group of five composers—Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin—who worked together to create a distinct national style of classical music, and the Russian Musical Society led by Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein. Another notable composer was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose Romantic tradition was continued into the 20th century by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

World-renowned composers of the 20th century include Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Georgy Sviridov, and Alfred Schnittke.

During Soviet times, violinists David Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Emil Gilels, and vocalist Galina Vishnevskaya stood out. The most notable popular musicians were balladeers Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava and performer Alla Pugacheva.

The Ganelin Trio has been described as the greatest ensemble of free-jazz in continental Europe. In the 1980s, rock music became popular with bands like Aria (Ария), Aquarium (Аквариум), DDT (ДДТ), and Kino (Кино). Famous Russian pop stars include t.A.T.u. (Тату), Serebro (Серебро), and Neoclubber.

[de-salva]

GANELIN-CHEKASIN-TARASOV TRIO (1976 - live)

Personnel:

Vyacheslav Ganelin - piano Vladimir Chekasin - saxophone Vladimir Tarasov - drums

* Via >>> sashastergiou / TY

[fearnoarts]

Ganelin - Chekasin - Tarasov Trio 1976 live (Soviet Free Jazz)

[koholint]

listened to ganelin trio “live in east germany” and like it’s impressive for sure, i’ve known about it for years and i’ve known the specific name “ganelin trio” the entire time and still forgot it was only 3 people while listening, but i didn’t really feel anything y’know. i think when it comes to free jazz you need a whole ensemble. like “european echoes” by manfred schoof is probably my favorite and i just checked that has like 16 people playing on it. and they’re all just goin nuts just a total onslaught. gotta go big or go home as they say

also listened to “kikuo miku” by kikuo the album that has the miku song warning kids that if you do bad things you’ll get killed and i liked that more

[bamboomusiclist]

1/26  Joey D Vieira / Drum Drops Volume Two  など更新しました。

おはようございます。更新完了しました。https://bamboo-music.net

Ella Fitzgerald / and Louis Armstrong Mgv4003 Carol Kidd / Nice Work akh006 Zoot Sims / the Swinger 2310-861 Zoot Sims / Innocent Years 2310-872 Zoot Sims Joe Pass / Blues for 2 d2310879 Sam Fletcher / I Believe in You - Sweet Slumber the Hillside Singers / We’re Together - Day by Day Flora Purim / Encounter Ganelin Trio / Ancora da Capo part1 Matthias Frey / Sandhya John Adams / the Chairman Dances the Band / st stao132 Linda Lewis / Not A Little Girl Anymore Dennis Brown / Money in My Pocket - Runnings Irie Joey D Vieira / Drum Drops Volume Two

[clubw71]

ESCALATOR im club w71 am 27. Oktober 2018

Auch Rigobert Dittmann/BAD ALCHEMY war dabei, hier sein Bericht:

Na, diese ESCALATORS sind am 27. Okt. doch die Fahrt um so manche Hügel und Baustellen wert. Denn als Liftboys angesagt sind der Drummer Klaus Kugel, mit besten Referenzen durch das Ganelin Trio Priority und Steve Swell's Slammin' The Infinite, wobei er in Weikersheim speziell auch mit Switchback oder John Edwards & Joe McPhee Eindruck gemacht hat. An seiner Seite am Kontrabass Mark Tokar aus Lviv, 15 Jahre jünger, aber mit seinen auch schon weißlichen Haaren und der ruhigen Art ihm scheinbar mehr als nur ein geistesverwandter Spielgefährte in Undivided und Ultramarine. Der Ukrainer ist seit 11 Jahren Teil von The Resonance Ensemble, jenem Klangkörper für Ken Vandermarks kompositorische Ambitionen, der seine Spielbeine gern in Krakow ausstreckt. Auch dieses Trio wurde 2016 in Polen aus der Feuertaufe gehoben. Und Feuer ist daher auch heute das Element, aus dem sich Vandermark mit dem Tenorsax aufschwingt, presto, con brio, trotzdem cantabile. Aufs lebhafteste befeuert durch Kugels rasanten Drive, in dem die hochfrequenten Beckenschläge den Snaregroove überwiegen, so dass es klingt wie flüssiges Metall. Umgekehrt gerbt er bei seinen kurzen Solos eher Fell. Tokar schürt den sanglichen Flow als Köhler und Poet dazu, kommt in den ruhigeren Passagen immer besser zur Geltung und setzt einen markanten Akzent mit schnarrenden Tönen, indem er ein Lineal zwischen die Saiten klemmt. Ruhiger heißt nicht automatisch Klarinette, denn Vandermarks erste Töne darauf sind stechend und schrill. Und dann doch auch aufgekratzt swingend, oder im zarten Einvernehmen mit Kugels filzigem Touch auf Gongs, sein Rühren an Metallscheiben, Glöckchenstränge, seine geschüttelten Schellen und Bogenstriche an Messingkanten. Unter seinen Händen wird Metall zu etwas Weichem. Vandermarks flammenzüngelnder Sangeslust, zugleich sprudelig springend und insistierend repetitiv, entspringt das überschwängliche Kikeriki eines Feuervogels (der zwischendurch auch mal nur Pünktchen pickt). Es gibt zwei Sets, und man kann streiten, welcher der schönere ist. Im zweiten, in dem Tokar mit dissonanten Slides und flink flirrendem Pizzicato die Ohren zupft, greift er öfters zum Bogen und streichelt damit auch den lyrischsten Moment des Abends, den Vandermark auf - nein - auf dem Tenor zaubert, teneramente. Aber im heißen Kern besticht er mit unverkennbarer Vandermarkistik, dynamischen, unerschöpflich variantenreichen Stakkatoläufen mit melodischer DNA-Helix und mitten im freien Spiel plötzlich Figuren, die so schön gemeinsam getroffen werden und im Bass widerhallen, dass sogar dem erkältungsgeschwächten Kugel ein Lächeln entschlüpft. Den Ausklang hält Tokar sonor~brummend~in~der~Schwebe~~~~ bis zum samtigen Aufsetzen. Keine Frage, dass zuletzt nichts als herzerwärmter Beifall und zustimmend nickende Köpfe diese Meisterleistung quittieren.

[ozkar-krapo]

Vyacheslav GANELIN, Vladimir TARAZOV & Vladimir CHEKASIN

"Live in East Germany"

(LP. Leo rcds. 1980 / rec. 1978) [RU]

[rudyscuriocabinet]

[Music] Ganelin Trio - 1976 Live (Soviet Jazz)

[Music] Ganelin Trio – 1976 Live (Soviet Jazz)

I owe Leo Feigin of the stellar imprint Leo Records perhaps the greatest debt of my musical life. It was he who introduced me, via releases and correspondence, to the works of Sergey Kuryokhin and The Ganelin Trio somewhere near 30 years ago (how time flies…). This is the trio at their peak.

Personnel:

Vyacheslav “Slava” Ganelin–…

[mentalalaska]

Jones Jones (Ochs, Dresser, Tarasov) HRH 16.11.

MENTAL ALASKA FREE JAZZ SPECIAL *********************************************** Live: JONES JONES (Ochs, Dresser, Tarasov) Hard Rock House, Roihuvuorentie 1 Torstaina 16.11. Liput: 15e Ovet 19.00 ensimmäinen setti 19.30 ***************************************** Kaamoksen keskelle yllätysvieraaksemme tulee runsaat kymmenen vuotta toiminut Jones Jones Trio, matkallaan Vilnaan, Kiovaan ja Wieniin. Ensemblen muodostavat saksofonisti Larry Ochs (USA), kontrabasisti Mark Dresser (USA) ja lyömäsoittaja Vladimir Tarasov (LT). Larry Ochs tunnetaan ROVA Saksofonikvartetin perustajana ja johtajana. Yhtye on vieraillut Pori Jazzissa vuonna 1979 ja Savoy-teatterissa vuonna 2001. Viime aikoina Ochs on monien levytystensä ohessa niittänyt kansainvälistä mainetta John Coltranen Ascension levytyksen sovituksella ja sähköistetyllä instrumentaatiolla Electric Ascension. Mark Dresser muistetaan multi-instrumentalisti ja säveltäjä Anthony Braxtonin 1980- ja 1990-lukujen legendaarisesta kvartetista, joka vieraili Keravalla vuonna 1990. Viime aikoina Dresser on soolobassolevytysten ja monien mykkäfilmien soundtracklevytysten (mm. Tohtori Caligarin kabinetti) johtanut omaa septettiään, jonka levytetty tuotanto on lievästi sanottuna poikkeuksellisen mielenkiintoista. Vladimir Tarasov oli venäläisen avantgardejazzin maineikkaimman, vuosina 1971–1987 vaikuttaneen Ganelin Trion jäsen. Liettuan Vilnassa pitkään asunut lyömäsoitinmestari on tehnyt kymmenittäin erilaisia poikkitaiteellisia projekteja ja levyttänyt sooloperkussionistina peräti 11-osaisen Atto sarjan (vv. 1984–2004) ja johtanut Lithuanian Art Orchestraa. Odotettavissa on poikkeuksellisen intensiivinen ja mieleenpainuva musiikillinen elämys alan harrastajille ja jokaiselle ennakkoluulottoman mielen haltijalle!

[amotm]

[Music] Ganelin Trio - 1976 Live (Soviet Jazz)

[Music] Ganelin Trio – 1976 Live (Soviet Jazz)

I owe Leo Feigin of the stellar imprint Leo Records perhaps the greatest debt of my musical life. It was he who introduced me, via releases and correspondence, to the works of Sergey Kuryokhin and The Ganelin Trio somewhere near 30 years ago (how time flies…). This is the trio at their peak. Personnel: Vyacheslav “Slava” Ganelin –…

[odyshapemusic]

Notable Jazz Recordings Of The 1980s (Pt. 2) Re-Evaluating A Decade

As I first noted in my introduction to Part One of this summer-long series, this isn't meant to be any kind of Best Of The 1980s Jazz list: far too many key artists are missing, far too many gaps left gaping. Rather, enjoy it as a kind of sampling of what the decade had to offer. Again, there's no real order to this aside from a roughly chronological one. Ten more to come in August. Until then, enjoy reading, and please seek out the recordings you're unfamiliar with. There's more where these came from.

Roscoe Mitchell And The Sound Ensemble, Snurdy McGurdy And Her Dancin’ Shoes   (1980)     (Nessa Records)

The Chicagoan never tired of assembling new agglomerations - from his early days in the AACM to the creation of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago through his mid-70s establishment of the Creative Arts Collective, the acronyms arose as fluidly as did the improv. And from that latter collective came the Sound Ensemble, in which Mitchell made room among his sizable reed/woodwind collection (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass sax, plus clarinet and flute) for trumpet/guitar/bass/drums. The group’s concurrently released 3X4 Eye on Black Saint explores more rarefied zones of creative music: "Variations on a Folk Song Written in the Sixties,” hmm. But the wryly-titled Snurdy McGurdy is where Mitchell does his damnedest to annoy the highbrows, opening with bucolic flute and wind chimes before a frenetic oom-pah breaks into ensemble hornwork over Tani Tabbal’s drum kit avalanche. A jaunty Braxton march croaking with bass sax (“Composition 40 Q”) and the little instrument jingle of AEOC-ish “Cyp” shore up his iconoclastic tendencies. And “Stomp And The Far East Blues” yokes A. Spencer Barefield’s chitlin’ circuit guitar to a lowdown funky boil, the group key-jumping their way through a broad quotation from none other than Little Peggy March before the tablas show up.

 Frank Lowe Quintet, Exotic Heartbreak    (1981)     (Soul Note)

Upon his death in 2003, Frank Lowe occupied a strange position in contemporary jazz – a supposed avant-gardist who more often than not echoed the gentler sounds of pre-bop stylists like Chu Berry and Lester Young. While his earliest appearances on vinyl were pretty scorched earth (see his 1973 pairing with Rashied Ali, Duo Exchange), beginning with his mid-70s Black Lion dates, Lowe perfected a unique approach to tenor saxophone that critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton have democratically dubbed “backward-looking modernism or radical conservatism”. Never a mere throwback and certainly not afraid to let loose with a mighty roar, Lowe had a voice that only gradually opens itself up to casual listeners. Exotic Heartbreak is a quintet recording that includes Butch Morris on cornet, slowing down just twice for gutbucket blues on “Close To The Soul” and the title tune’s formally arranged slow-ballad exploration. Elsewhere, Lowe drives the band in a focused swing that blends the seemingly tossed-off with practiced mastery. Perhaps condemned to relative obscurity due to his deeply attractive lack of flash, Lowe’s body of work begs for rediscovery.

 The Ganelin Trio, Ancora da Capo    (1982)      (Leo Records)

International communism undoubtedly helped stoke Western interest in this collective, and the fact that contemporary fans and critics rarely reference this seminal Soviet outfit suggests their reputation for subversion (musical and otherwise) had as much to do with Nobel Prize-like political scorekeeping as it did the mirthful jazz created by Lithuanian Jew Vyacheslav Ganelin and his compatriots, saxophonist Vladimir Chekasin and drummer Vladimir Tarasov. Only sometimes the Nobel committee gets it just right, and thirty years on, the curious can look beyond whispered tales of smuggled tapes and focus on the music itself. This two-part, eighty-minute compendium of a pair of European concerts often brings to mind the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – not just their little instruments and sprightly percussion, but their high/low dichotomy, their shtick, their duck calls, their insatiable appetite for music both central and peripheral to jazz, and a willingness to avoid the state-the-theme / then-improvise mode of expression that defined even the most out out-there jazz artists well through the 1970s. And just like the AEOC, all duties are divided equally – without insider knowledge, one might never guess the pianist was the ostensible leader. These two forty-minute chunks of music will no doubt try the patience of many. But this is far from austere or forbidding. Call it Russian Soul.

 Misha Mengelberg, Change Of Season: Music Of Herbie Nichols     (1985)     (Soul Note)

Of course others before Mengelberg had recognized the unique voice of Herbie Nichols - Mary Lou Williams and Billie Holiday both knew a good composer when they heard one, while trombonist Roswell Rudd would pay multiple tributes to the one-time bandmate whose career as leader lasted a mere three years. But Mengelberg the former Fluxus associate nevertheless managed a radical reconsideration of the 1955-1957 source material, assembling this international session to transpose Nichols’s trio perfection into a unique soprano sax/trombone-led quintet (Steve Lacy and George Lewis, respectively, and how’s that for a front line). Misha had firsthand experience with genius foreshortened, having made his own debut on Eric Dolphy’s literal Last Date, and so like any tribute album, a heavy respect for the subject at hand somewhat limits surprises. But it was a gesture of magnanimity of the part of the pianist-leader to hand over melodic duties to the horn section, and the result is robust post-bop that celebrates the bluesy trickiness of Nichols the uncategorizable composer. Lacy and Lewis mesh perfectly: they nail the knowing kitsch of circus-woozy “The Happenings” and romp right through “Terpsichore”. And although both Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink restrain themselves a tad, their mischievous Dutch wit shines through, as on fleet-fingered “Hangover Triangle,” in which Bennink incorporates actual tinkling triangle for understated comic effect.

 Butch Morris, Current Trends In Racism In Modern America     (1985)     (Sound Aspects Records)

Butch Morris was always an outsider. A cornetist with mad chops, he early on betrayed a preference for large-scale operations, focusing his considerable intelligence on the finessing of ensembles and the sculpturing of sound. As the creator of Conduction, he wrestled against expectations - re-ordering improvisatory methods in aleatory fashion, coaxing decidedly non-orchestral performances from orchestral assemblies, hoisting his baton without first scratching out notation. Because Morris the Californian spoke of Debussy and Stravinsky as often as he did Duke and Horace Tapscott, he left himself open to charges of classical interloping from elitist gatekeepers, while the same jazzbos who rolled their eyes at Anthony Braxton questioned his ability to swing. Yet he swung as surely as Herman Blount himself,  with an approach favoring jazz club risk over Cagean chance (provoking rather than conducting, in his own words), and this first document of Morris at work in the Conduction trenches finds a leader fresh off David Murray’s big band guiding some Downtown players through a live session cut at The Kitchen. And the sounds of 1985 Soho do reverberate: John Zorn’s game calls and water torture shrieks, Frank Lowe’s responsive melodic volleys, Yasunao Tone’s grumble-mumble vocal shtick, and merry prankster Christian Marclay scratching some Spoonie Gee into the mix. Cacophonic and grandiose, Ornette’s Free Jazz writ oceanic, the full 37-minute “Part One” requires patience from performer and observer alike, and it’s doubtful any mere recording could do Morris the equilibrist justice. But while he would refine his technique, and believers like Greg Tate would spread the gospel via Burnt Sugar in years to come, this first stab remains Morris at his most gloriously wooly. 

 World Saxophone Quartet, Plays Duke Ellington     (1986)     (Elektra / Nonesuch)

The key word here was never “saxophone” nor “quartet,” both of which were merely descriptive, but “world,” suggesting as it did both the -historical and -encompassing. Emerging from the Black Artist’s Group of St. Louis, MO (itself a challenge to NYC hegemony), the alto/alto/tenor/baritone ensemble of Julius Hemphill/Oliver Lake/David Murray/Hamiet Bluiett had been performing for nearly ten years when this major label-backed tribute to our most eminent symphonist appeared, and it’s practically a crowd-pleaser - even those struggling through previous WSQ albums in search of bass lines or cymbal/snare relief could get down with this treasure box of tunes. Focusing collective energies on Ellington the melodic genius rather than Ellington the arranger, WSQ tackled the big ones: “Take The A Train,” “In A Sentimental Mood,” “Sophisticated Lady,” sometimes caressing the familiar melodies, other times scattering them to the wind. Bluiett uses “Sophisticated Lady” as an opportunity to tip his hat to primary inspiration Harry Carney; Murray opens “Come Sunday” like a Coltrane Quartet dirge before transitioning to pre-Coleman Hawkins tongue-thwaps; all four ride the waves of smokily elegant “Lush Life” before summoning goosebumps on the uptown blues of “In A Sentimental Mood”. And while nothing gets too far out, Lake’s arrangement of “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart” turns the 1938 #1 hit into an unkempt flurry of abstraction before the melody emerges in the final moment like sun rays breaking through clouds. All to masterful plan.

 Charles Brackeen Quartet, Worshippers Come Nigh   (1987)     (Silkheart)

Brackeen’s soberly brief discography doesn’t begin to hint at his influence and reputation, which stretches back to the late ‘60s and includes time with Strata-East and an appearance on Wildflowers, the legendary 1977 Downtown Loft scene chronicle. The liner notes to this release even suggest the Silkheart record label was partly founded to give Brackeen a voice for recording new material, and even if that’s promotional hyperbole, he remains a much-missed presence. With Olu Dara on cornet, Air alumnus Fred Hopkins on bass, and powerhouse Andrew Cyrille on drums, there’s actually very little of the post-Ayler spiritual hokum one might fear from the title. But Ayler’s ghost hovers near – “Bannar” especially resembles the kind of groggy marching band tune the free jazz giant might have made his own, while “Tiny Town” adds conga and pao de chuva to create a quasi-Caribbean tinge. But the screams of Ayler can also be heard in Brackeen’s crystal-clear tenor, even if he just as often suggests Arthur Blythe (others hear Sun Ra’s John Gilmore). The second half moves along a bit slowly. But both sides deliver the swing too often missing from post-Ayler spiritual jazz while never shying away from the spirited improv many of us hold dear. 

 Bill Dixon, Thoughts     (1987)     (Soul Note)

Although a two-decade association with Soul Note ensured this trumpeter/Jazz Composer’s Guild founder wasn’t exactly under-recorded, Bill Dixon’s archived output still seems shamefully sparse, as the long gap between 1967’s Intents and Purposes and 1980’s Bill Dixon In Italy illustrates. One could blame Dixon’s nearly thirty year ensconcement within Bennington College, but then you’d have to posit where else besides Bennington’s Paul Robeson House this disquieting examination of space and ambience might have come together. Because ambience is the thing - with microphones placed at great distance between soloists, the cavernous acoustics and huge silences of the room serve as de facto seventh member. And having long favored the unique sonorities of dual bassists, here Dixon thickens the plot with three: with Mario Pavone adding his voice to low-end giants Peter Kowald and William Parker, there are few darker hues in all of jazz. Oh, and there’s a tuba. Yet the massed resonance meshes perfectly with Marco Eneidi’s piercing alto and Dixon’s own mournful horn and occasional piano, bringing to mind Ayler’s reverberations deep inside 1965 Judson Hall. On such a glacial scale, small deviations jump out, from the snatch of double-bass melody opening “Song For Claudia’s Children” to the gunshot-like horn blats on “Points”. But mostly one simply surrenders to the probing mood. Unsettling, suggestive, unique, in the brewing luminous.

 Karl Berger, Transit     (1987)     (Black Saint)

Sure, the Heidelberg-born vibist gets claimed by the avant-garde, as you’d expect from a sometime-academician who debuted on ESP and sat in on Carla Bley’s landmark Escalator Over The Hill. But don’t overlook his string arrangements for Jeff Buckley’s Grace, nor his own propensity for melodic scraps both pithy and tuneful. Less a composer than a songwriter, Berger’s own whimsical numbers often beg to be whistled, and although he rarely sounds like any of his fellow vibraphonists, the spirit of Ornette Coleman hangs heavily over this sprightly 1987 trio outing. The most obvious homage to Berger’s fellow Creative Music Studio founder is the short number entitled simply “Ornette”. But a deeper connection is forged by Coleman associate Ed Blackwell, whose second-line intuitiveness drives the infectious likes of piano-driven opener “Dakar Dance”. Paired with Dave Holland’s dependable lyricism, Blackwell carves out a rhythmic fluidity allowing Berger to poke gently around the edges, vibe runs riding the groove on “Transit” or chiming tremolos on the becalmed “Out There Alone”.  And although the melodies may enchant, remember to always follow the rhythm(s), especially on Blackwell showcase “Drums First,” which via Berger’s Teutonic directness is just what it claims to be.

 Charlie Haden / Paul Motian / Geri Allen, Etudes    (1987)    (Soul Note)

Almost silly assigning a leader to this kind of outing, as pianist Allen could just as easily be said to head proceedings as dearly departed Haden, or, for that matter, drummer Motian, who composed three of nine songs here. So let’s focus on Allen first, who expresses herself with nary a trace of M-Base, and proves as gently confounding as she’d be throughout her long, varied career. Was she mainstream? Traditional, if not reactionary about it? Experimental? A “mere” virtuoso, beholden to the Herbie’s of this world (Hancock and Nichols)? Or all of these and more? One quick listen to 1984’s challenging The Printmaker should convince skeptics of her New Thing bona fides, with frequent returns to Eric Dolphy (“Dolphy’s Dance” here, “Eric” there) one of many overt references to worthy elders. Etudes treads calmer ground, but in a way suggestive of maturity rather than loss of nerve. On the fantastic opening rendition of Ornette’s “Lonely Woman,” she introduces disconsolate chordal voices missing even from the original, while the bass drones on over Motian, unflaggingly cooking throughout. On this and other tracks, Allen leaves no doubt of knowing the tune inside out. But even with her encyclopedic knowledge, she gracefully bows to her accompanists, letting Haden dominate the melody for most of his ballad “Silence,” comping behind him until mid-song, at which point her entry startles with its angularity. Leave it to Haden to out-sing the piano player.

[fearnoarts]

Ganelin Trio