By Nils Jacobson
A popular motto of progressives everywhere is "think globally, act locally." Martin Davidson, who runs the record label Emanem out of London, follows this dictum with each new disc he puts out. (And he's been at it for a while.) The recent heap of Emanem material reviewed below features a variety of British improvisers in duo, trio, quartet, and large-group settings. The original recordings date from 1978 to 2001. While British free improv has often been typecast as a sort of intellectualized chamber music, this stereotype falls far short in describing the vast diversity of the music documented here.
The first disc in this series, Vortices & Angels, presents three players whose experience spans three generations of music. Guitarist Derek Bailey is more than twice as old as harpist Rhodri Davies, and it's interesting to see how that difference plays out in their very modern duets with John Butcher. The 1978 Lol Coxhill recording Digswell Duets features some early experiments with interactive electronics. A careful listen to this disc reveals how far electronics have come since the advent of micro-scaled components, and yet how certain basic ideas persist even to this day. Other records in this series approach the music from a variety of angles: bell-clear melodicism versus scratchy, shifting tonal color; deliberate thematic development versus spontaneous explorations in-the-moment. And, of course, most of these performances offer a stylized mix of all of these approaches.
The common thread running through these records is a commitment to improvisation--whether unfettered and abstract, or channeled through specific compositional frameworks. The lo-fi packaging on these discs offers an abundance of information about the players and the music. Each disc has its own merits, and a couple have flaws worth noting--but overall, these six CDs represent some of the finest improvised music available today.
John Butcher with Derek Bailey & Rhodri Davies
Vortices & Angels
Emanem 4049
2001
Vortices & Angels offers two separate London duos featuring saxophonist John Butcher, and the title of this disc could not be more apt for the music contained within. The "Vortices" part (two pieces; 38 minutes) documents Butcher's performance with iconic free improv guitarist Derek Bailey at the Vortex, a jazz club in north London. This pair last performed as a duo a decade ago, so this recording offers a fresh update on their sound. Bailey dominates the beginning of "Low Vortex"; his open, adventurous sound keeps tugging Butcher forward. The guitarist goes electric and makes use of volume and feedback as supplements to his usual arsenal of scratching noises, rampant harmonics, and angular clusters. But Butcher is never far behind, and at times one can often hear the two battling for the pole position. During moments of peak intensity, Butcher pulls out all the stops and howls with the lushest collection of overtones one might imagine. Fortunately, these maelstroms are scattered among periods of more introspective activity. Butcher appears equally comfortable in settings that require gentle whispered breathing or bird-like cooing, and Bailey eventually calms down enough for some very interesting exchanges. With all the color and dynamics at their disposal, these two players interact in distinctively individual ways. The record is particularly revealing, given the personality differences between the players; their interaction reflects both strategic and tactical biases, though they're usually on the same team.
On to "Angels." Harpist Rhodri Davies and Butcher mark their first duo meeting in a fabulously lush setting at St. Michael and All Angels Church in London. Having experienced performances like this, I can affirm the church is a far better place than a club for this sort of thing. If Butcher's approach to the saxophone is a bit idiosyncratic, then Davies' approach to the harp is downright revolutionary. He prefers attack to decay; he prefers arco to pizzicato; and he prefers overtones to fundamentals. Nevertheless, the harp remains very quiet throughout. Davies' buzz-and-tinkle approach highlights Butcher's talents on the low end of the dynamic spectrum and the high end of the tonal spectrum. He happily constructs higher-order units from simple building blocks. Davies sticks with him, handing off more than a few blocks of his own. (Picture the two, instruments in hand, with bright shiny haloes above their heads, and you'll get the general idea.) The "Angels" of this record do a lot of listening, and their playing reflects deliberate choice and instrospective reaction. Each note acquires its own individual character when spaced out like this, though forward motion rarely suffers as a consequence.
Personnel: John Butcher, soprano and tenor saxophones; Derek Bailey: amplified guitar; and Rhodri Davies: harp.
Tunes: Low Vortex; High Vortex; Rhagymadrodd; Pregeth; Diweddglo.
Recorded in London, March 23 and May 24, 2000.
Quatuor Accorde
Angel Gate
Emanem 4050
2001
Bassist Tony Wren takes a very unassuming leadership role on this free improv date with the spot-assembled Quatuor Accorde. The Angel Gate project was originally conceived and recorded in St. Michael and All Angels Church in London (thus the double entendre of the title). However, technical problems forced the quartet to regroup in a studio for some of the tracks, since background noise can be deadly to such a quiet (and thoroughly unamplified) sound. No matter; the live spirit of the group shines through in either setting.
Improvising string quartets often face a dualistic choice between their uptight classical peers and their liberated jazz counterparts. The middle road (which ends up the most promising) draws inspiration from both arenas. For the Quatuor Accorde, the spectres of John Cage and Albert Ayler both loom high. The members of the quartet rarely use instruments for their "given" purpose--instead, they adopt novel roles as broad as the players' imaginations, and as open as their intents. You can get a pretty good sense of a tune like "Scraping Through" from the title alone. But on this track the group also takes its liberties with the "scraping" concept, which is never to be taken totally literally. Over the course of this piece (and throughout the record in general), players form impromptu unions of twos and threes, briefly exchanging ideas before heading elsewhere to catch up with the rest of the group. Explicit harmony mostly appears in brief, fleeting flashes. Melodies generally consist of spare fragments tossed up by one member of the group and caught by another. The rest of the music remains implied, rather than stated, and it's up to the listener to put the pieces together.
Wren's three improvised bass solos--the numbered pieces which frame the group performances--offer a brief respite from the hushed but intense four-way communication of the quartet. Wren takes musical fundamentals more literally when playing solo, and his careful but forward-looking style reflects an interest in the "total sound," rather than pyrotechnics or impulsive exploration. Thus his more explicit statements of rhythm and harmony.
Angels Gate is a very quiet recording for the most part, and the dynamics of overtones and microtones often shift the music down to the lower range of audibility. I'd recommend headphones if you're serious about getting the full experience from this disc, simply because that way you'll keep the quartet's feathery sounds from getting lost in your listening space.
Personnel: Phil Durrant, violin; Charlotte Hug, viola; Mark Wastell, cello; Tony Wren, double bass.
Tunes: One; Slow Getaway; The End of the Beginning; Scraping Through; Fermage; Turnstyle; Eye of the Needle; Two; St. Michael's Mount; Not in Fitful Visions; A Box of Lucifers; Three.
Recorded in London, June 1998 and July 2000.
Iskra 1903
Frankfurt 1991
Emanem 4051
2001
Iskra 1903, for those not in the know, is the name of a poorly-documented improvising trio consisting of trombonist Paul Rutherford, violinist Philipp Wachsmann, and bassist Barry Guy. They played together for nearly two decades, yet only one available recording documents their work together: an eponymous '92 disc on Maya. Emanem to the rescue--for this release, a 1991 Frankfurt performance sees the light of day. The first set, a half hour-long trio improvisation, leads to a second brief trio piece, then 8-9 minute solos from each member, then an (unfortunately interrupted) denouement.
This trio, with its unusual instrumentation, has a quite distinctive sound. And unlike a lot of free-improv groups which cast aside as much energy as they are able to retain, this group seems to focus in order to build momentum. Rutherford may craft a melodic line of legato tones while Wachsmann and Guy convene to offer harmonic cues and demarcate the turns in his route. Or the members of the group might suddenly meet, discover disagreement, and forge a shared path out of the wilderness. Progress might mean thumping, scratching noises out of Guy's bass or swerving microtonal double-stops from Wachsmann's violin, or both. It might mean evolving call-and-response wailing or stuttering atonal exchanges. But the personalities here seem more interested in sticking together than falling apart.
They take their opportunity to fall apart completely in the second set, where each player takes the stage separately. This segment is particularly poignant given the impressive solo work each of these players has put on disc. Wachsmann's solo fills up the empty space with higher-order harmonics and electronic echoes. He builds a deliberate architecture of (mostly) high-register tones by crafting individual fragments and then assembling them together into an over-arching framework. Rutherford, on the other hand, draws his inspiration from melody and vocalization. His performance, while anything but linear, often resembles the human voice. He devotes much of his effort to dynamic tension and resolution, and you'll even catch him swinging once or twice. Barry Guy, who covers the widest tonal range of these three players, accompanies himself in a surreal sort of way that occasionally borders on schizophrenic. He'll tap and tinkle up top while imposing an irregular bass metronome, or he'll bow a heart-felt harmonized line that interrupts itself regularly with distractions from above or below.
After the solos, the players returns to the group setting recharged, reinvigorated, and eager to move. The final track (unfortunately interrupted after seven minutes, though tastefully so) contains some of the highest-intensity playing on the disc, along with regular moments of starkly beautiful melodicism.
Personnel: Paul Rutherford, trombone; Philipp Wachsmann, amplified violin and electronics; Barry Guy, amplified double bass.
Tunes: Frankfurter Memories; After the Interval; Wachsmann Am Main; Rutherford Am Main; Guy Am Main; To the End of the Tape.
Recorded in Frankfurt, October 1, 1991.
Lol Coxhill
Digswell Duets (1978)
Emanem 4052
2001
You'll have to forgive me here if I toot Lol Coxhill's horn, because he certainly toots it just fine on his own. Saxophonist Coxhill is an extremely versatile player who has played in settings ranging from punk rock to abstract free improvisation. His sense of melody and time are particularly distinctive, drawing more heavily from the jazz tradition than many of his fellow British free improvisers. This recording marks an unusual pairing of duet partners: Simon Emerson, an electronic artist whose palette largely consists of Coxhill's playing thrown back at him in real-time; and Veryan Weston, a light-fingered pianist whose attention to melody and pulse closely reflect Coxhill's own.
Let's get the ugly details taken care of up front: these are live analog recordings from 1978, and the sound quality lags far behind what you'd find in today's recording studio. Enough on that subject; the shortcomings are definitely audible but do not substantially interfere with the music. The first six duets consist of Coxhill's conversations with himself through the medium of Simon Emmerson. Coxhill works patiently here, pursuing held tones and well-articulated intervals which provide his partner fuel for the fire. The rich reverb drenching the whole interaction competes with delay for the listener's attention, but the most exciting moments are when Emmerson distorts the saxophonist's tone into sharp metallic shards or multichromatic hunks of sound. You can hear Coxhill striding forward on the left channel, while Emmerson gradually builds up tension on the right and eventually chases him around the field. It's early stuff, so we're talking basic tools here... none of the computerized gadgetry that dominates interactive improvisation today. But it's done in real time, and the spirit of improvisation pervades both artists' work.
The second half of the disc consists of mostly short pieces featuring Coxhill and pianist Veryan Weston. The call-and-response motif pops its head up here and there, as the two players feel each other out in the moment in order to determine where they're headed. For the most part, they pursue sparse, melodic improvisation. The melody may fragment or implode, but most of the time one or the other of these two players is holding up a flag in the wind. (For overpowering evidence of the latter, check out their version of "Embraceable You," which concludes with a clever and very jazzy jam.) Coxhill mostly sticks to clean tones, though he demonstrates a mastery of swooshing legato runs that blur the distinctions between their endpoints. (And he's not at all opposed to sighing, whistling, or crying in the night.) Weston is a fantastic foil, because he understands the importance of space. While he's not averse to simple lines, he often works in clusters of clusters: simple repeated or modulated pinches of the keys. At times he borrows from atonality, but when you listen closely you can usually find that local tonal centers agree heartily with the saxophonist. And Weston's pulse has an undeniable logic, though it might not hit the ground every two beats.
Personnel: Lol Coxhill, soprano saxophone; Simon Emmerson, electronics; Veryan Weston, piano.
Tunes: First Encounter Part One; First Encounter Part Two; First Encounter Part Three; Side One Part One; Side One Part Two; Additional Ending; Side Two Part Four; Side Two Part Two; Very Short Piano Solo; Side Two Part Five; Embraceable Who?; Embraceable You; Side Two Part Three; More Substantial Piano Solo; Side Two Part One; I Can't Get Started.
Recorded May 11 and 26, 1978.
London Improvisers Orchestra
The Hearing Continues (2000)
Emanem 4203 (2CD)
2001
Cooking becomes significantly more complicated when you mix a lot of ingredients. This edition of the London Improvisers Orchestra features 37 musicians, and it's a prodigious combination: five clarinets, six saxophones, three cellos, four drummers, and so forth. The players here represent some of the most talented improvisers on the British scene. The LIO gets together every month at the Red Rose in London, so these players have quite a bit of shared experience. But you might as well give up trying to figure out who's playing what, unless you've got an exceptional ear and a lot of listening experience. That, of course, forces things wide open.
The music on The Hearing Continues, a generous two-disc set, includes a few free improv jams and a variety of "composed" and/or conducted pieces masterminded by members of the group. The group improvisations include two pieces for the full orchestra and two pieces for smaller subsets of the group. The large-group pieces reflect a certain restraint on the part of the players, in order to keep individual voices from being drowned out in an avalanche of sound. The saxophone sextet piece, "Dingos Creep," offers some of the most coherent playing on the record. Angular thrusts surround vibrant themes which evolve over time and occasionally vaporize into thin air. The personalities at play dictate a variety of approaches--from melodic to throaty to whistling sounds--and it's evident that these musicians are paying close attention to what's going on around them.
The "composed" pieces span a wide variety of approaches. The title of Veryan Weston and Steve Beresford's neoclassical "Concerto for Soft-Loud Key-Box" alludes to Beethoven's joke name for the piano: "schwach-stark-tasten-kasten." It's a three-part piece with a handful of sudden changes, featuring unusually forward piano work by Weston as the centerpiece. The strings shuffle around, casting textured hunks of sound into the air; meanwhile the horns zoom and focus on certain melodic phrases. With four drummers in the group, this piece has the potential to erupt into thunderous explosions at any time (though the conductor appears to enforce some sort of insulation to protect the soft and loud parts).
Philipp Wachsmann offers a fresh update to the concept of playing in the moment. His piece "Fire - In The Air" draws upon the musicians' reactions to a film of fireworks over the Thames. It's a musical document of pure reaction: the musicians respond to the video images and, to a different extent, each other. Without the film, it's hard to guess exactly what's going on, but that's the puzzle of the piece. Evan Parker's "Orphy: Us" starts with a "composed" orchestra performance. The horns maintain a specific rhythmic thrust, and the remaining instruments pursue a rounded, decorative role. The big bonus is marimba player Orphy Robinson's overdubbed work on the piece. Since Robinson could not join the group for the recording, he joined them after the fact in the studio. And his busy, open-ended playing makes the tune work.
Personnel: Beckett, Smith, Jarvis, Tomlinson, Metcalfe, Day, Rangecroft, Ward, Foschia, Smith, Koch, Chant, Butcher, Parker, Kraabel, Northover, Todd, Coombes, Wachsmann, Hug, Mattos, Tucker, Wastell, Edwards, Fell, Leahy, Davies, Bisset, Beresford, Weston, Marsh, Moholo, Noble, Sanders, Bohman, Aufermann, Thomas, Robinson.
Tunes: Proceeding 3; Concerto for Soft-Loud Key-Box; Morton's Mobile; Fire--In the Air; Dingos Creep; How Can You Delude Yourself?; Drop the Handkerchief; Proceeding 4; Red Rose Theme; Orphy:Us; Birthday Piece; Music for Pianos, Percussion, and Harp; Pulse Piece; Prior to Freedom.
Recorded in London, September 2000 and February 2001.
