Ove Volquartz, Claude Parle, Makoto Sato, Yoko Miura: Chasing the Wild Goose

The quartet of German saxophonist and clarinetist Ove Volquartz, French accordion player Claude Parle, Paris-based Japanese drummer Makoto Satoand Japanese pianist and melodica player Yoko Miura is not long-standing even though there were connections between members before the foursome formed. Parle and Sato had both been members of the Linda Sharrock Network which recorded They Begin To Speak and Live, Vol. 1: Bab-llo (both Improving Beings, 2016) as well as being members of Le Grand Fou Band which recorded Au 7ème Crème (Petit Label, 2016). In October 2016, Volquartz and Miura, along with soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo, had recorded Air Current (Setola Di Maiale, 2017).

In addition to those connections between the quartet members, each of them has an impressive history in the company of other renowned free improvising players. Volquartz had recorded with such luminaries as Cecil Taylor, Barre Phillips, Roscoe Mitchell and Peter Kowald; Sato had played with Joe McPhee, Alan Silva and Kent Carter among others; As well as Linda Sharrock, Parle has recorded with Mats Gustafsson; Miura had played with the late John Russell, Lawrence Casserley and Mia Zabelka the latter two in the MYL trio.

The album was recorded live in concert on October 6th 2023 in Paris. Miura has related the haphazard way the recording came about; "I remember one episode where the venue was suddenly cancelled three days before the live performance, and all the members desperately searched for a place to perform, and somehow managed to find one. It was such a great performance that it was hard to believe it was the first meeting, but since it was recorded with only one microphone, it seemed difficult to release it on CD. However, the mastering by Palomo Julian improved the sound quality and balance, and we were finally able to release it."

Those circumstances may explain some aspects of the album, such as its title Chasing The Wild Goose and the track titles, "Beating around the bush" and "Every cloud has a silver lining." Rather strangely, both of those tracks are listed as having four separate sections; however, repeated listening does not reveal any need for that as the transition from one track to the next is virtually seamless without any jump-cuts or non-sequiturs.

Across its forty-seven minutes, the most striking thing about the music is the way in which the disparate sounds of the instruments have been carefully fitted together like pieces of a jigsaw to produce a coherent and satisfying soundscape in which each player and their instrument has an equal role to play. Although there are moments when one instrument can be heard better than the others, there is no soloing in the accepted sense. Instead, all four together construct a soundscape to which each has contributed equally and of which each can be equally proud. On the basis of this album, it seems obvious that this quartet should not be a one-off collaboration but an ongoing venture which records together. It will be interesting to hear their next album which will deserve to be recorded in a well-equipped live venue with all instruments separately miked or maybe in a studio. Watch this space.

Comments