Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet: For The Love Of Fire And Water

While the now infamous quote "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" may befit jazz criticism, writing music about painting is actually achievable. Proof of that is pianist Myra Melford's For the Love of Fire and Water; her quintet sets out to perform music inspired by the American painter Cy Twombly's (1928-2011) Bay of Gaeta drawings "For the Love of Fire and Water."

Melford has taken inspiration from visual artists in the past, specifically on her solo recording Life Carries Me This Way (Firehouse 12 Records, 2013) which she wrote music based on a series of pieces by the painter Don Reich. Often poets—Rumi especially—have been her muse. Here, it is even easy for a dancing writer to envision the work of Twombly in the music. His legible illegible scribbling can be heard throughout the ten compositions. "I" opens with Melford dancing painterly calligraphic strokes which eventually invite first the cello of Tomeka Reid to gambol, then drummer Susie Ibarra, followed by saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and finally guitarist Mary Halvorson. Part composed and otherwise free, Melford choses to allow energy to flow unrestricted, yet the music maintains a kind of minimalism throughout.

"I" flows directly into "II" with the quintet focusing on pulse, before "III" mines a delicate echoey reverberation. Like a Twombly painting "VI" can leave the majority of the canvas blank, as the musicians opt for very small quiet gestures of sound-making. Elsewhere the one-on-one piano and drums barrage kicks "VII" off into a regimented march as the ensemble falls into step. The handclaps that introduce "VIII" fuel the cohesive unit of players to navigate Melford's vision. It may be a cliche to call this music painterly, but Melford's use of colors, textures, and strokes is aesthetically pleasing.