Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Frode Gjerstad - John Stevens - Derek Bailey: Hello Goodbye

140

Frode Gjerstad - John Stevens - Derek Bailey: Hello Goodbye

Frode Gjerstad - John Stevens - Derek Bailey: Hello Goodbye
Familiar notions of melody and structured rhythmic foundations are brushed aside throughout this splendid outing recorded to a DAT machine, two years prior to drummer John Stevens' untimely passing. Alto saxophonist Frode Gjerstad had apparently lost the tape, but he subsequently found it and cleaned it up. Fortunately, the music presented here is pristinely resurrected, much to our delight.

One of the overriding attributes of this production resides within Gjerstad’s rustling and somewhat elusive lines atop Stevens’ odd-metered slap, tap, brush and roll permutations. Guitar great Derek Bailey anchors, prods, and maintains an abstract sense of equilibrium via his amplified chop chords, undulating harmonics, and timely interjections. The trio’s often-curvaceous rendering of motifs atop unrestrained harmonic developments presents just one level of a multi-tiered program where the artists encircle rhythm while utilizing space for maneuverability.

They intersect various planes and angles, thanks to Bailey’s extended note attacks, Stevens’ polyrhythmic assaults, and Gjerstad’s applications of sublimely executed mini-themes. On “Three By Three,” the trio raises the bar some, as they pursue edgy, frenetic interplay and venture off into dissimilar yet abstractly tuneful paths. Hello Goodbye signifies a mystifying quality of enchantment and reigns as one of the finer recordings of this ilk for 2001. Strongly recommended.

EMANEM

Track Listing

1.Hello 2.Three Two Three Two One 3.Three By Three 4.Two Three Two Three 5.Penultimatum 6.Goodbye

Personnel

Frode Gjerstad
saxophone, alto

Frode Gjerstad: alto saxophone - Derek Bailey: amplified guitar - John Stevens: percussion & mini-trumpet

Album information

Title: Hello Goodbye | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Emanem

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Today Yesterday
Anton Mikhailov
Waking Dream
Randy Napoleon
Hold On
Mark Winkler
The Hat with the Grin and the Chuckle
Ben Thomas Tango Project

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.