Alexander Hawkins: No Nation but Imagination

Pianist and composer Alexander Hawkins has spent years at the forefront of the European jazz avant- garde scene, leading various mutations of the standard group format, from solo piano to large ensembles and everything in between. Experimenting with different dynamics, instruments, and musicians, and adapting them to fulfill the needs of the music has been his calling card for nearly two decades now. On No Nation But Imagination, Hawkins once again mixes things up, putting together a unique lineup featuring piano, flute, harp, drums, synthesizers, samplers, and turntables.

This new quintet is a juxtaposition of electronic and acoustic instrumentation, and this mix creates a harmonic and structural friction integral to the music they play, almost as if the group is an instrument itself. Flutist Nicole Mitchell  and drummer Hamid Drake, who are both firmly grounded in the Chicago sounds of the AACM, establish the living pulse of the music. However, this pulse is challenged by both the harp of Rhodri Davies and the samples and digital manipulations of Matthew Wright. Firmly woven into the songs' structure, these elements give the proceedings a futuristic, alien feel, as if beamed in from another galaxy. Also interesting is that Hawkins's piano rarely takes the lead; it is often Davies who is out front.

There is a reason for this: Hawkins skillfully uses post-production as its own instrument, weaving musical elements together, splicing, looping, and layering them in unique ways, creating and composing something entirely new from these recordings. This technique is certainly nothing new; Teo Macero  used a similar approach to create Bitches Brew (Columbia Records, 1970), but here Hawkins shows what it could sound like in the modern world of jazz, where the artist can pull elements from virtually anywhere and weave them into their sonic tapestry.

Album opener, "Solo Way Far Gone," sets the tone immediately with its simple yet effective synth line, or is it a synth? We do not know, and that is the point! This is highly reminiscent of the trips through the spaceways that Sun Ra so often took us on. Elsewhere, on "Resolution Each and Every," Drake's beats take center stage, while the background is a whirlwind of sounds and instruments coming in and out of view in a game of sonic peekaboo.

Ultimately, No Nation But Imagination succeeds because it takes the old jazz rulebook and throws it away. By not using traditional instruments like saxophone or piano to state the main theme and take the lead on these songs, Hawkins constructs a futuristic sonic world where anything is possible, and any preconceived notions disappear like tears in the rain. It is an exciting proposition and a bit of a radical viewpoint in the world of the avant-garde.