HurdAudio Rotation: Soundtrack for a Blizzard

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath: Bremen to Bridgwater. 1971, 1975 (re-issued in 2004). Cuneiform Records: Rune 182/183.

Chris McGregor: piano
Keith Bailey: drums
Harry Beckett: trumpet
Marc Charig: trumpet
Elton Dean: alto saxophone
Nick Evans: trombone
Mongezi Feza: trumpet
Bruce Grant: baritone saxophone
Malcolm Griffiths: trombone
Radu Malfatti: trombone
Harry Miller: double bass
Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums
Mike Osborne: alto saxophone, clarinet
Evan Parker: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Dudu Pukwana: alto saxophone
Alan Skidmore: tenor saxophone
Gary Windo: tenor saxophone

The field tape recordings of these performances may a little rough, but the musical material soars. Dual meanings of "freedom" in an ensemble of improvisers willfully practicing the kind of mixed collaboration that forced the South African members of this ensemble to live in exile. A sonic document for ears that hear that shimmers with a tragic radiance. Combined with a sorrow that this period of creative explosiveness wasn't documented more thoroughly. But also a celebration that Apartheid policy was (and always will be) too frail to extinguish the resonance of true humanity.

Forbes Graham: Another Return. 2006. Polyrhythmatics: 3/25 limited edition CD-R.

Forbes Graham: trumpet, laptop computer

Recorded in Providence, Rhode Island and Marlboro, Vermont during the winter, these quiet electronic textures now fill the air as a dramatic blizzard rages beyond my window. It is a sound of interior space insulated against the elements. Particularly in "You're Here With Us Now" as it vanishes into abrupt silence just as it treads toward distortion. Then returns at its own unhurried pace. The timbral space of trumpet appears only as an amplification of the instrument's subtle interiors. It is a sound that unfolds with its own logic without becoming untethered from the human qualities of breath and introspection.

Jason Adasiewicz: Sun Rooms. 2010. Delmark: DE 593.

Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone
Nate McBride: bass
Mike Reed: drums

Jason Adasiewicz brings a refreshing physicality to the vibraphone. Performing live with multiple groups within the vibrant Chicago scene, the sweat and deliberation he brings to his performances reveals the range of previously untapped potential lurking within the instrument when one is willing to explore the extremes of its harmonic and rhythmic dimensions. And Adasiewicz is willing to strike the metal bars pretty hard. There is also a softer side to his playing as well as a strikingly rhythmic approach to bowing the instrument. At his heart, he is a drummer and the precision and variation in rhythm is unwavering. The deft and fluid approach toward harmony makes Sun Rooms a solid trio outing that can hold its own compared to any piano trio. The music on this disc extends indefinitely in two directions. Drawing upon a deep sense of jazz history while still propelling toward an aggressively new improvised music. It's hard to imagine a rhythm section more suited toward this journey than the always excellent Nate McBride and Mike Reed. Sun Rooms blows the "cool, detached" vibe off of the vibraphone and pulls forcefully at the ears to hear its timbral range in a new light.

HurdAudio Rotation: Brothers in Exile

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath: Bremen to Bridgwater. 1971, 1975. Re-released in 2004. Cuneiform Records: Rune 182/183.

Keith Bailey: drums
Harry Beckett: trumpet
Marc Charig: trumpet
Elton Dean: alto saxophone
Nick Evans: trombone
Mongezi Feza: trumpet
Bruce Grant: baritone saxophone
Malcolm Griffiths: trombone
Radu Malfatti: trombone
Chris McGregor: piano
Harry Miller: double bass
Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums
Mike Osborne: alto saxophone, clarinet
Evan Parker: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Dudu Pukwana: alto saxophone
Alan Skidmore: tenor saxophone
Gary Windo: tenor saxophone

Is there such a thing as a cogent defense of South Africa's Apartheid policy? Was this just complete greed and racism overriding justice and idealism? Is there a more joy filled big band sound than what the Brotherhood of Breath put together? And their crime, their life lived in exile, was the "unthinkable" and "intolerable" act of playing with a mixed-race ensemble. I will never understand the complete deafness required not to hear past such petty racism. While in exile, these creative talents continued to "mix" things up with the European improvisers that pushed large ensemble playing into new territories. And this double-CD is a massive sampling of what emanated from this great ensemble. I hear no crimes in this music. Simply a massing of players putting on live performances filled with righteous electricity.

One of the better papers presented at this year's Guelph Jazz Festival and Colloquium was Karl Evangelista's The Blue Notes: Free Music and Exile in the Apartheid Era. An effort to bring ears and academic attention to the important slice of improvised musical history through the story of the Blue Notes (who would later form The Brotherhood of Breath while in exile). Other than providing a wealth of concrete examples of the absurdity of South Africa's past policy (absurdities that cannot be overstated) this attention to the sound these musicians formed is much overdue and immensely rewarding to the souls who seek out these recordings.

Forbes Graham: Another Return. 2007. CD-R available from the composer.

Forbes Graham: trumpet, laptop computer

The sounds of the human nervous system pulsating with electrical signal of that system were housed within the brass skin of a trumpet. Otherworldly. An imagined ecosystem of micro-noise and amplification realized with electronics. A realization of expansiveness within confined spaces. Intuition plays a role in realizing this music. It's all the more intriguing, and breathing with life for it.

Alireza Mashayekhi/Ata Ebtekar (aka Sote): Persian Electronic Music: Yesterday and Today 1966 - 2006. 2006. Sub Rosa: SR277.

Alireza Mahayekhi: electronics
Ata Ebtekar (aka Sote): electronics

Two composers with a voice and cultural grounding in Iran plying their considerable talent to electronic means. Each offers up an odd mix of computer and tape music aesthetics with an ear for music and sounds that are distinctly middle Eastern. Alireza Mahayekhi takes the musique concrete approach that succeeds when creating an environment and succeeds less well when the sonic texture turns toward instruments and synthesized patches. Ata Ebtekar offers a blend of environment, manipulated voice and instruments that takes several turns toward a severe sense of beauty.

HurdAudio Rotation: Synthesis - Cross-cultural and Otherwise

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath: Bremen to Bridgwater. 1971, 1975 - re-issued in 2004. Cuneiform Records: Rune 182/183.

June 20, 1971 set at Lila Eule, Bremen, Germany
Harry Beckett: trumpet
Marc Charig: trumpet
Nick Evans: trombone
Mongezi Feza: trumpet
Malcolm Griffiths: trombone
Chris McGregor: piano
Harry Miller: bass
Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums
Mike Osborne: alto saxophone, clarinet
Dudu Pukwana: alto saxophone
Alan Skidmore: tenor saxophone
Gary Windo: tenor saxophone

February 26, 1975 set at the Bridgwater Arts Centre, Bridgwater, England, U.K.
Keith Bailey: drums
Harry Beckett: trumpet
Marc Charig: trumpet
Elton Dean: alto saxophone
Nick Evans: trombone
Mongezi Feza: trumpet
Malcolm Griffiths: trombone
Chris McGregor: piano
Harry Miller: bass
Mike Osborne: also saxophone, clarinet
Dudu Pukwana: alto saxophone
Alan Skidmore: tenor saxophone

November 11, 1975 set at the Bridgwater Arts Centre, Bridgwater, England, U.K.
Harry Beckett: trumpet
Marc Charig: trumpet
Elton Dean: alto saxophone
Nick Evans: trombone
Mongezi Feza: trumpet
Bruce Grant: baritone saxophone
Radu Malfatti: trombone
Chris McGregor: piano
Harry Miller: bass
Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums
Mike Osborne: alto saxophone, clarinet
Evan Parker: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Dudu Pukwana: alto saxophone

The documentation of these 1971 and 1975 concerts is a joy to behold. The melodic twists and contours set against this rhythm section and big band sound - not to mention the spirited creative improvisations - is a testament to the musical sparks that fly with cross-cultural synthesis. That such an ensemble with this beautiful energy and sound could be banned from South Africa (the native home of many of these musicians then living in exile) for the "crime" of mixing races is unfathomable. The fact that apartheid was indefensible and stupid has never lacked for supporting argument. Music such as this illustrates the sheer deafness of such an idiotic policy.

Forbes Graham: Another Return. 2007. Self produced CD-R available from the composer.

Forbes Graham: trumpet, laptop computer

This one shrinks the ears and places them within an imagined microscopic soundscape tinged by the resonance of the trumpet's brass plumbing. "You're Here With Us Now" builds toward a threshold of pure distortion and drops into complete silence at the moment that threshold is punctured. The dotted silences add more tension than a mere overdriven signal could ever produce.

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge. 2006. Asian Improv Records: AIR0067.

Jason Kao Hwang: composer, violin
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn
Andrew Drury: drums
Ken Filiano: bass

The way this quartet plays together shades these compositions into something striking. Hwang composes music that mixes free jazz and Asian traditions and the outstanding performers in this group animate it into a sound of understated beauty aided by deep musicianship. The pitch inflections of Hwang's violin lines weave gently along side Taylor Ho Bynum's expressive brass tone. A deeper chemistry between performers is rarely achieved.

HurdAudio Rotation: Another Return into the Circular Temple of Esteem

Forbes Graham: Another Return. 2007. CD-R available from the composer.

Forbes Graham: trumpet, laptop computer

With the assistance of amplification and digital manipulation, hearing the trumpet in this sound is like scanning the horizon with a microscope. There are plenty of nice pauses and silences contained within these five compositions. "You're Here with Us Now" in particular has an interesting quality as the sound has a hard threshold so that past a particular amplitude it simply falls into an abrupt silence for the perceived duration of the gesture that crossed that threshold. There's a beautifully austere quality to this music as the active ear adjusts its focus upon it.

Matthew Shipp Trio: Circular Temple. 1990. Infinite Zero Archive: 9 14506-2.

Matthew Shipp: piano
William Parker: bass
Whit Dickey: drums

Circular Temple is Matthew Shipp at his most intense, and prolonged mode as these four tracks make up four movements for a singular compositional expression. And this has many of the qualities of an epic piano solo as Parker and Dickey seem to fuse into the same focus that Shipp brings to this outing. The synthesis of jazz history at work in this music is compelling as one can hear elements of bop and Cecil Taylor at work behind the concentrated intensity.

Steve Lacy Quintet: Esteem. 1975 (released in 2006). Atavistic: ALP260CD.

Steve Lacy: soprano saxophone
Steve Potts: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Irene Aebi: cello, violin
Kent Carter: bass
Kenneth Tyler: percussion

The source material for this set comes from a cassette recording from Steve Lacy's personal archive of a show recorded at La Cour des Miracles, Paris, France on February 26, 1975. And the production quality reflects the limitations of the source media. So it's a testament to the quality of these compositions and the outstanding treatment these improvisers bring to them that overcomes - and even allows one to forget - the limited frequency range captured from this session. "The Uh Uh Uh" grooves incredibly hard and provides an unbelievable vehicle for solos from Lacy and Potts. There's a satisfying element of funk running through this rhythm section balancing out Lacy's rapid-fire sheets of sound.

HurdAudio Rotation: Solo, Trio, Solo

Forbes Graham: Another Return. 2007. CD-R - available from the composer at Polyrhythmatics.net.
Forbes Graham: trumpet, laptop computer.
The laptop computer serves as a microscope into the plumbing of the trumpet as Forbes Graham builds sonic worlds from the minutia of the brass instrument. After seeing Graham performing live at the Red Room a few weeks ago I had to come back and listen to this music on CD just to hear how it would strike me without the visual element of his performance. The characteristics of "trumpet" are still in the sounds. One can hear the shape of the tubing amplified, the spit rolling around the pipes and the air moving through the columns through all the electronic manipulations. Graham has an ear for the tension of amplified quiet.

Bill Frisell: Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones. 2001. Nonesuch. 79624-2.
Bill Frisell: electric and acoustic guitars, loops
Dave Holland: bass
Elvin Jones: drums
The pieces on this disc will be familiar to anyone who has followed Bill Frisell's career. It's the trio, and the way they interpret these compositions, that becomes the focal point here. And I always come away from hearing this one with renewed awe for the drumming of the late Elvin Jones. Frisell has played with so many great drummers. But teaming up with Elvin Jones may be the most inspired combination on record.

Gunda Gottschalk: Wassermonde. 2002. Elephant 002.
Gunda Gottschalk: solo violin and viola
This is a well-recorded representation of the solo Gottschalk experience. She has a unique, beautiful sound and a fascinating approach toward solo improvisation. Though on this recording, the formal structure of this 66-minute work is incredibly clear, and a little more obvious than what I heard live. Perhaps I bring a different level of attentiveness to this recording than when seeing her perform. Her ability to return to themes and sounds developed earlier within a single improvisation is convincing and does make for a satisfying listening experience.