HurdAudio Rotation: Songs of Travel and Growth

Louis Moholo-Moholo/Marilyn Crispell: Sibanye (We Are One). 2007. Intakt: 145.

Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums

Marilyn Crispell: piano

I've listened to a lot of Marilyn Crispell over the years and she never fails to puncture the familiarity of her sound with elements within her improvisations that are completely new to me. This happens every time. Here is a live recording from 2008 where I was in the audience. At the time I was blown away by the kind of voice leading she was doing. It was something new in her playing I hadn't noticed before. Now as I come back to this recording for the third time or so I'm struck by the resonant spiritual connection that these two players share. Even though this is their first (and only documented) performance together.

Marilyn Crispell has mastered the almost Zen-like quality of stepping back within a performance and finding an improvised path that exists in balance with the present state of the music. Hers is a finely honed intuition that allows her to draw upon her considerable technique without smothering the creative moment. Louis

Moholo-Moholo has carved a path out of Apartheid era South Africa, through the explosive free improvisation movements of Europe and back to South Africa. That sense of returning home after a long and valuable journey comes through in his music. The connection these two master musicians made was something to behold live. This document of that meeting retains much of the glow of that performance.

Ellery Eskelin: Premonition. 1993. Prime Source: 2010.

Ellery Eskelin: tenor saxophone

In 1993, Ellery Eskelin was well on his way to becoming the most interesting improvising musician on the tenor saxophone. The material on Premonition is outstanding on its own. But if you've heard him play lately it is clear that he has grown exponentially as an artist since that time. Premonition does make a clear, declarative case for the multiple tendrils of jazz tradition that feed into his astonishingly original voice. Three original works - part of Eskelin's own "Song Cycle" followed by two by Monk and a lighter excursion through a Torres Velazquez tune. Deep roots that hardly keep Eskelin from reaching into the stratosphere with his own ideas. Premonition is a snapshot of an artist in mid growth that stands on its own as a solo recital worth revisiting.

Sanda: Gypsy in a Tree. 2010. Barbes Records: BR0029.

Sanda: vocal

Shoko Nagai: piano, accordion, farfisa

Stomu Takeishi: electric bass

Satoshi Takeishi: percussion

Douglas Wieselman: guitar, clarinet

Ben Stapp: tuba

There aren't many vocalist led disc in the HurdAudio Rotation. Partly out of oversight and partly because these ears gravitate toward the instrumentalists. And frankly, I was attracted to this disc because of the Takeishi brothers in the rhythm section. So I have Stomu and Satoshi to thank for pushing me out of my comfort zone and into the gypsy songs so brilliantly realized by Sanda. Sanda Weigl has an amazing voice and an innate sense for how these songs breathe and dance. Combining her voice with this outstanding band is simply a winning concept that rewards the ears that stop to take it in. This is music with unbelievable sonic and emotional texture delivered by serious players.

HurdAudio Rotation: Startling Turns and Lyricism

Marc Ducret: Un Certain Malaise. 1997. Screwgun Records: Screwu 70005.

Marc Ducret: electric guitar

Solo electric guitar with plenty of turns toward avant asides and aggressive energies. Marc Ducret brings a unique ear to his instrument that soars in the unbridled and unaccompanied setting. The final tracks settle toward more lyrical material without losing any of the jagged edges that poke throughout this performance. Beautiful and fully engaging throughout.

Misha Mengelberg: The Root Of The Problem. 1997. Hat Hut Records: hatOLOGY 504.

Misha Mengelberg: piano
in duos, trios and quartet formed with -
Steve Potts: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Thomas Heberer: trumpet
Michel Godard: tuba, serpent
Achim Keremer: percussion

The overlapping improvisational sensibilities of Misha Mengelberg and Thomas Heberer makes for some startling play between the piano and tuba. "Play" is the operative word to describe this music. Loose yet strangely focused and a wonderful freedom to stumble in and out of established jazz conventions toward free improvisation and back. At its core, a string of moments that connect and stand independently from one another. A rare balance of form and idea.

Louis Moholo-Moholo/Marilyn Crispell: Sibanye (We Are One). 2008. Intakt: CD 145.

Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums
Marilyn Crispell: piano

I have a particular interest in this recording as one who was present at this first-time collaboration at Baltimore's An Die Musik. Listening for specific moments I remembered from that evening with an ear toward deeper understanding of how this duo achieved such a joyous sound. This was also the performance that piqued my interest in Luis Moholo-Moholo's artistic journey and his work with the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath. A body of music I now regard as indispensable for understanding the evolution of free improvisation in Europe via exile from South Africa. In this encounter, the evolved languages of Moholo-Moholo and Crispell mesh together as each generously extends space toward the other. The rich, tonal lyricism of much of Crispell's playing in this session was startling - and still is on recording.

Halfway Between Capetown and Woodstock

Marilyn Crispell & Louis Moholo-Moholo @ An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, June 30, 2007

Marilyn Crispell: piano
Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums

Marilyn Crispell and Luis Moholo-Moholo understand free improvisation. And they both understand what freedom means for one's soul. When these two master musicians play together they positively soar.

As a member of the legendary Soul Notes, drummer Moholo-Moholo lived - and played - in exile from his homeland of Capetown, South Africa from 1964 - 1993. During that span he toured with many great jazz players the world over.

While studying classical piano at the New England Conservatory, Marilyn Crispell discovered the spirituality of the music of John Coltrane and turned to improvisation to find her own voice. Her intense creativity took root as a member of the iconic Anthony Braxton Quartet and Crispell's music has since become widely influential - and she is deeply revered in the hallowed HurdAudio Hall of Heroes.

Their two sets at An Die Musik this evening was an expression of freedom as an exhilarating art and practice - not theory. These players have so much technique and expressive range that they could only begin to explore their potential interactions over the span of a single evening. Crispell would often take a percussive approach to the piano - sometimes working inside the instrument with open palms on the piano strings or slapped on the body of the instrument - as she would drum along with Moholo-Moholo. The flowing, ever-changing stream of rhythm would form into a sweeping wave that seemed to grow larger over time. And just as one expected this wave to crest, Crispell would start playing some achingly beautiful, lyrical melodic lines in parallel harmonies over shifting pedal points to reveal new musical vistas. It was a sound I had not heard from her before. Thankfully, this performance was being recorded for a future release so I'll get a chance to hear that sound again.