HurdAudio Rotation: Lizards, Evil and String Quartets

Lounge Lizards: Live in Berlin 1991 Vol. II. 1995. Intuition Music: Int 2044 2.

John Lurie: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
Michael Blake: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Steven Bernstein: trumpet, cornet
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Bryan Carrott: vibraphone, marimba, timpani
Michele Navazio: guitar
Billy Martin: percussion
Oren Bloedow: bass
G. Calvin Weston: drums

There is generous space for individual cadenzas and isolated pairing within this larger ensemble on this documentation of the live Lounge Lizards experience from 1991. There is also an element of whimsy at work as the groove propels this music that carries the heavier, serious turns of phrase and arranging. While this recording does not disappoint, the studio outings seem to deliver more unexpected surprises.

Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil. 1964 (Rudy Van Gelder re-issue from 1999). Blue Note Records: 7243 4 99001 2 7.

Wayne Shorter: tenor saxophone
Freddie Hubbard: trumpet
Herbie Hancock: piano
Ron Carter: bass
Elvin Jones: drums

This one crackles with all the spark and energy that has since made Speak No Evil an undisputed hard bop classic. It's recordings like this that make the awe that each of these performers inspire abundantly clear. As a pianist my ears gravitate to Herbie Hancock's playing and find my own awe renewed. "Infant Eyes" in particular opens the ears to the potential of well constructed (and sensitively played) ballads.

T.E.C.K. String Quartet: T.E.C.K. String 4tet. 2007. Clean Feed: CF089CD.

Thomas Ulrich: cello
Elliott Sharp: acoustic guitar, national tricone
Carlos "Zingaro": violin
Ken Filiano: double bass

The string quartet re-conceptualized both in instrumentation and aesthetic approach. Yet the bent wires and strings still draw upon a deep tradition with the practice and experience each performer brings to the table. The mixture of European and North American free improvisers adds to a sense of disassembly through collaborative association. A sonic dialogue made more musical through the strong personalities involved. Elliott Sharp's signature sound leaps out to these ears so familiar with his work. And much of the pleasure of listening to this disc comes from hearing how it integrates or often works against the other members of this ensemble.

HurdAudio Rotation: Improvising for Change

Charlie Haden/Liberation Music Orchestra: Not In Our Name. 2005. Verve: B0004949-02.

Charlie Haden: bass
Carla Bley: piano, arrangements
Michael Rodriguez: trumpet
Seneca Black: trumpet
Curtis Fowlkes: trombone
Arnee Sharon Freeman: french horn
Joe Daley: tuba
Miguel Zenon: alto saxophone
Chris Cheek: tenor saxophone
Tony Malaby: tenor saxophone
Steve Cardenas: guitar
Matt Wilson: drums

Beauty as a form of contempt. Jazz in the face of mounting injustice. Carla Bley has fashioned some of the most shamelessly tuneful and astonishingly gorgeous arrangements of patriotic music in pure defiance of the ugliness flowing from Washington, DC. "This Is Not America" and the "America the Beautiful (Medley)" are an endless source of chills while the big band take on Bill Frisell's "Throughout" retains the formal crescendo of the original version and builds upon it. It may not change the world, but Not In Our Name offers hope that the human spirit will continue to be stronger than anything republican administrations bring about and that the desire to lift every voice and sing will eventually overcome the bleakest of days.

T.E.C.K. String Quartet: String 4tet. 2007. Clean Feed: CF089CD.

Tomas Ulrich: cello
Elliott Sharp: acoustic guitar, national tricone
Carlos "Zingaro": violin
Ken Filiano: double bass

Free improvised textures from the contrasting sensibilities of these four musicians as they form the unusual guitar/violin/cello/bass variant of the string quartet. The sonic sculpting works well even as it feels like the chemistry between these players hadn't fully coalesced at the time of this recording. The unfamiliarity and probing of one another adds an edge and an unpredictability to the overall sound as each player generously subsumes their own identity in favor of a group sound.

Gunda Gottschalk/Peter Jacquemyn/Ute Volker: Baggerboot. 2005. Henceforth Records: 102.

Gunda Gottschalk: violin
Peter Jacquemyn: bass
Ute Volker: accordion

"Improvisation is musical survival in the meta-cultural soundscape that is thriving, throbbing and sending new possibilities for relationships in a world littered with the millennial old patterns of argument as war. In this music there is negotioation, give and take in intimate and open spaces."
- Pauline Oliveros (from the liner notes)

Amen.
The give and take of a range spanning from double bass up through violin with an accordion in the middle makes for a gritty, reed-tinged timbre for this trio of free improvisers. At times lyrical, at other times a wash of abstract textures and colors with generous space for each individual contribution this disc is a rewarding listen - even more so for this particular spin in the rotation.