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Chants
Craig Taborn Trio (ECM)
by John Sharpe
For anyone who has witnessed the excitement and
cohesion of pianist Craig Taborn’s trio live, it will be
hard to comprehend the 12-year gap in documentation
since 2001’s Light Made Lighter (Thirsty Ear). One easy
explanation would be the thickness of the Minneapolisnative’s
bulging sideman portfolio, which includes
stints with saxophonists Tim Berne and Chris Potter,
bassist Michael Formanek and trumpeter Tomasz
Stanko, just to pick out some of the most recent
collaborations. Whatever the reason for the hiatus, the
appearance of Chants, following up Taborn’s acclaimed
2011 solo outing and ECM leader debut Avenging
Angel, demands attention.
Retained from the earlier disc, drummer Gerald
Cleaver has been one of Taborn’s closest collaborators
over the decades. Their almost telepathic understanding
forms the bedrock of the loose yet complex interplay so
prevalent here. Even newcomer Thomas Morgan has
filled the bass chair for eight years now and
consequently has firmly carved out his niche in the
ensemble. The band’s strong suit comprises those
dazzling headlong passages of interlocking patterns
that open and close the disc, where Taborn lays down
an insistent substructure with his left hand, embellished
by bass and drums while expounding sparkling
contrapuntal runs with his right.
Elsewhere his themes are often merely sketched,
haikus upon which the ensemble can meditate in
egalitarian exchange. Cleaver revels in elaborate crossrhythms
overlain with asymmetric cymbal coloration
while Morgan is as likely to be the melodic lead as the
pianist. One exception is “Cracking Hearts”, where the
drummer’s rustle and clatter form the central narrative
thread around which piano and bass drape a darkly
brooding lyricism. Only the extended “All True Night/
Future Perfect” contains the limpid piano reverie that
listeners might associate with the ECM sound, but
even here it is transcended by the subsequent galloping
excursion and engaging interaction. Taborn has
fashioned a thoroughly compelling statement, which
gets better on each listen and one that will surely fuel
even more thrills in concert.
For more information, visit ecmrecords.com. This trio is at
Roulette May 6th. See Calendar.
San Sebastian
Ron Carter Golden Striker Trio (In+Out)
by Alex Henderson
In 2003, acoustic bassist Ron Carter joined forces with
pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Russell Malone
and formed the Golden Striker Trio, which recorded an
album for Blue Note. The group’s unusual combination
of instruments (acoustic piano, hollowbody guitar and
upright bass with no drums) was the same combination
28 May 2013 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
of instruments that the Nat King Cole Trio embraced in
the ‘40s. But unlike Cole’s swing-oriented threesome,
the Golden Striker Trio has favored an introspective,
classical-influenced approach, which has a lot more in
common with the chamber jazz of the Modern Jazz
Quartet (MJQ). In fact, Carter’s trio named itself after
MJQ pianist John Lewis’ “The Golden Striker”, made
famous by MJQ in 1957.
This CD/DVD spotlights a July 2010 appearance
at the Jazzaldia Festival in San Sebastian, Spain, where
Carter, Miller and Malone played for an audience of
more than 2,000 people. The most exuberant moments
come on an inspired performance of “The Golden
Striker”, which isn’t quite as restrained as the MJQ’s
classic recording. Nonetheless, the MJQ influence is
hard to miss and the polish, sophistication and
refinement that the Golden Striker Trio brings to
Carter’s “Candle Light”, the Rodgers-Hart standard
“My Funny Valentine” and two Brazilian jazz
performances (Luiz Bonfá’s “Samba de Orfeu” and
Carter’s “Saudade”) clearly recalls the MJQ’s chamber
jazz performances of the ‘50s-60s. Like the MJQ, the
Golden Striker Trio know how to express their
appreciation of European chamber music while
remaining faithful to the soulful, improvisatory spirit
of classic jazz.
The 55-minute CD and the DVD are the same
material, although the latter contains a laid-back
18-minute performance of Oscar Pettiford’s “Laverne
Walk”. There’s no reason why it had to be omitted
from the CD; it would have fit and makes no sense not
to include it on both discs. But apart from that flaw,
San Sebastian is a rewarding document of the Golden
Striker Trio’s continued collaboration.
For more information, visit inandout-records.com. Carter is
at Tribeca Performing Arts Center May 9th as part of the
Highlights in Jazz Salute to George Wein, Blue Note May
16th and Dizzy’s Club May 28th-Jun. 2nd with Bill
Charlap. See Calendar.
Absolute Zero
Jon Irabagon/Hernani Faustino/Gabriel Ferrandini
(Not Two)
by Stuart Broomer
Jon Irabagon’s membership in Mostly Other People
Do the Killing should testify to the saxophonist’s
unpredictability and considerable flexibility of style,
but it may not quite cover all that he was up to in 2009.
It was the year he made his most conservative CD, The
Observer, for Concord, part of his reward for winning
the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition. It
was a solid mainstream modern session with Kenny
Barron, Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis providing allstar
support. A few months later in Lisbon, Irabagon went
into a recording studio with bassist Hernâni Faustino
and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini and recorded Absolute
Zero, an hour-long set of seven pieces, each attributed
to the three musicians and accordingly sounding like
free improvisation. It’s likely Irabagon’s most
demanding set to date, even when one considers the
78-minute tenor extravaganza Foxy.
Irabagon sticks to his alto here and plays within a
very specific lineage of the instrument in free jazz: the
corrosive. It’s the one that begins with Jackie McLean
(most specifically of Let Freedom Ring vintage, where
the slightly-out-of-tune hard-edged McLean sound is
complemented by the upper register squeal); continues
with Giuseppi Logan and early Charles Tyler; is
complemented by the Sun Ra alto saxophonists Danny
Davis and Marshall Allen; then jumps ahead to a recent
pinnacle with Jean-Luc Guionnet on recordings like
Bird Dies. Irabagon’s notes are often yips and cries and
they’re always bending away from anything that might
suggest concert pitch. The melodies he constructs are
often just a few notes, microscopic, fragmentary
phrases that are repeated and contorted, bending out
of shape in the same gesture that repeats them,
sometimes with circular breathing to keep the process
of disintegration continuing further.
The trio couldn’t be better matched. Faustino and
Ferrandini are capable of an infernal power, since
evidenced by their work in RED Trio and great
invention, apparent particularly in RED Trio
collaborations with John Butcher and Nate Wooley.
From the opening phrases of “States of Matter”, with
Faustino bowing a complementary circular pattern, the
entire movement of the music appears to be going
backwards, as if it must insist from the outset that its
movement will be eccentric or will not be at all. That
sense of insistence may change direction, but it’s
always apparent in one form or another, even when
things slow down to what might be called a ballad
tempo. By the end of it all on “Spacetime”, Irabagon’s
elemental trills and triplet rhythms are still etching
themselves indelibly, the trio delineating a terrain that
is at once oddly toxic and strangely refreshing.
For more information, visit nottwo.com. Irabagon is at
ShapeShifter Lab May 8th with Mostly Other People Do the
Killing, Bar Next Door May 14th, Cornelia Street Café May
16th, Greenwich House Music School May 22nd with Mike
Pride, Somethin’ Jazz Club May 27th with Bob Gingery and
ShapeShifter Lab May 30th with Dave Douglas. See Calendar.