There’s a tendency in jazz to criticise the violin for its formality – inevitable given its classical characteristics, but there are numerous examples where it’s been taken into the sphere of swing and blues – Venuti, Stuff Smith, Ray Nance and Billy Bang spring to mind. To this list add Sam Bardfeld, who here moves open-ended improvisation into a flowing line, free meets swing.
The result is a blend of the two and owes much to drummer Michael Sarin, who maintains the pulse but also finds areas of expression outside the structure. Pianist Jacob Sacks, in the absence of a bassist, keeps a strong bass line going, alternating between steady momentum, dense chordal passages and edgy fragmentation.
Seemingly opposite directions are pulled together by Bardfeld with a simple prolonged bowed note or a phrase, preventing it from falling into completely free areas. He mixes broad bow strokes, glides, short staccato notes and plucking, even brash sawing, and gives a rhythmic looseness that takes it towards the blues – in tone rather than structure.
Shifts in time signatures crop up regularly, particularly in A Ribbon Of Sooty Thought and Andrew Hill’s composition Refuge, with its angular bop and blues inflections, constantly challenging the musicians to come to a consensus. Similarly, the tempo of On The Seat Of Which jumps about, Sarin’s shredded drumming, tom-toms and wood block punctuate Bradfeld’s adventurous phrases, as Sacks underscores before its sudden interlude.
A gentler side is heard in the simple lyricism of Springsteen’s Atlantic City and in That Greeny Flower, on which the piano and violin combine in a moment of plaintive tenderness.
Discography
It Might Not Work; Atlantic City; A Ribbon Of Sooty Thought; On The Seat Of Which; That Greeny Flower; Kick Me; Refuge (41.17)
Bardfeld (v); Jacob Sacks (p); Michael Sarin (d, mel). Brooklyn, 12 May 2022.
Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records BJUR073
