Yuval Cohen Quartet: Winter Poems (ECM 651 6886)
In his From March 1979 the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer – a favourite of such distinguished Scandinavians as Jan Garbarek and the late Georg Riedel – wrote of how he was weary of all who come with words, “words but no language”. Making his way to “the snow-covered island” the poet relishes “the unwritten pages spread out on every side!” Later, he comes upon the tracks of deer hooves in the snow, seeing “language but no words”.
Is there a simple yet refreshing, even healing resonance to such words and images – or nothing save a simplistic evasion of life’s many complexities and possibilities? Such a debate – which has long been played out in Swedish literary and political circles – may strike readers as having something in common with the position which some critics can take regarding so-called “ECM music”: where are the blistering bop-sprung harmonic structures, where is the rhythmic dynamism, where is the zest in all this so-called “poetic” music?
All such critics might well wish to have a field day with this superb ECM debut from soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen (brother of Avishai, whose excellent Ashes To Gold I reviewed recently) and his splendid companions Tom Oren (p), Alon Near (b) and Alon Benjamini (d). But to my ears, they would have a tough time justifying their case.
Yes, there is a haunting and spacious poetry to these 40 or so minutes of original music from Cohen – whose extraordinary plaintive sound, lyrical control of timbre and ultra-patient phrasing are complemented throughout by the adroit dynamic sensitivity of his cohorts: sample the opening First Meditation. Relish also the beautiful brief piano trio intro to Song For Lo Am, the latter a tender “crying and soaring” piece that, like the following Song For Charlie (which has Cohen on melodica) would surely have put a big smile on Sidney Bechet’s face. But there is also a lovely, rippling and bubbling rhythmic impetus to this music, epitomised by the up-and-cooking yet also in part reflective The Dance Of The Nightingale, Avia and the diversely impassioned title track.
One of the most soulful and musically arresting ECM releases for many a month. On no account miss it!
Yelena Eckemoff: Scenes From The Dark Ages (L&H CD 806151-38)
Another generous double-CD helping of widely cast and richly conceived music from the prolific American-domiciled Russian pianist and composer, with the sleeve booklet offering both a detailed musical overview by Susanne Lorge and Eckemoff’s usual range of figurative imagery. Unfortunately, her highly finished fantasies of castle, mounted knight and candle-lit interior are straight out of the kitsch playbook.
Riccardo Bertuzzi (elg), Carlo Nicita (ss, as, bf), Eloisa Manera (vn, elvn), Riccardo Oliva (elb) and Trilok Gurtu (d, pc) offer a sumptuous range of tonal and rhythmic tapestries to complement Eckemoff’s work on piano, organ, clavichord and synths. Eckemoff says “I dreamed about being born in medieval times.” But she also reveals that an early background in prog-rock informs this music.
So we are a long way from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal or the Trio Medieval vocal ensemble who have recorded for ECM. I have to say, I liked the (all-original and very mood-rich) music here much more when I forgot that it was supposed to be a suite about “scenes from the dark ages”. It’s quite some time since Vasari’s strong but misleading pro-Renaissance view of the bad old dark days was kicked out of court, but I can’t imagine that this diversely spun fantasy (sample the kicking heavy guitar and drum work on Tournament, the organ-fed floating sonorities of Alchemist and the flute-led Quest) is going to propel too many listeners to the library or museum in search of historical truth(s). But, undoubtedly, as always with Eckemoff, there’s plenty to enjoy here.
No Codes: Usual Suspects (Sunset Hill Records SHM142401)
This is a terrific quartet date from Montréal. Here are 40-plus minutes of the sort of melodically appealing yet keening and exploratory, high-energy and freely interwoven (yet often funky) riffs and grooves, moods and textures, tones and tempo-flexing that could have been cut anytime over the past 50 years or more – and yet which manage to sound as fresh as tomorrow.
The absence of a piano helps Benjamin Deschamps (as), Frank Lozano (ts), Sébastien Pellerin (b) and Louis-Vincent Hamel (d) fly free and far, but while there is plenty, plenty brain to their boldly cast endeavour, there’s also a strong feeling of body heat and tonal gravity to enjoy: relish the up-and swinging opening to Emit Time Item. All the members of No Codes are as eloquent as they are sensitive to space (sample the beautiful, curiously titled meditation that is Sokushinbutsu) and really, there is not a moment here which will not repay amply your keenest attention. Superb music.
The Young Mothers: Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmission Records STRCD26)
I hadn’t heard of either Sonic Transmission Records or the Texas-based The Young Mothers before. So I was pleased to learn from the press information that they are, apparently, “a brilliant band that merges modern jazz, free improvisation, indie rock, hip hop and a caterwauling Afro-groove reminiscent of the Brotherhood of Breath”. The press release continues “The rhythm section is deep, throaty and incredibly swinging, while Jason Jackson’s reed work is both feral and soulful.”
Apart from Jackson, The Young Mothers are Jawwaad Taylor (t, rap, elecs, programming), Stefan Gonzalez (vib, d, pc), Jonathan F Horne (elg), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b, elb) and Frank Rossaly (d, elecs, programming). I hadn’t known that the Norwegian Flaten (ex-The Thing, Free Fall, Atomic) had moved to America some years ago and it was good to read up on his years in first Chicago and then Austin. Relish his opening deep arco lines and subsequent ostinato pizzicato pulse on Song For A Poet – perhaps the most texturally striking piece in a release rich in shape-shifting moods. The rap isn’t overdone and there are some extraordinary passages of “sound-sculpting” vocals. Overall, the impact of these 50 or so minutes of “on-the-edge” music is certainly strong.
Stina Helbeck Agback: The Standard Is The Standard (Prophone PCD 370)
I have to confess that my knowledge of jazz harp embraces little more than the pioneering work of Adele Girard Marsala with Joe Marsala in the 1930s and beyond and the later modern and contemporary explorations of Dorothy Ashby, Alice Coltrane, Helen Davies, Brandee Younger, Rhodri Davies and Amanda Whiting. So it was both a real pleasure and most instructive to receive for review this excellent outing from leading Swedish harpist Stina Helbeck Agback, backed by unfailingly sensitive work from compatriots Filip Augustsson (b) and Jon Fält (d) – the last long the bar-slipping drummer in the Bobo Stenson trio.
Google Agback and you will find a musician of wide tastes, whose personal top ten playlist is headed by Miles Davis’s Live Evil. There’s none of that funky jazz-rock wildness here, rather a lovely literate quality of both swinging and tender mainstream exploration (Moon River, God Bless The Child, Body And Soul, There Will Never Be Another You, Misty) mixed with five diversely atmospheric originals from Agback: sample the brief, opening Question No. 1 and the later, initially atemporal then quietly building Växter. Throughout, there are fine bluesy touches from the leader (hear the brooding, measured albeit increasingly assertive Berio Blues) and many a fine passage from Augustsson (both pizzicato and arco) and the deliciously attuned Fält. Highly recommended.
