PAUL SMOKER with ED SCHULLER and DOMINIC DUVAL – Duocity In Brass & Wood (2CD-2003)

Label: Cadence Jazz Records – CJR 1155/56
Format: 2 × CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2003
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
CD1 - Recorded live at The Bop Shop, Rochester, NY, May 18, 2001 
CD2 - Recorded live at The Bop Shop, Rochester, NY, October 10, 2001
Engineer – Matthew Guarnere
Mixed By, Edited By – Matthew Guarnere, Paul Smoker

Duo improvisations featuring a double bass and a horn are some of the hardest performances to realize. The challenge is compounded if the non-bass-playing partner only has a trumpet’s three valves and his embouchure with which to create. Thus Rochester, N.Y.-based trumpeter Paul Smoker should be complimented for sheer audacity. His double CD session of live, more than 60-minute duets with either Dominic Duval or Ed Schuller shows what can happen when two accomplished musicians strip down to the essentials and go at it with no preconceived notions.

Performing for the first time as a duo and with not many previous encounters under their respective belts, Smoker and Duval spend most of the time on the seven tracks playing slow- moving themes to determine each other’s skills. In the case of the trumpeter especially, this seems to involve extended techniques that at time stray close to the show-offy.

On “Burn Dialogue/Blue Mon ”, the nearly 13½-minute longest track for instance, he begins a cappella with a capricious display of growls and chromatic high-pitched note bending. Just before the solo threatens to turn into a Maynard Ferguson style extravaganza, it finally become a hell-bent-for-leather dialogue between Smoker’s chromatic trills and Duval’s slower-paced, carefully emphasized arco work. As the bassist bows away the trumpeter decorates the output with shrill high notes and a line that sounds like “Cherokee” played at a languid pace. There’s no mistaking “Blue Monk” , which soon appears in proper cadence here, replete with plunger trills. As Smoker dispenses his variations on the theme, Duval counters with pealing, pizzicato strokes that offer a sandpaper rough version of the same thing. Other than a singing version of “If I Were A Bell” presented in a muted Milesean fashion, the tunes concentrate on brass and bass effects. At one point Smoker warbles offbeat slurring phrases as Duval introduces well-modulated triple stops; at another four-string strums from the bassman calls forth echoes that could come from an Alpine horn --then choked valve plunger work examination.

Fittingly, the final tune is both abstract and conventional. Initially it resounds with idiosyncratic brass note flurries that go from andante to adagio to allegro, as the bass line becomes excessively discordant. The ending however finds Smoker appropriately quoting “The Party’s Over” in mid-register, Bobby Hackett-like fashion.

Over-abundant experimentation also characterizes the four Schuller/Smoker duets, with the others leading up to and away from “Hypnotics/Bassoptics Mutetics/Nostematics”, an almost 31-minute tour de force. Separated by periods of silence and applause, the first section showcases legato trumpeting with thundering bass lines that get harder, stronger and more repetitive as Smoker shrilly whistles from his mouthpiece. As Schuller strongarms a vamping ostinato back and forth, the trumpeter buzzes grit from his valves and soon broaches mouthpiece kisses, small smacks then squeals. Following a pause, a dark, double-stopping bass solo seems to invite Smoker’s most idiosyncratic response as higher-pitched, Harmon- muted obbligatos share space with deeper open tones. It almost appears as if he’s playing two trumpets at once. As Schuller continues to snap out short melodies and decorative asides that then turn to a walking bass line, Smoker completes the showcase with a flourish, producing a steady “Flight of the Bumblebee” buzz from his mute.

“Didgerotics”, is the most interesting of the pieces -- not to mention the shortest -- since Smoker manages to produce basso didjeridoo and radung or metal Tibetan bass horn sounds from his axe, not to mention vocalized plunger inflections straight out of the Bubber Miley Jungle book. Meanwhile Schuller moves from assured, low-pitched arco thrusts to split second visits to the effervescent cello register.

"Duocity in Brass & Wood" is a good document, which can be appreciated even by those who do not feel close to the aesthetics free, thanks to the continual references to jazz and freshness of ideas.

_ By Ken Waxman



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MARK WHITECAGE QUARTET – Caged No More (1996)

 

Label: CIMP – CIMP 119 

Series: Spirit Room Series – 18 

Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 1996

Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz

Recorded at The Spirit Room, Rossie, NY, July 13 & 14, 1996

Produced by - Robert D. Rusch

Recording Engineer by - Marc D. Rusch

Cover Art: O. Henry's Fishtank by Kara D. Rusch

A 1996 release, Caged No More may serve as a metaphor for multi-reedman Mark Whitecage and his boundless array of musical propositions, formats and stylizations. Here, Whitecage along with longtime associate ’ s cellist, Tomas Ulrich, bassist Dominic Duval and drummer- percussionist Jay Rosen, stylistically demonstrate the fine art of improvisation! Recorded live at The Spirit Room in Rossie NY, The Quartet gain significant strides via the always stellar production and artful live recording techniques which has become a noteworthy commodity of the classy CIMP record label.

The 3 ½ minute “ Bright Ideas ” features Whitecage performing on clarinet as this 4 man army proceeds in forward motion with no looking back. The notion of “ bright ideas ” is outwardly and deterministically portrayed through fervent yet highly emotional dialogue among the bandmates. On “ Griece ” , percussionist Jay Rosen “ subtly ” heightens the intensity with his array of drums and small percussion instruments; hence the climactic nature of this piece is also enhanced by Rosen ’ s adept and meaningful tom-tom work. Rosen ’ s melding of African and Latin rhythms packs a mighty punch which effectively prods and pushes the band into various accelerations. Here, Whitecage ’ soaring yet articulate phraseology often contrasts Duval and Ulrich ’ s low register tones and keen improvisational speak. The cunning and altogether convincing dialogue throughout this project is a joy to behold!

The 17 minute, “ Feathers ” is at times frantic, soulful and touches upon, although in brief spurts – Albert Ayler....Here, the pace fluctuates as the motifs evolve through intuitive ensemble work and daring yet expressive dialogue. “ MJTD & Watershed Blues ” are two pieces which are noteworthy for Whitecage ’ brilliant utilization of tremolo and vibrato techniques. The “ blues ” portion of these pieces tend to veer off into free-jazz excursions while there is no doubt that these musicians are playing from the heart and taken as a whole, defy categorization.

Perhaps more than a textbook liturgy on improvisation this band performs with fire in their collective souls. Versatility and gutsy determination are two prime components here! The compositions are constructed around loosely based themes which afford this band tremendous opportunities to reinvent and evolve as a unit....... Caged No More is a beguiling assault on modern-improvised-jazz !!! Recommended.

_ By GLENN ASTARITA, Published: August 1, 1999 (AAJ)



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TRIO-X (McPhee / Duval / Rosen) – Journey (2003)

Label: CIMP – CIMP 283
Series: Spirit Room Series – 163
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2003
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded at The Spirit Room, Rossie, NY, Feb. 6 & 7, 2003
Produced by Robert D. Rusch
Recording Engineer: Marc D. Rusch; Liner Note Author: Robert D. Rusch
Arrangers: Dominic Duval, Jay Rosen, Joe McPhee

Review:

In the music industry, politics and economics continue to share uncomfortable commonalities with the racial disparities that gained the national stage during the Civil Rights Movement. These days ’ inequities aren’t so much based on complexion as they are on artistic choice. Choose creative improvised music and you ’ ll likely be playing the fringes without a record contract.

In the Sixties, the dismissal of Anglican surnames in favor of the letter ‘ X ” became a means of symbolizing African American disenfranchisement. The trio of Joe McPhee, Dominic Duval and Jay Rosen adopted the signifier for analogous reasons. Their collective X is meant as a comment on the ambivalence of most press to their music and an expression of the resulting anonymity it occasioned. The name stuck and four recordings later certain segments of the media and public are now the wiser, as plaudits continue to greet the three players who now comprise a fully seasoned unit.

For their latest excursion Journey, the trio adheres to extemporaneous pieces with the evergreen spiritual “ Amazing Grace ” being the sole standard, so to speak. After a brief prelude of bass and drums, the calm before a rising storm, McPhee’s tenor saxophone takes wing with a leathery flap of coarse-grained phrases. Bassist Duval and drummer Rosen stir up a swirling backdrop, prodding and pulling in eddying rhythmic currents that put their respective instruments through a grueling set of paces. The title track unfolds at a less feverish clip, radiating out on Duval’s dour arco ribbons and McPhee’s somber legato lines. Rosen adds subdued gong and cymbal embellishments, leaving the bulk of his massive kit to the jurisdiction of silence. Midway, the sounds congeal into a forward-marching tempo and McPhee’s breath hardens, splitting in places into emotion-heavy overtones.

A funky backbeat fuels “ Jaywalkin ” and Rosen has a chance to mix things up with Duval in faux hip hop style. McPhee honks and shakes his tail feathers on top, favoring a meaty tenor tone caked with highly flammable vibrato that eventually explodes in a burst of flanging notes. “ Blue Moves ” resides at the other stylistic pole, a contemplative poem built from the quiet patter of Rosen’s mallets and McPhee’s lyrical alto soliloquies. Duval’s improvised bass reverie opens “ Autograph ” and Rosen follows on scuttling brushes. But McPhee bides his time waiting until the median to voice his thoughts at length via stoop-shouldered tenor. It ’ s an approach that contrasts sharply with the caustic blowout that hits with crater-causing impact on the aptly named “ Everything in Nothing Flat. ”

Rosen takes a swift, but precisely measured solo turn on “ For Charles Moffett ” in honor of the departed drummer before the trio reconvenes on the good-natured, heavily syncopated “ Rossie 2 Step, ” so named in homage to the town which CIMP HQ calls home. The anthemic “ Albert’s Alto, ” which finds McPhee reveling in Alyeresque vibrato above a porous rhythmic pattern, rounds the program out along with the aforementioned gracious spiritual movingly interpreted in memory of Duval’s deceased wife.

Trio X will no doubt continue to engender quizzical responses and an absence of recognition in the public at large. But listeners familiar with what lies beneath the alias in the names of McPhee, Duval and Rosen know what to expect when it comes to the music. This outing does not disappoint and advances the exceptional track record established by their earlier releases. With their growing popularity, the impetus of their chosen sobriquet may no longer hold immediate sway, but the reasons behind it still speak to the obscurity faced by so many of their peers.

_ By Derek Taylor
(Dusted Reviews, date: Jun. 23, 2003)



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