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)



Links in Comments!

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)



Links in Comments!

PAUL SMOKER QUARTET – Standard Deviations (1999)

Label: CIMP – CIMP 186
Series: Spirit Room Series – Vol. 76
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 1999
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded at The Spirit Room, Rossie, NY, Sept.22 & 23, 1998
Produced By Robert D. Rusch
Cover Art: Unstandard Zebiations By Kara D. Rusch


CIMP Note:

Productions and concepts, like improvised music, evolve, when allowed to, in a natural and usually beneficial way. The original idea for this set grew out of CIMPhonia #1 (CIMP 173 & 178), an arranged gathering (May 1998) for impromptu music which brought together Peter Kowald, Dominic Duval, Mark Whitecage, Joe McPhee, David Prentice, Paul Smoker and Jay Rosen. It was a lovely time of expressive sharing and out of it came the idea between Jay and Paul to do a duo project and out of that evolved the concept of a trumpet, guitar, cello and drum quartet interpreting material out of the Great American Songbook.

The group arrived in a caravan of cars on Tuesday, September 22, having played a gig at Rochester ’ s (NY) Bop Shop the night before. Relaxed informality set the tone as Tomas, Jay, and Paul are familiar faces at the CIMP premises. Steve Salerno (1961, New York) was the new face but, being a former student of Paul ’ s, from back in his Iowa days, and having worked with Jay on and off since the mid-80s, he too seemed very comfortable and proved to be both hip and appropriate in his utilization of the guitar.

Supper was followed by an unusually lengthy sound check and by the time the concert formally began, it was after 10 p.m. I will admit to some anxiety since, for me, sound checks are a period of hurry up and wait and by 10 p.m. the fellowship and anticipation I had felt in the earlier hours had lost its edge and been replaced by a growing fatigue. Fortunately, the quartet, having been more directly and continually involved with the sound set-up, had not lost its edge. They opened with “ By Myself, ” followed it up with “ Stormy Weather/When the Sun Comes Up ” and, after that incredible performance, took a break. By then my spirits were soaring, the adrenaline of artistry had reinvigorated me.

It occurred to me that individually, and even more so as a sum of their individual talents, these guys make musical artistry look commonplace. Yet, seasoned listeners will know there is nothing typical, or same old same old, about this concert. It ’ s not that they do no wrong, it ’ s more a measure of how right they are in their use of talents, imagination and the integration of it all into a musical whole. Here is a standard of artistry too rarely reached or demanded.

This is huge music and these are monumental players and that ’ s really the bottom line. There are classic interpretations of classic music here and charting it all may take years of listening: oh, the joy and exultation of it. This is humankind at its best – partake.

By Robert D. Rusch - 9/23/98




Links in Comments!