Mar 29 2014
Håkon Stene – “Lush Laments for Lazy Mammal”
On his new album Lush Laments for Lazy Mammal, percussionist Håkon Stene works the fields of minimalism, of meticulous compositions, expressed patiently, and emitting ambient sounds of an abstract nature. It’s a bit of a change of course for Stene, whose previous work is more typified by atonality and dissonance, of experimental constructions built with an economy of sound. Stene’s work with the Asamisimasa Ensemble, Nils Økland, and Jon Andreas Håtun illustrate his flexibility with unconventional dialects and modes of delivery.
Your album personnel: Håkon Stene (acoustic guitar with ebow, bowed marimba, electric guitar, keyboards, piano, quartertone vibraphone, vibraphone) and guests: Christian Wallumrød (piano), Heloisa Amaral (piano), Tanja Orning (cello), and Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen (cimbalom).
Stene contributes just one original composition to the affair. Christian Wallumrod, who guests on this recording, also contributes a composition to the effort. The others belong to fellow minimalists Gavin Bryars and Laurence Crane, whose aesthetic sensibilities are clearly birds of a wing for Stene. Perhaps the best example of these composers’ similar flight patterns can be found in the Crane composition “Riis,” originally adopted by Crane’s Apartment House ensemble… Stene’s rendition mirrors the original with a series of long drones pulsing intermittently, of keyboard washes of harmonic warmth, walking a near identical path as the original.
There are several shorter pieces. “Holt” and “See Our Lake I” consist of unhurried vibraphone notes marking the path of long keyboard drones, whereas “Sit” and “Prelude for HS” are merely deep whispers, sensed more than heard, the former vocalized by keyboards and the latter by vibes and cello.
“Hi Tremolo” brings an urgency to the recording, with its rising tides of cimbalom and piano shifting between a serenity that lulls the ear into a state of passivity before transforming into something far more intense and foreboding.
“Low Genths” features the piano and composition of Christian Wallumrod, a contemporary composer who sits on the very cusp of Jazz as he concocts his intoxicating displays of folk and classical. “Low Genths” is a swirling current of piano, its tight circles interrupted here and there by sonic wedges of Stene’s vibes, giving a sense of snow drifts carried by stiff winds through a town… circular patterns that alter course as they collide with the standing structures of a city landscape, revealing an elegance both atypical and affecting.
The album closes with “Blue Blue Blue,” and like “Bobby J” before it, this song speaks to the album’s spaciousness, its patient expressionism, and its predisposition toward an economy of sound.
A mesmerizing album with an enchanting point of view.
Released on Hubro Music.
Music from the Oslo, Norway scene.
Available at: eMusic | Amazon CD
| Amazon MP3
| HDTracks
Mar 31 2014
Richards/Duval – “Indian Summer”
Richards’ strongest contributions to the album are pensive statements of confident melodies like on title track “Indian Summer” and “Harmony’s Bird Song,” but perhaps the high water marks of his piano are on tracks like “Career Alcoholic,” when he strings notes together with a glittering brilliance that becomes increasingly diffuse, the beginning and end of notes magnificently indistinguishable, like the conflagration of starlight in a vacuum of darkness.
Duval’s best moments are when he tills the soil of a small patch of melodic field. “Hallelujah” sees him winding and unwinding, twisting and turning the melody over and over, and “Indian Summer” has him running tight circles around piano, comping fragments of the original statement of melody. There’s also “Patsy,” where Duval effects a surge in intensity, but bookends his solo with peaceful expressions for points of comparison.
Stephen Pancerev and Bill Athens round out the quartet on drums and bass. Pancerev is decisively effective with the rustle of drums and the gentle crash of cymbals, accentuating both the album’s abiding serenity as well as the life teeming within. Athens has a nifty solo on “Patsy,” his darker tones and active chatter make for a nice contrast.
Sounds of nature are spread throughout the recording.. the chirping of crickets, the gurgling of a stream… adding to the ambient landscape without becoming distracting or cliche. Two guests sit in, on cello and brass, with “Binh Minh” a lovely example of the contribution of the former and “Harmony’s Bird Song” of the latter guest.
Just an enchanting album, the kind absolutely perfect for when the sun begins to rise or those quiet moments of the evening when a hush falls over the entire city.
Your album personnel: Graham Richards (piano), Dan Duval (guitar), Bill Athens (bass), Stephen Pancerev (drums), and guests: Justin Kagan (cello) and Dave Richards (trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, piccolo trumpet, recorder).
Released on PJCE Records.
Jazz from the Portland, Oregon scene.
Available at: Bandcamp | eMusic | CDBaby | Amazon MP3
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By davesumner • Beyond Jazz Reviews, Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2014 Releases • 0