Oct 5 2012
Adam Baldych – “Imaginary Room”
With last year’s intriguing release Magical Theatre, Adam Baldych offered a new perspective on modern jazz violin. The ‘theatre’ part of the title was apropos, as there was plenty of dramatic moments that would’ve made a glam rock album green with jealousy and an actor’s studio want it to accompany a performance.
With his latest release, Baldych brings a new crew (The Baltic Gang) to the table, and he shifts his music closer to the Scandinavian jazz subset. The drama is dialed back a bit, replaced with an atmospheric sensibility and an elegant lyricism.
Certainly affecting the transition is the addition of pianist Jacob Karlzon, a standard bearer of the New Piano Trio movement… a mix of traditional piano trio format, with the addition of rock tempos and tension, and the tasteful use of electronics and effects. The elegance mentioned just previously has got to be attributed, in part, to his presence. Karlzon’s recording history is ripe with examples of the E.S.T.-like blend of dramatic builds of melodic tension simultaneously awash in sheets of serenity.
On Imaginary Room, Baldych’s violin plays the perfect contast against Karlzon’s piano. Baldych’s violin is the fire, Karlzon’s piano, the embers.
Your album personnel: Adam Baldych (violin), Jacob Karlzon (piano), Lars Danielsson (bass, cello), Verneri Pohjola (trumpet), Morten Lund (drums), and guest: Nils Landgren (trombone).
But for all the changes from last album to current, the opening track of Imaginary Room gives more of the same old good stuff. Dramatic opening immediately builds tension, with Baldych’s violin parting the sea with beautiful sonorous lines before settling back in with pulsing groove set by bass and piano. Middle section has Baldych putting his virtuosity on display, formulating a torrential downpour of notes, spurred on by Lund’s steady drumwork.
And much like Magical Theatre, it’s the slower pieces that reveal themselves as the gems of the album. Baldych can say so much with so few notes, and while his frenetic solos are impressive, it’s when he chooses his notes with careful consideration that his power shines through. Tracks like “11.16,” with its mournful sway and “Zarathrusta” with its pacing-the-room affectations, these put the heart of this music on display.
Some tunes have a jaunty tempo, allowing for thoughtful riffs on the melody and incendiary solos shot across the bow. Tracks like “For Zbiggy” and “Cubism” have that cheerful mien, even as they kick dust up into the air and carry about.
Considering all the changes from last album to current, it’s impressive that Baldych advanced his own sound without losing the seeds of his original voice. I’m excited to see where this goes next.
Released on the ACT Music label.
Originally from Poland, now part of the NYC jazz scene.
Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist and label.
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Oct 8 2012
Jean Lapouge – “Des Enfants”
Lapouge was influenced early in his guitar studies by both John McLaughlin’s work on Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew and the emergence of prog-rock pioneers Soft Machine. Later, in the 1980s, he helped found the Noetra Collective, a group that mixed jazz, rock, and chamber music. In many ways, that same mix informs his music of today.
This music is a mix of curious bursts of restrained dissonance and thick brush strokes of lullaby serenity. Trombone is hands-on with the melodies… long sonorous notes, syrupy and inviting. Guitar adds color, often gives some sharp twang to cut away at trombone’s syrupy thickness. Vibes deliver more of a percussive element, though with its inherently bright and shiny notes, vibes often act like fireflies in the dark forest. Oboe and bass flute make a guest appearance, adding flavor to an already unconventional profile.
The album opens with “Des Enfants,” and a beautiful statement of melody by trombone, and ends with guitar and vibes skittering around a restatement of the melody that is just too damn nifty.
Second track “13 Etrange” gets closer to the prog influence. Odd pulsing tempos, shiny effects, and deconstructed melodies. I also find it reminiscent of the Andy Summers – Robert Fripp duo album I Advance Masked.
“Two Days Before” is a jaunty tune of vibes and trombone playing leapfrog and guitar skips circles around them, and ends with rapid-punch combos from trombone.
Fourth track “Les Americains” rises up and down in a series of steps, sometimes clattering to the floor, sometimes taking launching up into the clouds. Poboeuf brings out the oboe, and its sharp calls matched the pretty sparkle of Lapouge’s guitar brings together two opposing sounds in one majestic rippling current.
“Demain il Fera Beau” has the comfort of immersion in a cocoon of darkness, and the uncertainty of feeling ones way through it without falling. It’s album tunes like these that evoke echoes of Bill Frisell’s equally curious album Quartet, which also featured guitar and trombone, with trumpet and violin and tuba as the collaborators.
Sixth track “Les Soldats” is a slight return to the melody of “Les Americains,” mirroring the pace and change in altitudes, but where the previous track focused more on the rhythmic aspect of the composition, this one explores the tune’s atmospheric possibilities.
The album ends with “Sombre, a muted piece that lets silence fill in the blanks with an appealing density,” giving it a sense of clouds thick with rain. Trombone emits bursts of whimsical phrases, repeating a motif while vibes and guitar hold hands and offer complementary notes that hang frozen in the air as trombone rises and falls with just a little bit of abandon. It ends with the same enchanting beauty with which it began.
This music was actually recorded between 2005 and 2007, not long before the Temporare session. For various reasons, Lapouge didn’t release it until this year. Thankfully, he did, and thankfully, it still sounds fresh and mysterious and sublime. Currently working with a trio of guitar, cello, and drums, Lapouge is looking to have a new release out with the new trio before long.
Your album personnel: Jean Lapouge (guitar, guitar synthesizer), Christiane Bopp (trombone), and Christian Paboeuf (vibes, oboe, bass flute).
Released on the Musea Records label.
Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Jazz from the Sarrazac, France scene.
Available at: Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon
And be sure to check out Lapouge’s last album, Temporare. It remains a personal favorite, and it as one of the best things to come out that year.
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0