INTAKT
RECORDS –
CD-REVIEWS
MARILYN CRISPELL – GERRY HEMINGWAY
TABLE OF CHANGES
Intakt CD 246 / 2015
Marilyn Crispell, who trained as a classical musician before hearing the music of John Coltrane in 1975 and famously changing direction, has been one of the most deliciously unpredictable and distinctive piano improvisers in jazz for more than four decades. She first emerged with a devotion to the restless music of Cecil Taylor, which can be heard on recordings made during her time as a key member of Anthony Braxton’s mighty quartet (1983-’95). But she’d also flashed upon a dreamier angle when tackling gems like Coltrane’s “After the Rain,” and as her career moved forward she began exploring a sound that more reflects Bill Evans than Taylor. Now she’s long been navigating both poles, most recently in duo settings. Last year’s Parallel Moments (Babel) is an improvised performance with Scottish saxophonist Raymond MacDonald that, save for the raucous title track, maintains a lyric serenity even in the face of harmonic dissonance. A much more tender side is revealed on Azure (ECM), a 2013 duo effort with bassist Gary Peacock, a frequent collaborator. There luxuriant, meditative, and expansive composed ballads showcase an interaction both telepathic and exquisitely voiced—every note from one player hooks onto what the other produces. The more extroverted, aggressive side of her playing turns up on the forthcoming Table of Changes (Intakt), which is the latest in a history of duets with drummer Gerry Hemingway (with whom she worked in the Braxton Quartet). Here she deploys glassy clusters, dancing left-hand figures, quicksilver melodic jabs, and pensive transitions in response to the percussionist’s driving abstractions and moody interludes. Crispell privileges flow and logic above all else, guaranteeing a fully formed experience live. She’ll perform solo for this rare local performance—the first since 1999, when she played with Danish reedist Lotte Anker—providing her magical talents all the latitude one could hope for.
These distinguished artists performed together with pioneering saxophonist, composer Anthony Braxton's epic 80s ensembles amid other ensuing collaborations. Over time, drummer Gerry Hemingway and pianist Marilyn Crispell have gravitated towards the upper echelon of the so-called 'new jazz' outlook, as Table of Changes provides a glowing snapshot of their Europe 2013 tour. Moreover, the album extends various persuasions evidenced on their previous duo album Affinities (Intakt, 2011). Their nonpareil kinship is an underlying factor via spontaneous improvisation, structure and stimulating mechanics, especially when they regenerate themes with undulating flows, iridescent hues and capricious dialogues. Each track was composed by the duo, other than Cole Porter's time-honored standard "Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye," where Crispell unleashes several bars of capacious block chords. Essentially, she's microscopically and gingerly building the primary theme from its inherent roots, offset by Hemingway's delicate use of small percussion implements. Crafty and quietly eloquent, the musicians launch this piece with a geometric slant. Crispell announces the principle melody line with the utmost care and flourishes towards the upper-registers during the bridge section, as Hemingway kicks it up a notch with his peppery brushwork, collectively posing notions of forlorn love, enacted with vastly imaginative characteristics.
GERRY HEMINGWAY würdigt in seiner kleinen Einführung zu Table of Changes (Intakt CD 246) endlich auch mal die "andere Hälfte unserer musikalischen Familie", nämlich die ja tatsächlich oft familiären Gastgeber und Veranstalter, ohne die der eine Teil - er und seine langjährige musikalische Partnerin MARILYN CRISPELL - und das Publikum nicht so schön zusammenfänden. Der Schlagzeuger aus Connecticut, der heuer 60 wurde, lehrt seit 2009 an der Hochschule Luzern, schweizerisch verankert, international vernetzt. Wir hören das Duo im Mai 2013 im Bimhuis in Amsterdam und auf den Festivals in Arles, Le Mans und Ulrichsberg. Schlagzeug und Piano, nach oben offen, unten ohne Netz. Mit Ecken und Kanten verzahnt bis hin zum Krawall, wobei die größere Wucht, der stärkere Druck sogar von Crispell ausgeht, mit heftigen Schlägen, kickenden Hieben, mit zuletzt aber verkaterten Nachwehen. Die klimprig-kristallin überleiten zu 'Waterwisp', einem nixenhaften Beinahenichts, da Hemingway nur feine Vibestupfen pingt. Nur mit einem Finger stupsen sich die beiden helle Tönchen zu und werden dabei immer neckischer. 'Roofless' beginnt Hemingway allein mit simplen Beckenschlägen und Tomtamtam. Nach zwei Minuten ruft die gewachsene Komplexität heftige Pianopunches hervor und rumpelige Bodychecks mit spritzigen Speedlines. 'Night Passing' steht im starken Kontrast dazu als träumerisches Notturno mit mehrmals gesteigerten Erregungszuständen und Sounds wie von einer singenden Säge und nuancenreichem Cymbalgetickel. Klirrende Becken suggerieren zu nachdenklich bummelnder Crispellei 'Windy City'. Stöhnt Hemingway da zuletzt zu dumpfen Basstupfern durch eine Mundharmonika, eine Bluesharp? 'Assembly' ist ein wieder neckisches, accelerierendes Regentropfentänzchen über Vibes und Keys. Cole Porters 'Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye' wird von Crispell melancholisch geseufzt, Hemingway gibt sich mit ironischem Schnickschnack distanziert. Doch seine Partnerin behält auch beim Titelstück das Bonjour-Tristesse-Feeling bei, findet aber aus dem Konflikt von Linker und
Entità solida, affermata entro una circuitazione concertistica non solo d'élite, il "dynamic duo", costituito da ben più che due costole migranti dallo storico quartetto di Anthony Braxton, segna la terza rappresentazione discografica di una partnership ed una fattiva frequentazione estese lungo venticinque anni, e che nel più recente Affinities (Intakt, 2011) marchiava a fuoco una cospirazione creativa percorsa e scossa da iperboli percussive e poetica decisamente materica, tracciata da effusioni sonore globalmente alquanto distanti da tracce e segni braxtoniani, percorsi esperienziali evidentemente non unici nella determinazione di materiali in tale caso provvisti di autonoma vita e tangibile vitalità.
Anything can be told about a piano/percussion duo. But when the acting constituents are connected via the invisible knowledge of all the parts forming an improvisation – well before it materializes as a resounding series – that is the moment when the chaff is discarded and the excellence remains.
Artikel über Jazz-Duos, Hans Hielscher, Spiegel online, 07.06.2015, Deutschland
Mention of Marilyn Crispell and Gerry Hemingway in the same breath is bound to trigger memories of their formative joint tenure with Anthony Braxton. The pianist and percussionist along with bassist Mark Dresser constituted Braxton’s most famous band, one that is still earning encomiums several decades since its dissolution. Their associations extend well beyond those beginnings though as frequent contributors to each other’s projects in a host of ensemble settings. With all the activity opportunities to perform as a pair are infrequent, a fact that makes Table of Changes, their second such outing for Intakt, all the more fortuitous. Cue the laser on the opening “Spirings” and it’s as if little if any time has passed at all as the pair engages in a martial exchange of rolling clusters and stuttering rhythms. Hemingway puts the music in logistical context, poetically describing the particulars of a European tour he and Crispell embarked on in the spring of 2013. The disc’s eight pieces cull from five different dates in presenting aural snapshots that augment his words. “Waterwisp”, from the same Austrian date as the opener, unfolds in tentative tone poem fashion with Hemingway’s vibraphone shimmering and oscillating against Crispell’s stark, but delicate keystrokes. A sharply accelerating detour into clamorous dissonance signals a diffusive and disquieting segue directly into “Roofless” where drums both bowed and struck mesmerize with a metronomic regularity that rises in intensity. Crispell’s eventual entry is at once ominous and aggressive, a barrage of block chords and racing right hand flurries in answer to the drummer’s brittle tom tom shots and combustible snare fire. By turns exhilarating and insular, it’s the duo at their most bruising and ardently self-reflexive. Cole Porter’s “Everytime We Say Goodbye”, the second of two pieces from a Bimhuis gig in Amsterdam, constitutes the sore thumb standard amidst the otherwise jointly improvised sounds and the duo gives it a respectable deconstruction that retains its heart-on-sleeve beauty. “Night Passing”, the first of two selections from French concerts, offers another extended audience with Hemingway’s ethereal vibraphone, its bowed slats radiating rainbows of overtones against another skeletal, but no less arresting commentary from Crispell, which eventually coalesces on a recognizable theme and poignant resolution. “Windy City” follows an analogously episodic arc rich with agreed upon textures and colors and resulting romantic grandeur. The ligatures holding the architectures together sometimes sound tenuous, but such is the occasional price of putting immediate thought into action. The collection’s title piece, recorded at French jazz festival caps the program with a final joint salvo and the shared promise that there’s still very much in store from this partnership that has already survived the test of protracted periods apart.
Der neue Tonträger des bewährten Piano/Schlagzeug-Duos umfasst acht Stücke, die alle live in Europa aufgenommen wurden, darunter auch erfreulicher Weise vier Tracks, die beim denkwürdigen Konzert der beiden beim 2013er Ulrichsberger Kaleidophon gespielt wurden. Crispell und Hemingway beweisen wieder ihre einzigartige Gabe, Dichte und Transparenz zu verbinden, Entspanntheit und Konzentration gleichzeitig auszustrahlen. Dass die beiden zu den grandiosesten Vertretern des modernen Jazz zählen, darf als Selbstverständlichkeit vorausgesetzt werden, ihre Vertrautheit, diese wunderbare Eleganz im gemeinsamen Tun überzeugen. Diesmal kommt mit Everytime we say good-bye ausnahmsweise ein Stück vor, das nicht von Crispell und Hemingway stammt. Der alten Hadern Cole Porters wurde im Bimhuis in Amsterdam eingespielt und zeugt auch davon, wie man mit so einem ein wenig abgenutzten Klassiker sowohl respektvoll als auch innovativ verfahren kann. Ganz groß auch Track 4, Night Passing, in seiner Reduktion aufs Wahrhaftigste in einer Aufnahme aus Arles.
Marilyn Crispell/Gerry Hemingway: Table of Changes review – an uncannily attuned jazz duo
Mark Keresman, The New York City Jazz Record, July 2015
Jürg Solothurnmann, Jazz'nmore, Juli-August 2015
Marcus O'Dair, Jazzwise, August 2015
Wolf Kampmann, Portrait Marilyn Crispell, Jazz 'n' More, September/Oktober 2015, Schweiz (PDF-Datei)
Anyone reading this likely knows how much history and affinity there is between pianist Crispell and percussionist Hemingway, not just their obvious connection in the Braxton quartet but through long experience as a duo, both in live performance and on record (like their previous date on Intakt, Affinities). Crispell, no stranger to percussion duos, and Hemingway did a number of dates across Europe during 2013's festival season, and Table of Changes gives a good accounting of what they were up to on several of these dates, presenting the range of their individual and collaborative languages.
Although Table of Changes is only the third release from the pairing of pianist Marilyn Crispell and percussionist Gerry Hemingway, it comes relatively hot on the heels of Affinities (Intakt, 2011) which broke a long silence since Duo (Knitting Factory, 1989). The paucity of these occurrences belies an extensive shared tenure, both as part of reedman Anthony Braxton's classic quartet from 1984 through until 1992, and in regular hook ups thereafter. In tandem they plumb the extremes of intent exhibited by the pianist's touchstones, from Cecil Taylor inspired full-blooded fury to Bill Evans/ Paul Bley style meditation. Although by this juncture of course those influences have been long transcended and what you get is pure Crispell. Contrapuntal interplay proliferates, not only between the two protagonists, which is a given in the stripped back format of a duet, but also as an integral ingredients of each individual's expression on what are multiple voiced instruments. By way of illustration, at times Crispell juxtaposes dark bass register counter arguments against her lean left hand runs, while Hemingway interweaves gong strikes within a snare drum commentary. Such added layers of complexity promise near orchestral possibilities. Hemingway extends the approach even further as he ranges beyond his standard kit to incorporate vibes and other percussive devices into the jointly improvised flow. However in spite of his virtuosity, Crispell remains the dominant storyteller here. Comprising eight pieces selected from a series of concert performances in May 2013, the album celebrates the near telepathic communication between these two masters. "Spirings" serves as an emphatic opener and one which demonstrates the emotional volatility which pervades the program. It's more a robust exchange of views than a relaxed chat. Such is the elemental power of their fiercely reiterated motifs, that heavy metal head shaking might be an appropriate response, before a reflective coda with Hemingway on vibes leads into the sparkling shimmer of "Waterwisp." However between that assertive start and the similarly bracing closing title track the selections are programmed to reveal a common language, rich in harmony and texture, which creates a pleasing narrative arc. "Night Passing" and "Windy City" share a lot of similarities of mood and pacing. Each cut slowly unfolds and blossoms: the former into dramatic ringing clusters and spare lyricism which hints at meter but never entirely commits; and the latter into austere ballad tracts. That bountiful feel is accentuated by a wonderful version of Cole Porter's "Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye" in which barely suppressed energy chafes at the lush valedictory melancholy. It's the highlight of an outstanding recital.
Graham Lock, International Piano, Nov, Dec 2015
João Santos, Expresso, Portugal, August, 22, 2015
Marilyn Crispell's ECM recordings, including duets with bassist Gary Peacock and trio sessions that added Paul Motian, revealed the more delicate, lyrical side of the pianist's playing, which both complemented and contrasted her prior work in true-blue free jazz. Reuniting with drummer Gerry Hemingway, a longtime bandmate in her earlier trios and in Anthony Braxton's quartet, puts Crispell back on a thoroughly avant-garde track, and the final product sounds nothing less than joyful. The two longtime friends met up on a European tour two years ago, and this disc captures highlights from those performances.
Les disques qui vous ont (peut-être) échappé durant l'année passée Le Schlippenbach Trio est un groupe de briscards de la free music, le pianiste et ses compères Evan Parker (ténor sax) et Paul Lovens (batterie) jouent ensemble depuis 45 ans ! Mais les uns comme les autres ont évolué et pris du recul ; ce n'est plus le free dévastateur des années 70, et leurs quinze pièces directement improvisées sont à la fois très différentes et parfaitement cohérentes. On appréciera particulièrement le jeu lyrique et "coltranien" de Parker. Trois géants : « Features » (Intakt 250). Déjà auteur de deux disques en trio (avec Niggli et Michel Godard), l'accordéoniste italien Luciano Biondini se présente cette fois en solo et réinterprète – il compose également – une série de belles mélodies populaires italiennes, en jouant sur la tradition folklorique méditerranéenne et l'improvisation jazz ; toute la nostalgie poétique que véhicule cet instrument quand il est si bien joué se retrouve dans « Senza fine » (Intakt 255) (OUI, on aime !) Enfin, nous sommes toujours heureux de retrouver ce beau duo de vingt ans, Marilyn Crispell (piano) et Gerry Hemingway (batterie, percussion, vibraphone), qui ne s'attache qu'à l'essentiel : une musique totale, remarquable et passionnante : « Table of Changes » (Intakt 246). …
Kay Friedrichs, im Klenkes 02/2016 |