Pascal Niggenkemper, Solo, Look with Thine Ears

The solo acoustic bass recording is of course one of the litmus tests in gauging the level of artistry of the jazz-free jazz practitioner. Today, such an outing from Pascal Niggenkemper, a bassist who has been an important member of adventuresome ensembles for some time now. Look with Thine Eyes (Clean Feed 324) gives us a full CD of his solo excursions.

The results are singular and fascinating. Pascal sometimes uses objects to alter the sound of the instrument, what you could call prepared bass. They give us a variety of sounds depending on how they are employed, of course, and the materials involved. So we get, for example, a fuzzy sound as Pascal bows over strings that apparently have been inter-leavened with metal objects. These are not gimmicks, for sure, but rather ways of extending the sonic-timbral qualities of the bass.

Their use is musical as is the total result of imaginative artistry that is Pascal here. His bowing is excellent, his pizzicato as well, and he gives us 13 segments that show true originality, free and new music excellence, and variety. "Extended techniques" are the order of the day, very successfully so.

The wealth of sonics is extraordinary and in the end it all comes through as music that gets your ear, and bass playing of a high caliber.

All bass fans and bassists should get this one if they can. Avant enthusiasts in general, too.

A fine effort, one of the best and most original of its kind.

Noah Young, Freaks: No Fear of Contagion

I reviewed the out-of-print Unicorn Dream LP by Noah Young last November 4 on my Gapplegate Music Blog (http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com/2013/11/noah-young-unicorn-dream.html). I did it because I believe it should be reissued, because it's a terrific album, and because Noah is my friend and he needs in his illness to know he is much appreciated.

Today another, a combination of four excellent cuts from Noah's then trio--Noah on 5 string acoustic bass, Lanny Aplanalp on soprano, tenor and flute, and Fred Stofflet on drums--and the spoken prose-poetry of Noah.

It's an unusual combination of spoken word and free jazz. Freaks: No Fear of Contagion (New Alliance CD117) I think this is also out of print, but, again, it should not be.

The trio cuts--enough for one side of an LP, are fabulous. Noah is a real dynamo on bass and his partners are kicking it nicely. These compositions, as those on Unicorn Dream, show another side of Maestro Young.

The prose poems show Noah in a contrasting zone. They apply a sense of real compassion with a razor-thin analytical series of insights. The musician in him carries forward in his poems to Ayler and David Izenzon. He otherwise covers in a series of word-art vignettes those who one way or another have to fight to live--those afflicted with AIDS, dysfuntional families, the nightmare of addiction, those facing their demise (as are we all, sooner or later) countered by the will to heal, to feel what it's like in other's shoes and to try and help.

It all fits together to give you a creatively committed portrayal of the man, Noah Young. I posted this today because if I am not mistaken it marks the birthday of his late, beloved wife, lost to Noah and his family some years passed. Let this post mark a tribute to her courage. And Noah has been ill for some time, no longer can play, but fights on valiantly. This is music and word-wielding that should not go into the great dark night of unavailable obscurities. If you are into some very hip free jazz and an excellent bassist, you'll stay for the evocative wordage, of people in sorrow and searching for some happiness, of staying the course. Check the net and you'll no doubt find a copy for sale somewhere or other. And somebody who can--put this and Unicorn Dream out again! On this eve of 2014 may we find the will to continue, to heal, to thrive. Noah would like that, for us all.