Mary Halvorson Quintet, Bending Bridges

Mary Halvorson has made a name for herself in recent years, not just as one of the foremost and original new avant jazz guitarists, but also a composer and bandleader of stature.

That trend continues and goes a step further in her new CD Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 12-04-01-016). It's a fine quintet with Mary, Jon Irabagon, alto, Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, John Hebert, bass, and Ches Smith, drums.

They combine a loose freedom with a good amount of significant compositional part playing that goes in and out without resorting to cliches or overworked phrasings.

The band is quite well-suited for this sort of thing, which is not surprising given the personnel. There is however a surprise is the trumpet work of Mr. Finlayson. I have not heard much of him and he holds his own here, most certainly.

Mary's guitar work sometimes combines the electricity of hard rock, the outness of post-Sharrock sound color and a harmonic-melodic sense that stands out as of great interest and originality.

Nine originals of substance grace the CD and if you are like me you'll find it all quite worth hearing, with nary a wasted moment. Definitely recommended.

Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, His Electric Bass and Trio Live

This morning I do my review after a significant snowfall has hit our area overnight. It effects nothing in terms of my review-writing, except it seems pretty white outside my window.

We look today at a trio led by electric bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, live in Philadelphia, 2008. Brotherly Love in Philadelphia (Ayler DL-101) is a good contribution to the Ayler download-only series. For $10 you get a full download plus all the CD art for printing out.

It's Jair-Rohm plus Elliot Levin on tenor and flute, Eric Slick on drums. Mr. Levin recites some rather surreal verse now and again, but it is not the central focus of the set. Instead you get some very extroverted out bass conjuring, funk-to-free settings well covered by Eric Slick's heated drumming and some excellently fired-up tenor from Elliot Levin. Levin has an appealingly gruff open sound on his horn and the three together get into some rock-funk jamming that builds up plenty of steam.

I rather like this one. It took a few listens but it's all there. Go to www.ayler.com and click on the "Download-Only Releases" to pull up the album.

Secret Oyster's Fourth Album Reissued

Originally posted on March 25, 2008

A little while ago I mentioned the ‘70s Danish fusion group Secret Oyster and their recently re-released first album on The Laser’s Edge (see March 6). The group’s fourth album, Straight to the Krankenhouse, is also available on the label.

Secret Oyster’s guitarist at that juncture was Claus Bohling and he’s very good indeed. I must admit I like the first album a little bit better. This one has plenty of musical substance to it, but perhaps just a little less of the fire. Still. . .

Ray Russell and the Electric Guitar of Adventure

Originally posted on November 29, 2007

Electric guitarist, composer and record producer Ray Russell is hardly a household name. Yet he has been on countless sessions and been a driving force behind the music scene for many years. It is his role as electric/avant/jazz guitarist that most concerns us on this blog today. From the period 1968 through the ‘80s, Russell led a series of jazz groups of an experimental nature, combining psychedelic rock with jazz and avant improv.

A fascinating couple of CDs provide a look at those years: Ray Russell Live at the I.C.A./Retrospective (2CD Moikai) and Rites and Rituals (CBS). He and a set of English improvisers cover all kinds of ground on these recordings. Not only does Russell have an extraordinary flexibility in his playing but his writing is quite challenging and seems to get more interesting the more you listen. Warning, though, this is not going to be everybody’s cup of tea. Electric guitarists that appreciate people with a bit of courage and lots of talent will most likely find something in all this.