Benjamin Duboc, St. James Infirmary, Solo Double-Bass

Benjamin Duboc has been a centerpiece bassist on the free jazz scene in Europe for some time now. He has been an important player but until now you never got quite the up-close-and-personal view of his bass playing. All that changes with a welcome solo bass release St. James Infirmary (Improvising Beings 22).

This is good news. (And it's also good news that the Improvising Beings label will be continuing its series of releases after all.)

It's Benjamin Duboc, his bass, the microphones and that's all. And that's all you need. He features a long improvisation based on the classic "St. James Infirmary" to start things off and it is an inspired idea. He sets out the theme and works his way around the implications and improvisations that suggest themselves to him. At times there's that deep woodiness and hard arpeggiated-or-otherwise double stops Charlie Haden first gave to us now rather long ago. But it works for Maestro Duboc as a springboard into his own territory.

The second part of this solo album features bowing, harmonics and a full universe of extended sounds for bass. It nicely complements the first part, taking us from the rooted, soulful elemental expressions to the stratospheric. They balance each other out perfectly well.

In all you get Duboc the thoughtful, full-toned, fully creative bass master at work, neither "standing pat" as the St. James lyrics would have it, nor operating in an ambiguously irresolute zone. Benjamin Duboc knew where he wanted to be in this solo recital and he went there, freely and rather brilliantly.

One of the best bass solo albums to come out this century so far, no doubt about it!

Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord, No New Tunes

Not only is Jon Lundbom a jazz-contemporary electric guitarist at the forefront of new practice, his band Big Five Chord, individually and collectively, is one of the most important around today. And their latest, No New Tunes (Hot Cup LP or download), is perhaps the strongest album yet. Now I could just leave it at that and go get another cup of coffee, but I suspect that I should go into detail, no?

First the band: Jon Lundbom, guitar, Jon Irabagon, alto and soprano saxophones, Bryan Murray, tenor and balto! saxophones, Moppa Elliott, bass, Dan Monaghan, drums. The rhythm section is very hip. The Irabagon-Murray sax team is terrific. And Jon gets plenty of chances to show that he can (and does) line with originality and edge. He turns in some beautiful solos here. Then there are times when Irabagon and/or Murray play with your head a little. They may be blazing into a solo or solo succession with all sorts of imaginative twists and suddenly you realize that they are putting you on just a hair, but they are dead serious at the same time. It's the tradition, yet it is inside the tradition, taking it outside and making a humorous aside all at the same time. Well, you know Rollins has always done something on these lines when he felt it. There are some very uncanny moments like that. Of course these guys often have that kind of humor to them, but on this one they top themselves.

OK, then there are the compositions and soloing routines. First rate. Sometimes they pull out the rock stops and get very heavy. Sometimes they do less electric avant things. It all comes together, regardless of what.

All else can be said and maybe has been said by a critic who works for some big-name magazine, newspaper, etc. And gets paid and all that. But listen, my street cred by now should make you take me as seriously as Jon and crew. Because if I can say all this while I am scuffling, then you know I mean it. No shoot, this is the album to get.

Gary Hassay, Michael Bisio, My Brother

Duets can be interesting, they can be less interesting, but you cannot often say they are riveting. I would say that of alto saxist Gary Hassay and acoustic bassist Michael Bisio's My Brother (Konnex 5275). It is riveting because both players have virtually limitless imaginations and realize ideas in their very own way. It is riveting because it's the best kind of duo: where two excellent players inspire each other to bring out a side of their playing that sounds especially well in the context at hand.

Gary Hassay realizes well-thought-out yet spontaneous sound sculptures that take advantage of the classic jazz and outer realm capabilities of the alto; Michael Bisio complements and spurs on those alto flights with equally considered pizz and arco structures that have freedom but are logically and executionally exceptional.

Gary has always from what I've heard of him had a kind of Zen-like spirituality to his playing. Michael can go that zone well. The two head for high-consciousness, high-level improvisational territory and explore the terrain with care and inspiration. Gary can do a kind of quasi-Tibetan throat singing and when he does it here it never sounded better than with the accompaniment of Michael's arco chant-drones. But it is the alto-bass twosome that gets to some especially beautiful free places.

This is the best Gary Hassay playing I can recall hearing and Michael Bisio is on a personal high as well. Now that is saying a great deal, since both players are doing some heavy things!

It's a don't-miss-it CD, for adventurous souls and lovers of the new jazz. Grab a copy and go someplace very cool in your mind.

Bruce Arnold and Dusan Bogdanovic, "Aspiration": Advanced Acoustic Guitar Duets

Aspiration (Muse Eek 129) is an interesting series of free improv acoustic guitar duets that came about when Bruce Arnold and Dusan Bogdanovic chanced to jam together and realized their affinities. The result is a wide ranging set of 18 duets that reference everything from early music lute to Spanish classical to the nether realms of advanced jazz.

Sometimes the music has the periodicity of rain falling, gentle notes sounding interesting combinations, drawing together and pulling apart as scattered punctual points on a broad field. Other times there are motives that one may suggest and the other react to.

Throughout the course of the set Arnold and Bogdanovic enter some rarified aural realms in excellent fashion. There is a sheer visceral element, an obvious love for the simultaneous double melody line and the variety of sounds the two acoustics can express in the duet situation.

The music is of such an unusual caste that it defies easy description. It is broadly tonal, brilliantly spontaneous and thoroughly open ended. There is a gentle freedom that will make this an accessible offering for even those who tend to be put off by the more assertive variety of free improv. For the rest of us there is much to appreciate as well.

Not your everyday fare and all the more interesting for it. Give it a listen by all means.

Michael Gregory (Jackson's) Masterful "Clarity" Reissued

Michael Gregory Jackson, now known simply as Michael Gregory, made an album back in 1977 that established him as a rising star in the new jazz and improvisation world that had emerged full blown from the vital loft, non-traditional scene. The album, Clarity, had the makings of a classic and today, with the reissue of the album on ESP (3028), it can be said with no hesitation that it is among the most important and profound recordings of the era.

Well why, you ask? It framed Michael Gregory the guitarist, vocalist and composer in a very excellent light, both by himself and with the very best of the then emerging players of the movement, namely, Oliver Lake on reeds and miscellaneous percussion, David Murray on tenor, and Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet, fluegelhorn, etc.

What was (and continues to be) rare was Michael Gregory's combination of great lyricism and puckish chamber avant singularity. There are sharply memorable ensemble pieces of great fluency, there is a song (part of the title cut) for Michael's vocal instrument, accompanied by guitar (and it is unforgettable for its content and artistry) and there are some remarkable solo acoustic guitar moments. Finally, there are passages of free improvisation that show the considerable gifts of the musicians while still fitting perfectly with the lyrical quality throughout.

Jackson's mostly acoustic guitar style is in abundant evidence all through the album. You'll no doubt be captivated (like I was and still am) when he gives out with arpeggiated lines that show his totally gifted approach to the instrument, his unique way with picking out particular phrases that hang together as a coherent statement yet are beautifully different.

The album worked for me from the first hearing I gave it back then. It was most definitely one of the standout albums of the later part of the '70s. Listening today, I find that the music does not diminish in stature but in fact sounds even better and more original than it did back then. It's prime for Michael Gregory, his guitar and his music, it's prime for the really excellent sympathetic performances of his fellow improvisers, and its prime as an artistic statement of where the music can be (and of course is). This one gets my highest recommendation. Bravo to ESP for re-releasing it; bravo for Michael Gregory for making it!

New Jazz From Bassist Adam Lane

Originally posted on March 11, 2008

For more cutting edge new jazz, consider upright bassist Adam Lane. He fronts a trio with saxman Vinny Golia and Vijay Anderson at the drums on several disks.

The one I’ve been listening to is Music Degree Zero (CIMP) and it’s a scorcher with the bonus of audiophile sound quality. Everyone is up for playing and it comes across as a definite statement of the music for today. There are others but this is a great place to start. I kid you not.