Erik Friedlander : "Skin"

(Siam, 2000)

Cellist Erik Friedlander continues to explore new vistas of expression in the progressive modern jazz idiom. In alto saxophonist Andy Laster he has a partner with whom to contrast stylistically, while electric bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi and percussionist brother Satoshi create a rhythmic foundation that lives and breathes on its own. The Atlas Cello Quartet is also featured on most of this program. There are five "standards" of the 11 compositions that Friedlander interprets. Henry Mancini's "Susan" is serene and beautiful, with slight Afro-Cuban spice and melody similar to "Invitation." The title track "Skin I" is written by Julius Hemphill with Laster assimilating the writer's signature outcry over kinetic, almost industrial percussion and a 4/4 Afro-groove. "Sahel Va Danya" is a creative raga; "Eclipse" the Charles Mingus moody bell ringer, features Laster again wailing; and a solo cello version of "Golden Dawn" takes the Carlos Santana piece into very different sonic areas from the original. The rest are Friedlander's originals. Balkan measures of 7/4 and 4/4 collapse into no time. Slight snippets of cello, bass, and percussion lead to harder, then deliberate swing with harmonic bass overtones on "Split Screen," Friedlander's most involved writing. There's the urban landscape funk of "Fekunk," and the 6/8 Afro-groove "Life In-Line." The total string package is most prevalent on the pensive "Reflections" and more 20th century, contemporary-natured on "White Mountain." The ensemble is at its darkest during "Doomwatcher," replete with free emotional exchanges. Because Friedlander explores many avenues of improvisation and composition, he can't be pegged; his work doesn't fit into a definable bag. You could call it great modern music, and that would be enough. The sounds are challenging, eminently accessible, and definitely compelling, marking more progress in this marvelous musician's burgeoning career. Highly recommended, and a step beyond his previous CD, Topaz.

Michael G. Nastos (Allmusic)

HERE

Michael Moore trio : "Holocene"

(Ramboy, 2008)

As a member of Amsterdam's venerable ICP Orchestra, saxophonist Michael Moore's musicianship and playfulness can be assumed, a part of the raconteur spirit that unites the members of Misha Mengelberg's ensemble. Outside the ICP, Moore is involved in a number of projects, as diverse as they are satisfyingly, realized. From the Bob Dylan interpretations of Jewels & Binoculars to the offbeat Available Jelly and his longstanding Clusone Trio with Han Bennink and Ernst Reijiseger, Moore's wide-ranging interests never lack a sense of full commitment to the project.Moore seems to enjoy three-piece settings. Along with Clusone and Jewels & Binoculars, Moore has released two records (on his Ramboy label) with Fred Hersch and Mark Helias, and now premieres a great triad with Guy Klusevcek and Erik Friedlander. The title, Holocene, comes from the Greek word meaning "entirely new," but as Moore explains in the brief liner notes refers here to the holocene epoch, the geological period between the last ice age and the current day. It's a lot of temporal ground to cover, but the 13 tunes here, all composed by Moore, are sweepingly romantic. The rich, wet midrange of clarinet, accordion and cello can't help but evoke rainy afternoons and red-wine dinners, melancholy and nostalgia, and Moore is deft enough to hide his sentiments inside the music, rather than smearing them across its face. Moments of abstraction are mirrored by segments of sheer loveliness.

Kurt Gottschalk (All About Jazz)

HERE

Roy Nathanson : "Fire at Keaton's bar & grill"

(Six Degrees, 2000)

Roy Nathanson has always been a storyteller. In the late 1980s, his band with Curtis Fowlkes, called the Jazz Passengers, echoed the voices he heard from his New York streets. Deranged and Decomposed and Broken Night/Red Light, both nearly impossible to find recordings, spoke of multi-ethnic ramblings, preachers, and strange drugs. Nathanson also wrote music for performance artist David Cale, accenting his tales. Later work with the Lounge Lizards and the nineties reincarnation of the Jazz Passengers with vocalist Debbie Harry of Blondie fame, further broadened Nathanson's musical palate. He is a showman with an inclination for burlesque, a joke and a good time.
Fire is the full realization of his storytelling. He constructs an imaginary tavern, with an assemblage of patrons and odd characters that include Deborah Harry as Cups, the bartender everyone lusts for, Elvis Costello the narrator, Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs as the would be arsonist, and various patrons that include a micro and a macro physicist. Not since The Who's Tommy or, well...The Van Trapp families exploits has musical theatre captured my imagination. Nathanson's theater is all about the bar's characters. Scored with tangos, a saxophone quartet, funk, organ grease, and Jazz Passengers circus music, the musical vignettes shed light on the tragic night of the fire, hint at relationships and turmoil, before disappearing into the smoke.
Nancy King and Kenny Washington sing/scat "Bar Stool Paradise" ala' "Moody's Mood For Love" at true lush life where a few drinks create eternal love, at least for tonight.
Nathanson casts his musical theatre with top musicians and eclectic styles. Where else can a B3, as if in a make believe jazz night, play opposite a cello and Dobro "kid song" next to a love song between two gay particle physicists? Somehow Elvis Costello's voice has become the narration of our times and Harry's graduation from Blondie signals a collective call for all of us to grow up already. Nathanson has given us the postmodern-Cheers, then burned it to the ground. See, jazz can be fun music, it can be theatre, and it can tell stories.

Mark Corroto (All About Jazz)

1- Fire suite 1
2- Fire suite 2
3- Fire suite 3
4- Bar stool paradise
5- Last call
6- Jazz night at Keaton's
7- A bend in the night
8- Carol Ann
9- Toast quartet
10- Loss
11- Cups
12- Fire suite reprise

musicians :

Roy Nathanson : alto, tenor & soprano sax (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12)
Bill Ware : vibes, piano, hammond B3 (3,8,11,12)
Brad Jones : bass (1,3,5,8,12)
EJ Rodriguez : drums, percussion (1,3,5,11,12)
Marc Ribot : guitar (3,4,11)
Erik Friedlander : cello (1,10)
Jay Rodriguez : tenor sax (2,3,6,9)
Curtis Fowlkes : trombone (5,6,11)
Ben Perowsky : drums (3,6,8)
Anthony Coleman : piano (7)
Sam Furnace : baritone sax (2,3,9)
Ned Rothenberg : alto sax (2,3,9)
Rob Thomas : violin (5,6)
Charles Earland : hammond B3 (4,6)
Marcus Rojas : tuba (11)
Deidre Rodman : piano (5)
Cyrus Chestnut : piano (1)
David Gilmore : guitar (8)
Hector Del Curto : bandonion (5)
Danny Blume & Chris kelly : programming (8)
Mike Marshall : dobro (10)
Rob Johnson : trumpet (6,11)
David Driver & Darius de Haas : vocals (7)
Nancy King : vocal (4)
Kenny Washington : vocal (4)
Juan "Coco" de Jesus : vocal (10)
Corey Harris : vocal (8)
Deborah Harry : vocal (11)
Richard Butler : vocal (5)
Elvis Costello : vocal (1,3, 12)

HERE

A confederacy of dances vol. 1

(Einstein, 1992)

Based in New York City since the late '70s, the Roulette collective has been sponsoring new music events for years. By the time this compilation was released in 1992, Roulette had organized nearly a thousand performances, many featuring some of the most outrageous cutting-edge music. This CD collects excerpts from some of the best concerts during a seven-year period, and unsurprisingly, the uniformly stellar performances sparkle with excitement. Whether a Billy Bang solo violin tribute to Albert Ayler, the premiere of one of John Zorn's game pieces, David Weinstein's deconstruction of national anthems, or the shimmering beauty of vocalist Jeanne Lee and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in tandem, the 14 tracks should delight anyone open to adventurous sounds.

Steve Loewy (All Music)

notes :

*1) : Bill Frisell, guitar & effects (16/04/1988)
*2) : Christian Marclay, turntables (14/03/1987)
*3) : Tohban Djan : Ikue Mori, drums & drum machine. Luli Shioi, voice & bass. Hahn Rowe, violin. Davey Williams, guitar (12/11/1989)
*4) : Zeena Parkins, electric harp & electronics (22/03/1990)
*5) : Billy Bang, violin (26/02/1988)
*6) : Anthony Coleman, sampling keyboards. Jim Pugliese, drums & sampler. Don Byron, clarinet. Guy Klucevsek, accordion (30/03/1990)
*7) : David Weinstein, sampling & electronic keyboard (27/04/1989)
*8) : Chris Cochrane, guitar (14/11/1987)
*9) : Ron Kuivila, home-made electronics & microcomputer (25/10/1987)
*10) : John Zorn, reeds. Vicki Bodner, oboe & english horn. Carol Emanuel, harp. Wayne Horvitz, electronic keyboard. Robert James, tapes & sfx. Arto Lindsay, voice & guitar. Christian Marclay, turntables. M.E. Miller, drums. Ursula Oppens, piano. Robin Holcomb, prompter (27/04/1984)
*11) : Mary Rowell, violin. Erik Friedlander, cello. Jonathan Storck, doublebass (23/03/1991)
*12) : David Weinstein, sampling & electronic keyboard (27/04/1989)
*13) : Shelley Hirsch, voice. Ikue Mori, drum machines. David Shea, turntables. Jim Staley, trombone (18/07/1991)
*14) : Jeanne Lee, voice. Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet (21/10/1989)

HERE

Myra Melford : "The same river, twice"

(Gramavision, 1996)

Myra Melford's studies with avant-bop pianist Don Pullen and idiosyncratic jazz composer Henry Threadgill are reflected in the seamless combination of structure and free improvisation in both her writing and piano playing. Her only release on the Gramavision label, The Same River, Twice nicely exemplifies the mix with a selection of sprawling, exploratory numbers and shorter, more straightforward pieces. On relatively accessible cuts like "Bound Unbound" and "Changes I & II," Melford incorporates hints of boogie-woogie and soul into dense hard bop heads, providing plenty of room for a series of clever solo statements and boisterous unison stretches by members of her ensemble. Longer pieces like "Crush" and "The Large Ends the Way" are harder to penetrate, but repeated exposure reveals an ingenuous blend of frenetic, open-ended sections and slower, ethereal passages. The stellar backing is provided by trumpeter Dave Douglas, cellist Erik Friedlander, drummer Michael Sarin, and reed player Chris Speed. Melford's own impressive work at the piano finds her spanning the tumultuously free playing of Cecil Taylor and more blues-tinged, hard-bop keyboard terrain. A fine release by one of the brightest composers and players to appear on the jazz scene in the '90s.

Stephen Cook (All Music)

HERE

Kevin Norton + Laura Seaton + Erik Friedlander = Framework

(Newport Classic, 1991)

HERE