   
|
||
 December 15, 2006 Cryptogramophone Records Earlier this year, I received two discs from Cryptogramophone Records for review: Erik Friedlander’s Prowl and the Ben Goldberg Quintet’s the door, the hat, the chair, the fact. Eric Hetherington reviewed them for SoundStage!, and while I was disappointed I didn’t get a chance to write about them, I was also somewhat relieved. The unusual music on both albums is hard to describe and requires some concentration. I’ve since picked up six more Cryptogramophone releases, and the music can be described as jazz with, in much of it, a strong strain of the European avant-garde. The label, in fact, says that it presents "state of the art recordings of creative jazz," a description that helps distinguish it from record companies that focus on more traditional jazz forms. Violinist Jeff Gauthier established Cryptogramophone in 1998. A close friend of his, bassist and composer Eric von Essen, had died two years before, and Gauthier wanted to be sure von Essen’s music wouldn’t be forgotten. "Eric von Essen was an important person in my life," Gauthier told me in an e-mail. "He was a friend, a musical mentor, and a colleague. When Eric died suddenly in 1996, he left behind over 100 unrecorded compositions." Von Essen’s death made Gauthier realize that his friend’s music, and that of others he knew from the growing music scene in Los Angeles, could go unheard and be lost forever if someone didn’t take steps to document it. "Creating a project to record Eric’s compositions was a way to keep Eric and his music alive," Gauthier continued. "There were also other projects that I was working on at the time that needed to be recorded, and because I didn’t trust another label to care as much about the music as I did, Cryptogramophone was born."
The Goatette (the name derives from Gauthier’s childhood nickname) shifts gears -- from fusion to free jazz to more traditional bop -- with little effort, and occasionally in the same tune. Gauthier’s "Ahfufat" begins with a Mahavishnu Orchestra-like feel, but Joel Hamilton’s double bass has the paradoxical effect of making the tune sound more contemporary than an electric bass would. Cline’s unusual sound effects at the beginning also contribute to the freshness and vitality. As the piece develops, it veers off into a passage of free improvisation, as Hamilton and drummer Alex Cline (Nels Cline’s brother) hold the center down. Nels Cline and David Witham, who contributes keyboards and effects, construct a mosaic of electronic swirls and blips that lead into a mournful exchange between Gauthier and Alex Cline. "Ahfufat" then builds to a glorious, beautiful cacophony before returning to its opening melody.
Hill has only recently gotten the attention he has long deserved. His Blue Note albums, including Point of Departure and Judgment, broke with the soul-jazz trend that had revitalized the label in the mid-1960s. Hill took a less usual direction that swung hard while showing the influence of the more avant-garde experiments of that decade. In the liner note for New Monastery, Nels Cline is careful to point out that "this is not a ‘tribute record’ in the conventional sense." Cline and the other musicians on the disc use Hill’s music as a jumping-off point, and his sense of musical freedom as inspiration. Most of the tracks are medleys of Hill compositions -- for example, "Yokada Yokada" is paired with "The Rumproller," the title track of a 1965 Lee Morgan album, and as close to a typical Blue Note tune of that era as Hill ever wrote. Cline subverts it by giving it a humorous turn that makes it sound like a parody of various ’60s movie themes. At 23 minutes, the longest track combines "No Doubt," "11/8," and "Dance with Death." It takes some patience to follow the players as they toy with various sounds, but there are no static moments. There’s occasional static of another kind, as when Nels Cline lets a note decay during one solo and the throbbing buzz of his tube amp mingles with the note, then overpowers it. Devin Hoff on bass and Scott Amendola on drums help you keep your balance during this marathon workout, in which Cline, Bobby Bradford on cornet, Ben Goldberg on clarinet, and Andrea Parkins on accordion, play solos that are at times breathtakingly beautiful, and at others bracingly odd and unnerving. Improvisational and open to chance, the music on New Monastery is certainly jazz in spirit -- yet any label seems too restrictive. The same is true of many other Cryptogramophone releases. Pianist Myra Melford’s The Image of Your Body is akin to the other discs discussed here while sounding little like them. The first track, "Equal Grace," begins slowly, Melford creating a haunting mood on harmonium behind trumpeter Cuong Vu’s opening statement. The tune shifts subtly to a more swinging feel, but the melodies are based on the scales of India (where the harmonium is popular) and the Middle East. While many of the compositions here reflect Melford’s interest in Eastern cultures, she’s also open to more traditional jazz influences, as well as to the musical challenges set by such musicians as Cecil Taylor and Henry Threadgill (with whom she studied). While it would be misleading to say there is anything that can be described as the Cryptogramophone "sound," Jeff Gauthier obviously chooses to release music that people might not otherwise hear. "It’s not like I’m trying to stretch people’s ears," he told me; "it’s just that my ears had been stretched at a pretty early age by listening to great music. Music that seemed fairly mainstream 20 years ago strikes people as ‘outside’ now." Still, Gauthier hopes to reintroduce people to the idea that music can be unpredictable. "One can only hope that the cultural awareness will shift back to the other end of the spectrum soon, so that people doing something a little bit different will be welcomed again with open ears." While Cryptogramophone’s music may vary in style or approach, its discs have one thing in common: "I’m not an audiophile in the sense that I’m obsessed with gear or a particular recording technique," Gauthier says. "I just really appreciate when music is recorded well and sounds good. People can pretty much be guaranteed that if they pick up one of our CDs, it will sound musical and natural." Engineer Rich Breen has been instrumental in the sound of nearly all of Cryptogramophone’s recordings, which are strikingly clear and spacious, with instruments placed precisely in the soundstage. Although Breen records digitally, Cryptogramophone’s discs have the warmth and intimacy one normally associates with analog. Cryptogramophone releases fewer than ten albums a year, but each is unique and gives adventurous listeners the thrill of discovering music that will open their minds and ears. I found some of the label’s discs daunting on first listen. But past experiences with music I didn’t really like at first but sought to understand (e.g., Captain Beefheart, Don Cherry) have taught me that, when I begin to understand a difficult piece of music, patience can often lead to exhilaration. I’ve had that experience with each of the eight Cryptogramophone releases I own. …Joseph Taylor Note: Cryptogramophone owns indiejazz.com, which sells exciting new music from a variety of labels. Cryptogramophone is distributed in the US by Rykodisc.
|
||
|
Von Essen had numerous friends and
students in Los Angeles, and many of them contribute to three CDs Gauthier produced as a
tribute to the composer. Each volume of The Music of Eric von Essen contains ten of
his works, with five groups of musicians performing two songs each. One of the most
striking aspects of von Essen’s work is how often it combines beauty and pathos
without becoming maudlin. In "Petit Rayon," interpreted in Volume II by a
quartet led by Jeff Gauthier, a captivating melody evokes feelings of sadness and tragedy.
Von Essen could also write joyous swingers, such as Volume II’s
"BC/Jezebel," which lets guitarist Nels Cline show off his chops; and Volume
I’s "Benny," in which trumpeter Stacy Rowles leads a quintet in a
relaxed, cerebral re-creation of 1950s West Coast jazz. "I couldn’t imagine a
world without this music," Gauthier told me. After hearing these discs, I feel the
same.
The Jeff Gauthier Goatette interprets
two von Essen compositions on its most recent release, One and the Same. The
album covers a lot of stylistic territory -- Gauthier cites musical influences as diverse
as Bach, Stravinsky, John McLaughlin, and King Crimson -- but it doesn’t wander
aimlessly. Von Essen’s deceptively simple "Solflicka," with its pleasant
melody, at first suggests 1970s jazz fusion, but its subtle harmonic shifts provide
tremendous space for the soloists, especially Gauthier, pianist David Witham, and
guitarist Nels Cline, who explore different styles that take the song beyond fusion.
Cline’s "Don’t Answer That" is a demanding composition, with odd chord
voicings and occasional forays into atonality. The second von Essen piece, "Rina, Pt.
1," like "Solflicka," combines complexity and accessibility.
Nels Cline joined the rock band Wilco
last year, but he demonstrates an impressive knowledge of jazz-guitar techniques on One
and the Same and on his own new disc for Cryptogramophone, New Monastery: A View
Into the Music of Andrew Hill. It’s easy to hear why Jeff Tweedy asked him
to join Wilco. Cline knows rock as well as he does jazz guitar, and his experiments with
feedback and other electronic noise mesh well with the direction Wilco has taken on its
last three albums. Cline’s willingness to use whatever it takes to make his musical
points makes him the perfect guitarist for what Gauthier is up to on One and the Same,
and gives him a unique vantage point from which to approach the music of jazz pianist and
composer Andrew Hill.