Jazz
Mary Halvorson is an American avant-garde jazz guitarist. Everything invented back in the sixties and seventies tends to get called avant-garde jazz, so maybe that term is due for a review. Regardless, it’s certainly true that she’s one of the most respected guitarists on the international jazz scene.
For this record, she once again brings in musicians she trusts: trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, trombonist Jacob Garchik, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and bassist Nick Dunston.
“The Gate” opens with a strange but measured melody, giving way to a relaxed, lovely ensemble passage from all the players. The intoxicating sounds of guitar and vibraphone let the trombone solo develop, courtesy of Garchik, playing within the dynamic ternary time signatures and the familiar avant-garde-jazz harmonies of this track.
Halvorson’s early sonic experiments dominate the introduction to “The Tower”, into which the rest of the instruments gradually fold within a subtle, extravagant ballad. Brennan’s subsequent vibraphone solo gradually drifts away from classicism, concluding in a dissonant atmosphere with help from the horns, which then play a kind of coda, leaving us once more in a more standard mood.
Now it’s O’Farrill’s turn for a trumpet solo, accompanied by arpeggios from the very present vibraphone on “Collapsing Mouth”. The composition perhaps lacks a bit of vitality, since the absence of clear melodic lines at a slow tempo always brings a certain tedium, made worse by a fresh vibraphone solo that, were it not for its less obvious harmonies, would sound like standard elevator music. The subsequent trumpet solo doesn’t help pull us out of that mood either, despite the player’s evident quality.
The exotic, dark and unsettling style of “Unscrolling” follows the same concept as the previous track, but here we do get a clear melody presented by the horns. It’s guilty of repeating another slow tempo, but that makes room for a more than fitting double bass solo, where Dunston uses the bow and a spectacular technique to masterfully distort his instrument. The inclusion of some horn melodies closes out this track.
Fusing in some more rock-oriented ideas, we get “Desiderata”. A clean first section gives way to a second with a deliberately chosen distortion, pulling Halvorson away from Wes Montgomery’s sound and into John McLaughlin territory. While it’s worth crediting the decision to include a song like this on the record, it’s a fairly dull track that not even the following vibraphone solo can rescue. Also deserving a mention is the band’s extremely polished playing, which fails to grasp that this moment called for a bit more fury.
The appearance of a violin, in a collaboration with Laurie Anderson, along with the intent to build experimental passages on “Incardine”, leads us to link the composition to something Mahavishnu Orchestra might have written almost 50 years ago. So there’s no real element of surprise here.
A short drum solo, courtesy of Fujiwara, opens “Tailhead”, which immediately sounds welcome as it takes more melodious, interesting paths, within a somewhat standard order. The dynamics in the repeated main motif are particularly well judged, giving way to a trombone solo while the band’s elegant accompaniment wraps around it. The subtle harmonic counterpoint Halvorson gives us on guitar, before returning to the main ideas, is a magnificent piece of musical language.
On “Ultramarine”, the instrument that gets the first spotlight is the double bass, joined by a powerful guitar in a kind of dialectical scuffle, which really grabs your attention as you wait to see where it’s headed. It ends up flowing into curious chords, straight out of rock’n’roll but conceptually pulled into the world of jazz, allowing for a fresh, cheerful dialogue between vibraphone and guitar. The arrival of the trumpet solo brings to mind some of Frank Zappa’s work even more, thanks to its carefree, easygoing style. And the closing melodies leave you with a genuine smile on your face.
In short, an album with a fairly unremarkable middle section, but with bookends attractive enough to warrant a recommended listen, despite its ups and downs.
Writer: David Sàez