Denman Maroney: Martingale

Piano wizard Denman Maroney has been following his own dense path for the past three decades, including continued collaborations with such talents as bassist Mark Dresser and trumpeter Dave Douglas. His latest effort, Martingale, is a digital-only affair, featuring what might be a working quintet if these was anything like “performing for an audience” during the pandemic. This is Maroney’s third release with bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Bob Meyer aboard. Reedist Steven Frieder, a new name for me, has a relaxed presence and compelling voice bringing the swirling melodies of Maroney’s compositions to life. Utilizing a strategy he calls temporal harmony, Maroney’s writing employs loops of sound, and loops within loops, stacked one on top of the other, a strategy that builds rhythmic complexity as it unfolds in time. Blind Love is a real favorite, with an abundance of melodic flair and an exciting round of instrumental trades, adapting a time-honored small band gesture into Maroney’s forward-thinking compositions. The sole non-original, Off Centerpiece, is Maroney’s re-imagining of “Sweets” Edison and Jon Hendricks’ Centerpiece, first heard on Edison’s Sweetenings LP for Roulette in 1958. The tune is well-suited to Maroney’s proclivity for intertwined and repetitive structures, and the quartet essentially tears the song to pieces and puts it back together in an almost Cubist fashion, with Frieder prominently testifying on tenor. Maroney moves to hyperpiano for the stop-start rhythms of Time’s Out. His version of “prepared piano” involves making sounds “by stopping, sliding, bowing, plucking, strumming and striking the strings directly with a variety of tools including bars, bowls, knives, bells and mashers of metal, boxes and bottles of plastic, mallets of various kinds, and blocks of rubber,” as Maroney describes it in an essay on his website. Primal Sympathy starts out as a ballad with prominent bowed bass, then shifts to more deliberate playing when the drums enter around the 3-minute mark. On this 10-minute opus, the repetitive aspects of Maroney’s music, coupled with a slow tempo, make for some tedious listening, even with some fine improvising by Frieder in the second half. Things are back on track for the jaunty Sea Set Wheat, with the second appearance of the hyperpiano and an opportunity for Meyer to take an impressive and minimalist drum solo. The friendly Set Sea Sank ends the set with flair and a cheerfully bright mien. While Maroney’s music is not always easy to listen to, it’s always quite rewarding to stick with it, and this latest venture is well worth a listen.
Self-produced digital only release; Steven Frieder (rds) Denman Maroney (p, hyperpiano*) Ratzo Harris (b) Bob Meyer (drums & cymbals); Mt. Vernon, NY, February 6-7, 2020; Martingale/ Curl/ Blind Love/ Off Centerpiece/ All in the Loop/ New One Two/ Time's Out*/ Peer to Peer/ Primal Sympathy/ Sea Set Wheat*/ Set Sea Sank; 69:47. www.denmanmaroney.com

Aruán Ortiz with Andrew Cyrille & Mauricio Herrera: Inside Rhythmic Falls

A heady brew of piano and percussion awaits the open-hearted listener on Inside Rhythmic Falls, a project teaming Aruán Ortiz with Andrew Cyrille & Mauricio Herrera. Pianist Ortiz, who composed all the songs except for Para ti Nengón, the Cuban folk song that ends the set, is joined by a fellow Cuban, percussionist Mauricio Herrera and the great Andrew Cyrille on drums. The opening track adds vocalists Emeline Michel and Marlène Ramirez-Cancio, who join Ortiz in presenting his original poem Lucero Mundo in overlapping voices. It functions as an introduction to Ortiz’ vibrant world of sound. It’s a great world to get lost in, what with Ortiz’ lush pianism and boundless imagination. Then there’s the masterful Cyrille, one of the great responders in improvised music, whether he’s with Coleman Hawkins (1961), Cecil Taylor (starting in 1965), Oliver Lake & Reggie Workman in Trio 3 (starting in 1992), or recently with Bill McHenry and Bill Frisell. Cyrille’s skills remain fresh and his playing thoroughly engaged. Just listen to Conversation With the Oaks or the lively Argelier’s Disciple. Marimbula’s Mood intertwines Cyrille’s laid-back drums, Ortiz’ flights of fancy, and Herrera’s marimbula. It’s an instrument common in Cuba’s changüi style, the source of the jumpy and funky Golden Voice (Changüi), an 8 minute chase by piano and various drums. The meditative and subdued De Cantos y Ñáñigos (Ñáñigo is one name for an Afro-Cuban men's secret society) is next. The sublime opening has Ortiz exploring the bottom end of the piano with Cyrille on brushes. It gets better from there. The title track is divided into two parts. Inside Rhythmic Falls, Part I (Sacred Codes) is a brisk excursion into ecstatic percussion, with Cyrille’s tom-toms leading the way. Part II (Echoes) features an especially assertive and Ortiz charging forward with considerable energy for the first half before settling down to an introspective colloquy with the percussionists. Inside Rhythmic Falls is a magical encounter, happily recommended. Intakt CD 339; Aruán Ortiz (p, vcl) Andrew Cyrille (d) Mauricio Herrera (marimbula, changüi bongoes, catá, cowbells, vcl) Emeline Michel, Marlène Ramirez-Cancio (vcl on*); Lucero Mundo*/ Conversations with the Oaks/ Marimbula’s Mood/ Golden Voice (Changüi)/ De Cantos y Ñáñigos/ Inside Rhythmic Falls, Part I (Sacred Codes)/ Argelier’s Disciple/ Inside Rhythmic Falls, Part II (Echoes)/ El Ashé de la Palabra/ Para ti Nengón; 49:22. www.intaktrec.ch