Three-Layer Cake: Stove Top (Pandemic duos and trios, #1)

  As technology evolved over the decades, recorded music changed from being a documentation of an event in real time to the manipulation of sounds made at different times and places. It no longer became necessary to assemble a group of musicians in the same setting to move from nothing to a finished product. Mark Dresser pioneered the use of what he termed “telematics,” the interface of performance, communication networks and computers to provide, in his words, the “ability of musicians to perform live together despite geographical separation.” That’s one way to collaborate remotely. Another method involves transmitting digital music files to build an album in what amounts to an extension of overdubbing and remixing in an improvisational context. A number of pandemic-related duos and trio projects made by this method have been released in 2021. Here’s a look at some of them ...

First up is Three-Layer Cake, the name that guitarist Brandon Seabrook, electric bassist Mike Watt, and percussionist Mike Pride have given to their new project, with each musician recording at home. Seabrook was in Brooklyn, Watt was in San Pedro, California, and Pride, who mixed the music, was in Chester, New York, during the October-December 2020 period when Stove Top was put together. The RareNoise label lives up to its name with this collection of fractured grooves, gonzo guitaristics and trippy banjo stylings, along with sprinklings of glockenspiel and organ. The brash unpredictability of the music is no surprise at all, considering that all three players have boldly ignored genre limitations throughout their careers. Bassist Watt started out in the Minutemen (1980-1985), worked with Nels Cline in the late Nineties, and joined Iggy Pop for a decade, among many other projects. Most recently he was part of the crew that recorded A Love Supreme Electric - A Salvo Inspired by John Coltrane in late 2019. String-man Seabrook made his recording debut with a John Zorn project in 2003, and has gone on to play with the likes of trumpeter Peter Evans, bassist Ben Allison, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and the collective Mostly Other People Do The Killing. His duo with pianist Simon Nababtov was recently issued by Leo Records in England. Percussion whiz Pride has made music with a wildly varied cast of characters, including Anthony Braxton, Jason Stein, Nels Cline, political punk band Millions of Dead Cops, his own bands (including From Bacteria To Boys, Drummer’s Corpse, and I Hate Work), and a couple of coop trios, Pulverize the Sound, with Peter Evans and Tim Dahl, and Period, with Charlie Looker and Chuck Bettis. These guys are insanely busy, at least in normal times, and it took Watt’s podcast to make this collaboration happen. After Pride appeared on The Watt From Pedro Show, where the two really connected, the drummer proposed a project for them to work on together. Pride brought Seabrook into the picture, and Three-Layer Cake was born. Most of the pieces began with Pride recording drum tracks for Watt to play over, with Seabrook adding his own special spice on top. The guitarist was the instigator on the luminous Shepherds, with shimmering glockenspiel and a spacious bass line from Watt. The bassist took the lead for Ballad of the Gobsmacked, which closes the disc with two minutes of mysterious stop-and-go rhythms. There’s never a dull moment on Stove Top and plenty of musical twists and turns for your extended pleasure. Recommended. 

RareNoise RNR0128 (CD)/RNR128LP (green vinyl); Brandon Seabrook (g, bjo, tapes) Mike Watt (el b) Mike Pride (d, glock, bells, org); Brooklyn, NY (Seabrook), San Pedro, CA (Watt) & Chester, NY (Pride), October-December 2020; Beatified, Bedraggled, and Bombed/ Big Burner/ A Durable Quest/ Shepherds/ Tiller/ Primary Fuel/ Luminous Range - Anxious Valve/ Ballad of the Gobsmacked; 40:06. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Sonar with David Torn: Tranceportation, Volume 2

American guitar wizard David Torn joined the Swiss quartet Sonar for a week’s worth of sessions in the spring of 2019. Now what’s billed as Sonar with David Torn is back with Tranceportation, Volume 2. When I wrote enthusiastically about Volume 1, I described the sound as “neo-psychedelic trance music with a beat.” This second helping is, not at all surprisingly, more of the same. The grooves are relentless and the electronic textures are raw over the course of 4 long tracks. Sequels like this one that live up to their predecessors are easy to write about: if you were transported by Volume 1, you’ll be more than happy to get lost in Volume 2. Great on headphones, by the way, especially on the dub-wise Tranceportation. 

RareNoise RNR0114 (CD)/ RNR114LP (vinyl); David Torn (el g, live looping) Stephen Thelen, Bernhard Wagner (tritone g) Christian Kuntner (tritone b) Manuel Pasquinelli (d, perc); Bellmund, Switzerland, April 29-May 3, 2019; Triskaidekaphilia/ Tranceportation/ Slowburn/ Cloud Chamber; 42:10. www.rarenoiserecords.com

 

Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft & Nels Cline: Music From the Early 21st Century

When Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft & Nels Cline get together to make a load of noise, they might as well call themselves the Three Provocateurs. On Music From the Early 21st Century, free-wheeling guitarist Cline, triple-threat keyboardist Saft, and the happily pounding Previte on drums waste no time stirring things up. Drawn from a quick tour of very small (100-200 seats) off-the-beaten-track Northeastern venues in the spring of 2019, this generous helping of free improvisations is a total gas from start to finish. Predictably unpredictable, the trio’s sound combines hard-rocking grooves, funky organ swells and synth flares, and crazed guitar fills plus the occasional shout of encouragement. Track times range from 3:39 for the gentle Totes to 14:04 for the mysterious and intense Occession. The prevalence of fade-outs on the disc makes me think that many of these tracks were excerpted from lengthier improvisations. Saft did the mix, and co-produced the CD with Previte, and together, they did a fine job of selecting, editing and sequencing the tracks to create a dynamic listening experience. Happily recommended.
RareNoise RNR0115 (CD & LP); Nels Cline (el g, effects) Jamie Saft (Hammond org, Fender Rhodes el p, MiniMoog) Bobby Previte (d); Beacon, NY, Hudson, NY, Milheim, PA, & NYC, May 9-12, 2019; Photobomb/ Paywall/ Parkour/ The Extreme Present/ Totes/ Occession/ The New Weird/ Machine Learning/ Woke/ Flash Mob; 76:37. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Sonar with David Torn: Tranceportation, Volume 1

Cool and unusual guitar sounds abound on Tranceportation, Volume 1, by the Swiss quartet Sonar with David Torn. The music was recorded live in the studio. It’s a sometimes sinister mass of electric guitar textures over a solid beat from drummer Manuel Pasquinelli. Stephen Thelen, Sonar’s main composer, and Bernhard Wagner are credited as playing “tritone guitars;” and Christian Kuntner is similarly noted as playing “tritone bass.” It’s a particular tuning that lends itself to the hypnotic and propulsive minimalism that Sonar is known for. This is the unit’s second collaboration with guitar wizard David Torn. They saved the best track for the end, with Tunnel Drive. Pasquinelli really bears down on a hard groove, Kuntner plays deep bass lines, and the guitars wail and collide on top. Neo-psychedelic trance music with a beat: just what the world needs right now.
RareNoise RNR0113 (CD)/ RNR113LP (vinyl); David Torn (el g, live looping) Stephen Thelen, Bernhard Wagner (tritone g) Christian Kuntner (tritone b) Manuel Pasquinelli (d, perc); Bellmund, Switzerland, April 29-May 3, 2019; Labyrinth/ Partitions/ Red Sky/ Tunnel Drive; 39:03. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Dave Liebman/ Adam Rudolph/ Hamid Drake: CHI

Improvisation must be as old as music itself. After all, the first sounds we might recognize as musical arose from nothing. But of course, the tools have changed radically over the millennia, and the deeply conjoined trio of Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph, and Hamid Drake uses anything they can to create something from nothing on their new CD, CHI. Saxophones, an array of percussion instruments from around the world, voices, electronics, and the occasional piano meet in a invigorating display of instant communication. Rudolph and Drake go back a long way together, to their time in the Mandingo Griot Society in the late Seventies. And since the late Sixties, Dave Liebman has established himself on hundreds of recordings as a free spirit and a reliably potent musical force. Their improvisations here range from under 3 minutes for the introductory Becoming to the quarter-hour of Emergence, and the titles they’ve assigned to their free-wheeling inventions are roughly descriptive of the music. Thus Flux is mostly a continuous changing flow with some intense drumming and an aggressive soprano saxophone solo. Continuum builds on Drake’s cymbal beat and Rudolph’s hand drums, with a keening saxophone emerging after two minutes and leading the way into a passionate musical conversation. The carefully sculpted Formless Form features Liebman’s slightly hesitant piano and steady but delicate percussion. Percussion dominates the first section of Emergence. Liebman enters with a sinuous soprano line, and the piece slowly builds to a exciting three-way improvisation. The sax drops out, the drummers engage one another, and the mood changes for a while into a more pastoral kind of feeling before revving up again and slowly drifting off. Whirl ends the program of nearly an hour with a piece centered on Rudolph’s sintir, a bass lute used by the Gnawa people of northern Africa. His swirling bass lines meld with Drake’s frame drum and lilting saxophone lines from Liebman to create a mellow conclusion to their encounter. Recommended.
RareNoise RNR102; Dave Liebman (ss, ts, p on *, wooden recorder) Adam Rudolph (hand drumset [kongos, djembe, tarija], p on #, sintir, multi-phonic vcl, perc, elec) Hamid Drake (d, vcl, frame drum, perc); NYC, May 8, 2018; Becoming#/ Flux/ Continuum/ Formless Form*/ Emergence / Whirl; 56:00. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow & Bobby Previte: You Don’t Know the Life

The perpetually surprising trio of Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow & Bobby Previte’s latest venture is You Don’t Know the Life. After two releases with Saft at the acoustic piano, he limits himself this time around to two different electric organs and a Baldwin electric harpsichord that was manufactured from 1966 to the early Seventies. In addition to a pair of Saft originals and a few group improvisations, the trio’s typically eclectic repertoire includes a Bill Evans tune, a piece by the late Roswell Rudd, a couple of standards (Moonlight in Vermont and Alfie), and the title track, a song originally performed by the Moving Sidewalks, a Texas band from the late Sixties which was founded by future ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Evans’ tribute to producer Orrin Keepnews, Re: Person I Knew, kicks things off in surprisingly upbeat fashion. Dark Squares, the first improvisation, is well-titled for this somber investigation, showcasing Previte’s delicate cymbals and Swallow’s careful bass. Water From Breath is another improvisation, a sort of funky blues with a moody Saft out in front. Clocking in at just over six minutes, You Don’t Know the Life is the longest piece of the set. As played here, it’s a slow-moving dirge performed with impeccable grace by the trio. Previte’s tom-toms take the lead for a brief look at Rudd’s Ode to a Green Frisbee, with snaky organ lines by Saft. Two of Saft’s original compositions follow, The Cloak, an energetic romp, and Stable Manifold, an orderly blues line that rolls right along. The meanderingly self-absorbed The Break of the Flat Land is the last of the collective improvisations and the least interesting piece. Things get back on track with a finger-snapping version of Moonlight in Vermont, a favorite of jazz musicians since it was introduced by Margaret Whiting in 1944. A faithful version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s Alfie concludes this largely satisfying excursion by this redoubtable trio.
RareNoise RNR101; Jamie Saft (Hammond org, Whitehall org, Baldwin elec harpsichord) Steve Swallow (el b) Bobby Previte (d); NYC, January 2018; Re: Person I Knew/ Dark Squares/ Water From Breath/ You Don’t Know the Life/ Ode to a Green Frisbee/ The Cloak/ Stable Manifold/ The Break of the Flat Land/ Moonlight in Vermont/ Alfie; 41:14. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Jamie Saft Quartet: Blue Dream

You can never be sure what multi-instrumentalist Jamie Saft will be up to next. Recent endeavors include very noisy electric music (Slobber Pup), a collaboration with Iggy Pop, Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte (2017's Loneliness Road), a solo piano session (2018's Solo a Genova), or, most intriguingly, Blue Dream by the Jamie Saft Quartet. This relatively straight-ahead session features tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry, bassist Bradley Christopher Jones, and drummer Nasheet Waits in a program of Saft’s well-crafted original compositions plus three standards. Saft's Vessels is up first. Opening quietly and then growing more intense with every passing moment, the tune finds Saft in a McCoy Tyner bag as McHenry blows softly through the changes before building up a head of steam. Jones and Waits keep careful control of the tune’s dynamics. Equanimity rolls right along, stoked by Waits’ introductory solo and McHenry’s passionate cry. Saft really digs into the tune for an impressively wide-ranging piano solo, complete with a few prods from McHenry. Like Saft, McHenry is comfortable in a broad range of musical expression. The saxophonist wails on the boisterous Sword’s Water, plays sweetly on Violets For Your Furs, and is suitably passionate on the Coltrane-ish Infinite Compassion. Clearly he’s a player who enjoys challenges, rising to the occasion every time. The way that Saft is playing on this date makes me think he’s having a ball with this group. It’s a little hard to pick a tune that really showcases his playing, but if I had to highlight one song, it would be Words and Deeds, where his bluesy sensibility and astute sense of solo structure come together perfectly. The closing track is There’s a Lull in My Life, a 1937 song by the team of Mack Gordon and Harry Revel, in a thoroughly gorgeous and immaculately poised performance. Without a single dull moment, Blue Dream is a happy surprise and an exquisite exercise in modern small group jazz. Highly recommended. Wonder what Saft will be up to next time ...
RareNoise RNR095; Bill McHenry (ts) Jamie Saft (p) Bradley Christopher Jones (b) Nasheet Waits (d); Kingston NY, fall 2017; Vessels/ Equanimity/ Sword’s Water/ Violets For Your Furs/ Blue Dream/ Infinite Compassion/ Sweet Lorraine/ Walls/ Decamping/ Words and Deeds/ Mysterious Arrangements/ There’s a Lull in My Life; 55:18. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Cuong Vu 4-tet: Change in the Air

On Change in the Air, the Cuong Vu 4-tet features the trumpeter in the familiar company of guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Luke Bergman, and drummer Ted Poor. Each musician has at least one tune to contribute, and the resulting music is heavy on atmosphere and low-key sensuous grooves. The main attraction is the lovingly enlaced melodic lines of Vu and Frisell. Their nuanced interactions rely on their instantaneous reactions to one another that move the music forward. A steady Bergman on electric bass and a generally subdued Poor on drums provide plenty of comradely support. All That's Left Of Me Is You, a gentle ballad by Poor, opens the disc in a melancholy mood. Alive, another Poor composition, is slightly more upbeat, featuring some growling trumpet from Vu and country-styled licks from Frisell amid the active drumming of Poor. Towards the end of the 9-minute piece, Frisell’s guitar work becomes more heated in response to Bergman’s doom-laden bass playing. The first of Frisell’s compositions is Look, Listen, with a simple, almost sleepy melody. There’s not much to it, but Vu’s crystal-clear trumpet is always a pleasure. Bergman’s one song, Must Concentrate, opens with a lazy bossa nova feel, accentuated by Frisell’s crisp guitar chords. A surprisingly robust second half is more rock-oriented, with Vu’s trumpet out front. The last of Poor’s three tunes, Lately, lowers the heat again, with a theme that would fit a romantic comedy from the Sixties. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not! The next three tunes are by Vu. Round and Round, one of the disc’s highlights, has an angular melody with a few surprising leaps. Vu and Bergman play the head together before an absorbing section of collective improvisation. Another high point is the intriguingly named March Of the Owl and the Bat. It more than lives up to the title with an animated Poor on drums, some stinging guitar from Frisell, and a seriously raging Vu. Round and Round (Back Around) is a sort of reprise, with ruminative trumpet and the friendly clatter of Poor’s on his drum rims. The final pair of tunes were composed by Frisell. There’s not much happening in the wistful Long Ago. The similarly downcast Far From Here offers more to engage the players and the listener, with an attractive trumpet solo and Frisell’s glistening guitar chords. Change In The Air is an intermittently interesting collection of moody performances that’s worth a listen.
RareNoise RNR091; Cuong Vu (tp) Bill Frisell (g) Luke Bergman (b; guitars on *) Ted Poor (d; Fender Rhodes el p on *); Seattle, WA, May 14-16, 2017; All That's Left Of Me Is You/ Alive/ Look, Listen/ Must Concentrate/ Lately*/ Round and Round/ March Of the Owl and the Bat/ Round and Round (Back Around)/ Long Ago/ Far From Here; 52:37. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Dave Liebman, Tatsuya Nakatani, & Adam Rudolph: The Unknowable

The distinct aura of ritual permeates The Unknowable, a tantalizingly edgy session by the trio of Dave Liebman, Tatsuya Nakatani, & Adam Rudolph. Liebman, heard mostly on tenor or soprano saxophones, also plays a couple of flutes, recorder, piri (a double-reed instrument from Korea), and on one piece, a Fender Rhodes electric piano, while Nakatani and Rudolph perform on a roomful of percussion, with drums and other noisemakers from around the globe. Arising from a central core of innate trust among the three musicians, these spontaneous compositions are short and focused. The pieces are also generally quieter than you might expect from a saxophone and percussion lineup. Among my favorite tracks are the energizing workout of The Simple Truth, Present Time, which features Liebman’s blazing tenor sax and Rudolph’s forceful congas with an overlay of electronic flavor, and the jagged Premonition with Liebman’s boldly expressive tenor over percussive clatter. Liebman’s many fans will find much here to enjoy.
RareNoise RNR089; Dave Liebman (ts, ss, C fl, Native American fl, recorder, piri, Fender Rhodes el p on *) Tatsuya Nakatani (d, gongs, metal perc, perc) Adam Rudolph (handrumset [cga, djembe, tarija, zabumba], thumb p, sintir, mbuti harp, slit drum, perc, overtone flutes, Fender Rhodes el p on #, live elec processing); West Orange, NJ, July 2016; Benediction (Opening)/ The Simple Truth/ Late Moon/ The Unknowable/ Skyway Dream/ Transmutations/ The Turning/ Present Time/ Distant Twilight/ Iconographic*/ Cosmogram#/ Premonition/ Benediction (Closing); 48:57. www.rarenoiserecords.com

J. Peter Schwalm: How We Fall

Multi-instrumentalist and electronic composer J. Peter Schwalm worked on How We Fall between treatments for a brain tumor, a situation that couldn’t help but be represented in his music. With intermittent assistance from guitarist Eivind Aarset and bassist Tim Harries, Schwalm carefully layered sounds from various guitars, piano, drums, and a slew of electronic devices to create this series of relatively dark and melancholy pieces. From the sludgy psychedelia of Strofort which opens the disc to the spare and ambient finale Singlis, Schwalm’s distinctive juxtapositions prove to be surprisingly emotional soundscapes. While I’m sure that Schwalm would have been more than glad not to deal with such a life-threatening condition, he did manage to piece together the endlessly intriguing music of How We Fall. Here’s to his good health and continued creativity!
RareNoise RNR096; J. Peter Schwalm (g, p, electronic devices, acoustic & digital sound modules, d, synths) Eivind Aarset (g on 1,3,4,5,8,9) Tim Harries (b on 1,4-7,9); prob. Frankfurt, Germany, 2017; 1.Strofort/ 2.Battenfeld/ 3.Auua/ 4.Ibra/ 5.Gangesthal/ 6.Stormbruch/ 7.Clingon/ 8.Musles/ 9.Singlis; 55:29. www.rarenoiseecords.com

Sonar with David Torn: Vortex

Guitar whiz Henry Kaiser introduced fellow plectrist David Torn to Sonar, a Swiss quartet with Stephan Thelen and Bernhard Wagner on guitars, electric bassist Christian Kuntner and drummer Manuel Pasquinelli, thinking that they would all make some fantastic music together. Vortex, recorded over three days in Switzerland, proves him spot on with his idea. With loops within loops and rhythms within rhythms, this mass of guitar noise and muscular drumming is a load of big electric fun. More about atmosphere and feeling than heroic soloing or pyrotechnic displays of rapid-fire unisons, the rock-oriented fusion of Vortex succeeds rather nicely at imparting a sense of purposeful unity as the ensemble explores and elaborates on the minimalist compositions. Stephan Thelen is the main composer, working with Torn on Monolith and Swiss composer Don Li on the combustible Part 44. Highlights include the shifting grooves of Wave and Particles,  the super-charged title track which features more dynamic movement than the other pieces, and the peaceably angular Monolith, which Torn describes as floating along, “like a cross between Miles Davis and Jon Hassell.” Closing the show is the odd-metered Lookface!, a group improvisation laced with Hendrix-isms and staggered beats, ending with a startlingly quiet and meditative passage that fades slowly back into silence. With Torn’s grit sprinkled over Sonar’s sparkling textures, the results seem to have made everyone happy. Well worth a listen.
RareNoise RNR087; Stephan Thelen, Bernhard Wagner (g) Christian Kuntner (el b) Manuel Pasquinelli (d) with David Torn (el g, live-looping, manipulation); Maur, Switzerland, February 15-17, 2017; Part 44/ Red Shift/ Waves and Particles/ Monolith/ Vortex/ Lookface!; 56:14. www.rarenoiserecords.com