Month: May 2021

Summer is here! Some wonderful albums got us through May. Two of them are just one epic track long – maybe a lesson for life to just concentrate on the most impactful statement, and leave everything else out. Then if that was too intense, there was the serene and beautiful sounds of the Fuubutsushi quartet to calm us down, and the immersive world created by I, Castorpollux. These albums were all so good and so different, it was hard to pick, so we have four TNB Picks for May. May also brought us an a searing guitar/drums duo, a wonderful tenor sax trio, a remarkable solo sax album, and the first album released here by an accomplished musician/artist from Isreal. With great music at our side, we’re ready for June!

TNB Pick!
Erika Dohi – I, Castorpollux
(released May 14, 2021)

Erika Dohi- keys (all tracks except 10), percussion (1) and vocal (6)
William Brittelle- additional keys (1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10)
Andy Akiho- steel-pan and percussion (2,6,11)
Ambrose Akinmusire – trumpet (7)
Jeremy Boettcher – fretless bass (4,7,8)
Channy Leaneagh – vocal (4,8)
Emily Wells- vocal (2)
Immanuel Wilkins- alto saxophone (2,7,11)
Zach Hanson – piano (5)

A conceptually heady and fascinating album. The first track starts with narration spoken in Japanese, telling of Dohi’s experience at age 7 in the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Hiding alone under a table, she emerged to find that the world around her had disappeared. When Dohi returned to Kobe years later, a new world had sprung back, but with a lone structure surviving from before the earthquake, the Tower of the Sun built for Expo 70. The album is preoccupied with the idea of one’s self existing in the past and present at the same time and how trauma and change creates duel selves. One of the standout tracks is “Particle Of…” , which Dohi states “deals with quantum tunneling and the idea of the multiverse, and that fascinates me because it creates the possibility of a parallel universe and alternate realities. What if I did something differently in the past, are there different versions of myself, and does every choice I make create a new reality?” There’s a lot going on here! For more on this record, check out Dohi’s website. Dohi is a virtuoso, but admirably downplays her chops and concentrates on melody and atmosphere. It’s immersive and quite wonderful.

TNB Pick!
Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi “Fuubutsushi Quartet” – Yamawarau (山笑う)
(released May 7, 2021)

Chris Jusell: violin, voice
Chaz Prymek: guitar, bass, clarinet, synths, samples
Matthew Sage: keyboards, percussion, voice, acoustic guitar, field recordings
Patrick Shiroishi: trombone, guitar, glockenspiel, tenor and alto sax, laptop, samples, voice

Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi “Fuubutsushi Quartet” – Setsubun (節分)
(released February 2, 2021)

Chris Jusell – violin
Chaz Prymek – bass, guitar, synthesizer, clarinet, field recordings
Matthew Sage – keyboards, percussion, radio, field recordings
Patrick Shiroishi – alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones, clarinet, glockenspiel, samples, voice

Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi “Fuubutsushi Quartet” – Fuubutsushi (風物詩)
(released September 29, 2020)

Chris Jusell – violin
Chaz Prymek – guitars, field recordings, voice
Matthew Sage – keyboards, percussion, voice, field recordings
Patrick Shiroishi – alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, flute, glockenspiel, samples, whistling, voice
additional vocals on “Chorus Wheel” by Matt Crook and Anna Wilson

Four musicians for four seasons. These three albums (a fourth one is forthcoming) were created out of a COVID social distancing practice – the musicians recorded the albums remotely from their homes in separate states. The music here is infused with a calm hopefulness that is the perfect antidote for, and may be inspired by, our world during lockdown. Fuubutsushi, released last September, is a Japanese word that describes the feeling that the season is about to change. Last September’s album captures the soft radiance of Autumn, and introduced the group’s spare but interactive dynamics. Setsubun, released in February to celebrate the Japanese New Year, has the peace of a country walk on a winter morning. This month brought Yamawarau, which captures the awakening of Spring. Not all ambient music rewards close listening the way these albums do – they’re truly beautiful. You’ll hear about the to-be-released summer edition here for sure!

TNB Pick!
Sō Percussion, MEDIAQUEER, Adam Tendler, Alex Sopp, Beth Meyers, Shelley Washington, Grey Mcmurray – Stay On It
(released May 14, 2021)

Sō Percussion (Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting) – Percussion
Adam Tendler – Piano
MEDIAQUEER (Darian Thomas and Phong Tran) – Electronics, Keyboards, Violin and Vocals
Grey Mcmurray – Guitar and Vocals
Beth Meyers – Viola and Vocals
Alex Sopp – Flute, Piccolo and Vocals
Shelley Washington – Saxophone and Vocals

The music of Julius Eastman (1940-1990) has been getting recent attention, and if the results are like this exhilarating record, I can hardly wait for more. Stay On It, composed in 1973, starts with a joyous parade rhythm that will have you dancing around your apartment. About 10 minutes in the cacophony closes in, but that’s joyous too. Sō Percussion says on their Bandcamp page they turned to Eastman during the Pandemic because his music allows for flexibility and interpretation. Hopefully that spirit will draw other interpreters, and an audience as well.

TNB Pick!
[Ahmed] – Nights on Saturn (communication)
(released March 26, 2021)

Pat Thomas – Piano
Joel Grip – Bass
Antonin Gerbal – Drums
Seymour Wright – Alto saxophone

More Pat Thomas! Just one tune recorded live at Cafe OTO, which interprets two compositions by the groups’ namesake Ahmed Abdul-Malik. Frankly this performance takes off from the source material and achieves it’s own blistering momentum based on the strength of the musicians here. Thomas’ piano playing is outrageous and mesmerizing, and Wright’s saxophone really burns. Grip and Gerbal lay down a propulsive rhythm and the results are very much a group effort. Based on the energy on display, this group needs to be experienced live – a good reason to plan a trip to London!

Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt – Made Out Of Sound
(released March 26, 2021)

Chris Corsano – Drums
Bill Orcutt – Guitars

Every Bill Orcutt record is an event. Here his guitar playing scales the usual radiant heights, and finds an ideal partner in Chris Corsano’s flexible drumming. This album, like the Fuubutsushi Quartet above, was recorded remotely due to COVID restrictions. Here, Corsano recorded the drums tracks alone in Ithaca NY, and then sent them to Orcutt to overdub his guitars. A duet separated by time and space is proof that artistic ingenuity overcomes and sometimes thrives on obstacles.

María Grand – Reciprocity
(released May 14, 2021)

María Grand – tenor saxophone and voice
Kanoa Mendenhall – acoustic bass and voice
Savannah Harris – drums and voice

María Grand is new revelation – her great tenor sax sound is dark and weighty but her playing is fleet and melodic. This album, her second, was inspired by her experience of carrying her first child. Grand adds some spoken word sections that meditate on creation and existence, which are certainly not to everyone’s taste. But the music is creative and alive, and Grand’s band mates Meddenhall and Harris are terrific.

Patrick Shiroishi – resting in the heart of green shade
(released March 5, 2021)

Patrick Shiroishi – alto, soprano & tenor saxophones

Shiroishi’s solo sax outing could not be more different from his stately reeds in the Fuubutsushi Quartet (see above). Here, the solo sax work summons more energy than most bands. Each track is intense and quite mesmerizing. Shiroishi is a force to be reckoned with! Also, he appears to release an album just about every month, so if you like his playing, there’s a lot more to dig into. Check out his Bandcamp page.

Maya Dunietz – Free The Dolphin
(released May 7, 2021)

Maya Dunietz – Piano
Amir Bresler – Drums
Barak Mori – Double Bass

Donitz is new to me and this album impresses. So does Dunietz’ Wikipedia page, which shows an artist equally conversant in playing several instruments, composing and the visual and sound arts. Her Bandcamp page says “Maya Dunietz is a prodigy pianist, an avant-garde sound artist, an award winning composer, a dubious character and mom of four.” Her piano is just as playful, morphing one minute from Ahmad Jamal-like structures to ragtime to modern playing that reminded me of Geri Allen at times. At 27 minutes this does leave you begging for more, and hopefully more will come.

Here’s the Spotify playlist:

Abdul Wadud – By Myself
(Bisharra Records – 1977)

Oasis

Camille

Happiness

Personnel: Abdul Wadud, cello

“The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives. It is within this light that we form those ideas by which we pursue our magic and make it realized.”

Audre Lorde’s words from Poetry is Not A Luxury were published in 1977, the same year Abdul Wadud’s By Myself was released. Lorde’s argument that poetry is crucial applies equally to music like Wadud’s solo cello masterpiece. This art fills the actions and spaces of our lives with emotion, understanding and meaning. So it is our sincere hope at TNB that all will hear By Myself – those who listen will hear a record of great innovation and beauty.

But how to have access and listen to this album has been the question! Wadud released By Myself on his own Bisharra imprint with limited distribution. The album has never been re-issued or made available in any digital format. Good luck finding a copy of the LP, and if you do, you can expect to pay an eye popping sum for it. If it were not for the community of music lovers posting this on You Tube – you can find the whole album here – the vast majority would have no access to this music at all.

Who is Abdul Wadud? Wadud is unjustly obscure. Fortunately, there are two terrific interviews that you can find, one from 1980 and the other from 2014, where we can encounter Wadud speaking in his own voice. Wadud grew up in Cleveland Ohio, in a large family with diverse musical interests – one brother played jazz trombone, a sister sang opera, and a brother played rhythm and blues guitar. Wadud concentrated on cello from grade school and says that his interest in the avant garde goes back to Albert Ayler, also from Cleveland and who used a cello in his band. In 1960’s Cleveland there was a community of progressive musicians, and by age 18 Wadud was on his first recording of the new music with the legendary Black Unity Trio (recently reissued – you can get it here).

By inclination and to make a living as a musician, Wadud made a name for himself in two worlds – by day he played for classical symphonies such as The New World Symphony and The Jersey Symphony, and by night gigged with a who’s who of creative musicians on the 1970’s – Julius Hemphill, Frank Lowe, Arthur Blythe, Leroy Jenkins, James Newton, Anthony Davis and others. After a decade of playing in ensembles led by others, Wadud recorded By Myself in 1977. The interviews linked above provide an important key to understanding Wadud’s playing and to appreciating By Myself in particular. In an exchange with Tomeka Reid, she praises Wadud’s importance to creative music, and in response Wadud explains his innovation on cello:

“Tomeka: I think in my mind, I think of you as how Pablo Casals was with the Bach suites. To me it’s like Abdul Wadud is that important figure in this music. I don’t know if you know what I mean. There were other cellists before him of course but he definitely set the bar, especially in regards to Bach Suites. I feel like as far as creative music on the cello, to me you were that person.

Abdul: I think I said that in my liner notes on By Myself. I approached the cello not in the lyrical sense that it was known for. I had a percussive approach at times, chordal approach, as well as linear approach and tried to incorporate all of that depending on the situation and the demands of the music at that time.”

Wadud expands on this idea in the 1980 interview with David Lee:

“My approach, as I outlined in the liner notes of my solo album [By Myself], is to approach the instrument in its totality. I don’t believe in boundaries, I don’t believe in the cello being necessarily limited to being an accompanying instrument, or a rhythm instrument, or a so-called “lead” instrument. The cello can be anything that I want it to be. If I want it to be a drum, it can be a drum. There are times when I use it as such. When I want it to be a horn, it can be a horn.”

This multifarious approach characterizes the music on By Myself – just play the opening tune “Oasis” to hear the expanded technique Wadud displays. The tune starts with free tempo pizzicato playing, quickly bridging into resonant strummed “blue” chords, followed by a frenzied cubist-like structure which intersperses three different thematic elements in rapid succession. The tune then settles down into a blues based vamp that rides the performance out. The quick intercutting of so much material pushes this performance to the limits of virtuosity. It’s fascinating, complex, and begs to be heard multiple times to appreciate and savor all Wadud is doing here.

The tune “Camille” has become somewhat better known for being included in the New York Times 2020 piece “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Cello.” Cellist Tomeka Reid (one of Wadud’s interviewers above) says of Wadud on “Camille” “He uses the whole range of the cello and moves between lyrical, free playing and groove with ease.” “Camille” starts with a slightly melancholy bowed introduction, then switches to pizzicato for the song-like theme. The melody of “Camille” is memorable and really affecting. It closes Side A of the LP and leaves the listener with a lasting impression of Wadud’s depth and ability to communicate.

The album closer “Happiness” starts with a section played on the bow which alternates between deep tonal and dissonant fragments. The tune then transitions into Wadud’s guitar-like strumming, the tempo rapidly picks up and we realize why the tune is called “Happiness.” The rush of music in the last two minutes of this song is truly joyous and life affirming.

By Myself is a brilliant demonstration of Abdul Wadud’s comprehensive technique, not to mention a perfectly programmed album. Wadud has created a work of art that draws the listener in and shares lasting beauty. It’s also an album that speaks across 43 years to the moment that we live in, art created in solitude which through it’s grace and power makes us appreciate the beauty of being alive.

Now somebody needs to get this lost gem a proper reissue!

Where to go next:

For a musician with such a slender discography, Wadud has contributed to a wealth of astounding musical moments. Most notable are his collaborations with Julius Hemphill, foremost being the legendary Dogon A.D. – the subject of this blog’s inaugural post! Wadud’s’s playing on this seminal album is notable throughout, from his fearsome vamps on the title track, to the deep bass tones he gets at the cello on the tune “Rites”, to the earthy pizzicato work on “The Hard Blues.” All essential.

There’s tons of amazing Wadud on the 2021 release of archival recordings from Hemphill, which a whole albums’ worth of duets with Wadud. All of the Wadud/Hemphill duets are terrific, and you should also check out Live in New York and Oakland Duets. These are musicians who had a special bond.

Arthur Blythe was another important collaborator and features Wadud with the unusual lineup of alto sax, cello, drums and tuba on The Grip, Metamorphoses and Illusions. There’s a couple of incredible YouTube clips of this unconventional and amazing band in Berlin in 1980 and Montreux in 1981. The only other video I know of Wadud in performance is a duet with James Newton from 1981. Check out Wadud’s solo here – it deploys the blues in such a unique and powerful way. You’ll notice the melody he plays at the end of this solo is drawn from “Camille”, and played here to stunning effect.

Unfortunately Wadud was sidelined by ill health in the 1990s and he has not recorded since. Much of his discography is out of print, but every recording he appears is something to celebrate. Spread the word!