Grabado en un sesión en 2000, el dúo del guitarrista Ben Monder y el saxofonista Bill McHenry expresan con audacia una empatía y confianza absoluta entre ellos y el envidiable don de escucharse mutuamente para crear una auténtica obra maestra del arte musical. En diez temas transportan al oyente a un espectacular universo sonoro erigido con acordes de textura, evocadores efectos percusivos y melodías creadas espontáneamente aunados en un profunda comunión musical. Juntos parecen navegar a través de un mar de complejidad melódica, en una serie de contextos rítmicos y armónicos hacia una nueva y audaz visión de la improvisación del siglo XXI. - José Santiago Lardón
The world of improvised music is a wondrous pursuit, but as soon as the word "composition" creeps into the proceedings, it can have a slightly stricter form. How much form begins to curb spontaneity is entirely up to the musicians. In the case of guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Bill McHenry's Bloom, thankfully, the form does not disturb the path of forward-thinking creativity. However, there is enough structure to the duo's music for it to have a strict beginning, middle and end. And although it is mostly Lydian in nature, these musicians have given themselves enough room to float, creating wispy modal paths to pursue throughout their musical sojourn.
Monder usually assumes the role of modal perpetrator, from which the dup leaps off into the unknown. He taunts McHenry with melodic or harmonic vocalizing that is so seductive that the saxophonist has no option but to fall prey to its subtle charms. The guitarist is sometimes linear, with quick stabbing notes that are deeply etched on the tune and go in unseemly directions (as in "Food Chain"). At other times he is deliberately vague and smudgy ("The Shadow Casts its Object,""Winter") or loud and trashy ("Heliogabalus"). As he tosses out harmonically rich phrases, McHenry is invited to take issue with them or accept the gauntlet and dive right in to further the search for a conclusion.
McHenry is more elusive. Although he plays tenor, he embraces a subtler tone, working more with shades, colors and textures as auras around the notes rather than the actual notes themselves. As a result, he plays less, holding down his keys longer, delaying the moment of departure. This has a kind of visceral effect on the music. It begins to describe more the effect on the nature of things rather than the object itself. In "Food Chain," for instance, the depth of desolation—or hunger—takes on a new meaning with his airy choice of colors, and often the sinister aspects of what the song is trying to describe is brought to the fore.
Much of the soloing on this record takes an inside-out route, much like the titles "The Shadow Casts its Object" and "The Shimmering Now That Breathes You." This is the kind of music that makes for much of the excitement that bodes extremely well for Monder and McHenry, both individually and collectively. Like Gene Pritsker, another musician who gloriously bends and blurs the boundaries that capitalist marketers tend to apply to creative music, Monder and McHenry have a bright future in the world where intellect and creativity have sublime value. Raul D'Gama Rose
Thematic, moody music can take on many manifestations, and in contemporary times be theorized in spontaneous means, inspired by events, objects, the seasons, and personal relationships. These duets between electric guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry run the gamut of emotions from an introspective perspective, and while some moments have their degree of love mixed with confusion, this style of jazz is in the spontaneous modern creative sphere, based on specific experiences or images. Recorded in 2000, it took a decade to release these recordings (2010) for whatever reason, perhaps because they have to ruminate in the listener's mind more than one time. Not that they're impossible to grasp, but the elusive and evocative tones of this music without a rhythm section do take time to absorb. The clear, chilly imagery of "Ice Fields,""Winter," and the snappy "Crocodiles" is easy to understand via their titles; a piece such as "The Shadow Casts Its Object" or the title track has even darker, more ominous imagery. The buzzing sounds of the brief "Chiggers" and active "Heliogabalus" give McHenry more of a chance to chatter, while Monder's minimalist looped "Food Chain" is a challenging track in two and three beats superimposed that stands apart. Not your run-of-the-mill improvised project, it's a departure for both of these contemporary players, known for their neo-bop or fusion inclinations, and a good reason not to be trapped into pigeonholing either of them. - Michael G. Nastos
Tracks
O1. Bloom
02. Ice Fields
03. Chiggers
04. The Shadow Casts Its Object
05. Winter
06. Heligabalus
07. Food Chain
08. Crocodiles
09. Poppies
10. The Shimmering Now That Breathes You
BEN MONDER guitar
BILL McHENRY tenor saxophone
All music by Ben Monder and Bill McHenry
Recorded February 7, 2000
Sunnyside - 1247 (US, 2010)