Guitarist Joe Morris is on a roll. Hardly a month goes by without a new release featuring the Boston-based musician. Of course, he doubled his chances by adding acoustic bass to his armory alongside his six-stringed axe. It's the latter he wields on this trio date featuring bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver, captured at New York City's Stone in June, 2011. Strangely, given their long acquaintance, this is the first time this particular combination has recorded, though each knows the others well from other collaborations. Cleaver and Parker form two-thirds of improvising collective Farmers By Nature, while Parker featured alongside Morris in the Eloping With The Sun (Aum Fidelity, 2003) triumvirate, and the guitarist and drummer both number among Jean Carla Rodea's Azares. What that familiarity ensures is that there is none of the "getting to know you" tentativeness that afflicts some first-time dates. All three leap straight in, spinning yarns.
Inspired by the lengthy expositions of Coltrane and Cecil Taylor (although sounding nothing like either) the threesome maintains an urgent pace throughout the first extended piece (50-plus minutes, demarcated into the first two tracks, comprising the opening set in full). In a relatively straightforward execution, the adventure stems from the ceaseless search, as the trio obsessively wrings all the possibilities inherent from a single mood via a steadily blossoming stream of consciousness.
As Morris says in the liners: "we kept it simple and let it unfold naturally, listening for the discovery of melody, always comfortable on that tremendous platform of rhythm." And that's how it sounds. While no one is likely to go away humming a refrain from this disc, a certain lower case lyricism permeates the atmosphere, especially the guitarist's genial single line rivulets and Parker's tonally sympathetic counterpoint. Their unity of purpose is such that even when the music opens out for a drum solo towards the end of "Exosphere," the dynamic doesn't change and the energy level barely dips.
For the second set, excerpted here in the final two cuts, Parker switches from bass to sintir—a Moroccan three-stringed lute. That decision engenders a different feel, with Parker's dusty grooves evoking Africa's vast open plains and timeless emotions. Cleaver avoids the obvious foot-tapping response, preferring instead a clattering pulse resembling fragments of several diverse tempos simultaneously. Subtle accents and changes of emphasis color the flow to maintain interest with Morris at his most assertive on "Mesosphere" pressing his points with a determined vigor.
To sum up: three friends with nothing to prove bring home the bacon on a hot night in NYC. - John Sharpe / allaboutjazz.com
Extensas las improvisaciones grabadas por Joe Morris, William Parker y Gerald Cleaver en los dos sets de su concierto del 17 de junio de 2011 en el neoyorkino The Stone. La grabación recoge algunos de esos momentos de gracia que tanto nos gustan a los aficionados. En “Exosphere”, la pieza de 26 de minutos que sirve para iniciar el disco, Joe Morris da las pautas iniciales, es respondido con rapidez por Gerald Cleaver y William Parker, realiza un buen solo y cede el testigo a sus dos compañeros. El contrabajista y el baterista se enlazan en un fantástico toma y daca, que a su vez sirve para que el guitarrista retome un nuevo impulso, adquiera un punto más de velocidad y se una finalmente a la fiesta. De ese modo los tres músicos terminan un tema fascinante antes de dejar que Gerald Cleaver ejecute un interludio en solitario que da paso a los 25 minutos de “Termosphere”, en donde quien lleva la batuta es William Parker perfilando con su contrabajo una melodía que es recogida por Joe Morris, quien se dedica a transformarla de su modo habitual, antes de terminar llevada por la abstracción a unos territorios desconocidos hasta ese momento.
Los dos temas finales son muy diferentes. En el segundo pase William Parker cambió su contrabajo por el zinthir, otorgando con ello a su música un cierto carácter étnico que aparece acentuado con sus cánticos. Es muy interesante observar la manera en que en el primero de ellos, “Troposphere”, sus dos compañeros (no tanto Gerald Cleaver, algo más Joe Morris), tardan en seguirle el juego, aunque finalmente entran en una música llena de melodías. Los ocho minutos de “Mesosphere” vuelven a incidir en el aspecto étnico aunque el trío se lanza a una mayor velocidad con William Parker improvisando con su voz (que se escucha por debajo del resto de instrumentos) y el zinthir bien acompañado por un sutil Gerald Cleaver en el inicio. Un fantástico Joe Morris vuelve a ser el último en incorporarse, aunque en esta ocasión no tiene ningún problema en acoplarse desde un primer momento a sus compañeros. - Pachi Tapiz
Perhaps one reason I've been enjoying Altitude so much is that I suffered through the sweltering night at The Stone when AUM Fidelity captured the event. I kind of feel like I earned (and purchased) the recording.
It was hot that night, which is corroborated by Joe Morris in his liner notes. But more so, the music was sizzling. As I listen repeatedly to the recording, I'm reminded of much I didn't realize was happening in the first place. Passages like the somewhat legato section ten minutes into 'Thermosphere' had completely slipped my jumbled memory of the event. When Morris is on electric guitar, I've come to expect hypnotically winding staccato runs, however this has wonderfully confounded my assumption. And I'm pleased to say that I'm both correct and corrected repeatedly throughout this recording.
'Troposphere', which follows a long rhythmic and textural bass solo, begins with what I can really only describe as a 'micro groove' between bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver, with Morris adding a subdued lead. It's Parker who shines with his thumping bass line, while Cleaver fills in the shadows with cross hatching. The music builds slowly, Morris's lines growing stronger, the rhythm gaining in intensity, until hitting full stride half way into the ten minute improv.
Equally as satisfying is Parker's extended solo in 'Mesosphere'. His vocalizations along with his rhythmic bass solo is a mesmerizing combination. He exudes an earthy aura, warm, inviting and adventurous. This happened during the second set, which was just too darn hot to stick around for.
The album is an impressive document of the night, capturing surprising moments, inspired flights, and the general beauty of the improvised set.
Totally recommended. - Paul Acquaro / freejazzblog.org
Of all the possible combinations and permutations of modern improvising jazzmen, it's a wonder that the trio of guitarist Joe Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver have never worked together as a unit. Luckily in 2011, at the urging of label chief Steven Joerg, the trio got together for two sets at The Stone in New York as part of a two-week AUM curated series.
Much like on Cleaver's previous release with Parker and pianist Craig Taborn entitled Out of This World's Distortions (AUM, 2011), this ensemble performs in a seemingly leaderless fashion. Each player subscribes to the one-for-all and all-for-free principles. That is, each player pulls the music in different directions while simultaneously listening and reacting to their partners. Those last two notions (to listen and react) are so very important in maintaining the energy throughout the four long-form improvisations.
The two sets are distinguished by Parker swapping his bass for the sintir, a Moroccan three-stringed lute. Morris defers the bass lines to Parker, sticking to electric guitar and his signature rapid hard-scramble sound. Opening track "Exosphere," clocks in at over 26 minutes and is a marathon of a piece, taken at an accelerated aerobic pace. Morris silences his guitar at the 11th minute and a breath is finally taken. Cleaver stirs the pot throughout in a constant bustle, while Parker applies wave upon wave of energy.
Piece-by-piece the trio builds their three way dialogue, forgoing the classic model of building tension followed by release. They maintain a constant exchange throughout. With Parker on sintir for the second set, his vocalizations permeate the affair, but the energy remains. The liner notes remark that the player's clothes were soaked through from the effort. Such is the experience of this exhaustingly pleasurable recording. - Mark Corroto
As Morris says in his sleeve notes, the accent is on ‘the long form.’ With each of the opening two pieces topping the 25-minute mark, it is tempting to argue that he is talking first and foremost about the extended duration of a composition, but that would be too superficial an interpretation of the manifesto. What counts is the abundance of ideas and the fluidity with which one creative impulse gives way to another, so much so that there are myriad sections or movements in a single piece, but they are not telegraphically announced during what must have been an intense gig at The Stone in New York. Morris is a highly melodic player who favours skittering, often-quicksilver single note lines rather than bulk and brawn chords to the extent that the ensemble sound is practically akin to an electric violin-bass-percussion unit rather than a guitar-bass-drums trio. Having said that, the ‘fiddler’ sensibility runs across the two string instruments and certainly in the latter part of ‘Exosphere’ Parker summons something of a wild country blues ambience by way of hyperactive arco work before Morris cranks things up with a series of tightly coiled, tempo-shifting lines that vaguely recall Gabor Szabó's work with Chico Hamilton in a bygone era. Not to be underestimated in the group, Cleaver both reinforces and counterpoints his accompanists by way of long, artfully broken phrases or bouncy, jaunty two beat patterns that are mildly calypsolike in feel. Spontaneous, interactive music – credited to all of the players – can run the risk of being overly dense if the onus is on the assumed need to do ‘something’ at all times. Despite the large amount of notes played, this trio has a lightness of being, and that is as related to the precise control of volume, attack and intonation as it is the judicious use of space. This is demanding, absorbing music that requires a full engagement by the listener. But it is, for the most part, rewarding. - Kevin Le Gendre
Tracks
1. Exosphere
2. Thermosphere
3. Troposphere
4. Mesosphere
WILLIAM PARKER double bass
GERALD CLEAVER drums
JOE MORRIS guitar
Music composed by Joe Morris
Recorded live at The Stone, NYC, June 17, 2011
Aum Fidelity – AUM073