Dave Burrell, Steve Swell: Turning Point

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2015-01-20
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Jewelcaseowe etui
opis:
multikultiproject.blogspot.com; 2015-01:
Wybitni artyści jazzowej tradycji, ale i jej raczej improwizowanej ścieżki, potocznie zwanej awangardą, pianista Dave Burrell i puzonista Steve Swell prezentują duetowe nagranie, które - w moim odczuciu - jest jednym z najwybitniejszych spotkań dwóch muzyków jazzowych, jakie miałem okazję usłyszeć w ostatnich latach.
To bardzo niezwykła i koncepcyjna płyta - album "Turning Point" bowiem miał być hołdem złozonym osobom i wydarzeniom z czasów wojny secesyjnej w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Wojna Secesyjna była wydarzeniem fundamentalnym dla historii USA - jak dowodzą Burrell i Swell - ukształtowała ona współczesne Stany Zjednoczone pod wieloma względami, także muzycznie. Dla nich bowiem to właśnie wtedy zrodziły się korzenie americany, gatunku, który jak żaden inny ma ogromny wpływ na różne style muzyczne.

Swój hołd składają niezwykle - łącząc partie improwizowane z melodyjnymi refrenami, łącząc w nich ducha americany z jazzową fakturą, delikatnym, swingującym rytmem i esencją jazzu, jaką jest zaufanie swojej podświadomości, otwarcie na partnera i tworzenie muzyki tu i teraz. Mieszają się więc tu zabawne dialogi, podniosłe frazy z zupełnym, zapamiętanym odjazdem rodem z energetycznych scen współczesnego awangardowego jazzu. A wszystko podane z lekkością, erudycją i delikatnością godną tych dwóch znakomitych postaci.

Album został zarejestrowany w dosyć symbolicznym dla amerykanów miejscu – w biblioteka publicznej w Filadelfii. Nigdy nie słyszałem takiego połączenia tych muzycznie odległych przecież światów. Ale też chyba nigdy wcześniej nie zabierali się za to artyści klasy Burrella i Swella. Niezapomniana płyta i wielka, wielka klasa!
autor: Marek Zając


All About Jazz; ocena: * * * * * / * * * * *:
Distinguished jazz and improvisation artists, pianist Dave Burrell and trombonist Steve Swell have crafted one of the most exciting and unique duo presentations I've heard in quite some time. The album moniker Turning Point is the third in a series of five suites honoring the individuals and events of the American Civil War. Here, Burrell ruminates upon Civil War era Americana, integrated with a progressive jazz flair amid lofty improvisational sequences and humbly stated melodic choruses via the artists' respective sensibilities of this landmark event in American history.

Recorded at the Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the duo mingles playful dialogues with bold exchanges, including Swell's gutsy and soul-drenched jazz lines, tinted with tremolo and blistering solo spots. Nonetheless, the musicians generate and reconstruct Civil War era stylizations, often heard by way of strings quartets or solo banjo and piano performances. Hence, Burrell's delicately executed melodies and rhythmically sculpted block chords capture this period in music, where sorrow and reflectiveness seemed to be the basis for simple, yet heartwarming harmonic motifs. However, pieces such as "Church Picnic Celebration" and "Paradox of Freedom" are fashioned with bluesy and drawling riffs and full throttle improv segments, contrasted by abstract variations and rollicking breakouts. It's so interesting to hear the jazz vernacular retuned in such a way.

On "Fancy Trade Nightmare," Swell's raspy and down home lines ignite a sense of angst as Burrell quietly comps in the background; whereas, the final track "Battle at Vicksburg"—the final campaign of the Civil War —sounds like a eulogy, where closure is attained with Burrell's solemn voicings and moderate metrical flows. Otherwise, I'll go out on very a short limb, advising that Turning Point is a must listen for most if not all jazz aficionados.
By GLENN ASTARITA


The Boston Phoenix:
"Dave Burrell's Turning Point, the third in a series of five suites commemorating the people and events of the Ainerican Civil War, is one of the crowning achievements in his career. A mature and passionate work, it weaves together 150 years of American history and music into a piece that grapples with some of the most horrifying moments in American history and yet remains profoundly hopeful. Born after a nine-month gestation period of historical research and rehearsals, the music evokes the harrowing events of mid-nineteenth century America through a vivid mix of sound imagery, stylistic references, and improvisation in an attempt to come to terms with the Civil War and its legacy.

It's an enormous undertaking, yet Burrell succeeds in portraying a vast landscape of war and social upheaval by working on a modest scale, with just trombonist Steve Swell as his partner. As Burrell points out, Swell has the tradition-informed creativity to make genuine contributions to Burrell's music. "Steve is inspired by Roswell Rudd and Grachan Moncur Ill, both of whom I worked with. He not only knows the avant-garde, but he played in Lionel Hampton's band, Burrell says.. And we've been together on projects with William Parker, so I was very familiar with what he could do. I felt that having Steve was like having an entire brass section."

Their duo project was just one of many performances that Burrell has done as composer-in-residence at the Rosenbach Museum and Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia since 2006. With a collection of books and papers of writers such as Marianne Moore, James Joyce, and Lewis Carroll, the Rosenbach is one of the preeminent literary archives in the world. As composer-in-residence, Burrell had previously brought to life through music the Rosenbach's holdings of documents related to African American history, Moore's poetry, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. By far the most ambitious of his Rosenbach projects is a multi-year series devoted to the American Civil War of which Turning Point is a part. The series began in 2011 on the 150th anniversary of the first shots fired at Fort Sumter and will end in 2015, the sesquicentennial of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox."
by Ed Hazell

muzycy:
Dave Burrell: piano
Steve Swell: trombone

utwory:
1. One Nation 6’52”
2. Battle at Gettysburg 3’39”
3. Church Picnic Celebration 5’32”
4. Paradox of Freedom 11’03”
5. Disease Hits Contraband Camp 5’35”
6. Fancy Trade Nightmare 3’52”
7. Battle at Vicksburg 8’26”

wydano: 2014-12-03
more info: www.nobusinessrecords.com