Fred Lonberg-Holm Trio: Terminal Valentine

Indie Jazz / Avant Garde
premiera polska: 2021-09-23
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Jewel Caseowe etui
opis:
Wiolonczela, nie uznawana dotąd w jazzowym świecie za pełnoprawny instrument, a kojarzona raczej z muzyką klasyczną, w rękach Freda Lonberga-Holma zyskała nowy wizerunek.
Mieszka i pracuje w Chicago gdzie angażuje się w niezliczone i różnorodne przedsięwzięcia muzyczne, których w tętniącym jazzem mieście nie brakuje. Obecnie są to Ken Vandenmark’s Territory Band, Frame Quartet and Vandenmark 5, Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, Joe McPhee’s Survival Unit III ( with Michael Zerang), Friction Brothers, The Boxhead Ensemble, Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizen’s, Guillermo Gregorio Trio i Lightbox Orchestra. Swego czasu współpracował z Jimem Bakerem, Johnem Butcherem,Pterem Kowaldem, Axelem Doernerem, Jeffem Parkerem, Matsem Gustafssonem, Glenem Kotche i Jimem o’Rourke. Uczestniczył w licznych sesjach nagraniowych między innymi z Simonem Joynerem, Wilco, Willem Oldhamem, Danielem Givensem, Califone, Freakwater, God-is-my-co-pilot, Smog, Superchunk, US Maple. Warto tu przypomnieć doskonałe płyty, nagrane z polskimi muzykami - "Coarse Day" duetu Fred Lonberg-Holm / Piotr Mełech (Multikulti Project, 2011) i "Divided by 4" kwartetu Piotr Mełech / Fred Lonberg-Holm / Witold Oleszak / Adam Gołębiewski (Multikulti Project, 2012).

Lonberg-Holm w swoim trio nie waha się łamać emocjonalnych, melancholijnych dźwięków wiolonczeli nagłymi dysonansami i krótkimi szarpanymi solówkami, eksperymentuje przepuszczając dźwięk instrumentu przez gitarowe efekty lub wielokrotnie go zapętla.


All Music Guide

The sheer musicality of Fred Longberg-Holm's cello playing cannot be denied. No matter how many free music projects he involves himself in, he cannot help but return to the notion of song as a player. On Terminal Valentine, Longberg-Holm teams with bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Frank Rosaly, and performs a series of short to middle-length pieces that have song at their root, though they explore the margins of certain frameworks of harmony, lyric and time. "Three Note Song" sounds, in the beginning, as if it could have been part of the tribute to the late Fred Katz he put together in 2002. On "And You Smile," the feeling of the love song comes through not only in the head where the melody asserts itself, but also in the dancing snares of Rosaly and the interpolating bass of Roebke. "Shift of the Eye" begins with a bassline that is quickly extended into another mode by cellos and cymbals, rim shots and floor toms are whispered through the middle and bottom to create the feeling of narrative, though it is not quite sure one exists, and one will be hard-pressed to hear one at all in "Maybe It's Too Late," where dissonance becomes its mirror image. The free improvisation is rooted in blues and finds itself wishing for something to anchor itself to, but finds nothing there except a wonderfully circular rhythm. Any way you slice Terminal Valentine, it's a challenging recording, it is easy to listen to, indeed, even to be seduced by and lulled into submission, because of its gorgeous sound, but going under would mean missing half the fun in deciphering the codes. Recommended.
[Thom Jurek]


TimeOut Chicago

Fred Lonberg-Holm has a niche not likely to be overtaken anytime soon. He is a cellist, he can play both extreme-energy jazz as well as listless indie rock (dig his distortion pedals), and he can write John Cage-inspired pieces of chance as easily as childlike lullabies.

Prior to moving to Chicago in 1995, the Delaware native briefly studied with famed minimalist composer Morton Feldman in New York, and he's arguably as much a product of that city's thriving '80s downtown jazz scene as this city's Vandermark/Russell-led renaissance. Since then he's become indispensable to ensembles like the Vandermark 5 and Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens, as well as spearheading ambitious groups of his own, including the Lightbox Orchestra and Boxhead Ensemble.

While Lonberg-Holm's trio (alternately called the Valentine Trio) is the most threadbare of his projects, it also affords his fans an unadorned glimpse into his craft. Jason Roebke's responsive bass lines and Frank Rosaly's restless drumming evoke a sloppy charm that's smart, but not concerned as much with precision as passion. The opening "Three Note Song" uses those notes in shifting orders and creates a gnawing, unmoored swing. Although it's in the tradition of Duke Ellington's "C Jam Blues," or, better yet, early Ramones, its spirit of finding grist for an ecstatic jazz workout in such a deceptively simple idea is quintessentially Lonberg-Holm. A foggy mix and poor drum recording do a disservice to the album (huh? -FLH), but it's not terminal: The voice of this multifaceted artist shines through.
Matthew Lurie

muzycy:
Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello
Jason Roebke: bass
Frank Rosaly: drums

utwory:
1. Three Note Song
2. Maybe It's Too Late
3. And You Smile
4. No One Will Ever Be Forgotten
5. Just Don't Listen (To The Birds)
6. There Never Was A Reason
7. Shift Of The Eye
8. There's No Way
9. I Know You
10. One For The Road

wydano: 2007
more info: www.atavistic.com
more info2: www.lonberg-holm.info