A Pride of Lions - Joe McPhee, Daunik Lazro, Joshua Abrams, Guillaume Séguron, Chad Taylor: No Questions - No Answers

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2022-07-15,
Wydawnicto Audiofilskie
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Digipackowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com * * * * 1/2:
Dopóki pojawiać się będą takie free jazzowe nagrania, moja wiara w żywotność gatunku nie zgaśnie. Transatlantycki, wielopokoleniowy kwintet prezentuje gęsty free jazz, wypływający z najlepszych źródeł Alberta Aylera i Dona Cherry'ego.
Dwóch kontrabasistów (Joshua Abrams, Guillaume Séguron), dwóch dmuchaczy (Daunik Lazro, Joe McPhee) i perkusista (Chad Taylor) sformowało zespół kompletny, zespół którego można słuchać bez końca.
83 letni Joe McPhee (alto & soprano saxophones, pocket trumpet) oraz 77-letni Francuz Daunik Lazro (tenor & baritone saxophones) są w niesamowitej formie. Do tego Chad Taylor (drums & mbira), Joshua Abrams (double bass & guembri) oraz francuski kontrabasista Guillaume Séguron.
A Pride of Lions to wspaniała free jazzowa orkiestra, która udanie balansuje pomiędzy nieograniczonym parciem do przodu, które objawia się tutaj zdumiewającą intensywnością a miłością do wciąż żywych free jazzowych korzeni, które są źródłem potrzebnej energii i radości!
autor: MAd
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Założyciel witryny freejazzblog Stef Gijssels tak pisze o płycie:
"Album składa się z trzech długich improwizacji: „An Unanswered Question” trwające ponad 33 minuty, „An Unquestioned Answer” trwające 12 minut i „Enough” trwające 6 minut.
Muzyka rozwija się powoli i konsekwentnie, z kluczową rolą obu kontrabasistów - Joshua Abramsa i Guillaume Ségurona. Brzmienie zespołu jest ciepłe, dość eklektyczne, z licznymi nawiązaniami do muzyki afrykańskiej, dodatkowo wzmocnione brzmieniem guembri (Joshua Abrams) i mbiry (Chad Taylor). Drumming Chada Taylora jest rześki i orzeźwiający, to on w pierwszym 33-minutowym utworze prowadzi zespół w tej wielkiej rytmicznej, epickiej podróży. Spiritualna atmosfera nagrania przykuwa uwagę od pierwszych dźwięków, wrażenie obrzędowości wzmacniają zaśpiewy McPhee i okrzyki Lazro.
We wkładce czytamy, że całość materiału jest improwizowana, z wyjątkiem nawiązania do "Spirits" Alberta Aylera w drugim utworze. Ale wyraźnie słyszalne są też nawiązania do "Mopti" Dona Cherry'ego (z „Playing”, 1981). Oba te mini hołdy (dla Alberta Aylera i Dona Cherry'ego) dają wyobrażenie o źródłach ich wspólnej muzyki, tkwiących w klasycznym free jazzie.
Podsumowując, jakość gry jest doskonała, dodatkowo zachwyca ciepłe brzmienie zespołu i jego porywająca dynamika. "No Questions - No Answers" to nagranie, którego nie sposób przegapić."


jazzword.com:
Blending the activities of mature creative music lions and ones older than cubs, members of this Franco-American quintet creates a meaty hunk of Free Jazz, with a rugged performance that is as ferocious as the Panthera namesakes are supposed to be. Growling expositions come from the two older musicians, who have often worked together. They’re American Joe McPhee, 83, with inventions from alto and soprano saxophones and pocket trumpet; and Frenchman Daunik Lazro, 77, equally innovative on tenor and baritone saxophones. Alongside are Americans, Chad Taylor who plays drums and mbira and Joshua Abrams on bass and guembri, plus French bassist Guillaume Séguron, all of whom are several decades the saxophonists’ juniors.

Not that age means anything after Abrams’ measured bass vibrations set the pace at the beginning, Taylor adds a few rim clanks and the polyphonic free-for-all is joined by everyone. As the bassists’ string pulse preserves the bottom and the narrative is colored with the drummer’s rim shots and ruffs, McPhee and Lazro spread their timbre hunting into sonic territories more expanded than the savannah in which lions would roam. McPhee’s nephritic trumpet digs create emotional resonance while scissoring harsh tones and portamento whistles into the mix. Lazro’s reed incursions advance in a similar splintered fashion. But even as he’s projecting altissimo screams and fragmenting vibrations, dynamic flow and linear motion remain. Strangled brass yelps meet dissected reed tonguing at points, then when McPhee turns to saxophone the unearthly yowls and smears from both create Energy Music at its most dynamic, but with the additional horizontal connection that come with maturity. With pulsating thumb piano plinks and three-string bass strums added for color at points, unbearable heaviness is avoided even as the bassists’ string sawing and the drummer’s accented ruffs pace the tracks.
by Ken Waxman

freejazzblog:
In February we published an overview article on Joe McPhee albums, and this album we received exactly one day too late to include it. The band consists of Joe McPhee on alto & soprano saxophones, pocket trumpet, Daunik Lazro on tenor & baritone saxophones, Joshua Abrams on double bass & guembri, Guillaume Séguron on double bass, and Chad Taylor on drums & mbira. The performance was recorded live at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival in 2018. This is the same band that also performed on the eponymously named A Pride of Lions in 2018. The interaction is excellent.
McPhee and Lazro have a long-standing collaboration and their musical respect and common voice is obvious, even if both musicians have their distinct sound and approach. The fact that both artists switch horns all the time adds to the fun and the richness of the sound.
McPhee and Lazro performed together
As a duo on - "Elan, Impulse" (In Situ, 1991)
with Evan Parker on "Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Daunik Lazro" (Vand'Oeuvre, 1996)
Raymond Boni, Joe McPhee, Daunik Lazro, Claude Tchamitchian - "Next To You" (Emouvance - 2013)
as a duo on "The Cerkno Concert" (Klopotec, 2016)
Evan Parker, Daunik Lazro & Joe McPhee - "Seven Pieces - Live at Willisau 1995" (Clean Feed, 2016)
in the Clifford Thornton Memorial Quartet - "Sweet Oranges" (Not Two, 2018)
The album consists of three lengthy improvisations: "An Unanswered Question" clocks at more than 33 minutes, "An Unquestioned Answer" at 12 minutes and "Enough" at 6 minutes.
The music develops slowly and consistently, with a key role for the two bass players. The sound is warm, eclectic with many references to African sounds, further reinforced by the use of the guembri and the mbira. Taylor's playing is crisp and invigorating, propulsing the band forward in a great rhythmic epic journey on the first track. The atmosphere is great throughout, with McPhee signature singing while playing, now supported by shouts from Lazro (?).
The liner notes mention that all the music is improvised with the exception of a reference to Albert Ayler's "Spirits" in the second piece. The reference to Don Cherry's "Mopti" (from "Playing", 1981) after 24 minutes on the first track remains uncredited, but both mini tributes give you an idea of the deep roots in "traditional" free jazz this music offers.
In sum, the quality of the playing is excellent, warm, welcoming and dynamic. Don't miss this one.
By Stef Gijssels

Editor's info:
For those who doubt it, Joe McPhee reminds us: “Someone described the musician to me as follows: ‘Where does what he does come from? From the idea of making magic with the muses.’ Which pretty much embraces what we consider to be music.” And for this, Lazro reports, “The method has not changed (since it has borne such beautiful fruits): it is through open improvisation that music comes about, welcoming lyricism as much as abstraction, the pulsation that can border on silence, expressionism, and dream.” A bramble of breaths. A family, a political activity, a pride of lions. Excerpt from the liner notes

muzycy:
Joe McPhee: alto & soprano saxophones, pocket trumpet
Daunik Lazro: tenor & baritone saxophones
Joshua Abrams: double bass, guembri
Guillaume Séguron: double bass
Chad Taylor: drums, mbira

utwory:
1. An Unanswered Question (34:33)
2. An Unquestioned Answer (12:14)
3. Enough (6:02)

wydano: 2022
nagrano: Recorded live at International Jazzfestival Saalfelden on August 25th 2018

more info: www.roguart.com