Wednesday, August 12, 2015

From Wolves to Whales, Wooley, Rempis, Niggenkemper, Corsano

With From Wolves to Whales (Aerophonic 007) we have an all-star avant jazz lineup creating a program of vibrant free sounds. Nate Wooley plays trumpet, Dave Rempis sticks to the alto sax, Pascal Niggenkemper is on acoustic bass, and Chris Corsano provides the drumming.

Each artist has made a name for himself on his respective instrument and the four create lively sonic tapestries with five collective improvisations. What strikes me about this date is the sound event variables they carefully and sensitively evoke. For example the opening "Slake" features moments where with various conventional and extended techniques the group dwells in quietly upper register tones nicely for several episodes.

"Serpent's Tooth" begins with malleted toms and a bass motive freely articulated against the alto playing patterns repeatedly, then muted trumpet enters with long tones and on from there.

In short there is freedom, there is energy but there is also a structured use of what you might call role-playing among the four at strategic points.

The innovative interactions pay off with a program that has aesthetic variety as well as free expressive impact.

In the process all four come across with their stylistic individuality and yet form true cohesion as a quartet.

It's a very good listen and another excellent release from Rempis and his Aerophonic label.

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