duo with drummer Gerry Hemingway Below the Surface ago: a young original player rooted in the tradition of Of... explored edgy urban night-moods with eye and , one who shows real potential for making changes ear cocked to the weather, seismic disturbances, in improvised music. thermal spikes. This band - live at The Stone on New Cosmic Lieder is a set of 13 improvised duets that Year’s Day, 2009 - cubes the possibilities intimated in live up to its title. If the “song” part of the title seems a those other dates by including intrepid bassist Mark bit elusive at first, repeated listening reveals melodies Helias. buried in Jones’ impassioned lines and Shipp’s dense The opening track, “Written In The Cracking of chords. Jones has a fervent, singing tone that is huge the Ice”, hearkens back to the duo’s concepts of and imbued with just the right amount of expression. The Dancing Monk Live at Smalls elemental delving beneath surfaces and McManus He can wrench fierce squalls, which will abruptly taper Eric Reed Ben Wolfe Quintet scratches and swoons in teasing, pleading firebursts, off into wistful serpentine lines that contrapuntally (Savant) (smallsLIVE) sparking shards of crazed tension. “Upperside” entwine with Shipp’s phrases. Shipp’s thick chordal by Sean O’Connell engages all in amiable jostling, industrious push and voicings provide the perfect accompaniment for Jones’ shove, before McManus’ prepared guitar breaks into tensile lines. The tracks are kept short and concise, the Omnipresent bassist Ben Wolfe can do many things ‘song’ - bent, bluesy, chopped-and-channeled. longest a little over four minutes, and sound as if they well. He has made a great career out of playing with As the duo’s longer pieces sought to maximize are fully discrete pieces rather than edits from longer high-profile pianists/vocalists like Harry Connick Jr. dramatic impetus, Helias’ presence sets up a buffer segments. They run the gamut from the fierce (check and Diana Krall or he can lead groups through an array zone to extend them further: the pliant solo with which out the opening moments of “Nix Uotan”) to the of slaloming originals. Two recent releases perfectly he opens “Junction” evolves into conversation with (almost) playful pecking of “Mandrakk” to the (almost) exemplify Wolfe’s versatility. Hemingway’s blunt chopping and McManus’ patently tender opener “Bleed” to the (almost) straightahead In his liner notes to The Dancing Monk, a collection bluesy feline mewls. Once guitar mines Motown “Jonesy”. It seems as if any moment they’re going to of Monk standards, pianist Eric Reed states, “I don’t strums halfway through the 12-minute track, it break into “Giant Steps” on that one. know that Monk would appreciate my offerings of his gradually rebuilds momentum, chills the groove and A generation separates Shipp from Jones but they tunes, but I seriously doubt that Monk would want me eventually tapers into sighs and a signature coda: both are on the same wavelength. Shipp’s career is in to care.” Things open with a waltzed-up “Ask Me stuttering percussive tapping focused around a single high gear, still fertile and still unpredictable. Jones is Now”. The changing of the meter is probably the most tone. “Product of Primes” pits Helias’ bowing basically just starting out. His disc Mannish Boy found radical thing on the record as Reed mostly sticks to a multistops above buzzing and rattling guitar and its way onto many Top Ten lists in 2009 and his work traditionalist approach. A deft pianist with a graceful percussion. All three take off into an increasingly with the co-op jazzpunknoise quartet Little Women touch, his solos are scattered with references - furious splintered rampage that gradually slows, shows a player who seems willing to mix it up. Jones “Everything Happens to Me” pops up on “Reflections” blunts, thickens, but never quite fades. “The Radio may be a player who just might follow Shipp down while “Take the A Train” whistles through “Light Blue” Astronomers” picks up micro-static from stardust and that unpredictable path. Their journeys have crossed - dropping coy puzzles amidst the swinging solos. gamma rays (quick picking around the bridge) before here on Cosmic Lieder. Let’s hope they cross again in the Wolfe and drummer McClenty Hunter expertly serve McManus goes high beyond the bridge to parse future. as support to these effervescent solos with the latter descending blues fragments. taking a few choruses on the Reed-penned title track The closer peals taut bluebell carillons that hark For more information, visit aumfidelity.com. This duo is at and Wolfe taking a spin through “Pannonica”. This is a back to his solo “Double River”. McManus seems to be Jazz Standard Apr. 27th. See Calendar. polished approach to a jagged repertoire with confident quietly assembling a cogent guitar vocabulary from solos but few outright surprises. the ground up, intent on forging a boldly resonant Live at Smalls, recorded over a weekend last May, instrumental personality like, say, Harry Partch: a new features Wolfe driving a quintet through nine of his brand of rare earthiness. For their part, Helias and compositions, opening with a fast-moving bassline- Hemingway are largely content to sound like bass and driven melody entitled “Block 11”. Spacious harmonies drums (Helias does go were-wolfy on “Astronomers”) rise and fall before each ensemble member solos amidst as firm supporters of the guitarist’s quixotic quests. varying rhythmic intensities, gradually building until the ensemble reverts back to near-silence and For more information, visit nobusinessrecords.com. introduces the next voice. Marcus Strickland’s reedy McManus is at Cornelia Street Café Apr. 16th with Gerry hoot gets things going early over a churning montuno Hemingway and Apr. 21st with this trio. See Calendar. and reemerges at full-steam throughout the rest of the set. Pianist Luis Perdomo flaunts his quartal chops on the shifting “Contraption” while Ryan Kisor’s scatter- shot trumpet soars through the midtempo swinger “Telescope”. Wolfe turns in meditative solos, stretching out in ways that he rarely gets to elsewhere. Live elements abound on this recording, with Wolfe shouting out the occasional heads-up to the band and the faint clink of glasses in the background. The vibe is comfortable but professional and the audience is as responsive as the band. Cosmic Lieder Darius Jones/ (AUM Fidelity) For more information, visit jazzdepot.com and smallslive.com. by Robert Iannapollo Wolfe’s Quintet is at Dizzy’s Club Apr. 19th and Smalls Apr. 22nd-23rd with Greg Hutchinson. See Calendar. It’s hard to believe that pianist Matthew Shipp has been recording for nearly 25 years. And during that

quarter-century, he’s covered a lot of territory, as a pianist, composer, group member, group leader, producer, etc. He’s also broken a lot of new ground. His embrace of electronics, techno and DJ culture showed a desire to expand beyond the limitations of what is considered jazz/improvised music. But Shipp has always returned to the jazz source for very effective forays into acoustic improvised music. Shipp’s first release back in 1988 was a duet session with alto saxophonist (Sonic Transcendental Numbers Explorations) back when both were still young upstarts. Terrence McManus/Mark Helias/Gerry Hemingway (NoBusiness) It’s somehow fitting his most recent release is another by Fred Bouchard set of duets with an alto saxophonist. This time it’s a first-time meeting of the pianist with Darius Jones, a Guitarist Terrence McManus’ solo Brooklyn EP and player who is in a similar position to Shipp of 25 years

22 April 2011 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD