Label: Pi Recordings, 2023
Personnel - Steve Lehman: alto saxophone, electronics; Jonathan Finlayson: trumpet; Chris Dingman: vibraphone + Orchestre National de Jazz (ONJ) includes: Frédéric Maurin: direction, electronics; Julien Soro; tenor sax, clarinet; Fanny Ménégoz; flutes, piccolo; Fabien Debellefontaine: baritone sax, clarinet, flute; Catherine Delaunay: clarinet, basset horn; Christiane Bopp: trombone; Daniel Zimmermann: trombone; Bruno Ruder: piano, synth; Stéphan Caracci: vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, percussion, synth; Sarah Murcia: double bass; Rafaël Koerner: drums; and more.
The virtuosic composer, altoist and improviser Steve Lehman explores the vast possibilities of spectral jazz and technology in partnership with Frédéric Maurin and his vibrant Orchestre National de Jazz. The album, aptly titled Ex Machina, includes compositions from both musical master minds, and are shaped with the help of computer generated responses (created by Jerome Nika) as well as live electronics. This musical interdependence between humans and machines evokes the work of 20th-century French composer Gérard Grisey and his studies of time.
Maurin’s “39” opens the album with an enveloping sound fixed on magnetic drumbeats and extraordinary orchestral grandeur. Lehman steps forward, dishing out fragmented saxophone delineations of superior quality and skill, while having a panoply of electronic noises - ranging from metallic to digital - around him. Bassist Sarah Murcia takes her time to speak, benefiting from the dainty grace of the backdrop.
Lehman’s “Los Angeles Imaginary” marries electronic music and free funk with metric intricacy. It’s a visionary piece highlighted by alternate improvised ideas from tenorist Julien Soro, trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and Lehman. Similar boisterous soloing occurs on the wondrous “Les Treize Soleils”, but this time, trumpet and alto are joined by flutist Fanny Ménégoz in a pugilistic dance with as much freedom as synchronicity.
Other Lehman-penned standouts are “Chimera”, a showcase for the brilliant mallet work of vibraphonist Chris Dingman; “Ode to AkLaff”, a tribute to the influential avant-garde drummer Pheeroan AkLaff, which, starting off ambiguously, provides a tension-filled rhythmic backbone and highly satisfactory statements by pianist Bruno Ruder and drummer Rafaël Koerner; and last but not least, “Jeux D’Anches”, a nod to a spectral piece by Lehman’s former teacher Tristan Murail, whose insistent rhythmic patterns serve well the tortuous soloing intentions of Dingman, Finlayson and Lehman. The former two artists are members of the latter’s famous octet that made sensation with albums such as Travail, Transformation and Flow (Pi, 2009) and Mise En Abime (Pi, 2014).
The bounces we find here are no fluke and their infectiousness is exquisitely detailed in Maurin’s compositions “Speed Freeze” and “Le Seuil”, each of them composed of two parts. They sound experimental, ruminatively microtonal and mysterious, with different perceptions of tempo.
Lehman, here in a fruitful collaboration with Maurin and his futuristic large ensemble, continues to push post-modern jazz forward in an entirely original way. I have no hesitation in marking this newfangled opus as an essential listen.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - “39” ► 02 - Los Angeles Imaginary ► 07 - Les Treize Soleils