Nicole Mitchell & Alexander Hawkins - At Earth School

October 10, 2023

Label: Astral Spirits Records, 2023

Personnel - Nicole Mitchell: flute, voice; Alexander Hawkins: piano, bells.

American flutist Nicole Mitchell and British pianist Alexander Hawkins stand as two indelible forces in the avant-garde jazz scene. Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging World (FPE Records, 2017) and Togetherness Music (Intakt, 2021), respectively, are stunning albums that I personally consider essential listening experiences.

Recorded live last year at London’s Cafe OTO, this duo effort brings their adept improvising skills and bubbling chemistry to the fore while seamlessly transitioning from soothing atmospheres to intense avant-garde expression. Exuding fascination, “Miracle Witness” immediately earns our ears and hearts through an impeccably intoned flute whose reflective melodies shine over the dreamy piano textures that support them.

Both “Interlocking Imaginations” and the closing piece, “Flicker Bounce Glide”, are more agitated, maintaining a dynamic rhythmic quality that never compromises responsiveness in their interplay. On the latter, Mitchell, toggling between flute and voice, operates over the resilient pulsing vivacity that emerges from Hawkins’ nimble pianism.

A complex mesh of avant-garde and modern classical elements often enriches these pieces’ tapestries. “What Are You Afraid of”, a confrontational rumination on fear, freedom, and truth, is stirred by Mitchell’s provocative narration, before segueing into “There is a Balm in Gilead”, a traditional African American spiritual delivered with elegant tenderness.

“The Stars are Listening” evokes the sounds of a primeval forest, breathing ample air via tinkling bell sounds, sparse piano notes (with occasional extended techniques), and multi-timbral flute calls. On the other hand, “Jalopy Ride” is an inventive blues piece delivered with a modern striding technique, showcasing the twosome’s ability to play with no particular concern with time. They definitely ear each other, interacting with bold shapes of their own.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Miracle Witness ► 03 - Jalopy Ride ► 09 - Flicker Bounce Glide

Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon - Break a Vase

January 18, 2022

Label: Intakt Records, 2022

Personnel - Alexander Hawkins: grand and upright pianos, sampler; Shabaka Hutchings: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute; Otto Fischer: electric guitar; Neil Charles: acoustic and electric bass; Stephen Davis: drums; Richard Olatunde Baker: percussion.

The British pianist, composer and bandleader Alexander Hawkins, who stinted with the iconic multi-reedist Anthony Braxton in 2020, released one of the most exciting albums of last year - Togetherness Music (For Sixteen Musicians) - establishing himself as a fascinating composer. On his new outing, Break a Vase, he enlists another set of capable musicians who form the highly contrapuntal Mirror Canon ensemble.

His 10 original pieces on the album take different group configurations, starting and ending as solo piano efforts. While the opener, “The Perfect Sound Would Like to be Unique”, is immersed in a granular pensive aura; the closer, “Even the Birds Stop Listening”, includes samples and gamelan-like sounds that come from the prepared piano.

The first great moment of the album is “Stamped Down, or Shovelled”, a tribute to the saxophonist Henry Threadgill, which attaches a modern vibe to the groove and squeezes a fluid melody into the catchy theme. There are concurrent statements from Shabaka Hutchings on tenor and Otto Fischer on electric guitar. The latter, toggling between melodic creativity and free comping, keeps his thing going on during Hawkins’ eloquent piano solo, and the piece finishes with a 30-second percussion statement by Richard Olatunde Baker, who, together with drummer Stephen Davis, shares responsibility for the 6/8 feel of the coda.

“Generous Souls” is another highlight professed with as much motivation as confidence. The angular phrasing in the theme and the elasticity of the piano bring to mind some Tim Berne’s music, and Hutchings fills it with crying multiphonics and dark lines, whereas a relentless piano ostinato in five backs Fischer’s guitar solo. Equally arranged in quintuple meter is “Chaplin in Slow Motion”, where the pianist wrangles comfortably through registers over the languishing yet magnetic groove laid down by the bassist Neil Charles.

Both “Sun Rigged Billions” and “Domingada Open Air” validate an impressionistic abstraction that is elevated by the prepared piano. The former, titled after a quote by Emily Dickinson, explores curious rhythmic possibilities with the flute at the fore; the latter, alluding to the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, flies on the wings of a soprano sax before finalizing with strong parallel lyricism.

The ambiance gets more jubilant on “Stride Rhyme Gospel”, a swaggering piece that grows rambunctious as it advances, just to end up in a smooth world-music-influenced kind of dance.

Artistically edgy, Hawkins likes to push his limits, populating his recordings with invariably exciting ideas. This album has excellent moments of interplay and improvisation.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Stamped Down, or Shoveled ► 04 - Generous Souls ► 08 - Domingada Open Air

Alexander Hawkins - Togetherness Music

February 10, 2021

Label: Intakt Records, 2021

Personnel - Alexander Hawkins: piano, composition; Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; Aaron Holloway-Nahum: conductor; Rachel Musson: flute, tenor saxophone; Percy Pursglove: trumpet; James Arben: flute, bass clarinet; Neil Charles: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums, percussion; Matthew Wright: electronics; Benedict Taylor: viola; Hannah Marshall: cello + The Riot Ensemble

To celebrate his 40th birthday, the pianist/composer Alexander Hawkins put together a flexible 16-piece ensemble, including the mighty free jazz saxophonist Evan Parker, to tackle an expansion of a piece commissioned by the American conductor Aaron Holloway-Nahum for the London-based Riot Ensemble. The six-movement opus Togetherness Music has the group negotiating adventurous charts with heart and devotion, forging a sound and language that mark not only the vision of Hawkins as a composer, but also the collective identity he envisioned for the project.

Evans is pivotal on the relentless “Indistinguishable From Magic”, where his enchanting soprano wizardry pushes the envelope of technique through breathing circularity. Then, a sustained harmonic point with subtle eeriness slowly transforms, surrounded by layers of strings and spectral aeriform figures that surface and melts away. The ideal counterbalance between free improvisation and oriented structure is remarkably achieved here.

“Sea No Shore” showcases the immense talents of drummer Mark Sanders and trumpeter Percy Pursglove, who speaks and chants with attractive intervals. Again, the modern classical idiom forms a liberal alliance with the free-flowing improv. “Ecstatic Baobabs”, on its part, is airy and unimpeded. This feel persists, even when convergences and crosses occur within a composed scenario that put on show Neil Charles’ bass lines in constant search for ground.

Evans and Hawkins work so well together and that’s not coincidental since they have collaborated in 2015 and 2016. In “Ensemble Equals Together”, nuanced and tensile piano details provide the perfect foil for the pervasive soprano agitation. The catchy strings perfuse the setting with orchestral exuberance and, moments later, the ensemble intensifies the energy, just to land minutes after in the relaxed swing tapestry of the following track, “Leaving the Classroom of a Beloved Teacher”. Allowing Hawkins to express his boldness throughout the keyboard, the latter piece strides with a marching posture, but with a progressive tendency for narrowing the steps and speeding its way up through the lane. By the end, we have piano, woodwinds and strings employing the same language and responding to one another’s calls.

Juggling self-possession and irreverence, “Optimism of the Will” concludes the record with a modernistic outfit that includes a gorgeous beat-driven flow and Matthew Wright’s electronic configurations. The finale, which comes after a pointed trumpet solo and a collective passage, bubbles with heavily weighted beauty, featuring articulate piano comping and the otherworldly undercurrents of Evans.

This is one of those rare examples where improvisation-oriented music is brilliantly thought-provoking from start to finish. There is no loss of direction and perspective.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Indistinguishable From Magic ► 03 - Ensemble Equals Together ► 06 - Optimism of the Will