Label: Tzadik, 2023

Personnel - John Zorn: alto saxophone; Bill Laswell: electric bass.

Saxophonist John Zorn and bassist Bill Laswell, stalwart figures of the New York’s downtown scene, have been close collaborators since the mid-‘70s. In their recent duo effort, Memoria, they pay homage to three late visionaries of jazz and improvised music. Working together in the spirit of trust, they transcend in their tantrums, creating an intense and evocative journey that explores new musical territory. The results are no less than telepathic.

In “Pharaoh Sanders”, Laswell's washing bass chords limned with synth effects provide a backdrop for an explosive saxophone performance. Zorn explores in feral fury with piercing squeaks, contrasting with Laswell's long, reflective notes. The saxophone pitch is manic, creating an astonishing density. The circular, spectral, and enigmatic bass texture transforms into atmospheric harmonics, pedals, and vamps, inviting Zorn to deliver intricate coils and rebellious shouts that challenge comfort zones.

“Milford Graves” features Zorn working on circular breathing techniques with fast notes over Laswell’s expert ambient treatment. The deep foundational underpinning of the bass brings uncanny feelings, encouraging Zorn to explore inventive phrases, patterned imprints, and circular arches. The result is an atmospheric ride suffused with restless tones.

In “Wayne Shorter”, there’s a mindfulness to melody, and the saxophone lines rest atop an effect-drenched, spaced-out haze that never loses its dark edges and exoteric spirituality. The propulsive, rippling fluxes of the bass invite fabulous interplay as Zorn blows his horn with authoritative power. This duo, with nothing to prove, does great things within experimental free jazz and structured improvisation.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Milford Graves ► 03 - Wayne Shorter

Label: TUM Records, 2021

Personnel - Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Bill Laswell: electric bass; Milford Graves: drums, percussion.

To celebrate his 80th birthday, the distinguished avant-garde trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith releases a 3 CD box set, Sacred Ceremonies, in the company of the experimental electric bassist Bill Laswell and the late free-jazz drummer Milford Graves. The recording, which took place at Laswell’s studio in New Jersey, is the product of three separate one-day sessions, with the first two volumes emerging as duos (trumpet/drums and trumpet/bass) and the third, the main focus of this review, in the trio format.

“Social Justice - a Fire for Reimagining the World” gets the ceremonies under way with percolating tribal drums and magnetizing cymbals that sound like a symphony to me, warped bass sounds devised with incantatory mysticism, and ultra-precise trumpet phrases that appeal more than moan while dancing on top of a reverberating groove occasionally modulated by wah-wah effect.

With these three extraordinary explorers, the improvisation can go anywhere as they discover as they go. Sometimes magical and ravishing, sometimes intriguing and dark, the music immerses the listeners in angular forms that are consistently good from start to finish.

“Myths of Civilizations and Revolutions” stresses the polyrhythmic artistry of Graves, whose work never overshadows the ever-surprising Laswell. The latter's command of the fretboard generates a blend of astute underpinnings with chromatic tension, offbeat textures and momentary silvery melodicism. His lockstep hypnotic vamps explore certain timbral-shadings that often makes his bass sound like a guitar, as we can hear on “Truth in Expansion”. Here, his two-minute solo intro involves us completely in the mood before merging experimental funk with post-rock and fusion chordal work. The close interplay, incorporating clear yet irregular drum patterns and cutting trumpet lines, creates an astounding range of emotions.

The closing piece, “Ruby Red Largo - a Sonnet” has a trembling, mantric-like bass drawing from a variety of ethnic traditions with Smith’s trumpet soaring high and mighty atop. Underneath all this, Grave’s beautifully tuned percussion provides not only solid ground but also a profusion of color.

Structural elements are connected with atypical exhibitions of sentiment, turning these unique meetings into amazing and unshakeable sonic worlds of their own. The album is dedicated to Graves, who passed away in February this year.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Social Justice - a Fire for Reimagining the World ► 03 - Truth in Expansion ► 07 - Ruby Red Largo - a Sonnet