Label: 577 Records, 2023

Personnel - Daniel Carter: saxophones; Leo Genovese: piano; William Parker: bass, gralla, shakuhachi; Francisco Mela: drums, voice.

This potent quartet composed of two veteran leaders of the downtown free jazz scene - saxophonist Daniel Carter and bassist William Parker (here taking a larger role as he joins the frontline playing woodwind instruments) - and two excellent musicians of a younger generation - Argentine pianist Leo Genovese and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela - deliver a cutting-edge session of free improvisation in which they show not to be afraid of dissonance, atonality, and experiment with sound.

“Intertext Salute” exhibits a moderate yet assured percussive drive at the outset, with irregular piano coiling, fully framed bass work in the forms of sturdy pizzicato and burbling arco, and poised manifestations of saxophone angularity. At some point Parker brings the gralla (a Catalan double reed instrument) into the game. He and Carter burn through simultaneous phrases that, emphasizing accentuation, create a sophisticated and witty musical dialogue. Tonally brilliant, Genovese’s playing feels like a tornado of tremendous force, and the energy peak coincides with when Mela’s Cuban chants start to intensify.

Many will say the intensity wanes on “Shine Hear”, a splendorous modal piece of immense beauty, but moments like this one do make the difference. With big ears and resourceful skills, they express themselves in a prayerful communion where saxophone and shakuhachi interact closely.

The concluding cut, “Glisten Up” goes through a cycle of different moods and textures. Furious gralla lines fly atop the martial snare drum flow; subsequently, we have soaring piano hooks rambling until crashing loudly in the low register; and then a repetitive vocal phrase uttered by Mela while maintaining a steady rhythmic pulse. This becomes the motivic center for what comes next. Carter seems to evoke the black spiritual “When the Saints Are Marching In” at the beginning of his statement; there are reflective phrases over mechanic rat-a-tat-tas and apt chordal work; and everything fades into a dreamy ambience with bowed bass at the fore.

Assembled with structural and sonic invention, this disc is a vast sea of interminable motion and mood. With ensembles like this, one can still find coherent free jazz cooked with taste and passion. With new sounds but also with the intensity of the old times.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Intertext Salute ► 02 - Shine Hear

Label: 577 Records, 2019

Personnel – Daniel Carter: alto and tenor saxophones, flute, trumpet; Tobias Wilner: synth, beats and electronics; Djibril Toure: bass; Federico Ughi: drums.

New York United is an atmospheric, electronic-charged avant-garde quartet composed of Daniel Carter on woodwinds, Tobias Wilner on synth and electronics, Djibril Toure on bass, and Federico Ughi on drums. Despite prior collaborations, this record marks the studio debut of the band.

They take us on an underground tour that starts in downtown Manhattan, goes up to Harlem, and finishes in Brooklyn. A nearly 16-minute bonus track joins the other four, where music is made in the spur of the moment with no rehearsals or preconceived ideas.

Flute, synth, and electronic manipulations describe “Canal Street” in the first instance, until tenacious hi-hat accents, a complement of the magnetic drumbeat, starts to invade the neighborhood populated by Carter’s trumpet rambles.

This same trumpet is transferred to “125th Street”, a noir-ish electro-acoustic rendering of the Harlem with a sort of experimental trance in the mix. The heavy synth and muted trumpet link brooding indietronica with the cool jazz lines of Miles Davis. It feels like a long battle between light and darkness.

Abstraction and reflection mold “Nostrand Ave”, where Wilner’s synth acquires ghostly shapes and Carter contributes to the spectral composure with unhurried saxophone cogitations. Following an intermediary passage characterized by a primitive rhythm, cyclical electronic elements, and vocal samples, the group establishes a thin rocking texture where the synth melody resembles the sound of stringed instruments. Carter’s phrases become jazzier in the final stretch and the context shifts to a typical avant-jazz.

Having electronic glitches adorning the danceable pulse, “Flatbush Ave” feels simultaneously raw and fashionable, yet sparse in emotional peaks, whereas “East Flatbush”, the bonus track, has Ughi’s drumming as a central element. In due course, Toure’s dark bass drones are transformed into a well-defined groove, sustaining further flute rumination.

New York United mounts their music like structural block collages, avoiding collisions in favor of a mood-setting approach that not always enhances the narratives. A certain strangeness and a scintilla of jazz help to customize alternative, yet often lukewarm environments.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Canal Street ► 02 - 125th Street ► 03 - Nostrand Ave