Gordon Grdina's The Marrow with Fathieh Honari

February 12, 2024

Label: Attaboygirl Records, 2024

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: oud; Hank Roberts: cello; Mark Helias: bass; Fathieh Honari: vocals; Hamin Honari: percussion.

Gordon Grdina is a versatile Canadian artist who moves effortlessly between a disparity of styles, including free-form improvisation, structured avant-garde jazz, and world music. While proficient on both guitar and oud, Grdina showcases his mastery of the latter instrument in his latest release, The Marrow, which is deeply rooted in Persian tradition. Leveraging Western improvisational expertise from seasoned veterans of the downtown New York scene like bassist Mark Helias and cellist Hank Roberts, alongside the modal Persian approach of percussionist Hamin Honari and vocalist Fathieh Honari, Grdina orchestrates a rich musical landscape.

The first track, “Not of Them”, is an immersive Grdina composition featuring sublime oud playing characterized by humming liquidity and shinning microtonal chromatics, and Fathieh's ethereal vocals reciting a poem by Rumi. “Break the Branch” follows a similar conceptual framework, but while the former presents a synergistic danceable form - with vibrant percussion, stable bass footing, and chanting cello lines in sync with the oud - the latter, set in motion by Helias’ extraordinary bass mobility, grows in intensity with Grdina and Fathieh taking a center stage.

“Raqib”, composed by Iranian composer Hossein Samadi, is deceptively simple in its rattling percussion, droning cello/bass rumination, and wandering oud spirits before blossoming into a sultry dance. The album concludes with “Qalandar”, a Balushi traditional piece, whose introductory murky tones evoke a somberly ambiguous atmosphere that later veers into a more celebratory, straighten out passage.

While the ensemble achieves an assured attitude and spontaneous energy, The Marrow may lack the surprising factor often associated with Grdina’s improvisation-leaning works. Bringing into play repeated, slowly evolving vamps, the tracks seem a bit too long, stuck in traditional folk and classical Persian webs. Nonetheless, it offers a lush balance between each composition, catering to the tastes of world music enthusiasts and showcasing the quintet's collective virtuosity.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Not of Them ► 04 - Break the Branch

Gordon Grdina / Mark Helias / Matthew Shipp - Pathways

July 7, 2022

Label: Attaboygirl Records, 2022

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Mark Helias: bass; Matthew Shipp: piano.

New York-based Canadian guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina is seen here with bracing partners and stalwarts of the downtown jazz scene, Mark Helias on bass and Matthew Shipp on piano. Pathways, their sophomore album (succeeding to the 2019 Skin and Bones), consists of a fully improvised set of pieces with risk-taking propensity. The result is challenging for the ears but never uncomfortable.

The opener, “Palimpsest” provides a poetic, if duskier, musical experience. Dark and wistful tones take over, with Grdina and Shipp perfectly integrated in a plaintive melancholy, while Helias roams freely, variating intensity and speed. The free diction of “Deep Dive” seems to have kinetic forces pushing it forward, and glimpses of a hidden blues emerge by the end.

With a fabulous interplay and a dazzling assortment of ostinatos, “Trimeter” is a dance from afar with plenty of harmonic coloration and exhilarating crossing rhythms getting underway. The numbers where the oud is present, namely the expressionistic “Synapses” and the concluding piece, “Sanctum”, also cultivate an unconventional language with the help of an exquisite instrumentation. The former cut feels positively revolutionary in its stirring motion, whereas the latter, non-obvious in the moves and alluring in texture, has Grdina looking for those microtones to bend and warp, leaving you with and exquisite feel and atmosphere. These are musicians who are not afraid to travel outside the conventional jazz universes.

Complex phrasal architectures come into view on the deliberately suspenseful title track, which creates enough tension and bendability en route. In the back, Helias is strong as a rock, rolling to the sides with propulsive drive and returning to the point of origin with determination; Shipp asks questions in a particular register and responds to himself in another; Grdina makes the perfect foil for those two, countering with lines that later converge with the pianist’s. Their rhythmic prowess is even more striking on “Flutter”, an abstract mesh with interesting percussive fluxes and appeasing moments alike.

Grdina’s output has been more and more prolific but consistently interesting. This recording cannot be classified as just another.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Palimpsest ► 04 - Trimeter ► 08 - Synapses

Gordon Grdina's Square Peg - Klotski

December 15, 2021

Label: Attaboygirl Records, 2021

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Mat Maneri: viola; Shahzad Ismaily: bass, Moog; Christian Lillinger: drums.

The Vancouver-based guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina is frequently involved in interesting projects (his recent duo recording with the drummer extraordinaire Jim Black is a highlight of 2021) melding experimental jazz and rock, free improv and eclectic-flavored new-music. As expected, the Square Peg quartet is planted on the left side of the jazz spectrum, featuring violinist Mat Maneri (David S. Ware, Matthew Shipp), bassist Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot) and German drummer Christian Lillinger (Punkt.Vrt.Plastik).

Released on Grdina’s own label and presented as a continuous suite of modular pieces, Klotski kicks off with “Impending Discomfort”, whose patient, minimal and airy preamble insinuates indistinct directions. That’s until a repetitive, pulsating bass figure consolidates with a hi-hat/snare pattern, having the rock muscularity of the guitar granting space for beautiful viola dissonances. The ensemble roots for an art-rock stratosphere here.

“Sulfur City” draws special attention. Maneri’s bowed ostinato works well with the countermelody offered by Grdina, which also serves as harmonic reference. Everything is enclosed by the eerie atmospherics of Ismaily’s bass and the flapping sounds of Lillinger’s drumming. The piece then evolves into a noir indie rock with improvised guitar and Moog eruptions at the fore.

Dark tones are also spotted on “Bacchic Barge”, which plays like an atmospheric ballad spiced by microtones (viola and oud) before shading its texture through murky bowed bass; and “Sore Spot”, an elliptical ride with an insistent guitar outline and unobstructed improvisation. The eerie substratum of the latter differs from the lightness and looseness of the following track/section, “Joy Ride”, an electrifying 14-beat cycle fusion of progressive rock and Eastern sounds.

Another portion of music worthy of mention is “Kaleidoscope”, a polyrhythmic effort with a guitar ostinato in seven supporting thoughtful viola cries, and counting on some mesmeric, spasmodic rhythms laid down by Lillinger. It ends with a slower-than-expected pace.

Always with an inherent sense of lyricism and willing to build something meaningful, Grdina’s Square Peg explores abstract paths with musical clarity.

Favorite Tracks:
04 - Sulfur City ► 05 - Kaleidoscope ► 08 - Joy Ride

Gordon Grdina / Jim Black - Martian Kitties

August 9, 2021

Label: Astral Spirits, 2021

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Jim Black: drums, electronics.

This outstanding set of improvised pieces by the guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina and the drummer Jim Black, bristles with multi-genre paradoxes and incredible articulations. Recording together for the second time (after Grdina’s Nomad Trio’s debut album), these lads bring lots to the table with their faultless synergy and love for the avant-jazz, prog-rock, indie electronic and world music.

Things get down to business immediately with “Martian Kitties”, the track that gave the album its title, which pairs down an incisive krautrock rhythm with noise-rock, two ingredients that always go well together. The density is momentarily decongested through spacious effects before the reinstatement of the zest via torqued high-pitched ostinatos and walloping drumming.

The next piece, “A Monkey Could Do It”, changes dialects into an avant-fusion where an extraordinary oud rhythm functions properly over the mutating abrasions of wood on metal and skin provided by Black, an authentic guru of the rhythm.

“Buggy Whip” is dark and sinister, with heavy electric guitar and taut drum in a confluence that seems to join the doom metal of Paradise Lost and the noise-rock of Lightning Bolt. Totally different is “Conservative Conservation”, which takes us into a journey crystallized by beauty and tension alike. This is created by Black’s unpredictable and highly syncopated fluxes and Grdina’s full-of-feeling oud peregrination.

Pieces that are short in duration (clocking in at less than two minutes) provide a panoply of otherworldly atmospheres - “Black Lodge” exudes a classical-inspired etherealness; “Weird Funk” is made of unhinged smears of odd beat, crushing guitar and sampling; “Social Scene 1 and 2” trench on ambient electronic while adding some wistful tones; “Short Scale” has visceral oud playing laid atop a muscular rhythm; and “Fuzzy Goats” takes you to a psychedelic trip.

The creativity of both is discernible, and “Abercrombie” exemplifies that in perfection during its two phases - firstly, by sporting bowed cries over a dark, noisy electronic texture, and then by underscoring the narrative with a menacing rumble that comes from offbeat drum gushes and cyclic guitar lines.

This is adventurous music by two idiosyncratic players who have excellent results by joining their own visions.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Martian Kitties ► 10 - Conservative Conservation ► 12 - Abercrombie

Gordon Grdina's Nomad Trio

January 9, 2020

Label: Skirl Records, 2020

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Matt Mitchell: piano; Jim Black: drums.

Very active as a leader in recent times, Canadian guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina hones his ingenious musicianship by playing with two other masters of texture and improvisation, keyboardist Matt Mitchell and drummer Jim Black. The trio’s first record comes out on the genre-defying Brooklyn-based label Skirl Records.

The trio’s love of freedom is showcased from the start, with the album’s opener, “Wildlife”, searching invariably in its attempt to sonically portray animals in their natural habitat. Expect discordant dialogues, intriguing rhythmic fluxes with spasmodic accents, and well-designed multi-shaped figures that juxtapose to create electronic-like textures that quickly shift and merge with free improvisation and hard rock punch. A softer ambiance hinged on arpeggiated piano and low-profile drum work is reserved for the final section.

Just like the haunting “Benbow”, whose writing was inspired by an exceptional stay in a historic Northern California hotel, “The Nomad” brings out the rawness of Grdina’s acoustic guitar right off the bat. After that solo moment, it lands on a forward-pushing motion that makes your body want to move. Mitchell’s nimble explorations on the lower register find Black’s drumming at its most vivid. I’m talking about a cathartic rocking blast that will get you breathless.

A flow of cross-linked ideas runs from “Ride Home”. Mitchell assures the walking bass trajectory, with Black fluctuating the tempo according to his own whims. He becomes hyperactive in the final part with a succession of kick drum explosions that wouldn’t sound displaced in a metal music number. Grdina’s intensity is preponderant in the concluding crescendo.

“Thanksgiving” starts off with beautifully intoned percussive patterns that eventually stabilize into a well-rounded groove. Mitchell’s demanding left-hand circularity doesn’t dissuade him from joining the guitarist in punchy unisons or stretching out in the upper registers. Sometimes sounding like a delicate Eastern dance, sometimes like a twanging polyrhythmic rock disarray, this is another slap-on-your-face piece. All that high-voltage energy is turned into a devotional meditation on the closing “Lady Choral”. This is the only opportunity for us to indulge in the virtuosic oud playing of the bandleader, whose migratory digresses are stunning.

After listening to all six explorative manifestations that compose Nomad Trio's first outing, we just want to go all over again and deepen our discoveries. Adventurous new material is always welcome.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - The Nomad ► 05 - Thanksgiving ► 06 - Lady Choral

Gordon Grdina Quartet - Cooper's Park

October 23, 2019

Label: Songlines Recordings, 2019

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Oscar Noriega: alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Russ Lossing: piano, Rhodes, clavinet; Satoshi Takeishi: drums.

The unique and interdisciplinary vocabulary of Canadian guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina can be fully enjoyed on his new quartet album Cooper’s Park, the excellent follow-up to Inroads (Songlines, 2017), which, as it is the case here, featured the same adventurous New York musicians: keyboardist Russ Lossing, multi-reedist Oscar Noriega, and drummer Satoshi Takeishi. Throughout five original compositions, the quartet offers plenty of instrumental possibilities (four musicians play a total of eight instruments), invalidating any type of fatigue or indifference.

Take the example of the title cut, an intricate 18-minute creation with a lot to chew up. Inquisitive melodic expressions are presented in the form of unisons, leading to a free collective extemporization where melodies keep flying from different angles. After a rubato reflexion suffused with harmonic and melodic pathos, it’s Lossing who improvises beautifully in a setting that also accommodates juxtaposed guitar-sax unisons. Two of the most stunning moments occur when Noriega projects his scorching tenor over a ravishing ostinato and extroverted drumming, and when Grdina discourses with certitude, having Lossing’s funky oddities on the clavinet running in the the background.

Four of the five tunes go over 10 minutes, attaining a solid narrative arc that relies on the virtuosity of each musician. If the bandleader brandishes his guitar on the brooding “Benbow”, driving an acoustic lyrical intro before the invigorating interplay and solos attain a sonically feverish state, he does the same with the oud on “Wayward”, which develops in a calm state of mind, interweaving the placid and the somber as well as Western and Eastern sounds, prior to flaring up with insurgence and move into an indie-rock aesthetic. Takeishi shines ahead of the theme reinstatement.

Grdina’s compositional eclecticism hits active crossroads that have the power to ground us to the avant-jazz realm in a way, and simultaneously transport us to another worlds and cultures. The patiently layered “Seeds II” fuses some folk esprit wrapped in wha-soaked keyboards with rock tenacity, using hot/cold routines to challenge dynamics. It expresses a wide range of emotion that reflects the musical vision of the composer. At a late stage, we are shaken by a resonant hard-rock foray featuring burning saxophone cries with jolting dissonance.

Culminating an intriguing set of explorative music, “Night Sweats”, the shortest tune on the record, is an ode to dance that I wished it were longer. Following a psychedelic intro, an athletic 15/8 groove is installed to lift your feet off the floor.

More than fulfilling any improvisational liabilities, Grdina and his peers explore their instruments with passion, giving the appropriate direction to an admirable sonic conception. The album is dedicated to Ken Pickering, co-founder of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and long-time artistic director of the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Cooper’s Park ► 03 - Seeds II ► 05 - Night Sweats

Gordon Grdina Quartet - Inroads

January 3, 2018

Label: Songlines, 2017

Lineup - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Oscar Noriega: alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet; Russ Lossing: piano, Fender Rhodes; Satoshi Takeishi: drums.

If you feel like listening to something atypical, something that organically blends creative jazz, free-form improvisation, and Arabic classical music, go for the Vancouver-based guitarist/oud player/composer Gordon Grdina. Inroads finds this innovator teaming up with the visionary multi-reedist Oscar Noriega, consolidated pianist Russ Lossing, and multi-tasking percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. And I have to tell that this bass-less quartet sounds amazing.

Surprisingly, the record opens with a brilliantly executed solo piano piece entitled “Giggles”, whose affectionate, oneiric ways captivated me instantaneously. The second version of this piece, “Giggles II”, closes the album like a spacious tone poem generated by the complemented lyricism of guitar and piano, and accompanied at some point by a brief, considerate, and never-intrusive percussive fondling.

Rambling like a taut folk dance, “Not Sure” mirrors indecision (so, good title!) about where to land, but all the passages probed by the quartet feel engrossingly connected. The journey includes animated guitar-clarinet polyphonies, followed by Lossing’s lofty solo over a distorted guitar groove. Meddling written passages anticipate moments of sheer abstraction, some of them intense, other even-tempered. The final three minutes of this piece are simply marvelous, having piercing saxophone shrieks and incisive melodic bursts implanted into a massively noisy wall of distortion erected with gutsy impetuosity.

Piano and Fender Rhodes merge as one to bring “P.B.S.” into life. Simultaneously roving and complex, this composition also embraces experimentation, feeling pretty much stately in its rock-inflected conclusion. This posture has a total discrepancy with the one adopted on “Fragments”, a still-explorative yet balmy meditation where we may indulge in the sentimental exoticism of the oud. The bandleader, a confessed adept of Hamas Aldine and Rabih Abou Khalil, interacts with Lossing, combining cleverness and pathos to create wistful cadenced movements that get deeper in plangency with the addition of bass clarinet.

Noriega makes use of the hollowness of this beautiful instrument again on “Kite Flight”, a two-minute juxtaposition of free thoughts he co-wrote and exchanged with the guitarist.

The modernistic, Eastern-tinged “Apocalympics” starts with a pure guitar sound before allowing the clarinetist to phrase his ideas. He does it with wails and warbles, flying high above the supple yet rugged sonic textures. The outstanding control and temporal poise of Takeishi’s drumming takes further expression throughout his improvised stretch.

Grdina distills his music with lancinating virtuosity and deft narrative arc, integrating avant-jazz and world fusion with savoir-faire. Consequently, Inroads feels like a multicultural hymn to spontaneous creativity.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Giggles ► 02 - Not Sure ► 03 - P.B.S.