Yuma Uesaka / Marilyn Crispell - Streams

October 11, 2021

Label: Not Two Records, 2021

Personnel - Yuma Uesaka: tenor saxophone, clarinets; Marylin Crispell: piano.

Purveyors of an irresistible avant-garde jazz, the up-and-coming Japanese-American saxophonist Yuma Uesaka and the experienced American pianist Marilyn Crispell set off in an explorative duo session that merges their modern free universes. Although belonging to different generations, the musicians display a formidable sense of unity that makes their music a genuine pleasure to listen to.

Connecting contralto clarinet and piano, “Meditation” ushers in low-pitched droning patterns to create an atmosphere of stillness that is not devoid of tension. The deep tones become brighter on “Iterations I”, in which imperfect parallel phrases make this music so human. This number by the saxophonist, intensely fixated on an atonal melodic synchrony that has the earmarks of Anthony Braxton, flows with a fragmented narrative via Crispell’s marvelous configurations of chords and textures. Wielding his tenor with authority, Uesaka throws a consistent flow of ideas on top of that, in advance of a pacific and harmonically logic ending.

“Streams” starts as an idyllic composure, maintaining its sonic cultivation even when the dissonance increases and the terminology gets as much accentuated as passionately intense. The twosome is awesome in balancing delicacy and exuberance, but “Torrent” leans on the latter quality, starting with piano leaps, sharp pulses and steep angularity. In the course of this piece, Uesaka switches from tenor sax to clarinet, showing incisiveness when attacking the former instrument and being a bit more ruminative on the latter.

The funny cadenced movements that wrap up the formerly described piece take us to the closing track, “Ma/Space”, which signals the most outstanding moment on the album. Nearly prayerful, this number aims to another dimension. It’s a nod to Uesaka’s Japanese heritage and the ancient court music of Gagaku, and features a third element as a guest: Chatori Shimizu on shō, a Japanese free reed aerophone.

Don’t sleep on this record because there’s plenty of detail to be admired and enough sagacity and enchantment to make it notable.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Iterations I ► 03 - Streams ► 06 - Ma/Space

Angelica Sanchez & Marilyn Crispell - How to Turn the Moon

October 1, 2020

Label: Pyroclastic Records, 2020

Personnel - Angelica Sanchez: piano; Marilyn Crispell: piano.

Angelica Sanchez and Marilyn Crispell, two powerful pianists and disciples of the spontaneous jazz, join forces for the first time on record. How To Turn the Moon features 10 tracks - seven short-form compositions by Sanchez, who penned them to be expanded in conjunction with Crispell, her former mentor, and three impromptu moments filled with synergistic stimulation and deep musical understanding.

The opener, “Lobe of the Fly”, accommodates both parallel and contrapuntal segments, evolving into a four-hand improvisational romp filled with chromatic developments and swift configurations that interlace splendidly. The piece was named for the intricate drawings of an optic lobe of a fly by Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Neuroscience was also at the base of “Calyces of Held”, whose profound introductory reflection by Sanchez falls into a nuanced arpeggiated ostinato that serves as a foil to Crispell’s harmonic dissonances and unbounded melody. An understated tension is engraved on the prevailing calmness, and a different rhythmic figure populates the final section, dissolving gradually as it is reshaped to merge with the its counterpart.

The lugubrious, well-aligned riff professed at the end of “Ceiba Portal” lingers in the mind. This piece consents convergence, but also shows off the staggering polyrhythmic adventurism of the pianists, whose circularity and interaction almost suggest a telepathic sort of connection. This is also confirmed with a trio of free improvisations - “Space Junk”, “Windfall Light” and “Rain in Web”, with the latter being the most luxuriant of them all in terms of action-reaction dynamics.

Ingenious piano layers combine on the concluding “Fires in Space” for a terrifically rhythmic effect. Under Crispell’s firmly locked balletic pulse, Sanchez’s phrasing comes in the form of strong melodic ideas and animated swoops with fair doses of abstraction.

Standing tonally apart from the rest, “Ancient Dream” provides far-ranging and detailed resonances that come from the inside of the pianos. Extended techniques with percussive purposes, silences and investigative prepared pianos create an idiosyncratic atmosphere that veers into a well-tempered classical intonation by the end.

Employing their unerring directness and showing an effortless proficiency to create in the moment, Sanchez and Crispell draw forth a range of intriguing sounds that populate this teamwork environment.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Lobe of the Fly ► 05 - Ceiba Portal ► 09 - Rain in Web

Tyshawn Sorey and Marilyn Crispell - The Adornment of Time

October 22, 2019

Label: Pi Recordings, 2019

Personnel - Tyshawn Sorey: drums, percussion; Marilyn Crispell: piano.

The Adornment of Time marks a memorable encounter of drummer Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Marilyn Crispell, two musical masterminds who fully integrated the sounds of their instruments to create fervent narratives with stunning timbres and textural realizations. For more than one hour, non-stop, you can immerse yourself in a single stretching movement comprising moments of conscious determination and curious ambivalence, peace and disquietness, atmospheric coolness and propulsive agitation, devotion and irreverence. All created in the spur of the moment.

The session, recorded live at The Kitchen in New York, kicks off serenely percussive. Piano notes gently infiltrate a region initially made of rattles, chimes, ticking sounds, sudden thuds, and crystalline vibes. The dialogue had just begun, and Crispell effortlessly extends her playing from meditative considerations to acerbic notes and tense clusters of varied intensity, whereas Sorey surprises us with unexpected crashes, candid reflections, and thunderous menaces complemented with rich cymbal expression. The ideas flow uninterruptedly, resulting in haunting explorations, pauses and silences, minimalist angularity, and hasty motions.

The duo’s deep involvement with this music, in addition to their rejection of anything conventional or banal, result in an intriguing palette of emotional colors and tones. From the depth, these sonic canvases are expressions of sadness, beauty, reserve, exuberance, and reverie.

A certain passage comes equipped with a piano pedal around which everything else revolves, another one fuses classical and jazz elements on top of the diligent and tonally rich drumming running underneath, a couple of other have dramatic string sweeps on the piano intersecting unpredictable irregular rhythms. With all that said, have in mind that regardless the complexity and the atmosphere created, the music is always readable, never forced or impenetrable. In the majestic final part of the album, refractory and spiraling piano patterns combine with looming drum attacks for a monumental climax.

These constantly innovative instrumentalists were blessed with the capacity of listening thoroughly and the ability to respond confidently, whether by embarking on thematic development or injecting experimental ideas to create anew. This is uncategorized music keeping an ample sense of communication throughout a cutting context of density and intonation.