Label: Not Two Records, 2020
Personnel - Steve Swell: trombone; Jason Kao Hwang: violin ,viola, electronics; Robert Boston: piano, organ; Ariel Bart: harmonica; Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello; Andrew Cyrille: drums.
Steve Swell is an adventurous, in-demand jazz trombonist that has been a stalwart of New York’s downtown free jazz scene for more than four decades. For this fresh album, he convened skilled workfellows who understand his creative trade inside out. This cross-generational sextet has the particularity of featuring the highly esteemed veteran drummer Andrew Cyrille and a newly discovered young harmonica player, the Israeli Ariel Bart, who demonstrates to have an instinctive musicality. Rounding out the group are Swell’s regular collaborators, violinist Jason Kao Hwang, keyboardist Robert Boston and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm.
“Celestial Navigation” opens the record as an energetic romp filled with piercing sounds and whimsical drumming. The imaginative routes and mysterious encounters suggested in the music come with a psychedelic touch spread by strings, chromatic harmonica and organ. For the period that Swell pours out an unorthodox statement, there’s a density of buzzing sounds filling the background.
Having its epic theme replicated between sections, “The Center Will Hold” carries a whirling pianism and loose pulsation in its finely wrought procedures. A warped trombone solo and respective piano comping form an exquisite combination of dissonance and countermelody, and then it’s Cyrille who, after joining Boston’s anarchic playing, responds with a discreet, rich and polished drum talk.
The tonally rich “Mikrokosmos II” makes reference to klezmer music in a mercurial transition that leads to wah-wah violin infusions. Hwang also employs this effect on the fantastic “Robo Call”, an explorative tune couched with a sturdy trombone riff and violin countermelody, an inviting groove in six, and a great harmonica solo that picks up exactly where the trombone left off. One can sense an abundance of life here, and that feel had already been conveyed on the piece that preceded it, “Laugh So You Don’t Cry”. Here, the rhythm team pilots the ship by adhering to a fast swinging acceleration, while the effusive clamoring is accented by Boston’s Cecil Taylor-esque abstractions and Bart’s serpentine itineraries.
These musicians work really well together, giving Swell’s compositions the stunning aesthetics they deserve. With no lessening of enthusiasm, The Center Will Hold is a dazzler of a record.
Grade A-
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Celestial Navigation ► 02- The Center Will Hold ► 05 - Robo Call