Charles Gayle is afraid of flying. Or so was the case when, in October of 2001, he notified bassist Mike Bisio of his intent to cancel their scheduled -- and highly anticipated -- set during Seattle's Earshot festival. Apprehension toward airplanes was quite common following the horrors of the previous month, so it wasn't as if anyone would have held Gayle at fault. The challenge for Bisio then was to retain his slot at the festival with either a solo or collaborative gig.
As luck would have it, Bisio's pal Joe McPhee would be wrapping up a midwest tour with French guitarist Raymond Boni on a date coinciding with Earshot's first days. McPhee and Boni -- longtime collaborators and kindred spirits -- were touring partly in celebration of a 25 year musical partnership.
Their joining Bisio for the Earshot gig was an easy sell; Bisio and McPhee have been close for years and are members of a close-knit communal family in Seattle, namely with retired local artist and producer, Craig Johnson -- the same Craig Johnson of CJR Records, and the friend who helped launch McPhee's career some 33 years earlier with a string of four records. Those records -- Underground Railroad, Nation Time, Trinity, and Pieces of Light -- signify the birth and infancy of the label, but also a terminus. Around this time Werner Uehlinger's Hat Hut label went into first gear with a backstory of its own, and with McPhee and Johnson in that genesis. CJR ceased production.
The performance was one of the finest I'd attended that year. It was an evening set booked at the University of Washington's Brechemin Auditorium, with a decent turnout of around 100. McPhee had armed the room with a biderectional microphone and a portable DAT recorder. This was a set of music as intimate and passionate as I've ever experienced, one of those performances that leaves soft tones and the images of communicating musicians lingering in your head for days.
That concert is now documented on compact disc as Remembrance, released last month on the revived CJR -- Craig Johnson Records, not Cadence Jazz. The release marks a long overdue return to music production for Johnson, who retired from the business many years ago. It's equally special in that it's a beautiful recording, bred from a strong circle of friends.
Joining the trio of Bisio, McPhee, and Boni that evening was Seattle poet Paul Harding, who accompanied Boni in an unrehearsed duet. The two had never met. While "This Is Where I Live" did not translate as well to DAT as the rest of the music, it's arguably the strongest bit from the set. Harding's soulful verse was one of the very few instances where poetry has reached me in a jazz setting. I normally shy quickly away from that brand of improv, but Paul has a face, voice, and demeanor that makes it work for me. His poem further benefitted by accompaniment from Boni, one of the most intuitive improvisers around.
For fans of Boni, the recording rushes over with equal doses of his unique delayed flamenco style and arepeggios in sequences of mysterious scales. Boni and Bisio's inimitable arco playing are a stringed marriage. Bisio's bow creates the first sounds on the disc, soon joined by McPhee on soprano saxophone. Their performance moves strongly with the musicians' will to never linger too long during a solo and in natural dynamics rather than showmanship.
I'm a huge fan of McPhee's music on tenor, and was saddened at first to see that horn absent from the workbench that night. The soprano sax and pocket trumpet were only fitting considering the instrumentation, and McPhee is not the type to want to simply exploit the upper register. His finesse is exemplified during the last third of "Remembrance (closing) for Steve Lacy", in a six minute solo soprano improvisation that closes the performance. It's evident that McPhee is way overdue for a recording of solo soprano saxophone; the occasional six minutes of his way with improv on that instrument just aren't enough. "Remembrance (closing)..." is the most colorful of the trio pieces, and the solo closure is a nice balance to the energy.
Boni's appearance in the US that year was a coup for those who were lucky enough to hear him perform. The guitarist stays quite active abroad and his performance here was a true rarity. The concert itself happened almost by accident. It resulted in the re-emergence of CJR, a record label that last produced McPhee's Pieces of Light (CJR-4, soon to be reissued on Atavistic's Unheard Music series) in 1974. CJR-5 is modernized perhaps only by the techniques of its recording, and the evolution of its players. The label's sixth release is in the works to resume the tradition.
~Alan Jones
Posted by al on July 20, 2005 1:31 AMGood to hear that Craig is still active. I met him long ago, back in the original CJR days, and found him to be a wonderful fellow.
Back around '77, I lent out a bunch of LPs to an acquaintance who soon vamoosed into the ether. A few of those items were pretty rare though, over the years, I managed to replace most of them. One I never did was "Pieces of Light". Glad to hear it's being re-issued and I'm curious to hear how it holds up over time. Kinda guessing the synth parts will sound a little dated but we'll see.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 20, 2005 6:08 AMI saw McPhee and Boni on that tour - they were great. Boni is awesome when he's not playing that synth-guitar crap as on "Oleo."
Posted by: clifford at July 20, 2005 7:36 AMClifford, I love the guitar sounds on "Oleo"! I've never heard anyone make this complaint before. They're rich and edgy tones and much more interesting than some of the cheeseball synth guitar that's come around. Are you generally guitar-challenged in your tastes?
Al, what a pleasure to hear about this disc from the vantage of point of an audience member! I really enjoyed Harding's poem even without the slightest shred of visual context. I'm a big fan of that sort of thing though, and I think I prefer it on record because that way the speech itself gets all the attention. Heck, looking at performers can be flat-out boring and distracting at least as often as it is engaging.
Bisio's solo piece just destroys. As usual, I think I compared it Scelsi...
When I reviewed this disc, I tried to skirt around the fact that there's not much balance between the players; it's largely a mind-blowing peak McPhee solo with some minor accompaniment. That is definitely a good thing in my book, but to hear a good representation of Bisio (well, in a group piece) or Boni, it's not a good choice; the McPhee/Bisio and McPhee/Boni duo discs are the way to go.
I hope to soon whip up a Bags review of the recent McPhee solo album released only on vinyl by Roaratorio. No tenor on there either, so a good step towards filling your soprano quota.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at July 20, 2005 9:17 AMI had trouble with Boni on Oleo for a long while too, but for me it was mostly a function of taster's choice & an ill-founded preference for acoustic purity in my free jazz. I've since switched to a different brand of java & now dig his guitar synth stylings a great deal. I'm excited about both this disc and the upcoming Pieces of Light reish'.
Mike, I'm guessing you're referring to the McPhee/Bisio duets on CIMP, Finger Wigglers & Zebulon? I found those, especially the former, tough platters to crack, but have warmed to them slowly over the years. The duet disc w/ David Prentice is even more difficult in design thanks to its transfer of setting from living room to backyard. Imagine vintage CIMP fidelity w/o the four walls, ceiling & floor of the Spirit Room to contain & congeal it- the end product is an archival near-embodiment of Dolphy's famous adage. Often the scrape of cricket-legs & distant twitter of birds retains greater audibility than horn & violin.
Posted by: derek at July 20, 2005 11:17 AMFinger Wigglers and Zebulon are good candidates for any McPhee top 15 I'd devise. Bisio is probably the best bassist McPhee's ever worked with, which is a hefty claim. McPhee's duo recordings from the past decade or so seem to me to be the ideal contexts to hear what I consider to be his peak period so far. To really sink my teeth into Joe's music, the duets with Bisio, Duval, McLellan, Bourdellon, (Evan) Parker, Giardullo, Drake, Boni, and Bishop are my first choices. The duo format is that perfect balance between intimacy and interaction.
The field recording aspect of the Prentice disc suits my taste well, and I love the scrapey and Malcolm Goldstein style aspects to his violin playing. In Joe's entire discography I think the most left-of-center, unlikely, unexpected treasures are this Prentice duo, the McLellan duo, the first Bourdellon duo (Novio Iolu), and the trio with Jack Wright and Ian Nagoski, profound works all of them. Prentice is a deep cat, saw him in a bunch of revealing settings during High Zero 2000. In the beginning of one set he asked the entire room to be totally silent for a minute. The preceding music had been wild, over-the-top, theatrical type stuff, so it was a wise move. Both of them have taken a lot of inspiration from Pauline Oliveros, not a surprise since they live in the same region.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at July 20, 2005 12:13 PMFinger Wigglers and Zebulon are good candidates for any McPhee top 15 I'd devise. Bisio is probably the best bassist McPhee's ever worked with, which is a hefty claim. McPhee's duo recordings from the past decade or so seem to me to be the ideal contexts to hear what I consider to be his peak period so far. To really sink my teeth into Joe's music, the duets with Bisio, Duval, McLellan, Bourdellon, (Evan) Parker, Giardullo, Drake, Boni, and Bishop are my first choices. The duo format is that perfect balance between intimacy and interaction.
The field recording aspect of the Prentice disc suits my taste well, and I love the scrapey and Malcolm Goldstein style aspects to his violin playing. In Joe's entire discography I think the most left-of-center, unlikely, unexpected treasures are this Prentice duo, the McLellan duo, the first Bourdellon duo (Novio Iolu), and the trio with Jack Wright and Ian Nagoski, profound works all of them. Prentice is a deep cat, saw him in a bunch of revealing settings during High Zero 2000. In the beginning of one set he asked the entire room to be totally silent for a minute. The preceding music had been wild, over-the-top, theatrical type stuff, so it was a wise move. Both of them have taken a lot of inspiration from Pauline Oliveros, not a surprise since they live in the same region.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at July 20, 2005 12:19 PMNice lists, Mike, you pretty much covered the majority of bases on the duos front, discographically speaking ;)
My verdict's still out on Bisio being the "best" bassist for McPhee, if only because Duval sounds so damn good in Trio X & their duo The Dream Book is a favorite. No arguments though that Bisio & Duval are a monster team together as the string side of the Bluette. And Lisle Ellis does great work w/ Joe too on Sweet Freedom, Now What?.
Not sold on the Prentice set either, mostly because of what I perceive as seriously compromised sonics. I do dig his work on Legend Street One & Two, McPhee's only released project w/ Frank Lowe & Charles Moffett in tow, recorded a day earlier. I like that Goldstein comparison of yours too.
Posted by: derek at July 20, 2005 5:29 PMI agree with Mike's comment about Bisio. McPhee and Ellis were great on Sweet Freedom, but bear in mind that they also had very familiar sketches to work with for that record.
I've enjoyed many opportunities to hear Bisio with a variety of players. His ability to adapt and improvise in multiple settings is pretty astounding. But his playing with McPhee stands out the most. Bisio's always in the zone when Joe's on stage with him and it's always original.
Far's duets are concerned, McPhee's record with Johnny McClellan is tops for me.
Posted by: al at July 21, 2005 1:20 AMIf I was backed against the wall, the disc with McLellan (note spelling! I used to do the same thing all the time!) would be in my McPhee top five and the top duo pick, but I don't make lists like that for Joe because almost every album he's made in his mature period has copious chunks of maximally profound music so preferences become moot. (I love making lists and ranking in stuff general though!) I saw two of the gigs that Joe and John did on their tour after recording that disc and they were very powerful experiences for me. I still remember thinking that Joe's tone on tenor was simply impossible, an epiphany. And while I'm simply being honest about my taste, it's very awkward to say these things about this duo as some people will understand. We are all human. John is doing some incredible stuff these days by the way. So in any case, I felt it was worth affirming your feelings for that disc because it's how I truly feel as well even if I don't come out and say it too readily in public. It is really heartwarming to share thoughts like this with other fans because when it comes down to just a person and their stereo, which is what it does come down to most often, it's the music and nothing but the music that really matters.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at July 21, 2005 2:44 AMGrand Marquis is *great*, but I gather from various & sundry scuttlebutt that future projects by the pair are probably out of the question. It’s too bad because they really "hit it" on that one.
Mike, curious how you define the parameters of Joes’ “mature period”?
And yo Al, what about your man Duval? :)
I think of Joe's mature period as about 1975 onwards, discographically Tenor onwards. Just a loose feeling. I dig the earlier stuff too, but can't say I actually play it much.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at July 21, 2005 11:44 AMd-TAY,
Never been much of a Duval fan, despite a couple of years of solid enthusiasm for Trio X. For some reason I he's in my mind more as a technician on the bass than anything else. There are probably people here who'll disagree passionately with that, but I've just never been hooked by his playing.
fwiw, McPhee's had so many phases in his music in the last 30 years I see this whole "mature" category as pretty ridiculous. If you're talking about technique, expression, etc., I still don't understand.
Posted by: al at July 21, 2005 6:37 PMHave you seen DD live, Al? Makes more sense.. I remember the first time I heard him on disc I thought the same as you, but when I had the good fortune to see him with Cecil at the Vanguard in 97 he just blew me away. Later ran into him at a CT Quartet gig here in Paris when McPhee guested (and made his entry from the auditorium itself, with a gut wrenching blast of pocket trumpet that still gives me the shivers to think about). Then I caught Trio X at the Sons d'Hiver fest a couple of years ago where they kicked the stuffing out of the Pyramid Trio.
Duval's work on the Finn trio on Clean Feed is just awesome. Yes, there are plenty of notes, but you can say that of Evan Parker too. DD is just full of ideas, and you can hear where they're going. Compare Henry Grimes on Spiritual Unity.
What Dan said minus the personal anecdotes, though Duval & Krall were a bit of a distraction for me when I caught the CT Trio live. Duval also sounds magnificent w/ McPhee on Rules of Engagement, Vol. 2
Any chance that CT + McPhee set was recorded, Dan?
Posted by: derek at July 22, 2005 4:41 AMNot as far as I know, Derek. It was part of the Banlieues Bleues festival in, umm, Spring 2001. I can find the exact date if you like. But I don't recall seeing any mics dangling around.
When I saw the Cecil trio at the VV btw the only distractions were a) Cecil's orange socks and b) the barman mixing cocktails.. presumably the same psycho on the Bill Evans set. KERRASSH SPLASH!
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