Kenny Wheeler - Song for Someone

Kenny Wheeler Song for Someone Psi 04.01	Evan Parker & Stan Tracey Suspensions and Anticipations Psi 04.02

With each release to come out of Psi's ever-spinning turnstile, Evan Parker garners more credibility as a record producer. It was a wonder at the label's advent two years ago whether or not the label would simply serve as an outlet for temporarily shelved dates from Parker and his associates. I'm glad to report that Psi's discography is shaping up in such a way as to become a healthy organism that breathes out a worthy, unique reissue program and new releases that are far more often hit than miss.

One of Psi's latest reissues is a session that has been buried for over 30 years now, since its 1973 release on Incus. At the time of Song for Someone's recording, Kenny Wheeler was on the rise as a very capable trumpeter and composer in some of Britain's various improvised music circles. His early 70s music was at a point not yet fully reconciled with its influences, but distinctive enough for fans to know they were onto something special. Such is the case with the big band-ish Song for Someone, which, while stirring among the shadows of Bill Holman and Gil Evans arrangements, bears many of the traits of Wheeler's later near-continuous string of jaw-dropping records. "Toot Toot" swings mightily, while the balladesque "Ballad Two" straddles a line dividing melancholy and hopeful perseverance, Norma Winstone's vocalising establishing itself as a key component to bring further animation to the larger group numbers. Alan Branscombe's electric piano is welcome in the mix, aligning itself with that instrument's worthy incorporation in some of the Mel Lewis/Thad Jones groups. Perhaps most interesting is the inclusion of Derek Bailey and Evan Parker on two tracks, as part of the effort to "…get special musicians from and into different areas of jazz to play together…" to quote Wheeler's brief liner notes. Bailey's guitar and Parker's not-yet-refined soprano sound utterly rebellious in their contributions, almost as if they are along to crash the party, but Wheeler's written transition from these introspective wanderings to the structurally sound is, in a word, seamless. It's been a long wait, but once the shock of this record's timelessness has softened, it'll feel like an old friend that's been around forever.

Were Psi a reissue-only label, it might be just as well, but Evan Parker has repeatedly shown that his own new music is still as inspiring as it was when he first learned to circularly blow arpeggios into oblivion. Suspensions and Anticipations is a record designed for Parker nuts who pine for more recordings of his tenor work. Not since Chicago Solo has Parker provided us with a better demonstration of his improvising talent on the instrument than this unlikely pairing with British jazz piano vet Stan Tracey. Apart from a small handful of solos (two from Tracey, one from Parker), S & A is an exceptional series of "what-if?" duos that result in a single, "of-course!" -Tracey's piano provides a multitude of harmonic foundations, from improvised low-register rumblings to sparing swing and stride motifs, which are embellished (and often undercut) by Parker's tenor. The numbers' development is hardly predictable, though; the music is the product of two musicians from adjacent fields of activity whose techniques and ways of departure turn out to be uncannily complimentary. The disc's resolve ultimately comes from a study of the three solo numbers, whose presence lend a world of insight to the collaborative processes of the duos. It's a set of music that will frustrate and mystify, and perhaps best suited for those who believe Parker's trick bag was zipped shut back in the 90's.

~Alan Jones