Digesting this disc, the sophomore entry in an ongoing series of monthly releases commemorating Zorn’s semicentennial, the dial on my mnemonic machine clicks back to the summer of 1999. Zorn and Graves played a duo set at the Vision Festival that year. It was easily the most abundantly attended draw of the entire Fest with garrulous fans crowding like lemmings into the basement of the St. Nicholas of Myra Church. I’m not sure if it was the pair’s first meeting, but the hype surrounding the event certainly eclipsed anything else on the bill.
I also don’t remember much about the music, just Zorn in one of his ‘shaggy locks’ phases, dressed in camouflage britches and black t-shirt, squealing and sputtering away on alto, hopping up and down as Graves affected much the same animated stance behind his kit. The audience went wild, but I remember equating the aural experience with eating a handful of those old Zotz!™ candy balls I loved as a kid. A sweet hard shell broken by sharp teeth to release a sudden fizzing blast of sour, mouth-puckering flavor. Or maybe Pop Rocks™ are a better confectionary analogy. Quick, kinetically charged sugar kernels that have a half-life measured in seconds. At any rate, the show was a lot of fun, but not necessarily for the musical reasons, which soon after began to fade from memory.
In the interim between now and then Zorn and Graves have collaborated more often, both in performance and on recording projects (ie. the Zorn produced pair of solo records Graves waxed for Tzadik). Couple this with the mutual admiration society Zorn and Graves are members of and their team-up for the Birthday series makes sense. These two have come a long way together from their Vision encounter without sacrificing the sort of reckless spontaneity that made that earlier communion so entertaining. The explosion of sensory flavor is still there, but it’s laced with to ensure a heightened shelf life. While the former date was an unapologetic blowout, a bellicose assault on the senses, this new one shows more nuance and dare I say, maturity. Zorn still reverts quite often to piercing upper register overblowing over a steady torrential tide of cymbals toms and snare as on the invocational “Inserted Space” but pieces like “Smooth Interaction” balance out the monochromatic sound and the fury with pockets of contemplative texture.
“Looping Journey” dips into the friends’ Old World grab bag, with a braiding muezzin alto line and choppy spray of Spice Trail rhythms that in collusion is at times downright lyrical. Graves’ nasalized chanting takes center stage on “Calling to Proceed” bracketing a sparse martial twining of drums and ululating sax. His rambunctious free-associative singing also fuels a protracted solo on “Deep Within” and elsewhere. Listeners’ lusting after inveterate fire spitting won’t be disappointed either as the duo scares up enough racket to easily annoy the neighbors. Precedence for this sort of configuration may be pervasive, but Graves and Zorn possess more than enough improvisatory capital to make it feel fresh. There’s also a nifty mint milano color-scheme matching calendar included that documents each day’s concerts and in so doing hints mouth-wateringly at upcoming releases.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on April 17, 2004 11:01 AMhey
i was thinking of getting this record when it will arrive in Paris. after reading this review i still think i will get it. sounds interresting, i never heard Graves, and at the moment i dont mind some active drum/sax duo. also has anyone already watched the dvds recently out on Tzadik?
have a nice day/night,
alexandre - paris - france
Posted by: Alexandre at April 23, 2004 2:01 AM"I’m not sure if it was the pair’s first meeting"
They played at the 98 Knit Fest; I went to see them because I'd never seen either of them before and it was pretty unsatisfying musically (Naftule's Dream played earlier and were much better). Since then I've heard recordings of performances that were much more interesting.
Posted by: Captain Hate at April 24, 2004 3:17 PMThey also played together at FIMAV May 21, 1999. I'm a big fan of Milford Graves, so any new recording is welcome here! I didn't even know about this. I guess its time to check the TZADIK webiste.
ps GRAND UNIFICATION is an incredible document of Milford Graves' drumming abilities. Highly recommended to anyone not familiar with Graves' recent recordings, especially if you find yourself liking the duets. Having heard the FIMAV duets many times, I kind of know what I'm in for.
Posted by: Cary Ralston at April 24, 2004 3:52 PMI was at that Victo show. in the middle, Milford Graves waded into the audience (it was in the movie theater venue), picked up Bruce Gallanter who was sitting in the middle of the second row (MG seemed very happy to see a familiar face), and carried him out to the aisle. so if Milford stops playing for a while in the middle, that's why.
Posted by: Jon Abbey at April 24, 2004 3:56 PMJust what did he DO to Bruce is what I'd like to know..
Only saw Milford live once, at the New York Art Q 35th Reunion gig in Paris. He was awesome. So was the rest of the band.
Graves did the same trick (picked and carried on his shoulder some unsuspectivng guy from the audience for 5 minutes) in Paris 4 years ago during a solo concert (performance would be a right word). So this is a part o the rutine.
Great musician.
Posted by: DD at April 25, 2004 9:13 AMI pulled out the recording last night, but haven't played it yet. I'll check that out. I remember him speaking a bit after the main section of the performance and being pretty funny.
Still haven't seen him in person yet. I'd love for someone to set up a few cameras on the guy for DVD release. I've heard there is nothing like it. It would be nice to have a visual document of him in performance.
Posted by: Cary Ralston at April 25, 2004 9:47 AMOff topic, but does anyone know if "Dialogue of the Drums", a wonderful live duo of Graves and Andrew Cyrille originally issued on IPS (Institute for Percussive Studies, iirc), has ever made it to disc? New Graves fans will really want to hear this one--some fantastic playing. There's also some audience interaction (vocal call and response) and this is from around 1973, so he's been utilizing that general approach for a while.
Posted by: Brian at April 26, 2004 6:05 AMi bought the zorn dvd two days ago
its well done for me
a good documentary
shows zorn which seems to be the point of the claudia heuermann
not pretentiously made in any way
its kinda poetical in the way it is presented
its not amazingly made
quite modest even somehow
good sounds from various zorn stuff
live, studio, rehearsals
mmmm'interresting
definetaly worse a watch
actually i watched it twice since i got it
m'not like an extra super zorn fan
i find the man very 'rich'
he's offering very obvious but tight points of views
what he says in the movie about making music nowadays
seems very okay for me
at least as a young musician i can take some advice from it
i didnt buy the graves/zorn that day cause money was a bit short
yeah
Posted by: Alexandre at April 29, 2004 2:16 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................