Over the past several years, the Hatology label has opened up its catalog to music that some segments of its listener base find puzzling and even objectionable. I’ve encountered several online conversations lamenting a shift to so-called safer centrist styles and artists. More recent émigrés to the roster like Dave Liebman and Marc Copeland have undeniably taken things closer to center and it’s likely that the trio of Wiesendanger, Weber and Ulrich will also earn the same opinion amongst easy-to-ire skeptics. To my ears though, their niche on the hopelessly subjective free to mainstream continuum turns out a beautiful and consistently satisfying place to visit.
The trio espouses a mutable Mengelbergian approach to dismantling a tune, without the sharp edges and hair trigger trap doors. Subtle surprises abound in their close and communicative interplay with about-faces and deft asides as regular facets of their routes from point A to point B. Wiesendanger also reminds me a little of early Transition-era Cecil Taylor: much less punishing and percussive in his attack, but with a similar attention towards keeping slivers of core melody imbedded in even his more oblique and brooding improvisations. That less than perfect parallel is especially evident on the version of Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” which initiates in a spate of rippling flurries and accelerates into a hard-swinging romp before sliding back into a consonant coda grounded by Weber’s contrapuntal pizzicato. “Embraceable You” and “Stella by Starlight” display more inspired revisionist tinkering as the three undertake series of swiftly shifting permutations, dyeing the gray, aged shades of each song in brilliant primary colors. Ulrich’s command of tempo is impressively adroit, his sticks repeatedly shifting speeds within the span of an instant and keeping much of the action rousingly unfixed.
Wiesendanger remains intent on upholding a lyrical integrity even while conspicuously tweaking and testing the studied anatomies of the chosen set list. The interpretations of the mothball-scented standards actually sound more radical than the far less traveled Carla Bley and Annette Peacock numbers, themselves outliers to the Great American jazz canon that deserve better than their current footnote status. Bley’s gorgeous “Jesus Maria” receives a resplendent reading and serves as the disc’s inspired opener. The pianist takes his time advancing the balladic theme against a supple backdrop of incremental bass and brushes. The classic Giuffre version for Verve isn’t too distant in mind and Bley the pianist in particular. The middle section opens up into less tethered directions, Weber sounding like a trampoline tympani and Ulrich adding scuttling accents. Peacock’s melancholy ballad “Touching” gains even greater gravitas through pedal dampened chords and fibrillating bass. Liner scribe Tom Gsteiger uses a Kafka analogue to illustrate the trio’s talents at making the familiar seem foreign. It’s an apt comparison and a central reason why I’ve been returning to this album with regularity.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on June 11, 2006 4:42 PMI haven't heard this one, Derek, but in other contexts Christian Weber is a superb, inventive bassist.
Posted by: Jesse at June 11, 2006 5:32 PMA weak album all around.
I'm surprised that you would actually return that is something so predictable over and over again. What gives Derek?
What gives is I disagree with you, Tom. I didn’t find it weak at all. Different from Hat’s usual fare, yes. Not radical or revolutionary, true. But these guys are doing some cool things with familiar forms. And any group that dips into the too-oft neglected C. Bley and Peacock songbooks immediately wins a listen in my book. You seriously found the versions of “Embraceable You” and “Stella By Starlight” predictable? You’re a far better prognosticator than I am, I guess.
Jesse, Weber sounds great here. Actually the whole band does in Pfister-mastered fidelity.
Posted by: derek at June 11, 2006 6:32 PMI thought it was fine, beautifully recorded and well played.
nothing too special. Nice bass playing, though.
Copeland has a bit more to say than these guys.
Actually I would not call the Liebman solos are not at all a departure - both are pretty hardcore improvised music. The earlier one, "Colors" is better than the live one.
Derek - there's no denying Pfister did a nice job on the record, but that doesn't excuse the lack of musical relevance. So what if they cover Bley and Peacock - that's been done before. I'm lacking the "freshness" of the material. I didn't find the band's own composed stuff to be all that stunning, I guess, which is why I don't return to this one too often.
I hate to say this, but given the choice, I would probably take Copeland over this trio most any day...
Damon, sounds like we’re pretty much on the same page with this one. I’m with you on Liebman’s Colors, but I didn’t find The Distance Runner all that radical or hardcore. Enjoyable & accomplished, definitely, but it’s no Tenor or Statement of an Antirider. There’s a review in the Bags archives. I like Copland too, but he’s also one who’s been hit with the “centrist” charge repeatedly.
Tom, given the choice I might choose Copland too, haven’t really thought about it. But again, what’s so wrong with doing material that’s been done before? It’s not like either the Bley or Peacock songbooks have been done to death, far from it, and WWU’s readings are far from rote. And FYI: there’s only one original composition on the disc, Wiesendanger’s “Folk Song,” which I found to be a nice, energetic coda. I think the notions of “musical relevance” and “freshness” are so hopelessly mired in subjective biases as to be of little use in this context. If you’re looking for a something as quixotic and deconstructionist as Mengelberg’s Who’s Bridge, then this one will probably disappoint, but for what it is, I feel like it works very well. Diff’rent strokes, as they say.
Posted by: derek at June 12, 2006 7:26 AMDerek and Damon, count me in agreement on this disc. I wrote it up for Cadence last month, and found it pretty subtle and thoughtful. Certainly nothing like "stunning," but how much is anyway?
Posted by: Jason at June 12, 2006 1:12 PMI put it on agian today, I just don't see what is making people so uptight, it is good musicians listening and playing well together.
It has similar qualities to a lot of what comes out Chicago these days, for some reason that does not get the same criticisms.
I went just fine with my espresso. I'd put more into the listening category than the studying category which is fine since I like to listen to improvised music.
I heard Christian Weber live last night - he is fantastic player, very creative, huge sound and great technique.
The more I listen to this cd the more I hear interesting things.
.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................
