The prefix “post” has always been problematic when used to parcel free improv players. Just as Evan Parker could be considered “Post-Coltrane”, so too is guitarist John Russell “Post-Bailey”. But what do these pithy labels really tell us about either man other than that each follows chronologically from the iconic musician that preceded him. In a music that prides itself on resisting and subverting idiomatic impulses, the condition of “post” would presumably be a given. Russell’s latest Enamem disc is as good a place as any to encounter the aural attributes that both align him with and separate him from Bailey’s long shadow. The disc holds true to Emanem’s standard of offering maximum music for reasonable cash outlay by including three duos and a large ensemble piece recorded digitally at London concert series curated by Russell. The first two duo pieces pair Russell with very different horn players. Tenor saxophonist Garry Todd is an old associate and while he and Russell haven’t recorded since a shared Incus appearance in 1975, their rapport sounds intact on “The Bite.” Russell carves craggy chords and brittle punctuations and Todd traces knotted, fluttering passages that veer occasionally into melodic jazz territory. Todd gleans a rich tonal range from his instrument and Russell frequently comes across as a man possessed, but after over a quarter hour of close communication the somewhat arbitrary sounding ending is a bit of a letdown.
Trumpeter Henry Lowther is even better foil, the piquancy of muted brass blending surprisingly well with Russell’s animated strums and peckings. Open bell works just as well as plugged orifice and Lowther’s measured theme-referent improvising once again receives bold relief positioning against the mutable sounding board of his partner’s needlepoint plectral patterns. The duo with Chefa Alonso takes some time in coalescing, a somewhat nebulous dialogue between homemade percussion and guitar gaining greater lucidity when Alonso switches to trenchant dervish-style soprano, though the rubber duckie squeaks are an inspired touch. The disc’s concluding ensemble piece convenes a diverse cadre of European improvisers in an amalgam of acoustic instruments, vocals and electronics. Russell anchors the action with his sharply strummed strings and what would seem an ungainly unit sustains surprising degree of structure and spatial integrity over the better part of a half hour. Not exactly my favored flavor of musical tea, this last piece, but both it and its companions show Russell firmly in a “Post-Russell” bag that’s presumably right in line with his free improv aims.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on June 10, 2007 7:49 PMComment about recording of the last track of this John Russell's recording : it was a Quaqua group of John Russell recorded during Freedom of the City Festival 2006 and not during one of John's own events. JR is famous for organizing the Mopomoso concerts.The recording of S. Lexer has a different spatialisation than the one I have in mind. My opinion is that the music sounded better on stage than the recording is. It is also quite difficult to make a good recording witch such a nonet in the midst of a whole festival. The venue, Red Rose Theatre in London, has a speclially good acoustic when the players are seated on one of the largest wall side and a somewhat strange when they are on the proscenium/ bandstand or on the stagescene as we did for the FOTC.
I have severe trouble with "post - " anything. Music is a continuum, making nonsense out of expressions such as "post-modern" etc. etc., whether in music or in any other art-form. "Post - ... " implies a stopping point, of which there is never one. There is only the next step.
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