Baker/Hunt/Sandstrom/Williams - Extraordinary Popular Delusions

Okka Disk 12056

[note: This review was originally slated for Paris Transatlantic, but due to various exigencies, is published here for the first time.]

Though the hybridization of punk-rock ethos and free-jazz intensity is a hallmark often granted to Chicago reedman Ken Vandermark, and his pedigree linked to Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, and other Northern and Western European saxophonists, it goes back to something instilled by veteran Chicago multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell. Russell’s work stretched back to the 1950s as a drummer in tenorman Joe Daley’s trio, and extended to the free-improvisation collective NRG Ensemble and the squall of the Flying Luttenbachers (with percussionist Weasel Walter). As Vandermark’s groups today hinge more on compositional range, NRG alums saxophonist Mars Williams, bassist Brian Sandstrom and drummer Steve Hunt have honed their freedoms into a nuanced, dedicated vocabulary. Extraordinary Popular Delusions is their latest collaboration, and joins the trio with diversely talented Chicago pianist Jim Baker for nine collectively-improvised pieces.

Russell’s music, fierce as it could be, was often laced with odd juxtapositions and a healthy dose of humor; this quartet avoids irony and saunters forth with unflagging for-itself improvisational energy. Williams’ tenor tone is reminiscent of a young Gato Barbieri, fire-breathing fueled with a nearly romantic longing and a penchant for obsessively wringing poetry from steely phrases. Baker, who is heard on electric piano and synthesizer in addition to concert piano, applies technology tastefully – under tenor skronk and arco flutter, his tones approach preparation more than Wurlitzer. As Hunt’s fleet panoply of gongs clatter the stratosphere, Baker’s patchwork adds a feedback-like bottom, blending with subtonal reed squawks and Sandstrom’s guitar sludge. However, his postbop chops are in evidence, too – ringing modal phrases rear their uncanny heads in “Experiments on Animals in Space,” leading one to believe this quartet has a post-Coltrane yen somewhere in its collective noggin, even if it has yet to be waxed. As rock rhythms appear from out of the grungy stew of “Goat and Adding Machine Ritual,” some of the NRG legacy rises as well, even if the frantic turns have been drawn out in seasick drones.

Hal Russell would’ve been proud to see his ethos expanded upon, as cross-pollination is unified into an individual music. Even if the juxtapositions are more seamless than stitched-together, Extraordinary Popular Delusions is a hell of a statement. It’ll be interesting to see how this quartet continues their own traditions.