Hawkins/ Lash/ May/ Ward - BARKINGSIDE

Emanem 4147

Is Barkingside an ensemble name or simply an album title? The distinction ends up of little consequence as fine print reveals that none of the four improvisers who comprise the group “have ever been to the outer London suburb”. At just under an hour, the disc collects three performances, two from a Cambridge gig and the third from a London set at the 2007 Freedom of the City Festival. The instrumentation is that of a conventional jazz quartet, reed plus rhythm section, but the ensemble directs its focus toward transposing that familiar template to the format of free improvisation.

Alex Ward’s clarinet is a bit unusual for the context and he brings to the straight horn a bevy of extended techniques, some of which parallel the vernacular of Canadian Francois Houle. Reed pops, mouth-puckered expulsions, coarse-grain multiphonics and relatively straightforward melodic phrasing all come into play on his palette. Drummer Paul May evinces influence from another Paul, this one answering to the surname Lytton, in his preference for kit accoutrements, abstracted clatter, and textured noise. In the closing minutes of the opening “Alopekis” his rubbed cymbals sound vaguely like a tamboura with their web of resultant drones. In the final third of “Carnauzer” there’s a segment where it sound like he’s repeatedly lobbing quarters into an ashtray balanced on snare head. Later, it’s possibly either bicycle crank or hand mixer, I’m not sure.

For pianist Alexander Hawkins the imperfect analogue seems to be Veryan Weston, as he applies gesture-laden dissonance to fragmentary chords and clusters. Bassist Dominic Lash divides time productively between pizzicato and bow, channeling strident energy through either means of sound production. Communication is a near constant and the two longer pieces unfold in episodic fashion with various combinations undertaking ideas collectively or in intentional opposition. The music is heavily percussive in places, not the least because of May’s contributions, but the four also accord close attention to dynamics, receding from stentorian tumult to near silence on numerous occasions. At roughly a third the length of its bookends, “Basenji” begins with in an almost chamber jazz vein before crumpling into more carefully-timed collisions and explosions.

Like the institutions of state government and private medicine, the improvised music community doesn’t spend much time pondering succession planning. Groups like Barkingside and labels like the indefatigable Emanem are doing the heavy lifting in that regard, ensuring that as older improvisers regrettably retire and expire the art form continues unabated.

~ Derek Taylor