The Intersection: Jachna/Buhl

The Intersection is an ongoing feature on JazzWrap that looks at artists that have blended jazz, world and electronica in new and highly creative ways.

Jachna/Buhl

Niedokonczone Ksiazki (translated: Unfinished Books) (Audio Tong Music, 2011)

Wojtek Jachna (trumpet, electronics)

Jacek Buhl (drums)

A recent and unbelievably exciting discovery from fellow blogger Maciej at Polish Jazz is the second release from the duo Jachna & Buhl, Niedokonczone Ksiazki (translated: Unfinished Books).

Utilizing elements of jazz, electronica, early prog and found sound, Jachna and Buhl have created a wonderful and riveting document of rhythms, tones and ideas that will have you decidedly beside yourself as to what to call this - Jazz? Avant Garde? Third Stream Jazz? Electronica? World? Or what? There are places on Unfishised Books, where you may hear influences of Faust, My Bloody Valentine or Jon Hassell. I have been listening to this record non-stop for the last two weeks (twice a day in some cases).


In a similar vein to Mikrokolektyw from last year, this duo consist of drums and trumpet/electronics. But that's really where the similarities end. Jachna/Buhl employ their acoustic instruments with limited electronic manipulation. This gives the record a raw feel but also adds an experimental quality when the electronics are introduced. On "Modlitwa", the duo utilize all the space available and conjure a rich and expansive acoustic dialogue that is both exciting as it is exploratory. "Bernstein's Mood" rolls out with a funky repetitive pattern from Buhl and phrasing from Jachna that could fit neatly along side a piece of West Side Story (if West Side Story were an experimental musical). 

"Przyplyw Odplyw" has an ambient-dub quality to it that is reminiscent of mid-period Jon Hassell. It's a slow developing piece that is mainly dominated by Buhl's rhythmic passages. Jachna's performance is layered in beautifully. "Przyplyw Odplyw" moves upward and out but still maintains a melody, expression and direction that holds your interest throughout. Both musicians along with the electronic elements deployed in this piece are truly sublime. "Zmeczony Los" closes out the session with a slow moving rhythm, manipulated trumpet and other found sounds that feel more ethnological in structure than jazz based. The drums feel very tribal and Buhl's playing is eerie and emotional. It's ambient, dub, experimental and electronica rolled into six minutes of solitude. 

This is one of those records that is always up our alley at JazzWrap. Wojtek Jachna and Jacek Buhl have created an album that is strikingly different than most of the material you will hear this year. Fusing various elements of the musical spectrum, they have maintained the acoustic richness of their instruments with the far-reaching spirit of third stream jazz to create an album--Unfinished Books -- that is worth every dollar, euro or pound it takes you to find it. Highly Recommended.

Celebrating Marion Brown

Marion Brown (sax; b. Sep. 8, 1935 - October 25, 2010)
Three For Shepp (Impulse)

Today we celebrate the highly under appreciated saxophonist, Marion Brown who passed away on Monday. This is an entry I did a few weeks ago but I wanted to share it again for those you may not have had a chance to explore the music of Marion Brown.

Marion Brown embodied a lovely, soft tone on alto sax. Many jazz fans will know his work on John Coltrane's Ascension but Brown's own work much more understated. He didn't necessarily fit into the free jazz realm as much as his contemporaries.

Born in Atlanta, he moved to New York in the late 60s when later he would join Coltrane on the aforementioned Ascension. Brown would develop an extensive body of work from '65 - '71 that was both conservative and free form. While his work on Ascension and some later albums for both ESP and Fontana were high intensity and bold statements of intent, his overall tone was more empathic. Over the course of his career Marion Brown has worked with Mal Waldron, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille and even Jon Hassell.

My personal favourite and probably the one most critics would pick as the best representation of his work is Three For Shepp (Impulse; 1966). Three For Shepp is a tribute to his friend and musical partnership with saxophonist, Archie Shepp--who in addition to Ornette Coleman was a major influence on Brown. They had both played on Ascension and also worked on each others albums while both were signed for Impulse Records. The albums six tracks are divided into three Shepp compositions and three written by Brown. Three For Shepp is a classic document of the free jazz period with a bright mixture of tones and structure that runs the gamut of blues, Latin and swing wrapped in a swirling African motifs.

Brown's own "Fortunato" and Shepp's "Spooks" are powerful statements of his talent and distinct vision that make Three For Shepp an adventurous and frenzy outing. While there are other free jazz albums from this period that made a significant and longstanding statement of jazz history, Three For Shepp is one of the unheralded masterpieces that needs to be re-examined and rediscovered by a new generation.

For the last few decades Marion Brown has been a teacher of jazz and very very rarely performing as a session member. He has had several illnesses in recent years but he is still moving along. Today is his birthday and you should do yourself a favour in the next few hours, days and weeks and seek out one of his records. Take a listen for yourself. You won't be disappointed by Marion Brown.

The Intersection: Jon Hassell

The Intersection is an occasional feature on JazzWrap that looks at artists that blend jazz with electronica (a tradition pioneered by none other than Miles Davis on such classic recordings as On The Corner and Bitches Brew).

Jon Hassell (trumpet; electronics)

There is no mistaking Jon Hassell for anyone else. His electronically treated trumpet sounds at times reptilian, but also like a desert wind through a narrow canyon. No other trumpet player sounds quite as primal as Hassell. He's tapped into something beyond our pedestrian notions of "ethnic" and "exotic". He's gone native, but you'd be hard pressed to say definitively what culture it is. Sure, there are tell-tale Javanese gamelan-isms and Afro-beat stutter steps, but there's nothin conventional about any of it. It's just Hassell.

But it's not just Hassell's trumpet that sound utterly otherworldly, its the rhythms and atmospherics surrounding it as well. The skittering percussion and pulsating synth textures overlap and interweave like a tapestry of a design indecipherable as it flutters in the gusts of his alien horn blasts.

Hassell, if you were hitherto unaware, is the avant-garde trumpeter best known for creating what he calls Fourth World music, an amalgamation of ethnic and contemporary classical musics. His sound is somewhat reminiscent of Miles Davis's Stockhausian moments during his early '70s fusion period, and while Hassell's muted tones deliver fragmented phrases much like Miles during that protean period, the similarity is superficial at best. While Miles was clearly tapping into his African heritage (as well as American funk) on albums like Agharta and Pangaea, Hassell is embracing something without clear borders. Don't get me wrong -- Miles' electric period is some deep shit -- but Hassell is into something deep and mysterious.

And yet... I can't help but associate various Hassell's albums with the work of other artists, specifically writers. Listen to Possible Musics, his 1980 collaboration with Brian Eno, while reading J.G. Ballard's early environmental disaster novels (The Drowned World, The Crystal World) and you'll swear it was recorded for that purpose. Listen to his 1986 album Power Spot while reading just about anything by Paul Bowles (The Sheltering Sky, The Delicate Prey) and you will be convinced that Hassell was reading about expatriates living and dying in Morocco while recording it.

Best of all, Hassell keeps making music true to his original vision. If you haven't discovered his "fourth world" yet, you owe it to yourself to do so... and while you're at it pick up the works of Paul Bowles and J.G. Ballard. You may find yourself wanting the test my theories for yourself.

Supersilent

Supersilent (group; 1997)
Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics, drums)
Helge Sten (guitars, electronics)
Ståle Storløkken (keyboards)
Jarle Vespestad (drums)

Deconstructing everything we know about jazz, Norwegian band Supersilent have taken jazz and literally blown it apart and don't seem to want to put it back together. With elements of Miles early '70s fusion work, the dense introspection of Karlhienz Stockhausen and a true belief in "whatever happens on stage or in the studio, happens" improvisation, Supersilent has emerged as one of the most challenging and adventurous bands on the scene today.

Not unlike Australia's The Necks, Supersilent can start off a piece either with sheer cacophony or quiet beauty. Either way, the end results are quite mesmerizing. The band utilize a mixture of both acoustic and electronic instruments to create a densely pack world of soundscapes that would make Miles Davis proud. The band functions as one without a real leader and almost never rehearsal session. There first three albums simply titled 1, 2 and 3 respectively, are packaged together and transmit the same theme of sparse, atmospheric, eclectic adventure. 2 does features some pieces with slightly more song structure or rhythmic patterns but for the most part the albums 1 - 3 are an excursion in sound but well worth the journey.

Album 4 sets a similar course to album 2 with what feels like nods to King Crimson in the way there is a full frontal assault on listener but you it is interesting to hear the subtle nuances through each piece. Albums 5 and 6 are quieter affairs, exploring more of an ambient path with keyboards and electronics more the focus for this outing. There are ethereal moments in which Henriksen's trumpet are audible making for nice transcendent arrangements. Fans of King Crimson, Spring Heel Jack, Jon Hassell, Seefeel and My Bloody Valentine might look to 6 as a nice starter.

Album 7 is actually a live DVD and is worth the money. I have since Supersilent twice and it is truly an experience in sound and order. Albums 8 and 9 maintain the ambient theme but you continue to get a great insight into the group dynamic. Everyone in the band handles electronics so its at times difficult to determine who's playing what but its more about the improvisation and emotional output of Supersilent that finding the individual characteristics.

Each member of the band has their own highly successful solo careers (Arve Henriksen recent release on ECM and Ståle Storløkken in collaboration with Thomas Stronen as Humcrush) when this band gets together to record or perform live it is truly an event. If your taste gravitate to rich, dense sound and experimentation than I highly recommend exploring Supersilent.