"AT SOMEWHERE THERE"

It's a great pleasure to announce the release of WILLIAM PARKER AT SOMEWHERE THERE, his first solo recording in more than a decade, on Barnyard Records. Jean Martin has done a typically loving job with this one, which features an extraordinary 48-minute bowed bass tour de force, "Cathedral Wisdom Light," and two short musical sorbets to round out the disc: "For Don Cherry" on dousn'gouni and "For Ella Parker" on double flute. The artwork is by the musicWitness, Jeff Schlanger, which is appropriate since the live concert from which the recording and painting were taken (July 2008) served to launch the ongoing exhibition of Jeff's work in the Somewhere There foyer.

Both William and Jeff will be coming to Toronto for an extra-special celebration for three wonderful new releases on Barnyard. The text of the media release follows:

BARNYARD RECORDS TRIPLE CD LAUNCH 2010:

Date:
Tuesday, 2 March, 8pm

Christ Church Deer Park
1570 Yonge Street, Toronto
(just north of St. Clair subway)

Admission: $10 advance (available at Soundscapes, 572 College St., Toronto)
and $15 at the door; special price for new CDs, $10/each, at the event

Program:
Andrew Downing, Jim Lewis & Jean Martin

William Parker - solo bass

Christine Duncan conducts The Element Choir, a 60-voice improvising choir with William Parker (bass), Andrew Downing (bass) Jim Lewis (trumpet), Jean Martin (drums) , and Eric Robertson (pipe organ)

This very special event will feature legendary New York double-bassist, William Parker, launching his first solo CD in over a decade, William Parker At Somewhere There , recorded live in Toronto in July 2008 by Jean Martin. “[Parker’s] signature synaesthetic philosophy invites colour-drenched metaphors for the swirling forms sprouting from his bow and bass: Prismic refraction, gardens blooming, a harvest feast being prepared. It’s playful, as seriously playful as your life.”

It will also feature Christine Duncan’s extraordinary 60-voice improvising ensemble, The Element Choir, in collaboration with William Parker, bass; Andrew Downing, bass; Jim Lewis, trumpet; Jean Martin, percussion; and Eric Robertson, playing the church’s beautiful Karl Wilhelm pipe organ, to launch The Element Choir At Rosedale United. “They possess the musicality, playfulness, and restraint to allow these unique and, in the most sublime moments, overwhelming sound resources (not only instruments and voices, but also the space itself) to be harnessed and channeled into a tangible feeling of wonder. This is very literally a wonderful record.”

Furthermore, the exquisite improvising trio of Andrew Downing, double-bass; Jim Lewis, trumpet; and Jean Martin, drums and percussion, will launch On a Short Path from Memory to Forgotten. This passionate and lyrical sequence of group improvisations introduces one of Toronto’s extraordinary creative music ensembles.

In addition, the legendary New York-based “MusicWitness,” Jeff Schlanger, whose artwork graces the cover of William Parker At Somewhere There, will be there to paint all of the musicians while they perform. The Barnyard Records Triple CD Launch 2010 is much more than just a music concert. It is a massive gathering of sound and spirit, a celebration of the energy and talent that makes Toronto an international capital of creative music.

Quite simply, it will be an utterly unique musical and artistic event, the outcome of years of painstaking and original work by Barnyard Records and its artists.

Two More Glances

There are two more shows in the fray that really deserve special mention and that I’ve been neglecting. To follow, I’ll endeavour to stay more current and to write about concerts more immediately in their wake.

Saturday, 22 March

I’ve now written several times, separately, about guitarist Eric Chenaux and bassist Rob Clutton, who played two sets of improvisation last Saturday night. The duo, in this context, was the residue of Rob’s original plan to play with Teena Palmer and Brandon Valdivia with Eric opening, a plan that got scuppered by scheduling vagaries. Such circumstances, in addition to the consummate affability of both guys, fostered a laid-back, almost ‘down home’ environment that was most welcoming for the dozen or so lucky ones on hand. The music was absolutely tremendous, showing simultaneous playfulness and total absorption by both players. Eric showed relative restraint in the use of his signature ‘wah’ sound and, to my ears, was honing in on rhythmic detail more than he usually does throughout the first set; it was surely a generative area, given Rob’s tremendous rhythmic acumen. The second set had Rob stepping out more, with more declarative melodic ideas. In turn, Eric sought timbral extremes as a kind of accompaniment, and focused at length on sustained episodes of quasi-hardanger-fiddle bowing and harmonic swells. Overall, there was a breathtaking stillness to their music that was amplified by the accommodating ST acoustics, yet it was never overly precious, always amiably experimental. An ideal night of chamber music, all in all.

Since Eric (and some of the audience members) had to run off to the Tranzac to play the music of Josh Thorpe, it wound up being an early night at ST. Good thing, too, since I had to run off early Sunday to Montréal for the Casa del Popolo version of the Barnyard Records launch that happened at ST in February. What a treat it was to play with Lori Freedman, Jean Martin, Bernard Falaise, Christine Duncan, Evan Shaw, and Colin Fisher!

Thursday, 27 March

Speaking of Mr. Jean Martin (about whom I’ve also written a fair bit), I was pretty excited to host his Trio with guitarist Justin Haynes and trumpeter Kevin Turcotte this past Thursday. Their Get Together Weather CD is something of a classic of new Toronto creative music, but I hadn’t heard the group live since they opened for the ICP Orchestra at the Guelph Jazz Festival in 2000. Jean set up this gig in advance of the Trio’s appearance at a festival in northern Québec sometime soon, and the idea was to dig into what is, apparently, a pretty massive book of tunes that they have accumulated. Instead, greeted by a meagre audience of two (Nicole Rampersaud and David Sait, who have great taste) they opted to improvise one absolutely extraordinary set of music and pack it in. Jean and Justin kept shifting the terrain with detail-rich strata of tune-like ideas, grooves, and textures, which Kevin animated in an understated way with his impeccable trumpet sound and ever-intelligent musical ideas. The set ended with an elegant climax that left the us three in the audience rather gleefully stunned.

I’m generally unfazed by small audiences at ST or anywhere for creative improvised music, and recognize how some nights are simply going to be duds, ‘business’-wise. However, Thursday night was the first time I was genuinely annoyed by the lack of attendance. I can hear in my head the chiding that I wanted to broadcast: “People! That was the shit, and you missed it!” But I’m over it now. I will, however, keep reminding readers that Toronto has some of the finest and most creative improvising musicians anywhere, and that, if I may say so, you’ll be lucky to hear them in the intimate confines of ST. Otherwise, if you wait too long, you may be relegated to buying costly tickets to hear them from poorly mixed festival stages, which are, often and unfortunately, the natural habitat for our best and brightest musical performers.

Glances in the Rear-View Mirror

In an effort to keep tabs on a bunch of interesting stuff that’s happened at ST during the past few weeks, I’m offering up a few snapshots. I wrote these two last week but haven’t got around to editing and posting them before now:

Wednesday, 12 March

Arthur Bull, formerly of Toronto during the Music Gallery’s heyday, has long since set up shop in Digby Neck, NS. Luckily, he contacted me shortly after I’d opened ST while planning a Toronto trip and, since the program was still skeletal then, I was able to offer him a gig without any hassle. What luck! This guy is a real improviser’s improviser, and deals with the situation with a minimum of surface gloss and maximum ideas-per-minute. Since his original, exceptional trio with Nick Fraser and David Prentice in September, Arthur has been back twice, and this time with the ever-provocative pair of Nick and guitarist and ST regular, Eric Chenaux. Their music unfolded at a beautifully measured pace and, while each player was clearly taking the others' cues throughout, one could parse each player’s discrete musical ideas as they were introduced, developed, and wrapped up. Still, the lushness of Eric’s guitar and Nick’s exquisite snare attack assured that this was more than a musical chess match. To follow, March/April residents, Ronda Rindone’s Quorum, had a busy set featuring two-bassists (Aaron Lumley and Rob Clutton) that was lively enough, but no match for the subtlety brought to bear by Arthur, Eric, and Nick.

Thursday, 13 March

It was terrific to host two old friends from Montréal, gambist Pierre-Yves Martel (picture) and trumpeter Gordon Allen, who were joined by bassist Rob Clutton for a delicate and extremely thoughtful trio improvisation. It was lovely to hear Pierre-Yves and Rob hook up in actual or fanciful counterpoint, with plenty of little rhythmic and harmonic interplay, while Gordon (as he so often does) cleaved beautifully to his own breathy, almost ethereal furrow. The silences that permeated the set’s texture were an excellent contrast to the opening set, an in-concert development of their Piano Music collaboration by alto saxophonist Evan Shaw and drummer Jean Martin. Jean and Evan played extroverted duet music that kept an ongoing and productive connection with jazz tradition, without ever referring to it overtly. Jean’s capacity for simultaneous subtlety and ebullience, so often a key factor in any ensemble in which he plays, was certainly in evidence, but was muted a bit by his fumbling with an MP3 player to trigger saxophone-choir samples that is a hallmark of the duo’s recorded work. Unfortunately, each such moment brought the energy level of the music down considerably. Still, it was as-ever wonderful to hear these two deep thinker/feelers dig into long, jagged, superbly rhythmic streams of music for good chunks of their generally excellent set.

Barnburner

Big thanks to all who came out last night to the Barnyard Records Three-CD Launch for as fine a party as ST has seen. Such a beautiful thing. Lots of great friends came out, including some whom I hadn’t seen in months, and the room housed a genuine air of celebration (amid the waft of some amazing cheeses Jean Martin [pictured] and I picked out for our guests). Christine Duncan was a splendid maitre-d’ and made everyone feel totally welcome – she’s surely got the job from now on if she wants it! The music-making, while very fine (especially Evan Shaw and Jean’s really brief tête-à-tête), clearly deferred to the party, and the hang went well into the night. It was especially wonderful to welcome Lori Freedman, whom I’ve barely seen and with whom I hadn’t played since we recorded Plumb in April. She sounds utterly fantastic. Our duet was a little underheated for which I feel a bit responsible – it’s tough to change gears from host to performer and I didn’t quite make the switch capably last night – but I’m licking my chops for my next shots at playing with her: the Montréal Barnyard Records Launch Party at Casa Del Popolo on 23 March and the Sound Symposium, St. John’s Newfoundland, 3-13 July.

Thanks always to Jean Martin, the Barnyard Visionary and truly one of the most affable, creative gentlemen you could possibly meet.