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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : The Jeff Gauthier Goatette
t i t l e : Mask
d a t e : 2002
l a b e l : Cryptogramophone (CG112)
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : August/2004
t r a c k s : 07
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 112,1 MB
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On his third outing as a leader, violinist Jeff Gauthier offers
a stellar blend of compositions that push at the boundaries of
defined musics, while not consciously breaking any of them.
Accompanied by brothers Alex and Nels Cline on drums and
guitars respectively, pianist David Witham, and bassist Joel
Hamilton, Gauthier's Goatette is a blend of jazz exotica (not
in the cheeky sense of the word, but the most profound) that
winds through not only his own compositions but those of
Ornette Coleman ("Enfant"), the late Eric von Essen, and Alex
Cline. "Clea's Bounce" opens the disc with a riveting 5/4 time
signature shimmying through the middle by Witham before
Gauthier enters with a funky and angular melodic line that Nels
Cline underscores, creating a new rhythmic line. Next comes the
von Essen tune, "Waltz for K.P.," in a slippery jazz waltz
tempo with numerous harmonic twists along the impressionistic
melody, which seems present and invisible at the same time.
Witham's chromaticism is especially beguiling here, and it
lilts then accents then floats above the rhythm section.
Coleman's "Enfant," from the Ornette on Tenor album, is given
an interesting treatment here. The ensemble looks at this piece
in light of harmolodics, a musical theory of harmony Coleman
hadn't articulated until over ten years after this piece was
recorded. Witham moves through the various open-ended
harmolodic chords as the rest of the ensemble interacts with
them before Gauthier and Nels go after one another on a theme.
The next two tracks are among the most beautiful on the
recording: "The Fools," by Nels Cline, is a haunting, 12-string
piece with a wide-open, almost impressionistic figure that is
filled in impressively by Hamilton's bass solo. The other is
Gauthier's own "Ephemera." Again Cline plays 12-string and the
feel is one of Oregon's music from the mid-'70s (Music of
Another Present Era -- Cline odes a mean Ralph Towner on the
12-string) with shards of Keith Jarrett's chromatic method
modalism and the deep lyricism of Bill Evans. The ensemble
plays together in such a moving, fluid way the work becomes
meta-textual, reaching outside music to embrace different
cultural artifacts and languages in order to turn them back
into collective expression. In this way, this track is the
hinge of the entire album, bringing in the voices of not only
jazz, but of folk music and those not yet created -- speaking
in poetic, sensual languages and whispering in nuances that are
unmitigated by jazz, folk music, or improvisation, yet exist
because of them. "Mask" is a four-part work which is too
complex -- yet glorious -- to go into here; one would need an
entire essay to devote to the beauty and mystery of its
articulation. With the final work, Alex Cline's "Forgiveness,"
a seemingly simple tone poem, the album meditatively comes to a
close on the theme of silence and peace. What better way to cap
an exploration that while universal in its appeal is also full
of vulnerable individual and collective expression? With this
album as only the latest evidence in tow, Cryptogramophone is
issuing some of the most exciting, appealing, and
unclassifiable music today.
http://www.cryptogramophone.com/
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01-Clea's Bounce [07:14]
02-Waltz for K.P. [05:07]
03-Enfant [05:56]
04-The Fools [11:25]
05-Ephemera - For Eric [09:02]
06-Mask [18:00]
07-Forgiveness [09:36]
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66:20 min
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