Artist.......: Anthony Braxton & Walter Franks
Album........: 4 Improvisations (Duets)
Label........: Leo Records
Genre........: Jazz
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Oct-12-2005
str.date.....: juil.-19-2005
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
cd1
01. Improvisation 1 25:46
02. Improvisation 2 22:02
cd2
01. Improvisation 3 26:57
02. Improvisation 4 22:49
Runtime 97:34 min
Size 115,7 MB
Release Notes:
Saxophonist Anthony Braxton joins pianist Walter
Frank on the latter's recording debut (note: the
album cover misspells his last name, adding an "s"
to the end). Frank, an Argentinian
composer/improviser, has a graduate degree from
Wesleyan and chops to burn. His work has focused on
post-minimal music, including premieres of works by
composer William Duckworth. His tonally centered
and ostinato-heavy style is an interesting new foil
for Braxton. Happily, the pairing is an effective
one on 4 Improvisations.
While each disc is split into two tracks, each
including a twenty-plus minute long selection,
there is an expansive quality to the music-making,
as well as a concomitant multiplicity of styles,
that makes each "improvisation" sound like a
fantasy with several discrete sections.
"Improvisation 1" is a particularly wide-ranging
journey: its opening pits Braxton's bluesy tenor
saxophone utterances against Frank's thick block
chords. The pianist then moves into a limpid,
contrapuntal style, frequently creating shimmering
arpeggiations and impressionistic harmonies. This
in turn elicits a lyrical dolce sensibility from
Braxton, who renders melodies as hushed,
impassioned whispers. While this delicate interplay
is eventually succeeded by a series of more
vigorous interchanges, it is the album's most
stunning passage, and one that will linger in your
mind.
That said, Frank also holds his own in the more
muscular interchanges. He accumulates a beehive of
swirling minimal ostinati, to which Braxton
responds with lightning fast trills. When Braxton
has had enough of the limitations of the
post-minimal harmonic field, he breaks out in a
roaring, almost raucous burst of angularity,
inspiring Frank to crescendo into more
cluster-based harmonies and engage in a dissonant
cadenza of melodic jabs and body blows. The two end
the work playing in disparate styles: Braxton
relies on avant-jazz altissimo shrieks, while Frank
lays down layers of modal harmony. They somehow
remain on the same page, creating a deliciously
unusual hybrid music.
On "Improvisation 2", Frank plays in a drier, more
staccato style. Braxton rips through some
scintillating licks, creating intricate polyrhythms
against Frank's repeated bass register
interjections. Both are in avant high octane mode
on "Improvisation 3"; Braxton's playing is fluid --
darting nimbly, bending pitches, breathlessly
spinning out endless passages of dizzying melody.
Frank plays machine gun-tempo repeated notes in
reply, eventually graduating into acrobatic
passages that exploit the piano's entire compass.
"Improvisation 4" is a lively dance, often
operating in 6/8 time. Energetic streams of piano
notes move in perpetual motion. Braxton's tenor sax
navigates wide-ranging solo terrain, by turns sleek
and ruminative. Romantic hued harmonies are pitted
against post-bop runs, combining in a music that is
both ear-catching and exploratory. B