Thursday, November 19, 2015

"Zingaro" Mitzlaff Viegas Rosso 4tet, Day One

More new avant improvisation from Portugal today. It is the 4tet of Carlos "Zingaro" (violin), Ulrich Mitzlaff (cello), Joao Pedro Viegas (bass clarinet, clarinet) and Alvaro Rosso (doublebass). The album is called Day One (JACC Records).

The first thing that struck me was how the three strings interplay with the bass clarinet or clarinet. This is busy round-robin improvisations with each player staking a claim to the whole but nearly always in a contrapuntal multi-voice setting. It is strikingly situated in a new music context with less of an obvious "jazz" element. But you can find some of that if you listen carefully.

The string trio plus reeds sound is what comes straight at you. Zingaro, Mitzlaff and Rosso give us a cohesive whole most inventive and impressive. Viegas adds his considerable ears and reed-voice to put it all together.

Zingaro comes across as the monster player he is; but then everybody seems to do exactly the right thing at the right time in such profusion that there seem to be endless possibilities. The album gives us eight events. As you listen you feel they could event productively for a great deal longer, into "Day Two," "Day Three," and so forth.

Day One is one of those sessions where everything comes together. The four are truly as one, a four-headed behemoth who takes the music in definite directions in time, consistently, variably and eloquently.

I am certainly not here to tell you what to think or what to like. But this is one I would definitely point to when asked about the current state of affairs in new music improvisation. There are no hindrances. Everyone flies in an instinctive formation, a kind of musical "V"! Hear this.

No comments:

Post a Comment