The opening track of the new collaboration between Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Tomeka Reid and Chad Taylor might be called ‘The Sensation of Sliding’ but after a short preamble it soon sounds like it is skidding off the rails, with noisy skronks and some hightailing from the twin saxophonists while Taylor barrels away underneath on his drums. Then with rustic fondness as the two horns trade melodies, the quartet circle the well, for a bluesy interlude as Reid takes a plummy and buoyant line on her cello before Gustafsson and Vandermark bob and weave towards the close.
PIVOTĀ the debut album by this particular quartet swings into view on short notice, but more than delivers on the thrill and fullness of its billing. Gustafsson and Vandermark have been playing together since the late nineties when they teamed up as the Free Jazz Four and as part of Peter Brƶtzmann’s Chicago Tentet while Vandermark sat in on the first of several sessions with the AALY Trio. Meanwhile the veteran reedman Vandermark has played alongside Reid and Taylor on several features, notably on the first album by The Margots where Reid contributed as Vandermark sought to frame the voice and songs of Adrienne Pierluissi and on a couple of efforts from the early 2010s as Vandermark and Taylor together with the pianist HĆ„vard Wiik briefly formed Side A.
Vandermark, Reid and Taylor are all proud Chicago fixtures but while Gustafsson has also forged deep roots in the Windy City this is his first proper studio engagement with the live and limber rhythms of the cellist and drummer. On the other hand Taylor and Reid are plenty familiar having made up the first iteration of Jaimie Branch’s cherished Fly or Die ensemble while they have also partaken in the quixotic schemes of Rob Mazurek whether as a quartet or as extended parts of his Exploding Star Orchestra.
Structured as eight songs, four either side of six improvisational duets, the longer pieces on PIVOT are composed by Gustafsson and Vandermark in turn. It is Ken who brings it all back home on the second piece entitled ‘Blowing out from Chicago’, which nods to the 1957 album Blowing In from Chicago by Clifford Jordan and the Sun Ra mainstay John Gilmore and has been described as maybe ‘the neglected masterpiece of Blue Note hard bop’.
‘Blowing out from Chicago’ is a staggered and strident composition featuring squealing saxophone lines and pot-and-pan percussion. Bearing an old-school ethos, it is the bowed cello of Reid which scuttles the tempo of the piece to diverting ends, before Vandermark slides out in boisterous fashion. And as this ‘Blowing out from Chicago’ steadily looses all tethers Gustafsson blurts away in the background, less as a stay on proceedings and more for moral support or dramatic emphasis.
‘Epistemological Glide’ also by Vandermark features sustained tones and a more patient buildup, with drum rolls and slender chimes ringing out like church bells, the other three musicians eventually throbbing in unison as Taylor rides a metallic wave of percussion. That’s not the end of the composition however as we get a curious epilogue in which Vandermark trades in his tenor for a B-flat clarinet, muffled winds and tapped cello together making for a kind of workaday or urban pastoral as though the quartet were hanging out washing from the open window of a tenement. The big bleating close sounds like the buildup or accompaniment to a fight scene in a silent or slapstick movie, in what is a cinematic close to this apparently experiential piece.
We return to Gustafsson’s hand for ‘Drops of Sorrow. Accelerating’ which is more slurred, swampy and steamy. Some fine opening harmonies between Gustafsson’s beefy baritone saxophone, Reid’s cello and Taylor’s drums give way to what becomes a bit of an arabesque. Then we are treated to a frankly astounding melodic line from Vandermark, one of the best I’ve heard in some time as his tenor is supported by the baritone before winding and whinnying above the plush, springy mattress of Reid’s cello and some choppy percussive work. All together ‘Drops of Sorrow. Accelerating’ coheres into one stonking song as Taylor raps us out with his sticks.
The first of the six duets, which are simply billed ‘PIVOT Duos’, carries an elegant if wary and circuitous dalliance between cello and clarinet. The second showcases the two saxophonists in sputtering dialogue, and the third Gustafsson’s duck-billed baritone squawking away against Taylor’s drums.
The fourth duet is a slightly woozy and scattered or otherwise preoccupied crossing of paths between Reid and Taylor on the cello and percussion while the fifth is a high-strung escapade on flute and cello, as Reid ascends the staircase and toys with a squeaky door while Gustafsson intersperses his breathy blows with a few frantic gasps and sudden hollers. Finally the sixth of these short and concise improvisations pits Vandermark’s bass clarinet against the drums, with Taylor mostly playing at the dry end. There’s a strong narrative element to all of these tracks despite their curt length and experimental nature.
On the back side with another Vandermark composition, his ‘Unmeasured Mile’ starts out as a glossy and soulful piece. It comes to feature some varied work from Reid and some nice rolls and cymbal washes from the percussion. Then a flute from a far-flung land sweeps in on a magic carpet to further elevate the track, at times sharing the characteristics of a pan flute or slide whistle.
Tomeka Reid opens the next piece, her cello melodically and rhythmically landing somewhere between a fiddle and a donso ngoni. It is another beautiful moment on an album which delivers the deep grooves and sonic bombast one might expect while also abounding in graceful notes and surprising uses of the assorted instrumentation.
This song is titled ‘I am aware. Standing in Snow.’ with Mats Gustafsson drawing his titles from the work of the experimental Danish poet Inger Christensen. Soon enough Reid’s stunning introduction leads into a breakdown and a dancing groove, enough to make any trudging walk through the snow come alive as though imbued with a party atmosphere.
‘I am aware. Standing in Snow.’ closes with a winsome duet on the flute and clarinet. ‘Drifting against the Wind.’ surges and swells at its own steady pace, as the title suggests more ballast than battering ram before the blustery blowout ‘Popular Music Theory’ proves one last torrent. Captured in December of last year at Electrical Audio in Chicago and released on the Swedish survivor Silkheart Records, this surprise PIVOT is a model of musical storytelling and personal engagement from four of the jazz scene’s most accomplished artists.
