Boustrophedon (album)

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Boustrophedon
Live album by Evan Parker's
Transatlantic Art Ensemble

Publication
(s)

2008

Label (s) Edition of Contemporary Music

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

7th

running time

59:15

occupation

production

Steve Lake

Studio (s)

Muffathalle , Munich

chronology
Topos
(2007) 		Boustrophedon Free Zone Appleby 2007
(2008)
Template: Info box music album / maintenance / parameter error
Evan Parker (2005)

Boustrophedon (in Six Furrows) is a music album by the Evan Parker Transatlantic Art Ensemble . It was recorded in September 2004 in the Muffathalle in Munich and published in 2008 on ECM .

The album

Evan Parker had already contributed to the album The Music Improvisation Company in 1970 , the fifth release on Manfred Eicher's ECM label. From 1994 he recorded regularly for ECM, first trio albums with Paul Bley and Barre Phillips ( Time Will Tell , Sankt Gerold ), followed by the first production of Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble , with which he recorded four albums: Toward the Margins , Drawn Inward, Memory / Vision, and The Eleventh Hour .

In 2004 the British Evan Parker and the American Roscoe Mitchell founded the Transatlantic Art Ensemble , with Mitchell's Composition / Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 was imported for ECM. The band's staff consisted of members of Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and Mitchell's Note Factory .

Parker's composition Boustrophedon was also recorded in September 2004 with the same cast , consisting of six “Furrows” including an introduction and a finale. In linguistics, the title of the album - Boustrophedon - denotes a spelling that alternates line by line: " Parker uses the back and forth analogy both in scales up and down and in the flow back and forth between the American and European musicians, " wrote Kee Malesky . The Satzbezeichnung Furrow (Engl. For furrow ) takes refers to this concept, which in German by analogy with the movement during plowing and furrowing agile called.

Boustrophedon contains music composed out for the musicians, special instructions for the performance and open areas that leave room for improvisation . Parker, who in his own words wanted to occupy "the space between Gil Evans and Luigi Nono " , said:

"I wanted to use some of the big chords that Slonimsky talks about: all these very big all-interval structures."

The album begins with a short overture by the ensemble, "an amalgam of flute, piano, flugelhorn", which the drummers Tani Tabbal and Paul Lytton lead into the first of the Furrows , in which each of the team-mates meets a transatlantic counterpart.

In Furrow 1 , these are flautist Neil Metcalfe and pianist Craig Taborn ; In Furrow 2 , Phil Wachsmann and Nils Bultmann conduct a dialogue with violin and viola, which finally leads with broad orchestral waves to Furrow 3 , in which the tempo increases and cellist Marcio Mattos and Anders Svanoe meet on alto saxophone.

Furrow 4 is a feature for John Rangecroft's clarinet and Corey Wilkes ' trumpet: "Rangecroft's clarinet seamlessly follows the nosedive accumulation of the previous section, playing a dance-like solo before the orchestra paints it." As Wilkes enters the conversation, the classical soundscape turns to a more jazz-influenced sound, in which Wilkes' trumpet mixes with ensemble playing.

The bassists Jaribu Shahid and Barry Guy initially play alone in the slow Furrow 5 , then in an increasingly lively ensemble game. The lively Furrow 6 begins with the entry of the string section before soloists Evan Parker and Roscoe Mitchell perform; Parker has a solo on the soprano in circular breathing overlaid with string accompaniment; Mitchell brings Furrow 6 back from its darker performance to a more traditional jazz sound.

The final lets the eleven players appear one after the other in short statements.

Track list

Phil Wachsmann in Club W71 , 2011

Evan Parker / The Transatlantic Art Ensemble: Boustrophedon (ECM 1873)

  1. Overture - 1:21
  2. Furrow 1 - 8:09
  3. Furrow 2- 5:46
  4. Furrow 3-11:07
  5. Furrow 4-5:21
  6. Furrow 5-8:20
  7. Furrow 6-12:52
  8. Final - 6:19

All compositions are by Evan Parker.

Reception of the album

Boustrophedon was well received in the specialist press; " This record, like its companion, goes a long way toward reconciling contemporary jazz and classical music without selling either short " ( Down Beat ), " Boustrophodon is also a giant step forward for jazz music that underlines the fact that it is a genre of music without limitations "( Jazzwise )," It's a triumph for Parker, who's known a few in his revolutionary career "( The Guardian )," Shimmering soundscapes and orchestral slabs are the setting for knockabout improvisations with bucolic flute "( Financial Times ).

Thom Jurek gave the album in Allmusic 3½ out of five stars and mentioned the passage from Samuel Beckett's story The Expelled (from stories and texts about nothing from 1947 to 1952) cited by Parker in the liner notes .

“The music runs in the same direction, with vertical ascents and descents in harmony with its own scale changes, running horizontally in both directions. The textures, the tone colors of the different combinations of contrasting players in each part, drama, dynamics and (of course) the improvisational parts of this way of working, all this brings with it numerous challenges and opportunities. This music is neither jazz - free or otherwise - nor is it just a classical formalism or an improvisational deconstruction. Instead, Parker's compositions are written with the idea of ​​bringing different regions, distances, cultural differences and disciplines together and combining them with one another from his very European perspective: to create a new work that has an identity of the transcultural and the trans-aesthetic. [...] Parker plays in a more controlled manner, very calmly, in order to let his lines and chromatic changes arise when they appear and to support them with energetic improvisation [...]. It's as overwhelming as Mitchell's album, albeit completely different. It is an exercise in musical mystery, chance and opaque structures that requires the listener to pause for a while before reaching the next level. "
Roscoe mitchell, moers festival 2009

Henry Smith said in All About Jazz :

“ The hour-long composition leaves nothing of the excitement of Parker's Spontaneous Music Ensemble . While this is perhaps his most thoroughly composed work, it offers just as much - if not more - pleasure than what those familiar with his work expect from him. "

Mike Shanley said in JazzTimes :

“ Almost all of the 250+ albums Evan Parker has worked on can be described as unusual or unique in one way or another, but this record has a special reason for describing it: the band leader's soprano saxophone is a solo instrument Hard to hear clearly until the penultimate track. Boustrophedon shows Parker more as a composer than an iconoclastic improviser. [...] Located somewhere between chamber music and improvised structures, Boustrophedon reveals a different view of Parker's immense talent ”.

Web links

Paul Lytton in the Loft (Cologne) , 2012

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Evan Parker at ECM
  2. ↑ Kee Malesky: All Facts Considered: The Essential Library of Inessential Knowledge. John Wiley, New York 2010, p. 82.
  3. ↑ a b Boustrophedon. Data sheet at ECM with background and press reviews, accessed on February 7, 2016.
  4. ^ A b c Henry Smith: Review of the album in All About Jazz
  5. ↑ Thom Jurek: Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  6. ↑ In the original: "The music here moves in much the same way, with vertical ascent and descent according to innate scalar challenges and horizontally in both directions as well. Textural elements, tonal colors by the different combinations of contrasting players on any given track, drama, dynamic, and (of course) the degree of improvisation held within this manner of working all present numerous challenges as well as opportunities. This music is not jazz - free or otherwise - nor is it merely classical formalism or improvisation deconstruction. Instead, Parker's compositions are scored with the idea of ​​bringing together, through his very European outlook, the different ways region, distance, cultural difference, and discipline combine to make something else: a new work that maintains an identity that is transcultural and trans- aesthetic. [..] Parker is more restrained, much more patient to let his lines and chromatic changes occur as they begin to appear, enhancing them with spirited improvisation that nonetheless leaves its edges at the door. It is as compelling as Mitchell's album, although very different. It is an exercise in musical mystery, chance, and opaque textures that get inside the listener and stay there a bit before moving on toward the next plateau. "
  7. ↑ In the original: " By the time of the" Finale, "the piece is back to the same ground on which it started, stark and erratic with brief chordal swellings. It is a beautiful and fitting end to an hour-long composition that loses none of the excitement of Parker's Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Though this may be his most fully composed work, it is equally — if not more — exciting than what those familiar with his music have come to expect from him. "
  8. ↑ Mike Shanley: Review of the album in JazzTimes .
  9. ↑ In the original: Nearly all of the 250-plus albums on which Evan Parker has appeared could be considered unusual or unique in one regard or another, but this disc has a particular reason for such a description: The leader's soprano saxophone isn't heard clearly as a solo instrument until the disc's penultimate track. Boustrophedon presents Parker the composer more than it does Parker the iconoclastic improviser. [...] In keeping with that theme, the work is divided into six 'Furrows', as well as an Overture and Finale; at times the music has the turgid feeling of an ox pulling a plow through the muck and mire. [...] Residing somewhere between chamber music and improvised structures, Boustrophedon offers a different view of Parker's immense talent.