Saxophonist Ivo Perelman is the anchor for the 6 volumes of "The Art of the Improv Trio", here with Karl Berger on piano and Gerald Cleaver on drums in a lyrical album that flows with grace and thoughtfulness, from ballad introspection to uptempo excitement, an impressive start to the series.
Label: Leo Catalog ID: LEO 771 Squidco Product Code: 23309
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2016 Country: UK Packaging: Jewel Case Recorded at Parkwest Studios, in Brooklyn, New York, in May, 2016, by Jim Clouse.
"Two constant elements in this trio are Ivo Perelman and Gerald Cleaver, who is a variegated, hyper-intuitive, yet utterly grounded drummer whose association with Perelman dates to 2010, during which time he has supported and helped shape Perelman's most intrepid explorations. Says Ivo: "Gerald is such an incredibly flexible, adaptive drummer in that sense, he is better than I am in reacting to what's happening. That's his role; my role is to provoke the reactions." This is the third time Ivo recorded with Karl Berger who swapped his mallets to the grand Steinway. Read notes by Neil Tesser and Karl Berger."-Leo
"Perelman and Karl Berger have recorded twice before: Reverie (with Berger on piano) and The Hitchhiker (Berger on vibraphone). This time, he's back on piano. As with all the albums in the series, the track names are the simple "Part 1" etc. as if something more specific would distract from the music (also, coming up with six albums' worth of titles is an unappealing task). If Perelman's previous practice is anything to go by, the track sequence is probably the order in which they were recorded.
From the opening ascent from bass to treble in a single breath on the saxophone, this is music which feels totally natural, not something sought, but found. There's a liquid flow and fluency to Perelman's tenor, creating long, crescent-shaped passages in which he glides between notes. Each track is a piece of measured thinking, coming to an instinctual conclusion, a feeling that this is a good place to end.
The trio covers a wide spectrum of sentiments, ruminative to rhapsodic. 'Part 1' is melancholic, with Perelman's mourning saxophone, gentle piano chords and brushed whispers. 'Part 2' is more declamatory, Berger's broken dance figure multiplied into superimposed rhythms which dissolve into something like a hymn, transformed into a mellifluous song without words by Perelman. The metric jungle reasserts itself before a compromise is reached, both kinds of music moving together to a uniform close. 'Part 4' reverberates with chords, repeated and spread across the full range of the piano, like some profound question which Perelman answers with echoes and a beautiful, wandering melody, growing in power as the chords become more insistent and the piano answers in turn. 'Part 5' consists of intersecting lines, three separate patterns of thought which cross from time to time.
Right through the album, Cleaver provides a backdrop of vaporised cymbals and scuttling drums, punctuated by crisp accents, a diffuse tissue of sound sometimes only noticeable when it's absent. There's an ambient acoustic, allowing one to hear the air around the instruments and rendering them in seductive colours: the piano's bell-like motif that provides the foundation for 'Part 3', the textural luminosity of Perelman's playing in the high registers and his resonant sobs lower down.
The album concludes with 'Part 6', the longest piece - barely articulated phrases and squawks on tenor; deep, pedalled piano with random interjected notes; and the irregular rattle of percussion. Little by little, the parts come into focus, their movement becomes more adroit and the disparate elements gradually cohere, retaining their distinctive features but drawing on each other, moving to a bold conclusion and then ebbing into silence with the sound of Perelman's breath.
A compelling set of performances."- Colin Green, The Free Jazz Collective