The Squid's Ear Magazine


Amado / Mcphee / Kessler / Corsano: A History Of Nothing (Trost Records)

Following up their 2015 Not Two album "This is Our Language", the quartet organized by tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado with Joe McPhee on soprano saxophone and pocket trumpet, Kent Kessler on double bass, and Chris Corsano, a superb album of intense communication and soloing from a collective that merges free and lyrical playing, from ballads to full-on fury.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Rodrigo Amado-tenor saxophone

Joe McPhee-pocket trumpet, soprano saxophone

Kent Kessler-double bass

Chris Corsano-drums


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UPC: 9120036682672

Label: Trost Records
Catalog ID: TROST 170CD
Squidco Product Code: 26068

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: Austria
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Namouche Studios, Lisbon, Portugal, on March 5th, 2017, by Joaquim Monte.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"This band, organized by Rodrigo Amado, matches the Lisbon-based tenor saxophonist with the senior multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee and a rhythm section composed of bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Chris Corsano. Whether McPhee is playing soprano saxophone or pocket trumpet, it's a classic free jazz formation, with undeniable roots in the "change of the century" ushered in by Ornette Coleman. The first recording by this band, This Is Our Language (Not Two), was named Album of the Year for 2015 by the readers of this site.

If it's strongly traditioned, there's nothing antique about the conception. Amado has an existential view of the improvisatory act, clearly articulated in a series of titles that includes "Desire & Freedom" and the present "History of Nothing". His line bears a certain resemblance to Sonny Rollins in his most exploratory period, a big, flexible sound in which each note is lightly but deftly sculpted, never fussy, the inflection almost off-hand but necessary, as if that, too, is a mark of the rhythmic precision. There's a resistance to excess. Freedom is clearly a responsibility as well as a joy, and it's emphasized here by the group's shared commitment: each musician is constantly working in two directions, stretching further and creating cohesion.

The opening "Legacies" and the closing "Hidden Desert" are almost dirges, pieces that move incrementally but are still taut. "Legacies" is improvised with such an ear to complementary detail that it's literally being collectively composed: bass echoes soprano and a cymbal finds unison with the bass. At this tempo, the roles of Kessler and Corsano are central, each animating time and line by touch and suggestion rather than dense drive. "Hidden Desert" begins with sonic exploration, bowed bass and what sounds like simultaneously drummed strings or perhaps some tuned scraping instrument, otherwise it's a mystery to me.

The title track begins in close four-way listening with pecking soprano and tenor in the foreground, turning to full-on hard blowing, with Amado pressing against the rhythmic fury of Kessler and Corsano, with the saxophone dialogue picking up spontaneously in mid-stream and then again at the conclusion. It's a model of free playing at the edge of blowing apart without ever losing control. "Theory of Mind II for Joe" is kinetic free bop by Amado, Kessler and Corsano referencing the piece on This Is Our Language and invoking the member not playing. On "Wild Flowers" McPhee launches things with a delightful pocket trumpet solo that suggests pinching a column of air, then switches to near-identical soprano saxophone as Corsano and Kessler join in; Amado enters with a kind of nursery-rhyme that leads to some more fine four-way dialogue and a spontaneous unison conclusion.

In summary, A History of Nothing is a worthy successor to This Is our Language, the on-going dialogue further developed."-Stuart Broomer, The Free Jazz Collective

Also available on vinyl LP.
Get additional information at The Free Jazz Collective

Artist Biographies

"Portuguese saxophonist (alto, C melody, baritone, and tenor) Rodrigo Amado specializes in free-form, composition-in-the-moment jazz, and his various projects and trios have given him an international following. Born in Lisbon in 1964, Amado began studying the sax at the age of 17, briefly at the Hot Club Music School of Lisbon and with mentors Carlos Martins, Pedro Madaleno, and Jorge Reis, among other leading Portuguese jazz artists. With diverse musical interests, he explored how improvisation is handled in other genres, although his work with his various ensembles like the Lisbon Improvisation Players and the Motion Trio (with Miguel Mira and Gabriel Ferrandini) falls clearly under the umbrella of 21st century jazz, and he has been an in-demand studio player on numerous recorded projects. He started his own label, Clean Feed, in 2001, with brothers Pedro and Carlos Costa, before leaving the imprint in 2005 to start a second label, European Echoes. Also an accomplished professional photographer, Amado continues to be a bright light on the Portuguese and international improvisational jazz scene."

-All Music, Steve Leggett (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/rodrigo-amado-mn0000249324/biography)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Joe McPhee, born November 3,1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. He continued on that instrument through his formative school years and later in a U.S. Army band stationed in Germany, at which time he was introduced to performing traditional jazz. Clifford Thornton's Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 on the Third World label, is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music.

His first recordings as leader appeared on the CJ Records label, founded in 1969 by painter Craig Johnson. These include Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger release Black Magic Man by McPhee, on what was to become Hat Hut Records.

In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of "deep listening" strengthened his interests in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono's book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by "disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle." de Bono's theories inspired McPhee to apply this "sideways thinking" to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of "Po Music." McPhee describes "Po Music" as a "process of provocation" (Po is a language indicator to show that provocation is being used) to "move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones." He concludes, "It is a Positive, Possible, Poetic Hypothesis." The results of this application of Po principles to creative improvisation can be heard on several Hat Art recordings, including Topology, Linear B, and Oleo & a Future Retrospective.

In 1997, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen. The trio premiered at the Vision Jazz Festival in 1998 but the concert went unnoticed by the press. McPhee, Duval, and Rosen therefore decided that an apt title for the group would be Trio X. In 2004 he created Survival Unit III with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang to expand his musical horizons and with a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections while reaching for music's outer limits."

-Joe McPhee Website (http://joemcphee.com/bio.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Kent Kessler (born January 28, 1957 in Crawfordsville, Indiana) is an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his work in the Chicago avant-garde jazz scene.

Kessler, born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, grew up on Cape Cod and began playing trombone at age ten. He and his family moved to Chicago when he was 13, and a few years later Kessler became intensely interested in jazz. While attending St. Mary Center for Learning High School, he began taking lessons from Kestutis Stanciauskas (Streetdancer) in electric bass and jazz theory in the middle of the 1970s. In 1977 he formed the ensemble Neutrino Orchestra with percussionist Michael Zerang and guitarists Dan Scanlan and Norbert Funk. He spent three months in Brazil during 1980-81 and spent time studying intermittently at Roosevelt University in Chicago; he and Zerang also formed a group called Musica Menta, which played regularly at Link's Hall.

Kessler began playing double bass in the 1980s and it became his primary instrument when he was asked in 1985 to join the NRG Ensemble, who toured Europe and recorded for ECM Records under the leadership of Hal Russell until his death in 1992. In 1991, he gigged with Zerang and guitarist Chris DeChiara; in need of a hornist, they called Ken Vandermark, who had been considering leaving the Chicago scene. Kessler and Vandermark would go on to collaborate extensively on free jazz and improvisational projects such as the Vandermark 5, the DKV Trio and the Steelwool Trio. In the 1990s and afterwards he worked with Chicago musicians such as Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson, and Joe McPhee, and also with European musicians such as Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Misha Mengelberg, and Luc Houtkamp.

In 2003, Kessler released a solo album, Bull Fiddle, on Okka Disk. Kessler performs alone on nine of the twelve tracks, and with Michael Zerang on three."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Kessler)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"First spellbound by freely improvised music in the mid-1990s after witnessing performances by TEST, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, and others, Chris Corsano began a long-standing, high-energy partnership with Paul Flaherty in 1998. A move from western Massachusetts to the UK in 2005 led Corsano to develop an expanded solo music of his own, incorporating sax reeds, violin strings and bows, pot lids, and other everyday household items into his drum kit. In February 2006 he released his first solo recording, The Young Cricketer, and toured extensively throughout Europe, USA, and Japan. He spent 2007 and '08 as the drummer on Björk's Volta world tour, all the while weaving in shows and recordings on his days off with the likes of Evan Parker, Virginia Genta, and C. Spencer Yeh. Moving back to the U.S. in 2009, Corsano returned focus to his own projects, most notably a duo with Michael Flower, Rangda (with Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny) and solo work, now revamped to include synthesizers and contact microphones in addition to his drum set and home-made acoustic instruments.

In addition to the those mentioned above, he's also worked with, among others: John Edwards (released by: Clean Feed/Dancing Wayang), Jim O'Rourke & Akira Sakata (Drag City/Family Vineyard), Paul Dunmall (ESP-Disk), Nels Cline (Strange Attractors), Jessica Rylan (Load Records), Jandek (Corwood), Sunburned Hand Of Man (Manhand), MV&EE (Eclipse/Time-Lag), Vampire Belt (Open Mouth), Joe McPhee (Roaratorio), and Wally Shoup (Leo/Columbia Japan)."

-Chris Corsano Website (http://www.cor-sano.com/bio.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Legacies 6:21

2. A History of Nothing 11:17

3. Wild Flowers 10:04

4. The Hidden Desert 11:25

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Quartet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Top Sellers for 2018 by Customer Sales

Search for other titles on the label:
Trost Records.


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