ANDREW CYRILLE QUARTET - The News
ECM 352 0703
Andrew Cyrille (drums); Bill Frisell (guitar); David Virelles (piano, synthesizer); Ben Street (double bass)
Recorded August 2019
What is it about music that refuses to allow its practitioners to rest on their laurels? A discipline that demands so much in time, practice, rehearsal, humility, tolerance and respect for others, and then still demands more. Reaching a certain level of musicianship is not merely enough for the creative artist who will always strive to reach the next level and new ways to communicate. This is particularly true of drummer, Andrew Cyrille and this new release, his third for ECM Records in recent years that demonstrates a continuing quest in the creation and developing of musical relationships.
After the exceptional Lebroba album released in 2019 featuring trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell, Cyrille has reconvened the quartet that recorded The Declaration Of Musical Independence, with pianist David Virelles taking over the piano chair from Richard Teitelbaum who was unavailable due to ill health. Not content to replicate what had gone before, the quartet find new ways of working together, building on what has been learned and past experiences. The resulting music works in a far less abstract manner than the earlier set, more tightly focussed and with a lyricism that flows throughout.
Guitarist, Bill Frisell appears to be at the heart of the music, providing three of the compositions heard and it is quite special to hear how the relationship between Frisell and Cyrille has flourished. The opening piece, 'Mountain', is based on a delicately flowing melody that has a softer sound for the guitar than that heard on The Declaration Of Musical Independence, and is kept buoyant by the drummer's touch at the traps. This in turn leads to more rugged and tumultuous solo from Virelles before the theme returns.
Frisell is also responsible for 'Go Happy Lucky', a care free abstract blues that echoes Duke Ellington's 'Happy Go Lucky Local', and the lovely 'Baby' where the melody is lyrically tender and lifted by Cyrile's brushwork and tasteful synthesizer accompaniment from Virelles.
The leader's acknowledgement towards his past is heard on 'Leaving East Of Jordan' and composed by AACM associated pianist Adegoke Steve Colson. A tune played with both Colson and the group Trio3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman, but here features some inspired playing from David Virelles firstly on piano and then again with his synth accompaniment. Andrew Cyrille's playing on cymbals on this track is also a masterclass in itself. The masterclass continues with Cyrille's delectably abstract 'The News' and 'Dance Of The Nuances', jointly composed by Virelles and Cyrille that again inhabits the spaces between abstraction and lyricism.
The album concludes, as the drummer did on Lebroba, with an exquisite piece of music making on 'With You In MInd' that will not fail to leave you feeling totally satisfied and elated.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 352 0703
Andrew Cyrille (drums); Bill Frisell (guitar); David Virelles (piano, synthesizer); Ben Street (double bass)
Recorded August 2019
What is it about music that refuses to allow its practitioners to rest on their laurels? A discipline that demands so much in time, practice, rehearsal, humility, tolerance and respect for others, and then still demands more. Reaching a certain level of musicianship is not merely enough for the creative artist who will always strive to reach the next level and new ways to communicate. This is particularly true of drummer, Andrew Cyrille and this new release, his third for ECM Records in recent years that demonstrates a continuing quest in the creation and developing of musical relationships.
After the exceptional Lebroba album released in 2019 featuring trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell, Cyrille has reconvened the quartet that recorded The Declaration Of Musical Independence, with pianist David Virelles taking over the piano chair from Richard Teitelbaum who was unavailable due to ill health. Not content to replicate what had gone before, the quartet find new ways of working together, building on what has been learned and past experiences. The resulting music works in a far less abstract manner than the earlier set, more tightly focussed and with a lyricism that flows throughout.
Guitarist, Bill Frisell appears to be at the heart of the music, providing three of the compositions heard and it is quite special to hear how the relationship between Frisell and Cyrille has flourished. The opening piece, 'Mountain', is based on a delicately flowing melody that has a softer sound for the guitar than that heard on The Declaration Of Musical Independence, and is kept buoyant by the drummer's touch at the traps. This in turn leads to more rugged and tumultuous solo from Virelles before the theme returns.
Frisell is also responsible for 'Go Happy Lucky', a care free abstract blues that echoes Duke Ellington's 'Happy Go Lucky Local', and the lovely 'Baby' where the melody is lyrically tender and lifted by Cyrile's brushwork and tasteful synthesizer accompaniment from Virelles.
The leader's acknowledgement towards his past is heard on 'Leaving East Of Jordan' and composed by AACM associated pianist Adegoke Steve Colson. A tune played with both Colson and the group Trio3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman, but here features some inspired playing from David Virelles firstly on piano and then again with his synth accompaniment. Andrew Cyrille's playing on cymbals on this track is also a masterclass in itself. The masterclass continues with Cyrille's delectably abstract 'The News' and 'Dance Of The Nuances', jointly composed by Virelles and Cyrille that again inhabits the spaces between abstraction and lyricism.
The album concludes, as the drummer did on Lebroba, with an exquisite piece of music making on 'With You In MInd' that will not fail to leave you feeling totally satisfied and elated.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
