INGRID LAUBROCK ANTI-HOUSE - Roulette of the Craddle
Intakt Records
Ingrid Laubrock - tenor & soprano saxophones; Mary Halvorson - guitar; Kris Davis - piano
John Herbert - bass; Tom Rainey - drums; Oscar Noriega - clarinet on tracks 5 & 6
Ingrid Laubrock’s Anti-House ensemble happily continues to intrigue, delight, confound and engage the listener with this latest release, the ensemble’s third recording. At every turn in this recordings immersive 50 minute duration, there is a nugget of invention, an unexpected interaction or juxtaposition, and evidence of an ensemble for whom familiarity does not breed contempt.
Laubrock is a subtle master. Perhaps her skills have been honed and tightened by the diversity of her musical experience, working now at times with the likes of Anthony Braxton as at others in more straight confines, but always at the absolute highest level. Her music reflects her engagement with the New York new music scene, for sure, but at the same time there are harmonic echoes of her other travels and residencies, with the likes of Louis Andreessen, the Martland ensembles, Maxwell Davis evident and, in short, a very European edged creativity at work as much as that of Zorn, Ribot or Cora. But this music is pure Laubrock originality, and built on the trust, openness and commitment of her Anti-House ensemble, everyone of whom is here in gripping good form.
There is no better example of the varied imagination in the mix on this CD than in the title track, the second of eight. The piece opens with a solo, single line piano phrase reminiscent of a Morton Feldman motive before rapidly moving to an insistent repetition of an ominous and pounding chord, and then flipping to a jazzy romp that dissolves to brief moments of abstract free play. This movement is more organic than in some of the Zorn cut-ups with tempo fades and dissolves being at work rather than abrupt and sharp angles, but they are also present, as is space, emptiness and breadth. Track 4, Face The Piper, Part 2 is also a standout, a radio cut if required, of full flowing ensemble work.
Mention must also made of the quality of the Intakt Records production on this CD. Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn by Joe Marciano and the team, there is an organic, live rawness and immediacy to the sound that is gripping.
Reviewed by Peter Urpeth
Intakt Records
Ingrid Laubrock - tenor & soprano saxophones; Mary Halvorson - guitar; Kris Davis - piano
John Herbert - bass; Tom Rainey - drums; Oscar Noriega - clarinet on tracks 5 & 6
Ingrid Laubrock’s Anti-House ensemble happily continues to intrigue, delight, confound and engage the listener with this latest release, the ensemble’s third recording. At every turn in this recordings immersive 50 minute duration, there is a nugget of invention, an unexpected interaction or juxtaposition, and evidence of an ensemble for whom familiarity does not breed contempt.
Laubrock is a subtle master. Perhaps her skills have been honed and tightened by the diversity of her musical experience, working now at times with the likes of Anthony Braxton as at others in more straight confines, but always at the absolute highest level. Her music reflects her engagement with the New York new music scene, for sure, but at the same time there are harmonic echoes of her other travels and residencies, with the likes of Louis Andreessen, the Martland ensembles, Maxwell Davis evident and, in short, a very European edged creativity at work as much as that of Zorn, Ribot or Cora. But this music is pure Laubrock originality, and built on the trust, openness and commitment of her Anti-House ensemble, everyone of whom is here in gripping good form.
There is no better example of the varied imagination in the mix on this CD than in the title track, the second of eight. The piece opens with a solo, single line piano phrase reminiscent of a Morton Feldman motive before rapidly moving to an insistent repetition of an ominous and pounding chord, and then flipping to a jazzy romp that dissolves to brief moments of abstract free play. This movement is more organic than in some of the Zorn cut-ups with tempo fades and dissolves being at work rather than abrupt and sharp angles, but they are also present, as is space, emptiness and breadth. Track 4, Face The Piper, Part 2 is also a standout, a radio cut if required, of full flowing ensemble work.
Mention must also made of the quality of the Intakt Records production on this CD. Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn by Joe Marciano and the team, there is an organic, live rawness and immediacy to the sound that is gripping.
Reviewed by Peter Urpeth
