JANE IRA BLOOM / MARK HELIAS - Some Kind Of Tomorrow
Available from Bandcamp
Jane Ira Bloom - Soprano sax; Mark Helias - Double Bass
Saxophone player Jane Ira Bloom and bass player Mark Helias are long-time collaborators. This album was born out of the need to create music in such a unique time where live audiences and in-person studio recordings were impossible. Recorded remotely from their homes, the music stands as a departure from any kind of release they have done together as all tracks are completely improvised. The resulting sound is raw, intimate, and fearless.
I asked Jane Ira Bloom about the recording, and she explained, " Given how we had to make this made Mark and I rely on the most basic aspect of our collaborative impulse – our two sets of ears. Mark and I have known one another for over 40 years. We first met in New Haven CT in the 1970s, and when you think about it, you build up so much shared vocabulary when you've played with someone over such a long time.
We really didn't plan this recording. It happened because we needed to improvise with one another and so the music emerged from a different place than normal when you plan a recording project."
Available from Bandcamp
Jane Ira Bloom - Soprano sax; Mark Helias - Double Bass
Saxophone player Jane Ira Bloom and bass player Mark Helias are long-time collaborators. This album was born out of the need to create music in such a unique time where live audiences and in-person studio recordings were impossible. Recorded remotely from their homes, the music stands as a departure from any kind of release they have done together as all tracks are completely improvised. The resulting sound is raw, intimate, and fearless.
I asked Jane Ira Bloom about the recording, and she explained, " Given how we had to make this made Mark and I rely on the most basic aspect of our collaborative impulse – our two sets of ears. Mark and I have known one another for over 40 years. We first met in New Haven CT in the 1970s, and when you think about it, you build up so much shared vocabulary when you've played with someone over such a long time.
We really didn't plan this recording. It happened because we needed to improvise with one another and so the music emerged from a different place than normal when you plan a recording project."
The opening track, 'Some Kind of Tomorrow' features Bloom's distinctive clarity of tone leading the melody whilst Helias' bass fills the gaps intuitively and provides an accompaniment that aptly suits the theme's lyricism. Sax and bass work seamlessly across supportive and solo sections with the bass offering intricate background at times to work with subtle changes according to moods set by Bloom. The latter part of the track sees the sax soar and push the melodic boundaries, whilst still capturing the essence of the thematic lines set before.
'Magic Carpet' is a delicious blend of saxophone phrases and bass responses and the listening skills of both players are evident as they respond and react to each other. Bloom ascends and descends the sax's keys with a rapidity, offset masterfully by the bass's determination and strength. In one beautiful section, the bass warps and wavers under the sax, which responds in kind, developing the extended notes into waving rises and intricate phrases. ' Early Rites' is a joyful number bursting with energy and life. The middle section takes a restful interlude with the bass lines emerging in a clear and definitive moment whilst ' Willing' hardly sounds like an improvised number at all, with both players interacting in a bluesy, sassy sound which sounds essentially film noir. Atmospheric and emotive, this is a great track. The bass's fingered strings in the middle section interpose a livelier element whilst the sax never loses the sense of slightly sleazy blues - even when at full pelt. This track is full of interest with percussive bass, the sax both light and heavy and overall a delightful number.
'Traveling Deep' is bass-led at the start with a repeated three-note phrase over which the sax introduces runs of semi and semidemiquavers, delivered with accuracy and aplomb as might be expected and taking the pitch just shy of perfection. As the track evolves, there is a swing element built-in which is rather lovely.
' Roughing It' is anything but because both players improvise along familiar lines, creating a sound which is both clearly improvised yet an expression of a singularity duality which is difficult to believe was achieved whilst both players were separated by time and many miles. The roundhouse style that brings about the repetition of rhythmic patterns in different ways is effective and engaging. The middle section where Bloom repeats a melodic riff over wonderfully sonorous bass lines is quite beautiful. Both players end up bluesing it out towards the end- glorious.
'Far Satellites' is light, spacey and holds many delights as the bass sets up percussive background rhythms on the frame, beautiful bowed sections and phrases whilst the sax replies with gentle, intricate and almost tentative returns. The mournful double string sighing of the bass at one point tugs the heartstrings like few instruments can do and demonstrates the expressive possibilities of the instrument in the hands of a master player. A lovely track.
'Pros and Cons' is a conversational piece with the two voices of bass and saxophone clearly and distinctly heard as they suggest, repeat, take back and devour different themed sections, mostly with the bluesy feel with which Bloom is associated. A standout track, this is gorgeous and best left for the listener to journey in.
'Drift' is a track of a different take with deep bass, Celtic lines across the top and soundscapes created with different techniques and the use of space as well as musical notation. To finish 'Star Talk' brings the two players together in an atmospheric number that evokes many different feelings as they alter rhythm and emphasis, switching leads, creating dialogue understood clearly by both listener and players.
This is a great album and contains different aspects and parts which combine to create a cohesive whole which speaks in different ways at different listens. The deep, swooping arco of the bass, the intricate, rapid fingered lyrical sax phrasing and the bluesy, laid back joy with which Bloom infuses her paying, coupled with clarity and definition in the sound combine to make this a worthy purchase and addition to music created in these strange times. Motifs suggest themselves; phrases are taken and developed, re-taken and changed, and sometimes a theme laid down is developed into something more.
Earlier, Bloom explained that the music emerged from a different place than normal when you plan a recording project, and you can hear this yet you can also hear the familiarity the players have with each other. If this came about from a need to improvise with each other, then that is a good thing.
Reviewed by Sammy Stein
'Magic Carpet' is a delicious blend of saxophone phrases and bass responses and the listening skills of both players are evident as they respond and react to each other. Bloom ascends and descends the sax's keys with a rapidity, offset masterfully by the bass's determination and strength. In one beautiful section, the bass warps and wavers under the sax, which responds in kind, developing the extended notes into waving rises and intricate phrases. ' Early Rites' is a joyful number bursting with energy and life. The middle section takes a restful interlude with the bass lines emerging in a clear and definitive moment whilst ' Willing' hardly sounds like an improvised number at all, with both players interacting in a bluesy, sassy sound which sounds essentially film noir. Atmospheric and emotive, this is a great track. The bass's fingered strings in the middle section interpose a livelier element whilst the sax never loses the sense of slightly sleazy blues - even when at full pelt. This track is full of interest with percussive bass, the sax both light and heavy and overall a delightful number.
'Traveling Deep' is bass-led at the start with a repeated three-note phrase over which the sax introduces runs of semi and semidemiquavers, delivered with accuracy and aplomb as might be expected and taking the pitch just shy of perfection. As the track evolves, there is a swing element built-in which is rather lovely.
' Roughing It' is anything but because both players improvise along familiar lines, creating a sound which is both clearly improvised yet an expression of a singularity duality which is difficult to believe was achieved whilst both players were separated by time and many miles. The roundhouse style that brings about the repetition of rhythmic patterns in different ways is effective and engaging. The middle section where Bloom repeats a melodic riff over wonderfully sonorous bass lines is quite beautiful. Both players end up bluesing it out towards the end- glorious.
'Far Satellites' is light, spacey and holds many delights as the bass sets up percussive background rhythms on the frame, beautiful bowed sections and phrases whilst the sax replies with gentle, intricate and almost tentative returns. The mournful double string sighing of the bass at one point tugs the heartstrings like few instruments can do and demonstrates the expressive possibilities of the instrument in the hands of a master player. A lovely track.
'Pros and Cons' is a conversational piece with the two voices of bass and saxophone clearly and distinctly heard as they suggest, repeat, take back and devour different themed sections, mostly with the bluesy feel with which Bloom is associated. A standout track, this is gorgeous and best left for the listener to journey in.
'Drift' is a track of a different take with deep bass, Celtic lines across the top and soundscapes created with different techniques and the use of space as well as musical notation. To finish 'Star Talk' brings the two players together in an atmospheric number that evokes many different feelings as they alter rhythm and emphasis, switching leads, creating dialogue understood clearly by both listener and players.
This is a great album and contains different aspects and parts which combine to create a cohesive whole which speaks in different ways at different listens. The deep, swooping arco of the bass, the intricate, rapid fingered lyrical sax phrasing and the bluesy, laid back joy with which Bloom infuses her paying, coupled with clarity and definition in the sound combine to make this a worthy purchase and addition to music created in these strange times. Motifs suggest themselves; phrases are taken and developed, re-taken and changed, and sometimes a theme laid down is developed into something more.
Earlier, Bloom explained that the music emerged from a different place than normal when you plan a recording project, and you can hear this yet you can also hear the familiarity the players have with each other. If this came about from a need to improvise with each other, then that is a good thing.
Reviewed by Sammy Stein
