JORIS ROELOFS - Aliens Deliberating
Pirouet Records: PIT3076
Joris Roelofs (bass clarinet) Matt Penman (bass) Ted Poor (drums).
Recorded January 9th & 10th 2013 in Osnabrȕck, Germany
Although the use of the bass clarinet in jazz music can be traced back to the 1920’s it is with the advent of the avant –garde that it becomes a significant solo voice rather than an aid to orchestral colouration and even then, as in the case of Eric Dolphy, it was usually an auxiliary instrument in a reed players tool kit. An increasing number of new discs that come my way suggest that this changing and that in the hands of young musicians, like Joris Roelofs, it is being adopted as a first choice instrument. With its opulent tone and woody timbre it opens up exciting improvisational possibilities not least the ability to create a harmonic depth of orchestral potency so that even in the stripped down setting of the bass and drums duo presented here, the music never lacks amplitude or density.
Roelofs, a French national operating out of Amsterdam, has impressive international affiliations and credentials including experience with The Vienna Art Orchestra and The Chamber Tones trio ; with his two American compatriots, both of whom attract similar accolades, Roelofs offers a set of pieces born of a fertile musical intelligence and executed with flawless virtuosity. The majority of the twelve pieces are Roelofs originals , the exceptions being a version the Lee Konitz tune `Kary’s Trance`, a fluid account of Ellington’s `Sophisticated Lady` and a Ted Poor tune `High Dark Sea` which has echoes of the `Volga Boatman`. Of the originals, five are musical vignettes, separating the more substantial tunes , and serve as a means of demonstrating the reed instrument’s compass and expressive capabilities in the depiction of mini tone pictures; the title track and `Big Drunken Bumble Bee` are two examples.
More important than the melodic themes themselves, which are usually built out of motivic and scalar progressions, is the improvisational development and the conversation that takes place between the three instruments. As you would expect of a bass player of Penman’s abilities, associated as he is with the SF Jazz Collective and Joshua Redman’s super group `James Farm`, and Poor, a drummer of advanced technique, they contribute much more than rhythmic support and exciting as the bass `n drum walk through sequences are, it is their presence as equals in the overall conception that completes the music and imparts its distinctive and satisfying appeal.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Pirouet Records: PIT3076
Joris Roelofs (bass clarinet) Matt Penman (bass) Ted Poor (drums).
Recorded January 9th & 10th 2013 in Osnabrȕck, Germany
Although the use of the bass clarinet in jazz music can be traced back to the 1920’s it is with the advent of the avant –garde that it becomes a significant solo voice rather than an aid to orchestral colouration and even then, as in the case of Eric Dolphy, it was usually an auxiliary instrument in a reed players tool kit. An increasing number of new discs that come my way suggest that this changing and that in the hands of young musicians, like Joris Roelofs, it is being adopted as a first choice instrument. With its opulent tone and woody timbre it opens up exciting improvisational possibilities not least the ability to create a harmonic depth of orchestral potency so that even in the stripped down setting of the bass and drums duo presented here, the music never lacks amplitude or density.
Roelofs, a French national operating out of Amsterdam, has impressive international affiliations and credentials including experience with The Vienna Art Orchestra and The Chamber Tones trio ; with his two American compatriots, both of whom attract similar accolades, Roelofs offers a set of pieces born of a fertile musical intelligence and executed with flawless virtuosity. The majority of the twelve pieces are Roelofs originals , the exceptions being a version the Lee Konitz tune `Kary’s Trance`, a fluid account of Ellington’s `Sophisticated Lady` and a Ted Poor tune `High Dark Sea` which has echoes of the `Volga Boatman`. Of the originals, five are musical vignettes, separating the more substantial tunes , and serve as a means of demonstrating the reed instrument’s compass and expressive capabilities in the depiction of mini tone pictures; the title track and `Big Drunken Bumble Bee` are two examples.
More important than the melodic themes themselves, which are usually built out of motivic and scalar progressions, is the improvisational development and the conversation that takes place between the three instruments. As you would expect of a bass player of Penman’s abilities, associated as he is with the SF Jazz Collective and Joshua Redman’s super group `James Farm`, and Poor, a drummer of advanced technique, they contribute much more than rhythmic support and exciting as the bass `n drum walk through sequences are, it is their presence as equals in the overall conception that completes the music and imparts its distinctive and satisfying appeal.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
