SUSAN ALCORN QUINTET - Pedernal
Relative Pitch Records: RPR 1111
Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar) Mark Feldman (violin) Michael Formanek (double bass) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Ryan Sawyer (drums) Recorded November 12th Brooklyn, NY.
The pedal steel guitar and its precursors is an instrument most immediately associated with the sound of Hawaiian music, where its origins lie, and its adoptive parent, country and western, where it has been put to the service of creating that `high lonesome` glissandi typical of the genre. It has had less appeal for jazz musicians except in crossover contexts like Gary Burton’s `Tennessee Firebird` album and from an earlier period, bandleader Alvino Rey’s swing-time novelties and Martin Denny’s light music exotica. Bearing that in mind this session by Baltimore based Susan Alcorn – her first as a bandleader- represents something of a break through, taking the instrument to hitherto unexplored realms and releasing its potential as a powerful means of avant-garde improvisation.
Starting her musical life immersed in folk music an early move to Texas brought her into contact with western swing and from there, the blues until exposure to the music of Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and, most significantly, avant-garde composers Edgard Varese and Olivier Messiaen helped increase the compass of her inspirational sources. This process came to an artistic apotheosis through her association with the electronic music pioneer and musical philosopher, Pauline Oliveros, whose concepts of `deep listening` and `sonic awareness’ proved particularly influential. All these strands are caught up in the music presented here providing a richly eclectic and powerfully impressionistic amalgam of sounds that unite diverse genres.
Leading a band of kindred spirits, most of whom she has collaborated in the past, she presents five original pieces that draw upon extra-musical associations to fire up her creative juices. Her titles reference scenic and literary sources but this isn’t programme music of the tone poem variety and the listener loses nothing of the impact of the musical content by being unaware of these contexts. Each piece stands on its own credentials and invites listeners to find their own way in through absorption in the variegated and shifting sonic canvas.
In my personal process of absorption, I hear ‘big sky`, `open plains` expansiveness in the Metheny manner, coalescing with knotty `free jazz` improvisation, the shimmering, ethereal sensuality of Messiaen and, thanks to Mark Feldman’s contribution, the existential yearnings and expanded tonalities of fin de siècle Vienna. The jazziest moment comes with a piece inspired by Karel Capek’s science fiction play which gave the world the word, `Robot`. This manifests itself in a jerky march reminiscent of Stravinsky’s `Historie de Soldat` and provides Ryan Sawyer with an opportunity to strut his stuff whilst in the final piece everyone gets to loosen up in a hoedown version of an ancient `Sufi` melody bringing to a close a most intriguing and memorable session.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Relative Pitch Records: RPR 1111
Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar) Mark Feldman (violin) Michael Formanek (double bass) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Ryan Sawyer (drums) Recorded November 12th Brooklyn, NY.
The pedal steel guitar and its precursors is an instrument most immediately associated with the sound of Hawaiian music, where its origins lie, and its adoptive parent, country and western, where it has been put to the service of creating that `high lonesome` glissandi typical of the genre. It has had less appeal for jazz musicians except in crossover contexts like Gary Burton’s `Tennessee Firebird` album and from an earlier period, bandleader Alvino Rey’s swing-time novelties and Martin Denny’s light music exotica. Bearing that in mind this session by Baltimore based Susan Alcorn – her first as a bandleader- represents something of a break through, taking the instrument to hitherto unexplored realms and releasing its potential as a powerful means of avant-garde improvisation.
Starting her musical life immersed in folk music an early move to Texas brought her into contact with western swing and from there, the blues until exposure to the music of Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and, most significantly, avant-garde composers Edgard Varese and Olivier Messiaen helped increase the compass of her inspirational sources. This process came to an artistic apotheosis through her association with the electronic music pioneer and musical philosopher, Pauline Oliveros, whose concepts of `deep listening` and `sonic awareness’ proved particularly influential. All these strands are caught up in the music presented here providing a richly eclectic and powerfully impressionistic amalgam of sounds that unite diverse genres.
Leading a band of kindred spirits, most of whom she has collaborated in the past, she presents five original pieces that draw upon extra-musical associations to fire up her creative juices. Her titles reference scenic and literary sources but this isn’t programme music of the tone poem variety and the listener loses nothing of the impact of the musical content by being unaware of these contexts. Each piece stands on its own credentials and invites listeners to find their own way in through absorption in the variegated and shifting sonic canvas.
In my personal process of absorption, I hear ‘big sky`, `open plains` expansiveness in the Metheny manner, coalescing with knotty `free jazz` improvisation, the shimmering, ethereal sensuality of Messiaen and, thanks to Mark Feldman’s contribution, the existential yearnings and expanded tonalities of fin de siècle Vienna. The jazziest moment comes with a piece inspired by Karel Capek’s science fiction play which gave the world the word, `Robot`. This manifests itself in a jerky march reminiscent of Stravinsky’s `Historie de Soldat` and provides Ryan Sawyer with an opportunity to strut his stuff whilst in the final piece everyone gets to loosen up in a hoedown version of an ancient `Sufi` melody bringing to a close a most intriguing and memorable session.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
