SYLVIE COURVOISIER TRIO - Free Hoops
Intakt: CD351
Sylvie Courvoisier: piano; Drew Gress: bass; Kenny Wollesen: drums, Wollesonics
Recorded December 20th 2019 by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, New York.
It comes as no surprise that John Zorn had been urging Courvoisier to form a trio to showcase her piano playing and to create a more intimate setting for her sinuous compositions. On this, the trio’s second release, you realise that the selection of partners was critical and Drew and Wollesen discover patterns in and around the carefully sculpted tunes that allow the pieces to scintillate. On this set, Zorn is thanked with the tune ‘Just Twisted’ (track 3) in which Courvoisier is at her most engagingly percussive with her partners pulling her back from the brink of chaos. This headlong rush is followed by the equally spell-binding ‘Requiem d’une songe’, building from the hint of a bassline that Claude Thornill used so often, but spiralling in ever more impressive patterns that highlight why, for me, Courvoisier continues to be the most exciting pianist of today’s jazz scene. She has the ability to combine the percussive and harmonic qualities of the piano is ways that build upon and extend the post-bop pyrotechnics of, say, Cecil Taylor, but also brings a parallel feeling of contemporary classical music in her choice of phrasings and the structure of the tunes. This does not mean that her compositions are devoid of warmth and wit; the bird calls that she simulates on the opening of ‘Birdies of Paradise’ (dedicated to keen ornithologist Gress) and the cat-pawing on the high notes on ‘Lulu dancing’) are obvious instances of this, but one can often sense the way a smile of satisfaction finds its way into her fingers as just the right note plays for just the right duration, or the enjoyment that takes from darting from keyboard to interior and back. The sense of humour (and the ways in which this can be a serious business) are also evident in the use of Wollesonics – instruments made from junk, such as a wire mesh containing plastic flowers – to add subtle rhythmic textures to the pieces. While the playing always keep within the edges defined by Courvoisier’s compositions, the choices of sounds and the ways in which the players bounce off each other continues to surprise; a like a picture in a colouring book that creates the frame, and someone selecting a completely unexpected colour palette for it (and then, before your eyes, the colours themselves start to shift and change).
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Intakt: CD351
Sylvie Courvoisier: piano; Drew Gress: bass; Kenny Wollesen: drums, Wollesonics
Recorded December 20th 2019 by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, New York.
It comes as no surprise that John Zorn had been urging Courvoisier to form a trio to showcase her piano playing and to create a more intimate setting for her sinuous compositions. On this, the trio’s second release, you realise that the selection of partners was critical and Drew and Wollesen discover patterns in and around the carefully sculpted tunes that allow the pieces to scintillate. On this set, Zorn is thanked with the tune ‘Just Twisted’ (track 3) in which Courvoisier is at her most engagingly percussive with her partners pulling her back from the brink of chaos. This headlong rush is followed by the equally spell-binding ‘Requiem d’une songe’, building from the hint of a bassline that Claude Thornill used so often, but spiralling in ever more impressive patterns that highlight why, for me, Courvoisier continues to be the most exciting pianist of today’s jazz scene. She has the ability to combine the percussive and harmonic qualities of the piano is ways that build upon and extend the post-bop pyrotechnics of, say, Cecil Taylor, but also brings a parallel feeling of contemporary classical music in her choice of phrasings and the structure of the tunes. This does not mean that her compositions are devoid of warmth and wit; the bird calls that she simulates on the opening of ‘Birdies of Paradise’ (dedicated to keen ornithologist Gress) and the cat-pawing on the high notes on ‘Lulu dancing’) are obvious instances of this, but one can often sense the way a smile of satisfaction finds its way into her fingers as just the right note plays for just the right duration, or the enjoyment that takes from darting from keyboard to interior and back. The sense of humour (and the ways in which this can be a serious business) are also evident in the use of Wollesonics – instruments made from junk, such as a wire mesh containing plastic flowers – to add subtle rhythmic textures to the pieces. While the playing always keep within the edges defined by Courvoisier’s compositions, the choices of sounds and the ways in which the players bounce off each other continues to surprise; a like a picture in a colouring book that creates the frame, and someone selecting a completely unexpected colour palette for it (and then, before your eyes, the colours themselves start to shift and change).
Reviewed by Chris Baber
