ZHENY STRIGALEV - Never Group
Whirlwind WR4685
Zhenya Strigalev - alto sax; Tim Lefebvre - bass guitar; Eric Harland -drums; Bruno Liberda - electronics; Matt Penman - double bass; John Escreet - keyboards
Alex Bonney - trumpet
This is a big fat slice of determinedly hip Euro-American boundary-pushing jazz/fusion/whatever bringing together a whole range of disparate influences and slinging them together in the big artistic melting pot that is contemporary Berlin. Things kick off wth a bizarre spoken word introduction in plummy BBC-announcer tones; while you’re still wondering if it’s strictly tongue-in-cheek, there’s a wash of electronic noise, and then messrs Harland and Lefebvre kick in with a storming, high-octane post-funk groove. Over the top dances Strigalev’s alto; with it’s reedy tone and wide vibrato it sounds strangely like the ghost of a 1930s European swing band player has entered the studio.
The absence of a chordal instrument in all but a handful tracks gives all the players the freedom to range at will. The album was culled from four hours worth of jam sessions recorded over two days; some of the twenty tracks are little more than snippets, quick glimpses of the creative process - “Bassgeigengeister” is an abstract cut-up electronic soundscape, “Some Thomas” a quirky, funky waltz over conventional sounding changes, while “Strange Party” has a sound somewhere between drum n’ bass and atonal garage rock and “Plastiksackerl Im Wind” sounds like an angry electronic wasp’s next.
The rhythm section is king here, and it sounds like they were having a ball in the studio. Lefebvre is rapidly becoming known as one of the most creative bass guitarists working today, and Harland is simply a powerhouse of ideas, with a devastating precision and an consistent musicality to everything he does. Matt Penman gets a look in on the mournful “Second Hand” and John Escreet and Alex Bonney make incisive contributions elsewhere, but it’s the tumult of ideas from the main players, plus Strigalev’s puckish humour, that leave the listener exhilarated and exhausted an hour later.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Whirlwind WR4685
Zhenya Strigalev - alto sax; Tim Lefebvre - bass guitar; Eric Harland -drums; Bruno Liberda - electronics; Matt Penman - double bass; John Escreet - keyboards
Alex Bonney - trumpet
This is a big fat slice of determinedly hip Euro-American boundary-pushing jazz/fusion/whatever bringing together a whole range of disparate influences and slinging them together in the big artistic melting pot that is contemporary Berlin. Things kick off wth a bizarre spoken word introduction in plummy BBC-announcer tones; while you’re still wondering if it’s strictly tongue-in-cheek, there’s a wash of electronic noise, and then messrs Harland and Lefebvre kick in with a storming, high-octane post-funk groove. Over the top dances Strigalev’s alto; with it’s reedy tone and wide vibrato it sounds strangely like the ghost of a 1930s European swing band player has entered the studio.
The absence of a chordal instrument in all but a handful tracks gives all the players the freedom to range at will. The album was culled from four hours worth of jam sessions recorded over two days; some of the twenty tracks are little more than snippets, quick glimpses of the creative process - “Bassgeigengeister” is an abstract cut-up electronic soundscape, “Some Thomas” a quirky, funky waltz over conventional sounding changes, while “Strange Party” has a sound somewhere between drum n’ bass and atonal garage rock and “Plastiksackerl Im Wind” sounds like an angry electronic wasp’s next.
The rhythm section is king here, and it sounds like they were having a ball in the studio. Lefebvre is rapidly becoming known as one of the most creative bass guitarists working today, and Harland is simply a powerhouse of ideas, with a devastating precision and an consistent musicality to everything he does. Matt Penman gets a look in on the mournful “Second Hand” and John Escreet and Alex Bonney make incisive contributions elsewhere, but it’s the tumult of ideas from the main players, plus Strigalev’s puckish humour, that leave the listener exhilarated and exhausted an hour later.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
