Dulcet Crush

Swiss trumpeter Manuel Mengis is not so well-known in the U.S. as he is in Europe, but can easily be termed an innovative performer and composer. With his Gruppe 6, this third album for the ensemble emphasizes the concept of composed music balanced with improvisation that keeps these musicians comfy in an unpredictable zone. With two saxophonists in Reto Suhner (alto doubling on clarinet) and Roland Von Flue (tenor sax and bass clarinet), Mengis has a potent frontline to layer melodies and harmonies as elusive as mercurial quicksilver. Electric guitarist Flo Stoffner, electric bass guitarist Marcel Stalder, and drummer Lionel Friedli provide the static electricity and edge in a modern dialect and youth-oriented language without resorting to blatant or copped, cliché funk. It's a combination of organic and futuristic style points that Mengis -- who also plays percussion and "found" instruments" -- blends into a unique sound that is nearly impossible to classify, pin down, or compare to others. Dulcet Crush is the perfect title for this music, subtle and concentrated during the slightly funky, quiet, and muted "Plant Life," using an echoed theme from that composition on "We Come in Peace" with clarinets and muted trumpet, or utilizing passive, reticent yet reverent tones on the beautiful "Luscious Dream." But the band is not all about restraint and proportion, as realized in the snarly guitar intro by Stoffner setting up "End of a Record Breaker," as the band wanders into a diffuse, diversionary sound that seems disconnected when it is not. "Bling Bling Cowboy" has that Bill Frisell-like country and eastern persona in a light funk, soulful sax facade, while there's a kinetic klezmer fusion attitude about "How Mario Tut Tut Got Super Wow Wow" (love that title) that settles into sax solos. At their most shorted out, "Sustain the Gain" has a goth-refrained hard rock edge, something they term anarcho-funkadelic, and in the reverse direction, "The Opposite of Spring" sports bell tones in plain terms of patient prayer, as Mengis uses this tactic to play his most memorable and poignant trumpet. Some may peg this as electro-acoustic modern creative contemporary jazz, or even tack on other such descriptors that don't really do the music justice. Listen with a patient, open set of ears, and you'll discover a bold, innovative, and fresh new music that will as much defy a single, specific category as it will turn your head around 360-degrees within the space of this 52-minute excursion through jazz fantasy land. ~ Michael G. Nastos|