Breaking the shell

元ECMのプロデューサー、Sun Chungの＜REDHOOK＞より第6弾が登場!!ECMでもお馴染みのビル・フリゼール、キット・ダウンズ、アンドリュー・シリルによるトリオパイプオルガン、エレキギター、ドラムという前代未聞の編成で奏でる意欲作!

The three men involved in this startling, contemplative, and utterly brave recording are not strangers to unknown musical situations, and Breaking the Shell is one. The album was commissioned by Red Hook Records label boss and producer Sun Chung, who had worked with all three men before -- Bill Frisell and Andrew Cyrille have collaborated on four albums for the label, while Kit Downes released Medna Roso, backing the Balkan womens choir PJEV. Over two days in May 2022, the trio gathered at St. Luke in the Fields in New York Citys Greenwich Village. Downes played its pipe organ for this date that marks the first time in jazz that guitar, pipe organ, and drums have appeared together in trio. Breaking the Shell offers 11 improvisations based on sketches from each musician and traditional sources. Each amorphous tune segues into and out of the next; changes are subtle, and they quietly evolve alongside motifs and themes that emerge and then suddenly vanish. These players are consummate listeners and generous collaborators. Opener "May 4th" is initiated by upper- and middle-register drones and overtones from Downes. Frisell enters harmonizing with them, as Cyrilles brushed snares and hi-hat fills offer a breathing foundation. This segues into "Untitled 23," framed by Frisells sparse scalar inquiries and sonic and tonal shifts embraced by Cyrille. Downes adds ballast and atmosphere. "Kasei Valles" is an eerie exercise in music-making. Downes noirish drones and pedal flutters meet Frisells distorted, bent single-string fills and accents as Cyrille sparsely underscores them both until the organist and guitarist wind around one another in a dramatic droning collision of dread. Downes "El" is an abstract jazz ballad with glorious textural interplay between drummer, guitarist, and guest cellist Lucy Railton. Downes hovers and floats, bringing them both under his sonic umbrella. A bit later, Frisell leads the trio in taking on the Norwegian folk song "Sjung Hjerte Sjung," allowing its melody to emerge in slowly articulated lines that are completed by broken snare backbeats before Downes shifts gears into a loose jam that sounds like a lost outtake from the Doors. Contrast this with the tender, introspective "July 2nd" as guitar and organ melodically trade fours. Cyrille has understood for more than six decades that drums dont have to keep time. Here, his cymbal and hi-hat work maintain an elegant feel in framing the guitarists glorious tremolo articulations. "Cypher" has Downes delivering gently mysterious sound waves before disappearing into Cyrilles ballad "Proximity," with arresting interactive tones from Downes and Frisell without any rhythmic interference. The album closes with a wonderfully subtle, abstracted reading of the Hungarian folk song "Este a Szekelyeknel." Breaking the Shell is a demanding yet seductive listen, and full of musical ideas. Furthermore, for an improvised recording that lives and breathes in the abstract and ambient, it is wonderfully accessible and provides solid evidence of a remarkable encounter between three masters. ~ Thom Jurek