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For the last several years, especially since Mauro Pezzente and Kiva Stimac opened the Casa del Popolo on upper St-Laurent Boulevard, there has been a flourishing improvised music scene in Montréal. I mention the Casa because of the opportunity that a regular performance space has given to the members of Montréal’s improvising community to create a musical scene that brings together audience and artists. Many of those musicians appear on this 4-CD set, which is the first release by No Type. Issued at a bargain price, it’s a generous introduction to the scene.
The four groups are respectively, Po (John Heward, Sam Shalabi, Alexandre St-Onge, Rainer Wiens), ’Gypt Gore (Philémon, Shalabi, Thierry Amar, Andrew Dickson), the trio of Chris Burns, John Heward, and Nicolas Caloia, and Balai Mécanique (Amar, Will Glass, Jacques Gravel, Jesse Levine, Philémon, Shalabi). The disc captures the musicians literally in their own element. Po were recorded at Hotel2Tango, the forerunner (in a sense) of the Casa, ’Gypt Gore at saxophonist Philémon’s home and Hotel2Tango, and Balai Mecanique at La Sala Rossa, which is the sister concert space of the Casa. Only the Burns/Heward/Caloia trio was recorded in a studio.
Derek Bailey is the spiritual godiather of the four groups here. For one, guitarist Shalabi, who is the heart and soul of this quasi-collecuve, has described Bailey as “The Beatles” of improvised music. For another, each group includes at least one guitar player. Finally, all the groups, as far as I have seen them, operate as total improvisers.
As might be expected, this is all a rather hit-or-miss affair. There are moments when the musicians build up a fury of sound and others when they appear to be searching for the elusive element that will bring everything together. Of course, it’s in the searching, or rather, the desire to search, that one finds the joy.
blogue@press-668_2
press@668_2
No Type presents a four-CD set featuring four free jazz ensembles from a scene centred at Montréal’s Casa Del Popolo. Two elements that immediately impress about these groups is a prevalence of electric guitar, an instrument not widely used in free jazz. Secondly is a marked absence of any electronics whatsoever in a time where most new jazz seems to put electronic elements centre stage. ’Gypt Gore is the duo of saxophonist Philémon and Sam Shalabi on guitar. Both play their instruments with a restless energy bordering on attention deficit disorder, occasionally rising to the point of eruption into angry beehives of noise. The fiercest and largest of the ensembles is Balai Mecanique, a sextet that includes the duo from ’Gypt Gore plus Thierry Amar. Unlike some larger groups they are not “led” by a specific member, making the directions taken and changes made much more spontaneous. The changes within the undulating chaos are deceptively subtle. PO (or “Provocative Operations”) is a quartet featuring Mr. Shalabi for a third time, as well as Rainer Wiens on electric guitar. Wiens is a 15-year veteran of the jazz scene and has truckloads of tricks and treats to splinter the guitar’s usual sound. John Heward and Alexandre St-Onge round things out on drums and bass; their music is the most delicate and introspective of the lot, featuring much more air and space surrounding each note, but also the most daring in terms of improvisation. Finally there is the trio of Chris Burns, Nicolas Caloia and John Heward (trio Presence). Chris Burns’s guitar is more subdued and classic, playing full chords rather than picking notes and generating noise, but also perceptively detached from the bass and drums of the other players. Each of the three musicians often picks their own course and seems to cross paths only occasionally and accidentally at that.
Ostensibly a showcase for a quartet of groups, this 4-CD ‘box’ is actually a rostrum for Sam Shalabi (better known in the eponymous and justly lauded Shalabi Effect) and friends. It’s also ostensibly ‘free jazz’, as far as that tired old sobriquet will go, though ‘free music’ would probably be more apt, but suspicious. Even more to the impalpable point, the first CD documents the Po foursome, wherein the far fringes of a transmutational psychedelic consciousness invade the proceedings, so what we open with is an organic free interplay effort somewhat akin to portions of old Amon Duul II anarchy. With two guitars and a drumset capturing the front stage, what’s actually of seminal import is Alexandre St-Onge’s undercurrent contrabass work, the very plasma of each song, where and when it occurs. Feedback supplies surrogate keyboards and the group pays close attention to every shift in dynamics, thus this isn’t a completely random affair by any means. One merely need pay attention to follow the lines. The ’Gypt Gore disc dives straight into Philémon’s gabbling sax, with Shalabi tweedling his axe like an undistorted James Ulmer, both scampering for rabbit holes and skyhooks, jetting off in seven directions at once. Five of the nine tunes feature the pair racing through surprisingly coherent colloquy, not at all the disparate individual self-indulgences that might be expected, the otherfourfeature either Thierry Amar, bassist, bringing a more fidelitous mainstream taste into contrastive play, or a second guitarist. Stymie Stime is of immediate interest, as it pays tribute to and mocks rock and fusion guitarwork. Again, in each selection, a concentrated listen reveals the subtleties of intercourse within the duet. The Burns, Caloia, and Heward Trio populates the third disc and comes the closest to recognizable forms, but their deviational twist is what makes the seven cuts attractive. The trio, like ’Gypt Gore, breaks down fusion (little of this could be called jazz) with some reverence and a lot of sloppy grace but also a knowing grin, slowing it way down and presenting the measures in connected packets, seasoned with lightly scattered noise, though some cuts are pure sound generation and just as fetching. In sum, a lazy quaalude reverse-dithyramb for zoned essences. Balai Mécanique, a sixheaded hydra, closes out the set in riotous Trummerflora-ish fashion, a convocation of Jovians down for a weekend freak-and-gossip session. Four long songs, and three very short ones, give the visitants all the room they need to ramble, argue, hght, philosophize and loll about, which they do with uninhibited abandon. The most noticeable vibe to this is its collective nature, more intense and much thicker than the mating discs. Saving it as the final installment was a good choice; the listener (and the critic) exeunts flushed and sated.
blogue@press-631_5
press@631_5
Pour l’arrivée du beau temps, le jeune label Montréalais No Type tape fort avec la parution d’un coffret de quatre CDs (au prix de deux) documentant la scène d’improvisation libre qui gravite autour de la Casa del Popolo, nouvelle plaque tournante de la musique fraîche à Montréal. Si le coffret, magnifiquement illustré par l’artiste-percussionniste John Heward, regroupe principalement des musiciens appartenant à une nouvelle génération d’improvisateurs, on y retrouve aussi quelques vétérans: le spécialiste de la guitare préparée, Rainer Wiens, et, bien sûr. John Heward, qui fait preuve ici d’une incroyable sensibilité aux textures. Une des grandes qualité du coffret est qu’on y retrouve une liberté synonyme de personnalité et que les quatre disques ont chacun leur identité. L’ensemble d’ailleurs offre une grande diversité de registres et de tons. D’abord deux disques de guitares; celles de Wiens, toujours aussi intrigante, et du terrible Sam Shalabi qui, avec Alexandre St-Onge à la contrebasse et John Heward à la batterie, jouent en frottements et en textures au sein de l’ensemble PO; et puis le jeu risqué, jazzy et «fêlé du cerveau» de Chris Burns en trio avec Nicolas Caloia (cb) et Heward toujours à la batterie. L’égarement prend ici une valeur positive.
Sur les deux autres disques arrivent les instruments à vent dans un déferlement de solistes multiples et de polyphonie. D’abord le dangereux et aventureux dno ‘Gypt Gore, où Philémon (sax alto) et Sam Shalabi (guitare) - deux membres trés actifs de la nouvelle scène improvisée - mettent en commun leur frénésie et leur exubérance pour une aventure des plus enlevantes. Le duo plaira aux agités. Pour le quatrième et dernier disque nous retrouvons les deux ‘Gypt Gore accompagnés de leur bataillon de «mauvais chats» Balai Mécanique (Thierry Amar, cb; Jesse Levine, p; Jacques Gravel, trb et Will Glass, perc.) pour une improvisation collective qui rappelle d’avantage une certaine tradition du free jazz, mais qui garde une grande fraîcheur et qui réjouira les mordus du genre. Beaucoup de fougue. de risques, quelques accrochages font du coffret un véritable manifeste de la liberté. Au total 228 minutes de déroutes, de défonce et de plaisir pour les oreilles assoiffées. Ce coffret, portrait d’une scène active, risque de passer à l’histoire.
blogue@press-614_2
press@614_2
Montréal Free is a four-disc box set spotlighting four separate groups that explore the realm of free improv. All are regularly featured performers at Montréal’s Casa del Popolo, a club founded in 2000 by Mauro Pezzente of Godspeed and his partner Kiva Stimac.
The first group heard on this release features drummer John Heward, guitarist Sam Shalabi, bassist Alexandre St-Onge and the electric and prepared guitars of Rainer Wiens and is known as PO, an acronym for “provocative operations.” Collectively, they exploit textures with the emphasis being on coiling, twisting guitars, stirring arco bass reflections and vivacious drumplay. II for instance contains scratchy, abrasive guitar tones that eventually resolve into a mechanized industrialist motif. Distortion and guitar trickery have a role as well and eventually, Shalabi’s Arabic-tinged single note lines come to the fore. On the other hand, both IV and VI employ blustery and spirited bursts of energy, sometimes drawing upon repetitive patterns. While melodic content is distant and elusive, the explorative nature is intriguing.
Disc two features the duo of ’Gypt Gore comprised of saxophonist Philémon and the ubiquitous guitarist Sam Shalabi both of whom appear later with Balai Mechanique. The duo invites two guests to expand their sound on four separate tracks, bassist Thierry Amar (of GY!BE and several other ensembles) on two and guitarist Andrew Dickson on two. As for duo pieces like Angular Momentum, And everything that looks like you, and Chair à canon, the duo follows one methodology, that of full-tilt, mercurial force without much of an intermission. Shalabi’s craggy, angular guitar lines continually joust with Philémon’s abrasive, impassioned alto sax in a percussive maelstrom that seldom subsides. While they avoid stepping on each other’s toes a sense of sameness does tend to set in as the torrential intensity doesn’t leave much breathing room for the listener. Shalabi demonstrates his diverse talents throughout, interestingly enough, even hinting at an almost jazzy sensibility on occasion. The guests have the effect of essentially reigning in the frenzy of the duo explorations, where more spacious, if even, ballad-like approaches are revealed. Navigation pacifique, an interaction with Dickson, is a strong point, suggesting a boat navigating through murky, unknown waters.
The trio heard on disc three explores the art of using and filling space, rather than blowing the house down. Bassist Nicolas Caloia is perhaps the linchpin of this operation as he lightly coaxes the collective to follow new courses of action or drives the ensemble with his alternating rhythmic or broken tones. His arco work in particular, is striking, perhaps best evidenced in tandem with guitarist Chris Burns on presence #7. Drummer John Heward is supportive throughout, as he plinks, clinks and shuffles around his kit, carefully crafting his lines, like a painter choosing his colors and textures in a thoughtful manner (coincidentally, Heward is also known for his visual art). Burns demonstrates an impressive proclivity for interesting sounds and accents, particularly seen through his 12-string guitar work on presence #2 and presence #4. His lines evoke a slippery sensibility, like a slinky tumbling down the stairs. All in all this is a group focused on the depths of sound and intertwining lines that resuit from a combination of curious souls.
The final chapter of this set comes from the “supergroup of the Montréal free improv scene” Balai Mécanique, a sextet consisting of saxophonist Philémon, trombonist Jacques Gravel, keyboardist Jesse Levine, guitarist Sam Shalabi, bassist Thierry Amar and drummer Will Glass. From the first notes, this is a balls to the wall affair that recalls the spirit of European free improv, and certainly, it is the fiercest of the groups heard on this set. The program itself contains seven tracks, four being lengthy explorations and three being brief interludes. The lengthy tracks encourage the interactions of each musician and contain a mix of waves of contrasting intensity and brief lulls before the impending tempest. Both Philémon and Shalabi follow similar paths that they explored on the ’Gypt Core sessions with extroverted, austere saxisms and the rumble tumble of jagged guitar lines. Of particular interest is Levine, who employs a host of sounds both on keyboard and piano. At times, he reminds one of enigmatic, spacey universes the other funky organ interludes (Cashel Boyle) and the next, flights of piano prowess. Most of the lengthier pieces swell and subside with brief breaks from the thunder only to eventually rise again in a final detonation of rugged, sinuous interplay. Ultimately, this is ambitious and demanding music that should put some hair on your chest.
Taken as a whole then this four-disc set will prove a boon to fans of free improv and especially those curious about Montréal’s improvised music scene. While there may be some difficult moments the rewards can be significant.
blogue@press-604_2
press@604_2
Le label canadien passe à l’offensive, se décidant à construire un système d’irrigation complexe, chenaux d’alimentation pour les marais bosselés du free-jazz, les réseaux méandriques de l’improvisation, les plans d’eau infinis de la folk et du post-rock pastoral. En fédérant la quintessence de ces courants, No Type se fait l’écho d’un travail de terrain entamé par la Casa del Popolo (lieu de concerts, de rencontres humaines, initié par Mauro Pezzente, GSY!BE). L’occasion de croiser et de retrouver les étoiles naissantes, les étoiles filantes, naines noires et autre supernovas de la scène montréalaise, parmi lesquels Sam Shalabi et Alexandre St-Onge, de Shalabi Effect (les amateurs de rock spectral type FSA-Roy Mongomery et les habitués de Kranky ou Drunken fish rec apprécieront ce retour), mais également Thierry Amar (God Speed), etc. Une corrélation de talents, répartis tels des points cardinaux entre : Po, ’Gypt Gore, C. Burns/N. Caloria/J. Heward et Balai Mécanique. Quatre introspections dans le free et l’improvisation qu’il convient de développer.
Po avec sa Provocative Operations (à ne pas confondre avec Tô, le jeune improvisateur de chez Savoir-Faire 53) et la rencontre de deux couples mythiques de la scène improvisée et atmosphérique. Deux trajectoires pour deux «générations» de musiciens. John Heward et Rainer Wiens, anciens brisquards et pionniers des musiques indépendantes sur la scène montréalaise; Sam Shalabi et Alexandre St-Onge, plus connus sous le pseudonyme de Shalabi Effect, groupe mythique pour tout amateur de FSA ou Kranky qui se respecte, et auteurs d’albums miraculeux. Ils délivrent à quatre des pistes plus que des voies pavées, des interrogations davantage que des affirmations autour du rapprochement d’une pratique free et d’une approche «préparée» de l’instrumentation. Un questionnement constant, fluet et ondulant qui laisse beaucoup d’intéressantes interrogations à l’auditeur (attentif). Un ouvrage incertain, lapidaire, cyclothymique…
’Gypt Gore, c’est davantage l’école Naked City-Borbotemagus-Painkiller que les clairières lumineuses de Po. Une énergie de la destruction, et de l’improvisation qui a pour paradoxe d’être complexe et construite dans ses schémas «d’attaques». Une ondée sonique, étincelante et féroce qui ravage beaucoup de choses sur son passage, y compris nos oreilles. Les oto-rhinos ne leur disent pas merci. Une approche radicale pour une écoute fructueuse mais éreintante dont on sort anéanti, mais en paix avec soi-même, comme d’avoir vécu une expérience hors du commun. Entre parcours du combattant et attentat sonore. Le sax de Philémon virevolte et les guitares de Dickson et Shalabi viennent en écho de ce tourbillon. Des terroristes à guitares.
Le Trio Burns/Caloia/Heward a longtemps été un duo construit autour de Heward/Caloia auquel est venu s’adjoindre la guitare exaltée et combative de Burns. Une modification de tracé qui opère de nouvelles voies de réflexion et de création dans leurs jeux respectifs. Sans doute moins d’intimité, mais comment les chuchotements d’un trio pourraient-ils rivaliser avec les susurrements d’un ménage à deux?! Plus liée et mélodique, la partition s’autorise quelque fois des chemins défendus. Ce trio guitare-basse-batterie impose un rythme pondéreux à la composition, installant un climat lourd avant d’introduire de petites déclivités arpèges, incertitudes frottées. Puissant.
Enfin, Balai Mécanique, le boys band le plus prisé de la côte est du Canada, comptant pas moins de six piliers de bars (La Casa del Popolo) mais surtout, éminences grises de la scène moderne montréalaise, parmi lesquels Philémon (de Napalm Jazz, ’Gypt Gore), Thierry Amar, Sam Shalabi (Po, Shalabi Effect…), Jacques Gravel et Will Glass. À première vue, au regard du line-up, on pourrait imaginer une compression sonore entre les différents groupes pré-cités, comme si la nature n’opérait que par addition. Or, il n’en est rien, les lois de la physique ont leurs raisons que la raison ne connaît pas. Balai Mécanique dépeint au contraire un univers très en retrait des autres, plus expansif et aérien, plus prompt à régénérer notre attractivité pour la matière. On sent que chaque intervenant, en plus de se faire plaisir, trouve ici un terrain de jeu exaltant, une occasion de mettre en pratique avec passion, ingéniosité et complicité son savoir-faire respectif. Par phénomène de vases communicants, on trouve un plaisir équivalent à écouter leurs divagations. Extraverti et énervé.