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Radio ›› Engagement & Confrontation
1 avril 2007
Par Andy Hamilton in Double Bassist (RU), 1 avril 2007

Texte

«Highly stimulating.»

Pierre-Yves Martel is a Canadian experimental bassist whose range includes classical, jazz and improvisation to early music on the viola da gamba. The 18 pieces for prepared bass here are entirely improvised. Martel’s approach is influenced by guitarist Derek Bailey’s conception of non-idiomatic improvisation - which was essentially a reaction against jazz - and by the genre of solo bass albums begun by Barre Phillips in 1968 with Journal Violone, involving virtuoso extended techniques. Martel prepares the instrument with paperclips, rings, sticks and other items placed directly on the strings and on the bridge, and he mixes arco and pizzicato. The 10-microphone recording set-up allows for a close scrutiny of texture. The recording, which has no overdubs, is projected through various pannings and mixes, creating a rich variety of aural perspectives that the sleeve notes describe as a kind of trompe l’oreille.

The dominant approach is experimental noise as opposed to soundscape. Animals noises are suggested on Correspondences domestiques, and Fromages en crottes is as teeth-jarring as chalk scraped across a blackboard. Seems… far too… familiar is a witty exploration of rattling sounds, while the grindings of Eczema cleverly echo the scratching caused by the skin condition. But this is not purist free-improvisation: Martel does not avoid grooves, for instance, on the chirpily melodic Interlude No.2, and the jazzy Benibraun, while Dresser sets up an East European folkish strumming. Highly stimulating.

blogue@press-3344 press@3344
1 janvier 2007
Par Andrey Henkin in All About Jazz New York (ÉU), 1 janvier 2007

Texte

«Martel’s approach is a mix of arco and pizzicato and comes across as surprisingly melodic, even beautiful at times.»

Everybody knows the hoary old joke about natives on an island with endless drumming, terrified of it stopping and the bass solo beginning. Those natives would certainly scratch their heads over these two solo bass albums. The genre most likely started with Barre Phillips in 1968. Though the work of François Rabbath and Bertram Turetzky were precursors, it was PhillipsJournal Violone on Opus One that set the template for dozens of modern instances: improvising at length with a panoply of extended techniques that vehemently changes the role of the instrument. These two albums are encouraging continuations of the groundwork set by Phillips. Linson and Martel are both engaging young players, the former an American who has most recently (temporarily?) taken Barry Guy’s place in Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and the latter a Canadian experimental musician who, in addition to playing double bass, is also supposed to be an accomplished violist de gamba. True to the breadth of the solo bass genre, Cut and Continuum and Engagement & Confrontation, despite having similarly opaque titles, are very different. […] Martel on the other hand offers 18 pieces‚ (the longest under five minutes, the shortest under 40 seconds) on prepared bass in acoustic real-time. […] Martel’s approach is a mix of arco and pizzicato and comes across as surprisingly melodic, even beautiful at times. The remarkably close recording allows for careful examination of texture and there is a flow within each piece and on the album as a whole. A listener’s patience is never tested as Martel introduces different tempos from track to track and can sound the range from computer terminal to thumb piano. For fans of solo bass (Hello? Are you out there?) the choice between these two albums, if there has to be one, is whether your preference is towards more of a soundscape (Linson) or experimental noise (Martel). A long attention span is required for both, either for Linson’s length and measured development or Martel’s sheer density. The times when the instrument played sounds like a traditional bass are few but creep in slyly. Of the two, the sounds generated by Martel are the more fascinating if only for being created in a completely organic fashion. If you really want to make the natives run, obtain both these fine albums and play them simultaneously.

blogue@press-3203 press@3203
1 décembre 2006
Par Pierre Durr in Revue & Corrigée #70 (France), 1 décembre 2006

Texte

«Pierre-Yves Martel insuffle à son engagement une capacité communicative où transparaît une forme d’humour en même temps qu’un hommage à quelques précurseurs de la préparation.»

Les enregistrements de contrebasse solo ne sont certes pas fréquents, mais on pense rapidement à des musiciens tels que Joëlle Léandre, Brarre Phillips, Mark Dresser, Peter Kowald (dans le domaine des musiques improvisées) ou à des compositeurs ayant travaillé pour des contrebassistes (Scelsi, Cage, Berio, Cazaban, Dumitrescu, avec des interprètes tels que Fernando Grillo ou Stefano Scodanibbio). Certaines de ces réalisations incluent des effets issus de la notion de contrebasse préparée. C’est toutefois une première que de proposer un enregistrement entier dévolu à la contrebasse préparée, et plus particulièrement du côté des musiques improvisées. Pierre-Yves Martel, un jeune Canadien, l’a réalisé ici avec dix-huit courtes pièces, comme autant d’études, visant, comme d’autres plus nombreux le firent, par exemple, avec le piano, à ausculter les possibilités soniques de son instrument par l’utilisation combinée d’objets et d’une spatialisation à partir d’une dizaine de micros. Et loin d’avoir l’aridité d’un travail d’étude, Pierre-Yves Martel insuffle à son engagement une capacité communicative où transparaît une forme d’humour en même temps qu’un hommage à quelques précurseurs de la préparation.

blogue@press-3201 press@3201
1 novembre 2006
Par Ken Waxman in Musicworks #96 (Canada), 1 novembre 2006

Texte

«With much of his musical life ahead of him, the young Franco-Ontarian has created a notable debut.»

Thrusting himself wood, strings and bow-first into very fast company, Montréal-based double bassist Pierre-Yves Martel has unselfconsciously created his own solo bass CD.

Although the session betrays many of the limitations of a young musician doing his first record, the 27-year-old Vanier, Ont. native’s recital contains enough originality to be considered in a field pioneered by such masterful soloists as France’s Joëlle Léandre and the United Kingdom’s Barry Guy.

Martel does this by making Engagement & Confrontation an elaboration of the sounds produced when the bass’s four strings are prepared by placing sticks, paper clips and rings among them. Additionally the sound is captured in studio with multiple microphones - there are 10 in total - to literally amplify every movement. The end result is a selection of tracks, ranging from 35 seconds to 4 and a half minutes, whose improvisations develop midway between conceptual and accidental. There’s no overdubbing involved.

The bassist, whose background includes playing musique actuelle with clarinetist Lori Freedman and guitarist Antoine Berthiaume, Balkan-jazz with the band Foreigners, and early, baroque and so-called classical music elsewhere, has the chops and background for experimentation. On some tunes in fact, you marvel at his sheer audacity, constructing pieces out of fingered drones and scrapes of the instrument’s spike on the studio floor.

But youth’s audacity also plays second fiddle to impudence on the set. Evidentially intent on showing off his developing prowess, Martel has packed 18 tracks into a CD that’s only slightly more-than-48-minutes long. This produces some sections of different compositions which are mere technical exercises, which are also not given enough latitude to develop into coherent statements, and worse of all, sporadically sound like other passages on the date.

At his best the bassist keeps you guessing at his next move, as when he seems to be vocalizing through his string set or somehow produces oscillating wave form vibrations that create secondary bass lines - as if his primary notes were being accompanied by another bassist.

Percussive more than dissonant, his sul ponticello bowing on a piece like Fromage en crottes moves from ear-wrenching shrills down to violent pizzicato smacks. He’s isn’t above whacking the bass’s waist and belly either, or producing what sound like wood rending pressure below the bridge for additional resonance. On tracks like Pneus semi-pneumatiques walking bass lines quickly evolve into the vibrating buzz created by torqued strings. Meanwhile Dresser - which may be a salute to the masterful American bassist of the same name - features guitar-like finger-picking pirouettes that when coupled with percussive motions suggests the African balophone as well.

On the other hand, Benibraun’s onomatopoeia-like sound reflects its title; the balladic For D/C evolves reflectively in broken octaves from high-and-low-pitched strumming; and Correspondances domestiques melds lumbering squeaks and caws into a low-key, burbling theme.

With much of his musical life ahead of him, the young Franco-Ontarian has created a notable debut. It implies that eventually he may attain membership in the highest ranks of improv’s low-pitched string fraternity.

blogue@press-3132 press@3132
1 septembre 2006
Par Stefano I Bianchi in Blow Up #100 (Italie), 1 septembre 2006

Texte

Tra gli strumenti più votati (e personalmente preferiti) per l’improvvisazione solista perché portatore di un suono molto caldo, espressivo e malleabile, il contrabbasso è il protagonista assoluto di questi due album dall’ispirazione e dai risultati molto diversi. […] Il differente approccio dei due strumentisti si può intuire anche dalla lunghezza media dei pezzi: venti minuti Linson, due e mezzo Martel, che non utilizza mezzi elettronici ma come unica “distrazione” prepara lo strumento con carte e pezzi di metallo e legno. Il suo suono è quindi più “proprio”, caldo e sommesso, se vogliamo più “jazz”, inteso però in un’accezione che di classico ha veramente poco. Anche in questo caso la capacità di Martel (canadese del Québec) è memorabile; i suoi assolo dalle tinte tribaloidi e dagli umori primitivisti, molto puliti e diradati e fortemente poggiati sulla magia di corde stirate e violate, si colorano in maniera sempre diversa e imprevedibile pur restando fedeli all’assunto programmatico di una felpata, interrogativa circospezione. (8) a entrambi, con leggera preferenza per il secondo.

blogue@press-3152 press@3152
1 août 2006
Par Paul Bijlsma in Phosphor #120 (Allemagne), 1 août 2006

Texte

«It’s nice to notice how many and varied sounds Martel can create with just one instrument, due to which the atmosphere changes regularly.»

The Canadian double-bassist Pierre-Yves Martel released a solo-album through Ambiances Magnétiques. This album features 18 short tracks, the longest not clocking over four and a half minutes, in which the prepared double bass is the central issue. Referring to the welcoming of new ideas by John Cage and Derek Bailey, this musician plays his instrument in an unorthodox way. The outcome is a mixture of instrumental blues and improv. sessions. It’s nice to notice how many and varied sounds Martel can create with just one instrument, due to which the atmosphere changes regularly. Sometimes one can’t even believe hearing a double bass, despite the excellent sound quality.

blogue@press-3117 press@3117

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