"SEER" and "Odense Jazz Orchestra Meets Loren Stillman"- Two Approaches to Playing Loren Stillman's Music

 

Odense Jazz Orchestra Meets Loren Stillman- AAM Records

The London born, American raised alto and soprano saxophonist, Loren Stillman, has released two albums this year and they are both well worth your attention. The musician has always been an artist of interest that could play with his own distinctive sound and wrote much of his own material. His latest releases show just how far this man's playing and composing has progressed. 

For those who are unaware of this fine saxophonist, a little background may be of interest. Stillman has been playing saxophone since the age of seven. His path included studying saxophone with classical player/educator Dan Goble, who has played with the New York Philharmonic for nineteen years. He also studied with saxophonist/educator Harvey Pittel in 1995 at the Tanglewood Institute. Pittel has taught saxophone at both the University of Southern California and University of Texas in Austin and his students in the jazz world have included notables like Branford Marsalis and Kenny Garrett.

Stillman received full scholarships to the Manhattan School of Music, 1998-2000,  attended The New School of Music from 2002-2023 on another full scholarship and received a BA of Music from SUNY 2004-2005 before receiving a Master of Music from The University of Montana 2017-2019.  He continued private lessons over the years with notable saxophone masters Ted Nash, Dick Oatts, Dave Liebman and Lee Konitz.

During his career, Stillman has lent his personal sound as a sideman to notable groups including drummer Paul Motian’s trio in 2000-2002, guitarist John Abercrombie’s Jackalope Trio in 2021, Tyshawn Sorey’s Oblique in 2000-2014, and had collaborations with bassist Michael Formanek and has been a member of Charlie Haden/Carla Bley’s Liberation Music Orchestra not to mention his own groups.

I have been aware of Stillman’s compelling alto sound since first hearing him on his Pirouet Records album Winter Fruits from 2009. His alto saxophone sound has impressed me as being influenced by Konitz's less is more approach and guided by his own  sense of classical influences. His playing is melodic, and his improvising, while inventive,  tends to avoid bringing attention to himself. Whether playing alto or soprano with facility, he is creative, spontaneous and unpredictable. His approach is thoughtful, reflective and unrushed and he judiciously uses space to great effect. Stillman has developed his own sound, and his compositional skills have increasingly revealed imagination and promise.

Stillman’s two recently released albums, Odense Jazz Orchestra Meets Loren Stillman on AMM Records released in January, and Seer, released in March on Newvelle Records 10 Collection,  give the listener a rare chance to compare how two different musical approaches can be equally effective on three of Stillman’s compositions played and arranged for two different formats, the drum less trio and the seventeen-piece orchestra.

Loren Stillman- SEER- Newvelle Records

Stillman released Odense Jazz Orchestra Meets Loren Stillman in January. Odense is the third largest city in Denmark, and with a population of almost two-hundred thousand and is the largest city on the island of Funen. Odense also happens to be the birthplace of the beloved fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen. With imagination as a legacy, it is fitting that this large ensemble, with its expanded instrumentation and Nordic influence, can create its own unique vividness to Stillman’s music.  The deft use of the colorful palette of the orchestra opens the tonal possibilities. The expressive options can add another level of complexity and color to the music. 

Odense Jazz Orchestra (Jazz Fuel -Photo credit unknown)

This seventeen-piece Danish big band, features creative, modern arrangements of six Stillman compositions with the help of double bassist Kasper Tagel and trumpet/conductor Torben Sminge. The music flows naturally, sensitively and the group absorbs intuitively, Stillman’s reflective approach to his compositions. The saxophonist is the lead here and his tone is beautiful, his playing thoughtful and the band swells and swirls with precision and sensitivity.

The opener “A Tree Falls” featured Stillman on his sinewy soprano over the emerging sounds of the orchestra. A gorgeous flugelhorn solo by Rolf Thofte Sorensen adds another aural approach. The music is like a contemplation on nature, with Stillman’s soprano rising to ever more adventurous lines and intensified playing that seems to promise a new beginning. Guitarist Morten Nordel adds some texturally interesting lines that intertwine with Stillman’s soprano as a lead to the coda.

Seer, which is a trio-based album includes Craig Taborn on piano and Thomas Morgan on bass. It opens with a splendid piano and bass intro that gently yields to the floating soprano sound of Stillman, beautifully spelling out the melody. The interaction is a most intimate exchange. The three artists trace each other’s lines in parallel unison. These three breathe the same air and speak with a common but distinct voice. This symbiotic connection between these three is hard to duplicate in larger groups, and Taborn’s delicate tickling of the piano keys beautifully simulates gentle raindrops falling in the woods as Morgan’s bass resonates.  There are clearly many ways to find expression on this moving ballad, but the trio's elastic adhesion is hard to match.

Thomas Morgan, Loren Stillman and Craig Taborn (photo credit unknown)

The composition “Waterworks,” is inspired by a hike into the woods and found on both albums. On Seer, Stillman’s fluid alto opens this composition with his cool, unfettered tone. The music invokes the feeling of a meandering mountain stream; calm, kinetic and restorative. The drum less trio creates the motion upon which Stillman’s bubbly alto, and especially Taborn’s exploratory piano solo, offer some enjoyable interpretations of being immersed in nature. The pianist uses an angular and at times cadenced approach to his solo, as Morgan’s resonant bass keeps the pulse alive and vibrant.

On Odense Jazz Orchestra Meets Loren Stillman “Waterworks” is opened by an exploratory and sensitive piano intro by Pojhen Flensborg. Armed with brass and winds skillfully arranged, this version creates a background of instrumentation that enters with tonal variations that emerge slowly, creating an expanding landscape. Nordel’s guitar, another tone not available to the trio, introduces his own emotive yet edgy guitar solo. The rhythmic vibe of the horn section takes on an almost Latin feel before-at about the seven-fifteen-minute mark- Stillman’s thoughtful alto enters the picture. His saxophone is clear, liquid and floats over the increasing intensity that the orchestra maintains to the coda. It’s a credit to Stillman and his writing's universal appeal that it can be played in both the trio and orchestral setting and still communicate the intended immersion into nature theme so effectively despite two distinct approaches.

The third composition that is played on both albums is “Fowlkes,” a dedication to the spirit of the now passed trombone ace Curtis Fowlkes. On Seer, the trio opens with Taborn and Morgan setting the stage for this slow-paced ballad. Stillman’s alto is warm and respectful. Morgan has an impressively buoyant bass solo before Stillman’s alto spells out his melody in conjunction with his bandmates. Stillman’s creates circuitous lines that flow flexibly, as Taborn’s introspective pianistic solo  adds another dimension. Just a beautiful composition and performance by this intuitive trio.

On the album with the Odense Jazz Orchestra meets Loren Stillman, the music opens with a brilliant arrangement that utilizes all the seventeen colors available to bring this music to life. The orchestra seems to revel in their ability to create such a beautiful tapestry of sounds upon which Stillman’s majestic saxophone can play his moving dedication. The trombone section includes soloist Anders Ringgaard, section players Stefan Ringive, Mikkel Asgaard and John Kristensen and all add notably on this one. The altoist’s solo is particularly emotive, radiant and heartfelt. The multi-section interplay is inventive and majestic. The orchestra makes this one their own, a true delight and a testament to how successful this record confirms how international collaboration can add another element to making modern jazz more expansive.

The alum Seer has much more to offer including “Chez Hanny,” “First Paradise,” the title cut “Seer,” “Mayday,” “Folk Song” and” Victory Laps” all additional Stillman compositions. On Odense Jazz Orchestrameets Loren Stillman, the remaining songs are “Buffalo,” “Like A Magic Kiss,” and “Dervish,” again all Stillman compositions injected by this Danish juggernauts energetic arrangements. 

All of this beautiful music from Loren Stillman is well worth multiple listens, There is no doubt there is something on these two albums that should please even the most discerning listener. These two great albums offer the best of two worlds. the splendid vibrancy of excellent orchestration and the intimate symbiosis of a fine tuned trio. 

The Art of Bill Frisell Live at City WInery in Atlanta

Thomas Morgan, Bill Frisell and Rudy Royston at Atlanta's City Winery

This past Wednesday night, April 4th, at Atlanta’s City Winery the world class guitarist and innovator Bill Frisell and his trio thrilled a nearly full house of faithful followers, aspiring guitarists and a few curious uninitiated listeners with an unforgettable night of music. The Winery can accommodate over three hundred in the confines of its comfortable, sonically pleasing wine cellar-like atmosphere. Frisell just released a fabulous solo album titled Music Is on the Okeh label on March 16, 2018.  On this night Frisell was joined by Thomas Morgan on upright bass and Rudy Royston on drums.

The now sixty-seven-year old Frisell has been playing his distinctive style of guitar for the better part of three decades. He signed to Manfred Eicher’s ECM label back in the early eighties and became the virtual house guitarist for the label. He has had long term associations with the eclectic experimental composer/saxophonist John Zorn from his early days in New York. In the early 2000’s he was a part of the influential drummer Paul Motian’s trio with saxophonist Joe Lovano. The list of collaborators he has worked with is a who’s who of the contemporary and avant-garde music world during the last quarter century. Along the way Frisell has developed his own unique sound- a mix of bluegrass, country, surfer rock, Americana, jazz, fusion and sophisticated electronics- that has made him one the most adventurous musicians and a sought-after collaborator. His work has been nominated for a Grammy on four occasions in 2005, 2009, 2016 and 2018 and he won once for Unspeakable in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category for 2005.

The Guitarist Bill Frisell at Atlanta's City Winery 

Bill Frisell has the casual appearance of a disheveled, absent-minded professor, with his shock of white spiky hair, horn- rimmed glasses and his loosely fitting jacket and jeans. You could see this guy working part-time fixing motorcycles in a neighborhood garage or repairing old radios in his basement, but when he plugs in his Telecaster-style guitar and connects to  his array of electronic wizardry he becomes a master of the universe. The universe of the sound that he so deftly creates.

The guitarist started off with a series of harmonics, tones generated from his guitar that resonate with sympathetic frequencies. He is master of harnessing them to great effect and he used them to introduce the Henry Mancini classic “Moon River.”  The audience listened intently as he conjured up a delicate repeating motif on his guitar, looping it and then harmonizing to it. When the melody became apparent the crowd let out a collective sigh of acknowledgment.

One suspects that Frisell’s trio mates must have big ears to play with this man as his playing appears to be snatched from the ether, rather than firmly pre-planned. Morgan has been playing with Frisell since 2016 and they recently did a highly acclaimed duo release last year titled Small Town. Royston is a sought-after drummer whose work can be heard all over the gamut. His stylistic approach was first heard with Frisell on the guitarist’s 2010 Grammy nominated recording History Mystery. Together these three musicians showed just how empathetically connected three people can be, responding as Frisell utilized a series of surprising electronic embellishments to create cascading effects before transitioning into the familiar theme from the James Bond thriller “You Only Live Twice.”  He has a penchant for creatively using looping to allow him to create multiple layers of expression on a repeating motif.

Frisell’s repertoire often features movie soundtracks and on this evening besides the aforementioned “Moon River,” and the Bond theme “You Only Live Twice,” he later played another Bond theme from the movie “Goldfinger” to the delight of the audience. His surfer sounding guitar resonating clear, concise lines as the memorable melodies hung in the air like wisps of smoke from Bond’s lethal Beretta.  The man wastes no motion in his playing. He is a quiet leader that directs in an unobtrusive, firm but nuanced manner. Morgan’s bass is clear and resonant, and Royston is a master of delicate shading.

The group continued with a walking blues, which might have been Frisell’s “Winslow Homer,” which the guitarist played in his own fractured way, with Morgan and Royston each being featured on solos. The group went onto a more ethereal sounding piece, a rambling waltz that was reminiscent of the late John Abercrombie’s work. Interestingly Frisell was a highlight performer at a memorial concert held for the recently deceased guitarist at Brooklyn’s Roulette on March 26, 2018.

No jazz concert, although that is too restrictive of a title for Frisell's work, would be complete without at least one Thelonious Monk song. Frisell and company didn’t disappoint, doing their own take on the quirky “Epistrophy.”  Here the group was at its most intuitive, perhaps because of the familiarity of the song, but it was marvelous to watch the exquisite interplay, especially between Frisell and Royston who operates without bombast. The drummer created a jungle beat that added surprising rhythmic interest and an inherent sense of swing. Morgan had one of his most creative solos of the evening.

The real surprise of the evening  was Frisell’s marvelous take on the John McLaughlin classic “Arjen’s Bag.” Later renamed “Follow Your Heart,” from Mclaughlin’s 1969 album Extrapolation; Frisell played this on his own album, Ghost Town, from 2000. To hear Frisell’s take on this guitar classic some nearly fifty years later was a true treat, bringing me back to when guitar virtuosity was my idea of true greatness. The guitarist’s introduction cleverly hinted at the song before revealing his true intent. Royston played timely rim shots as Morgan plucked away creating the atmospheric feel of the song authentically. Frisell employed some distortion and echo to his guitar before he went into the song’s distinctive lead in. I had never heard anyone do this “live” and for me it was just so good to hear it played again with such creative energy and inspired tremolo and electronic effects.

The band continued with one of Frisell’s own compositions, this one played with phaser effects titled “it Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago” which is on his last release Small Town with Thomas Morgan. It is a song that has a nostalgic feel to it, one that you might hear coming from a guitarist, albeit a very good one, sitting on his front porch musing away the late afternoon. Frisell plays the sing-song line like the repeating verses of a melancholic nursey rhyme. His footboard of electronic wizardry produces sounds that at times mimic a harpsichord or perhaps a mandolin. Then he takes it to another level, accelerating the pace, developing it into a rhythmic jig of sorts, playing in a style that to my ears had native American elements to it, before returning to the main theme. An impressive display of what seem to be on the spot improvisation on a theme.

Transitioning into the theme from “Goldfinger,” Frisell recreated that echoed, twangy guitar on the John Barry composition that Shirley Bassey made famous. It was pure fun listening to this master explore this movie classic.

Frisell disengaged from his guitar and took to the stage, introducing his bandmates in his own inimitably folksy way. In a brief humorous interlude, he warned the audience of the excesses of eating locally made Maple Bacon ice cream, which he said gave him the sniffles.

After unrelenting applause, the band returned for an encore with what Frisell called his theme song, the Americana standard, “Oh Shenandoah.”  This poignant song, a lament from one that longs for a return to home, was the perfect vehicle for Frisell to spin his magic. His guitar took on multiple tones each one more expressive than the last as Morgan and Royston played the cadenced march like a mournful dirge. But Frisell is an optimist, and he skillfully transitioned from the somber Shenandoah into the uplifting Burt Bacharach composition “What the World Needs Now,” ending the show on an encouragingly upbeat note. The audience was completely taken by this wonderful performance. As a fellow audience member stated to me, Frisell takes you to another place.

The City Winery should be applauded for continuing to up its game, providing a comfortable, inviting and sonically pleasing venue and booking world class musicians like Bill Frisell to perform here in Atlanta. Hopefully people will respond accordingly and continue to support this premier music venue.

Polish Trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and his New York Quartet "Wislawa"

Tomasz Stanko's New York Quartet "Wislawa"

Creating an environment that you don’t just hear but enter as a secret visitor, this is the music of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko. From the ruminative opening piano chords of the pianist David Virelles, we get the sense that we are being led to a peaceful place; a place where gorgeously created sounds linger in the deliberate suspension of Stanko’s haunting horn. His sparse phrasing is intimate and compelling. Bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerald Cleaver, along with pianist Virelles, make up Stanko’s New York Quartet and they have absorbed his sensibility brilliantly. They have mastered the art of  deft accompaniment,  superlative sympathetic support of the trumpeter’s musical vision. All the twelve compositions on the beautifully packaged ECM two cd set are Stanko compositions.

On the Wislawa Virelles, Cleaver and Morgan create a wonderfully mystical atmosphere in which Stanko’s playing emerges as a wandering, soulful voice calling out in the haze. Morgan’s bass solo is projected with booming clarity. The album and title song is dedicated to the memory of Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Wislawa Symborska who passed in 2012 and greatly inspired the trumpeter.

On “Assassins” Stanko breaks the spell using a driving, saw toothed pulse. Here the quartet plays the fractured head in tight unison before breaking it down into distinct sections of dynamic ostinato. Virelles, Morgan and Cleaver create an almost mechanical sounding pulsation of a rhythm. Stanko uses this frenzied pulse, playing over the beat with searing arpeggios and sometimes shrieking bursts. When Virelles solos he plays slightly behind the rhythm in a distinct counterpoint that resurrects the sense of jagged excitement. Cleaver’s rolling toms and splattering snare solo creates its own sense of a urgency.

On “Metafzyka” the group returns to Stanko’s signature brooding sound. He and Virelles match each other note for note in a slow and deliberate statement of theme as Morgan and Cleaver fill in the gaps with prescient accents. At the 2:20 mark the song changes time to a more upbeat tempo with Stanko playing in a more free wheeling melodic style that has its own sense of swing. Bassist Morgan creates a nice interlude with a warm, improvised solo that sings freely.

“Derrnier Cri” starts out stating a theme in Stanko’s own exaggerated pace. The deliberateness demands your attention by testing your listening resolve to see what his next musical statement will be. When the song breaks into a more sustainable rhythmic beat it is like an organism deprived of air suddenly striving to breath. You suddenly get a sense of direction and Stanko’s playing becomes more joyful, albeit sparse, as the rhythm section is allowed to set a groove. Virelles takes a prancing solo and his delicate interplay during Morgan’s vibrant bass solo is joyful and buoyant. When Stanko returns it is just a brief reminder, setting the tone to bring his group back to a more tempered resolve.

On Stanko’s “Mikrocosmos,” the music has the barest hint of a Middle Eastern melody before ascending with a series of climbing motifs. Stanko uses the loose framework of the song to search his way through, incorporating slurs, screeches and arpeggios to make his often minimalist point. Virelles, Morgan and Cleaver create a hidden space within, using marvelous interplay that emerges like a flower from a blossom. Virelles is particularly adept at creating a light, ethereal sound on his piano that Stanko uses as a palette on which to add his own stark, well placed brush strokes.

On “Song for H” Mr. Stanko builds a dirge-like melody with slow single note lines played in tandem with Virelles and Morgan. After the introduction the piece takes on a brief, free jazz core where each musician adds colors and textures in a open field of space and time before returning to where it began

The second cd starts out with a Stanko composition title “Oni.” The quiet and fluttering trumpet of the seventy year old Mr. Stanko is heard hear to great effect here. His wonderfully soulful middle register tone can warm any melody. Pianist Virelles offers a delicate, inspiring solo that he plays with incredible restraint.

“April Story” has a cinematic quality. It aurally paints a place where something has  happened that is worth remembering. Once again you perceive a suspended feeling from Stanko’s work. He creates a portal where time seems to briefly stand still. What strikes me is the telepathic interplay that he inspires in his group. While clearly the source of its inspiration, Stanko’s music is almost leaderless, seemingly flowing organically from a collective mind.

“Tutaj-Here” is a medium paced piece that finds Stanko with sleek, swift lines and occasional well placed slurs on his trumpet and some marvelous piano/bass interplay between Virelles and Morgan.  

The free wheeling “Faces” has nice ascending lines played in tandem by Morgan, Virelles and Stanko.  The maestro’s trumpet stabs his way through this one with occasional bursts of high register trills and fluttering shrieks.

On “A Shaggy Vandal” the group is perfectly adept at negotiating the quick twists, turns and changes of time in this composition. Stanko always leaves plenty of space between his outbursts.

The final piece on the album is another variation of the opening piece “Wistawa. “

Mr. Stanko composes melancholic, dirge-like melodies of the barest type; some with definite rhythmic patterns, some built more on a looser sense of time and space. They are marvelous sound scapes that can transport the sympathetic listener to an often times peaceful and reflective place.