Jazz

Ralph Alessi - Baida (2013)

2018-01-14T14:33:19Z

Ralph Alessi - Baida (2013)


1 	Baida 	5:24
2 	Chuck Barris 	7:36
3 	Gobble Goblins 	4:04
4 	In-Flight Entertainment 	4:35
5 	Sanity 	4:46
6 	Maria Lydia 	5:46
7 	Shank 	4:44
8 	I Go, You Go 	6:13
9 	Throwing Like A Girl 	5:35
10 	11/1/10 	6:08
11 	Baida (Reprise) 	3:32

Double Bass – Drew Gress
Drums – Nasheet Waits
Piano – Jason Moran
Trumpet – Ralph Alessi

With 2013 heading into fall, it's a good time to take stock of a label that has all too often been (falsely) accused of minimizing the country where jazz began. Excluding reissues, this year's ECM regular series releases represent about thirty percent American leadership; given jazz's increasingly global nature, hardly a bad number—and better still, when considering ECM's qualitative consistency. From Chris Potter's impressive label debut as a leader, The Sirens, to Craig Taborn's boundary-stretching Chants, and Steve Swallow's career-defining Into the Woodwork, ECM's emphasis has never been about geographic location; it's simply been about good music being where you find it. This year, in addition to superb music from Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland, there's clearly been plenty of great music coming from the lower 48—and especially from New York City.

Add to that list Baida, Ralph Alessi's ECM leader debut. The trumpeter's first—and, until now, only—label appearance was on Michael Cain's below-the-radar Circa (1997), but he's gradually built a small but significant discography as a leader and been in-demand on recordings by everyone from Uri Caine and Scott Colley to Drew Gress and Joel Harrison. Gress is, in fact, Alessi's bassist of choice for Baida, which reconvenes the same quartet responsible for all but two tracks of Cognitive Dissonance (Cam Jazz, 2010), an album that raised a very germane question: why is Alessi not as established a name as contemporaries like Dave Douglas (the two literally born 19 days apart)?

The primary answer is likely Douglas' forward-thinking business acumen with his Greenleaf imprint, resulting in a considerably higher profile; Alessi, on the other hand, seems strictly about the music. But what wonderful music it is. Alessi can, at times, lean towards the cerebral, as he does on "Gobble Gobblins," revolving around pianist Jason Moran's relentless chordal pulse, with drummer Nasheet Waits (making his label debut) entering tightly with Gress, a military march slowly opening up to greater expressionism beneath Alessi's virtuosic tendencies and bright, burnished tone. Things unfold even further when Moran—who, in the past half decade, has delivered some of his best performances on ECM recordings by Charles Lloyd, Paul Motian...and now, Alessi—expounds on his written part with furious aplomb, Gress assuming a relentlessly contrarian role that somehow glues the whole thing together.

Alessi proves capable of greater melodism with a gently contrapuntal trumpet/piano duo that introduces the balladic "Maria Lydia." Still, slow doesn't always mean lyrical, as the two versions of "Baida" that bookend the record are delicate but dark and ever-so-angular, with Alessi's embouchure, mute and plunger creating near-vocal articulations, even as Moran's pointillism ebbs and flows over Gress and Waits' rubato support. "Chuck Barris," on the other hand, grooves with rhythmic complexity, Alessi's brighter tone engaging empathically with Moran's blockier responses.

Moving to ECM and relinquishing the producer's chair to Manfred Eicher both contribute to Baida representing Alessi's long overdue arrival. More open, more translucent and somehow more intrinsically pure, Baida welcomes Alessi to a label whose instinctive ability to find and draw out good music where it lives remains both unparalleled and fundamental to its ongoing success and reputation. ---John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com

Są takie momenty, kiedy artysta dokonuje swoistego powrotu. Premiera płyty Baida Ralpha Alessiego - jego debiut w ECM jako lidera zespołu - jest właśnie takim powrotem, choć ostatnia aktywność artysty nie wskazuje na jakiekolwiek zmęczenie czy zastój twórczy. Zwany "muzykiem nad muzyków", pierwszoligowy nowojorski trębacz znany jest z tego, że potrafi zagrać wszystko. Z jego talentu jako improwizatora czerpały m.in. zespoły Steve'a Colemana, Uri Caine'a, Raviego Coltrane'a, Freda Herscha i Dona Byrona. Ale na obecnej płycie Alessi zdaje się tworzyć coś zupełnie innego. Głębia i potencjał melodyczny tego albumu bez wątpienia są w stanie przyciągnąć jeszcze większe grono słuchaczy. Aby wydobyć cały potencjał ze swych kompozycji, Alessi zaprosił do współpracy Jasona Morana (fortepian), Drew Gressa (bas) i Nasheeta Waitsa (bębny). Kwartet wirtuozów gra tu z niebywałą finezją, choć z muzyki tej płynie również wielka siła i moc. Na jej tle srebrna trąbka Alessiego snuje głębokie, poruszające melodie. "New York Times" pisał: "to księżycowa pełnia blasku". ---dalga.pl

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Ralph Alessi - Quiver (2016)

2018-01-06T14:39:19Z

Ralph Alessi - Quiver (2016)


1 	Here Tomorrow 	2:27
2 	Window Goodbyes 	5:18
3 	Smooth Descent 	6:56
4 	Heist 	6:46
5 	Gone Today, Here Tomorrow 	9:49
6 	I To I 	6:14
7 	Scratch 	5:17
8 	Shush 	7:05
9 	Quiver 	4:14
10 	Do Over 	1:27

Double Bass – Drew Gress
Drums – Nasheet Waits
Piano – Gary Versace
Trumpet – Ralph Alessi

Quiver finds trumpeter Ralph Alessi and his quartet in a lyrical, reflective mood. Alessi describes the atmosphere in the recording studio as "pensive," a quality that imbues this music. The group includes most of the players from Alessi's acclaimed ECM leader debut Baida (2013). Drew Gress (double-bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums) return, with Gary Versace taking the piano chair in place of Jason Moran. Tempting to ascribe the differences between the two sessions to the pianists, but I think it has more to do with the material and the interaction of the whole band. "Here Tomorrow" opens the set with a brief legato meditation, and the mood for much of the album is established from the start. Versace often begins the pieces with an unadorned statement of the harmony, and doesn't even take a solo until the third track, "Smooth Descent" (which is also a bit more up-tempo). "Heist" breaks the mold by opening with solo trumpet, but it makes room for another piano solo and a bass solo from team player Gress.

At almost ten minutes "Gone Today, Here Tomorrow" is the longest selection, and it too contains more moderate up-tempo music, finally giving Waits an opportunity to cut loose a bit. While there's no burning here, it certainly is not all taken at rubato or ballad tempo. "Scratch" is built upon an ostinato, following some lovely piano playing on "I to I." "Shush" combines all of the previous musical elements by beginning rubato. building to an energetic middle section, then closing with a repeating pattern.

Only the closer "Do Over" provides a large contrast, as the band plays the only really up-tempo tune in the program while Waits solos all the way through. It's far too short, and it's a shame the record doesn't contain a bit more of this kind of playing. The variety would have been welcome. But while it's a generally low-key session, it's full of beautiful playing and empathetic group interaction. ---Mark sullivan, allaboutjazz.com

Trzy lata temu wytwórnia ECM Records wydała album amerykańskiego trębacza Ralpha Alessiego „Baida", który krytycy uznali za jeden z najważniejszych w jego karierze. Nagrany w kwartecie z pianistą Garym Versace, kontrabasistą Drew Gressem i perkusistą Nasheetem Waitsem w pełni ukazał kompozytorski talent lidera i niezwykłą barwę jego trąbki. Na żywo kwartet oklaskiwała publiczność cyklu koncertów „jaZZ i okolice" w Katowicach. Alessi jest częstym gościem w Polsce, był członkiem amerykańskiego zespołu saksofonisty Macieja Obary, występował z nim na Jazzowej Jesieńniw Bielsku-Białej i nagrywał płyty.

Alessi znany jest ze swych koneksji z awangardową sceną Nowego Jorku, a jego nowatorski styl gry znalazł uznanie w oczach Tima Berne'a, Steve'a Colemana i Raviego Coltrane'a. Premiera nowego albumu zbiega się z tygodniową rezydencją kwartetu w słynnym nowojorskim klubie Village Vanguard.

Nowe kompozycje emanują elegancją, precyzją i ukrytą siłą improwizacji wszystkich członków zespołu. Liryczne frazy Alessiego mogą kojarzyć się trąbką Milesa Davisa z połowy lat 60. XX wieku, kiedy nagrywał on ze swym słynnym, drugim kwintetem. Jest jednak w nich drapieżność współczesnej sceny nowojorskiej, pewien niepokój towarzyszący dzisiejszym wydarzeniom na świecie.

Największą przyjemność słuchacze znajdą w odkrywaniu melodii, które nie narzucają się jak tematy w jazzowych standardach. Alessi i jego kompani zachęcają, by zgłębić tajemnice ich muzyki. Postrzępione rytmy perkusji Nasheeta Waitsa wprowadzają twórczy chaos, który porządkuje kontrabas Drew Gressa i fortepian Gary'ego Versace. Album „Quiver" Ralpha Alessiego powinien trafić do kolekcji wymagających miłośników jazzu. ---rp.pl

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