http://www.allaboutjazz.com/REVIEWS/R1298_78.HTM
Kulak, 29 & 30
Ellery Eskelin with Andrea Parkins & Jim Black (hat Hut)
By Robert Spencer
Kulak, 29 & 30 was recorded live at Kulak, Berikon, Switzerland, on October 29 and
30, 1997, by the innovative trio of Ellery Eskelin (tenor saxophone), Andrea Parkins
(accordion and sampler), and Jim Black (percussion). In the liner notes Ellery Eskelin
explains that "I'm constantly looking for structural methods to change existing and
assumed paradigms in improvised music, sometimes blurring the line between written
and improvised material but more often creating a highly defined distinction."
That's exactly what's happening on Kulak, 29 & 30. "Departure Lounge," the opening
and defining track, begins with a series of lightning shifts from a funky beat (over
which Eskelin's tenor sails) to thoughtful rubato accordion riffs from Parkins, and
back again. Finally the funk beat wins out, and Eskelin improvises over it with melodic
sensibility but a keen individuality and awareness of post-Albert Ayler and even
post-Evan Parker tenor saxophone innovations. Parkins builds a gradual ascent with
him as Black's funk rhythms shift and churn; at the piece's climax Eskelin and Parkins are
playing with a stately mien (rubato) over the funk, which finally gives up as tenor
and accordion duet to climax the piece before the drums return for a passionate finale.
This bravura track shows this trio at their best - both in their imaginative reconstructions
and recombinations of generic material, and in their tremendous instrumental ability
and appeal.
The other tracks contain the same unexpected shifts, carried off with aplomb. "Fifty
Nine" is immediately less rhythmically-based, as it is built on some ecclesiastical
sonorities from Parkins; but after Eskelin enters to work a repeating, subtly mutating
figure, Black solos at the center of the piece, which then returns to the same lunar
landscape where it began. "Visionary of the Week" begins similarly, but goes in completely
different directions. Nor is that the end of the ride. "Rhyme or Reason" and "Organum" build from quiet edgy noises (with Eskelin at his most Evan
Parkerish). On "Rhyme or Reason" there suddenly appears a thoroughly surprising Parkins
ostinato, and some marvelous melodic inventiveness from Eskelin; "Organum" sustains
the original mood longer, but takes it also into uncharted ground. "Expubidence"
is a brief tripartite dialogue that shows Eskelin ranging all over the stylistic map
in the smallest of spaces.
Kulak, 29 & 30 is a fascinating document of one of today's top trios at work. Don't
miss it.
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