Cadence Magazine
June 2000
ELLERY ESKELIN/HAN BENNINK
DlSSONANT CHARACTERS
HATOLOGY 534
Flutter/Dissonant Characters /Incontrario /Oloraz =(Barolo) /Alias
/Bud+ Shake /Sight Unseen /Brilliant Corners/No Pyrrhula, Pyrrhula (= Bullfinch)/Let's
Cool One/Pro Tanto. 58:42.
Eskelin, ts; Bennink, d. 11/11 & 12/98, Berikon, Switzerland.
I'm going to start this review with what would ordinarily be my concluding sentence.
If you've lived this long without an Ellery Eskelin disc, go out and get this one.
High praise to be sure, but while Eskelin's catalog has some real gems in it (such
as the superlative tribute to Gene Ammons, The Sun Died 1/97, p.45), there would be
no better place to start. In this context, it is easier to witness the saxophonist's
aesthetic, when he and the extraordinary Dutch percussionist Han Bennink are left
to their devices. In a nutshell, they really tear it up. Not that this should shock anyone,
for Bennink has a history of propelling powerhouse saxophonists skyward, having in
the past worked in this format with Peter Brotzmann and Willem Breuker. This recording, captured live, finds the duo casting all pleasantries aside to create music that
can only be arrived at with the most intuitive of improvisers. While Bennink provides
a constantly careening foundation of flurries and asides, he remarkably never loses
sight of the meter. Eskelin responds to these percussive barrages either head on with
his own gruff flourishes and sweet soulful stirrings all done up in his atypical
but intoxicating phrasing, or skirts the issue entirely, spinning out angular lines
of ecstatic energy and ricocheting in several directions at once. A word too about Eskelin's
tone (which has never sounded more forceful) which relies on supreme will power not
to succumb to and be buried under Bennink's physical onslaught, as few drummers are
capable of sustaining such volume for such a length of time. instead of being intimidated,
Eskelin is able to go toe to toe with muscular lunges and elusive reflexes. As impressive
as the improvisations found on this set are the two Monk covers display the total respect both players have for these masterpieces while managing to avoid derivative
readings. For all intents and purposes, the duo has made the Monk pieces their own,
working them over and taking them to places the composer may not have considered.
Seldom have two players hit it off so well in such an early stage of their relationship,
for what this recording documents is a connection and a marvelous one at that. In
addition to creating some of the most exciting improvisational music I've heard this
year, it also swings like mad. There is no excuse for not owning this disc.
Jon Morgan
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