CD Review: Carlo De Rosa's Cross-Fade - Brain Dance

Carlo De Rosa's Cross-Fade - Brain Dance
(Cuneiform Rune 317 - CD Review by Chris Parker)

'Dark, muscular and propulsive' are the adjectives applied by All About Jazz writer Budd Kopman to Carlo De Rosa's music, and this, the New York-based bassist/composer's debut recording as a leader, might have been specially created to embody those qualities. In saxophonist Mark Shim, acoustic pianist/keyboardist Vijay Iyer and drummer Justin Brown, De Rosa has found a suitably resourceful, versatile and responsive band, as adept at rattling and bustling through his more garrulous themes (the rousing opener, 'Circular Woes') as they are at gently emoting ('Maja') or transforming themselves into an electric 'fusion' band drawing on the viscerally affecting punch and power more often associated with rock bands or genre-straddling figures such as Wayne Krantz.

For sheer guts and vitality, a piece such as 'For Otto', spun out from a relatively tricksy theme into a climax of roiling intensity courtesy of Shim's grainy but elegant vigour, Iyer's compact imaginativeness and – an essential ingredient of the band's rambunctious sound – Brown's rackety but precise drumming, is hard to beat, but all the album's seven tracks (as varied as the many 'dances' in its audience's brains referred to in its title) draw on the crackling energy and fine disdain for arbitrary musical categorisation for which New York's jazz is rightly celebrated.

Fiery, intelligent but always immediately accessible, Brain Dance should delight any listener interested in what De Rosa, explaining his band's name, refers to as 'the point when many things overlap and merge'.

Cross-Fade at Cuneiform Records

Geoff Winston's selection of 2010 live music

The exceptional, the provocative and the affirmative have been found in abundance at many extraordinary concerts in the past year. To pick out just a few of them is not to exclude the rest, but to give a flavour of the range and the world-class standards that we are fortunate to be able to experience on our doorstep - mostly in the confines of north-east London at trail-blazing venues Vortex and Cafe Oto, but also in the centre of town at concert halls - Barbican (drawing above in negative of Charles Lloyd Quartet- credit Geoffrey Winston), RFH, Kings Place and the Wigmore Hall.

So with a few guide-words, let's hear it for:


Raw Creativity: Bad Plus with Django Bates at Kings Place (November); an unparalleled whirlwind of ingenuity, inspiration and interplay, defying categorisation

Power and Glory: Hairy Bones at Vortex (March); the sensitivity of Peter Brötzmann's long-standing quartet with trumpeter Kondo, Nilssen-Love and Pupillo came through on both nights, even though their meal-ticket is power-play

Ensemble Extraordinaire: Vandermark 5 at Vortex (September); breathtaking dynamics, awareness and intelligence from Vandermark, Rempis and co; a few days later at Cafe Oto, Ken joined Brötzmann's Full Blast Trio for two sessions which never stood still for a moment

Delight: Martial Solal at the Wigmore Hall (November); this quasi-sacred space proved to be the perfect setting for pianist Solal's exceptional virtuosity, creativity and gentle musical wit

Joy: Han Bennink at Pizza Express, with Coxon and Thomas (May); master drummer Bennink sparkled, switching gleefully from utter precision to contained mayhem; at Vortex (October) the smiles from trombonist Ray Anderson said it all, with Bennink mucking in, away from the limelight this time

Another Plane: David Toop at the Whitechapel Gallery (September); a remarkable two-hours of tremulous sound explorations from Toop, Butcher, Durrant and Kolkowski

Class (I): Vijay Iver Trio (link is to Patrick Hadfield's review) at Vortex (August); with Crump and Gilmore, Iyer's sets had quality written all over them; solo, also at Vortex (December), Iyer's intensity and range were absorbing

Class (II): Charles Lloyd Quartet (link to Alison Hoblyn's review) at the Barbican (November): Lloyd's flow was perfectly complemented by the accomplished trio of Moran, Rogers and Harland

Co-operation: Leo Wadada Smith 's two nights at Cafe Oto (July) showed how the sensitivity of a key musician can bring out the best in his collaborators

Invention: Mats Gustafsson at Cafe Oto (April) created evocative soundcapes with Thomas and Wachsmann, and gave an outing to his vintage slide sax; at Vortex (November) he was equally inventive in The Thing's sets, which showed a welcome disrespect for musical boundaries

The Extreme: Lou Reed's Metal Music Machine Trio at The Junction, Cambridge, heard again at the RFH (April) were uncompromising and challenging - the bunker and the concert hall presented different ribcage-vibrating options and Reed, Calhoun and Kreiger battered the walls at the edge of the musical universe

Illuminating Interview: Seb's interview with Matthias Winckelmann (link to Neal Richardson's review)at King's Place (April); hearing Matthias tell his story helped give form to a label that one almost takes for granted. This could be the forerunner of a series - maybe other labels, producers, musicians ...

Great music, too, from, among others, John Tchicai, Mary Halvorson, Chris Abrahams, Andrea Belfi, The Necks, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Evan Parker, Paul Lovens, Tony Marsh, Steve Noble, John Edwards, Joe McPhee, Monty Alexander, Georgia Manci0, Norma Winstone, Brad Mehldau, Phronesis, Toshimara Nakimura, Rhodri Davies, Tyft, Buffalo Collision, Max de Wardener, Bad Plus on their own ... and averaging 8 or 10 quid to see world class music in its best format - the live performance - often in a tiny venue - this represents incredible value.

Thank you musicians, thank you promoters and venues. And best wishes for 2011.

Three Drawings of Vijay Iyer

As an accompaniment to Geoff Winston's REVIEW of Vijay Iyer 's Solo Piano gig at the Vortex, here are three drawings by him, a short, thoughtful journey into abstraction.

Review: Vijay Iyer Solo at the Vortex

Vijay Iyer
(Vortex, Monday December 13th, 2010, review by Geoff Winston)

Vijay Iyer, seating himself at the piano, looked at it meditatively, almost quizzically, and found his optimum posture before embarking on his recital, focused on the album 'Solo' (ACT), with dedications to Monk, Ellington, Sun Ra and half a dozen other "heroes", who, as he smilingly told the Vortex audience, "keep me company."

The restraint of the introduction to 'Autoscopy' led to a range of complex textures, rhythms and explorations - bass rumbles, pizzicato runs and single note repetitions - inspired by the psychic experience of leaving the body and watching it from above. A delayed flash of recognition was prompted as the theme from Monk's 'Epistrophy' was picked out in Iyer's skillful dissection.

'I'm all Smiles', cheery, yet with a hint of melancholy, had echoes of Bill Evans (oddly, not a listed as a 'hero'); Duke's 'Black and Tan Fantasy'borrowed the structure of bar-room boogie-woogie and the feel of a New Orleans funeral march in Iyer's refreshingly unconventional interpretation.

The second set saw a delicate, hypnotic sequence segue into insistent minimalist grounded rhythms, linking in to an intricate sequence informed by southern Indian Karnatak music - Iyer's face was contorted as he concentrated on its elaborate and demanding execution - and elegiac references to his Indian family heritage.

A wonderfully daft version of what I think was 'Giant Steps' ensued and Iyer found a big sound and a heavy riff in a highly respectful rendering of Michael Jackson's 'Human Nature'- he reminded a sceptic in the room that Miles Davis, amongst others, has recorded this song.

The enraptured Vortex audience had been treated to a 'concert hall concert in your front room', characterised by Iyer's virtuosity and overwhelmingly generous spirit of communication. Magic!

Photo: ACT Music