mysterium: Press
The Mysterium Project aims to bring together improvisors from different backgrounds to work together in temporary alignments. "For Quintet," the fine second release under its aegis, has a vitality that suggests there is plenty of mileage here, not least because estimable wind multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter seems to be one of it's fixed coordinating points. Also remaining from the first CD is drummer Eric Eigner, tight and funky or fragmented and freewheeling as occasion demands. They are joined by loose-limbed bassist Terence Murren, forthright trombonist Steve Swell and cellist Gil Selinger. Stretching out without sprawling on nine shorter tracks, the quintet convey the same quality of relaxed directedness on the 50 minute free improvisation that occupies the second CD of this satisfying set.
"...on some tracks like "who threw the blame?" and at times during the disc long "tomorrow is a long today" the tensions among all the genres rubbing shoulders in the music generate some genuinely novel moments, passages where the music doesn't sound much like anything else ever played."
Eigner is a young drummer who, like Federico Ughi, has carved out a peripheral spot for himself in the hard-to-crack New York improv scene by starting a project with the indefatigable polymath, Daniel Carter and issuing recordings on his own label. It’s a strategy that, for both drummers, hasn’t resulted in world fame, but keeps hope alive that improv may have a future yet. In both cases music well worth hearing has been put down on disc.
For the new quintet recording, Eigner has given Carter heavyweight company in trombonist Steve Swell and has played up well to the challenge of having these two powers in front of him. (It’s one of Wittgenstein’s mysteries why Swell is not more famous. Outside the improv scene he is routinely ignored in favor of vastly lesser talents. His basic form is monumental, but that’s only the beginning. He has a range of extended techniques that puts almost all other players, on all instruments, to shame.)
Eigner’s drumming often provides the foundation for most of the group forays into structured improv and he chimes in fearlessly with wind-powered toys here and there for fun. Swell also weighs in on Hammond organ (who knew?) and this gives the recording some welcome change in texture and rhythm. The two-disc recording quality is superb and the long session has been gracefully edited into bite-size pieces on disc one, with a lengthy piece devoted to disc two.
The first disc, Mysterium for Quintet (1) is one of the most enjoyable free Jazz outings I’ve
heard of late. This quintet of multi-talented artists draws on all their resources tapping into a deep vein of American music. Over the course of nine tracks, they touch on everything from Bird bop to bird songs. I suspect at least some of these were culled from longer improvisations, yet they have structural integrity as individual creations. Carter, Swell, Selinger, Murren and Eigner have their imaginations locked in step with each other, everyone responding to the other and taking turns instigating shifts in direction. Everyone shines, but there are no stars. Carter and Swell are a strikingly complementary front line with the trombonist’s swoops and growls lending just the right color to Carter’s sharp-edged horns. Each of the hornmen gets a feature—Carter on flute on the
shimmering ornithological tone poem “Cockatoo” and Swell on “Tousled Heads,” a pugilistic duet
with drummer Eigner. These brief features complement the ensemble work that’s at the core of the session. Cellist Selinger has a knack from providing just the right countermelody under the
horns. He ignites the up-tempo “Lit Up Red at Night” with a buzzing arco line. On a couple
tracks he turns his attention to the organ. His organ work is central to “Rope-a-dope,” a rollicking outing shaped around an oompah organ and boom-chick drumming. (I don’t know why, but it occurs to me that the addition of organ was orchestration by chance. Was it just in the studio
and the musicians decided to use it?) Eigner’s grooves are precise and buoyant. Murren’s bass
seems to shadow the proceedings, at times sounding like it’s embedded in the drum kit.
The second disc in this set finds the quintet in one extended free blowing session. While the
qualities that impressed me so much on the first disc are present, I found the one long track less involving. It seems to take forever to get going. At one point about 18 minutes in the ensemble shifts into a dirge, yet no one rises to give it lyrical definition. About 10 minutes further in, though, all the elements seem to sort themselves out with Carter taking the lead on alto saxophone. Swell steps forward with boisterous blowing over rambling, rumbling drums, then sustained organ tones and a backbeat. Murren’s use of electric bass in this free setting adds an intriguing texture. The piece ends with further demonstration of Carter and Swell’ssimpatico work as a frontline.
Featuring extended essays in improvisation, For Quintet is the ultimate example of truth in packaging. The bare-bones two-CD set includes nothing more than the performers’ names, instruments, tune titles and recording information.
While the sonic strength of the nine short tracks – on the first disc – and the almost 51-minute improv, which takes up all of CD two, eloquently speak for themselves, a bit of background is in order.
Briefly, Mysterium is comprised of a cross section of accomplished, New York-based players with experience in the jazz, free music, pop and so-called serious music fields. Veteran Daniel Carter, who plays trumpet, flute, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone here, has been a vibrant part of the scene for years, most prominently in TEST and the various projects of bassist William Parker. Trombonist Steve Swell, who leads or co-leads many combos, is also in Parker’s big band and works with associates such as saxophonists Gebhard Ullman and Sabir Mateen. Playing both acoustic and electric double bass, Terence Murren works in genres as different as Alt-Cajun and free improv. Gil Selinger, who plays cello, electric cello and electric organ has performed with and conducted the New York Soundpainting Orchestra and plays in string trios. Drummer and clarinetist Eric Eigner, a visual artist, is also part of the Soundpainting Orchestra.
Eigner’s visual arts background suggests the idea of large and small sonic canvases. For as vibrant as some of the interactive musical tinctures are on the nine tracks on disc it seems that Mysterium’s most impressive collective sound-painting is done on the large scale “Tomorrow is a Long Today”.
Still, considering the nine miniatures as preliminary sketches for the 51-minute aural image, reveals various techniques daubed onto the smaller canvases. Styles range from faux impressionistic to hard-edged modernism, while sfumato overlays churn these sometimes contrasting styles together.
For instance “Dancing the Galliard” is set up with pitter-patterning bounces from Eigner and intervallic leaps from Carter’s alto saxophone. Initially, Selinger sets the pace by first sounding a close cousin to “Blue Monk”, then double-stopping, triggered, screechy bass and organ impulses that underline the improvisations.
Swell’s or Selinger’s pumping organ lines on “Rope-A-Dope” resemble the Swing shuffles of Wild Bill Davis than anything more modern. Couple those sounds with the march tempo of Eigner’s drums, the vamping triplets from Carter’s trumpet and slurs from the trombone and the result appears almost circus-like.
Other tunes are borne along on double counterpoint walking from the two string players; or Murren’s sluicing electric bass runs and Selinger electric cello spiccato scratch with enough overtones to sound like two legit players. Blasting guttural tailgate tones from Swell mix it up with chromatic New Thing-like broken chords from Carter’s tenor saxophone, whereas elsewhere their duets encompass irregular grace notes and tremolo tonguing from the trombonist plus braying trumpet explosions from Carter. Meanwhile, Eigner ruffs, rolls and rebounds on his regular kit to match the saxman’s barnyard squalling or the boneman’s plunger textures.
However, just as French Impressionist Claude Monet and Surrealist Salvador Dali individually needed an immense canvas on which to respectively create masterpieces such as “The Waterlillies” and “Santiago el Grande”, so Mysterium needs something the length of “Tomorrow is a Long Today” to fully exhibits its collective talent.
Once the wiggling, polyphonic pitches and broken octave drops are absorbed into a concentrated, tremolo exposition, separate sections break apart, with clarinet glissandi, pitch-sliding burrs from the trombone and wide-spaced string sawing most noticeable. Switching to flute, Carter’s lines slide as Swell’s braying single notes ascend, then meet graduated unselected beats and staccato string patterning. It’s as if a classical string duo and a brass and drum aggregation are passing one another in a village square.
Soon what could be sputtering overtones of a roller-ring pipe organ seep into the aural miasma. Concluding every-which-way theme variations, the five then draw back for individual strokes: consistent staccato string bending from the cellist, lip vibrato daubing and exaggerated split tones from Carter’s alto saxophone; and concentrated drum bounces and rim shots. During the penultimate variant, contrapuntal brass vamps coalesce behind adagio interface between widely vibrated tenor saxophone lines and shrill cello harmonics. Finally the bubbling slurp of the electric bass and the drummer’s subtle beat introduce Selinger’s moderato melody plus Carter wavering saxophone obbligatos. But before the theme starts again, conclusive and repetitive polyrhythmic patterns from electric bass end the interface.
Improvisations from one day of intense and rigorous improvisation, the group inspiration is on show on large or small musical canvases here.
“The saxophonist carries gamely on, sounding some gorgeous bugle calls and singsong melodies, while drums and guitar play Space Invader ping-pong in the background. When Eigner switches to clarinet there are moments in which the whole group leaves the ground.”
Local reeds & trumpet hero, Daniel Carter, needs no introduction as he is the busiest of all downtown improvisers, playing with just about everybody at some point, no matter what genre they're dealing with. Morgan Craft plays stunt guitar with Burnt Sugar, as well as a duo called Rough Americana with DJ Mutamassik. Eric Eigner plays extended drumset & clarinet, released this cd, yet I hadn't heard of him before this. Well recorded and balanced, this is high-end improv that moves quickly through focused, constantly changing dialogue. Daniel begins with some cautious flute before switching to relaxed muted trumpet as Morgan spins short connected lines of warped guitar and sampled (tape?) weirdness. Eric moves effortlessly through different styles, fractured jazz, funky snippets and free eruptions. Morgan also dips into the heavy Hendrix bag at times, as well as inserting a wide variety of mutant guitar soundscapes. He is a perfect foil for Daniel Carter who also is in constant motion between horns and styles. There are moments when things quiet down with some somber, floating tenor sax and delicate guitar & fragile percussion, which balance the more intense eruptions that never last too long. There is a sublime, organic flow and thread of close listening going on here as each of these long pieces evolve through different sections. Perhaps this swell trio will play here at DMG in the near future and brighten our day or night.
Wind multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter may be a fixture on the downtown New York scene, but he is little known outside of that circle. And that’s a shame because he’s as deserving of the moniker “improvising musician” as many of his more well known contemporaries. While he has an ability to expand the language of his instruments through extended techniques, he maintains a surprisingly focused orientation, looking for melodies in the ether. His latest collaboration, Mysterium, places him in the position of being the most well-known of the ensemble, which means you almost certainly haven’t heard of the others. And that’s also a shame.
Morgan Craft plays what is termed as “Stunt Guitar,” which really means an amalgam of effects and techniques coupled with real time samples and an almost anything goes approach that allows him to navigate everything from funky bass lines to metallic abandon and all points in between. Percussionist/clarinetist Eric Eigner uses everything from traditional percussion instruments to found objects, chains and just about anything else he can get his hands on that clangs, clatters and rattles. Together with Carter the result, five extended improvisations, could seem pointless and meandering but most often doesn’t. Instead, each member of the trio has ears big enough to follow leads, and enough personal vision to create direction.
With Carter’s saxophones, trumpet and flute coupled with Craft’s diverse guitar-ish sounds and Eigner’s multiplicity of banging, chiming and crashing instruments, there is plenty of aural diversity to create pieces that develop both texturally and thematically. From somber landscapes to all-out funk grooves, the ensemble creates pieces that are defined by a spirit of adventure and no particular boundaries. “City Bumpkin Cadenza” begins as a dark tone poem until Eigner kicks in with a skewed funk groove over which Craft layers guitar that can only be described as Derek Bailey meets James Blood Ulmer. “Who’s Got the Battering Ram?” starts with the closest this group comes to swinging, Carter blowing over a loose drum groove; but Craft takes it for a left turn by contributing jarring chords that would sound more at home in a garage band.
Still, for all the strange cross-pollination of styles—often going on at the same time—there is a strange sense of unity. Carter, Craft and Eigner don’t fashion music that can be easily categorized, and it certainly can be an affront on the senses. Still, the group has a clear chemistry that elevates these improvisations above the usual “let’s go and see what happens” fare. Mysterium is a surprisingly likable album from a group that would be even more engaging in person.
An active sound experience, Mysterium grabs hold and forces the listener to hang on for a wild multi-genre ride. Using jazz, drum and bass, blues, rock, funk and some down right nasty noise, extended drumset artist Eric Eigner has collaborated with multi instrumentalist Daniel Carter and stunt guitarist Morgan Craft to produce a transgenerational improvisational engagement.
Old head meets new, as Craft, who can make his guitar squeal like the downtown 7th Ave express pulling into Times Square and Carter, who has been a fixture on the NYC improv scene for decades, provide the ideal pair to explore Eigner’s sound panoramas. Carter excels on trumpet, sax and flute, at times changing off within a single piece. “Some People Need Bibs” begins as a trumpet/drums free-formish romp. Some kick-ass guitar then hurtles things forward against a pumping bass rhythm. Things then get very funky until Carter switches to sax for some “real” jazz. “Charlatans Draped in Blue” is a tonal improvisational excursion that includes bells, springs and screeches to build a percussive landscape where sax meets screech in sirenic wail. A sax/feedback summit slowly builds to a climax as things honk off into the night.
Morgan Craft is the answer to “Who’s got the battering-ram?” as his guitar explosions complement the percussive pace set up by Eigner. A stratospheric sax joins over a non-stop funky rhythm until things calm down for a Trane-meets-Hendrix rendezvous. The African feel that Carter’s flute and Craft’s folkish twanging bass line add to “City Bumpkin Cadenza” and the very bluesy muted trumpet/guitar trip “Harmoniums at Midnight” make for a very well-rounded jam.
The very opening of Mysterium reveals its deeply quirky personality: Carter plays very pastoral flute while Craft manipulates his guitar with what sounds like a drill and other devices (stunt guitar indeed!) before the trio launch into a note-heavy energy space. It’s all over the bleedin place- echoplex drenched guitar and trumpet, scattershot shrieking, plucky minimalism, even some breakbeats. Carter is almost doggedly himself throughout, drawing on his rich experience and using his multiple instruments to tell stories: and if he is insistent on sticking to a Free Jazz expressionist mode (whether on tenor, alto, flute, or trumpet), he always plays appropriately and sets up many intense moments of contrast with the frenzied (and occasionally rock-based) stylings of his colleagues. But the consistently changing mood is set by Crafts eruptive personality (not just his preparations of the guitar, but his use of electronics and radio frequencies) and Eigners pulse tracks. At times they shred like a speed metal band, while elsewhere they stomp out some Free Funk worthy of Last Exit (particularly on Some People Need Bibs); and thankfully, their more open, abstract moments (Charlatans Draped in Blue, for example, or the ominous City Bumpkin Cadenza) are equally absorbing. These guys have really listened a lot, and have incorporated some very diverse elements into a wild, rambling voice that is sure to grab you. It’s not always clear that this trio has a coherent identity; but if anything, it’s their very restlessness; their ceaseless wandering that is their calling card. It’s pretty invigorating stuff.