Sharing Pain and Beauty: Stephan Crump’s Rhombal at the Shea Theater

The problem with the canon handed down from the academies and the critics, writes Addison Gayle, Jr. in The Black Aesthetic, is that “it aims to evaluate the work of art in terms of its beauty and not in terms of the transformation from ugliness to beauty that the work of art demands from its audience.”

Gayle is referring to the ugliness of slavery and the systemic exploitation of Africans in America. But the trauma can also be personal. Stephan Crump turned the illness and death of his brother, Patrick, three years ago into a book of music that transformed his pain into fully-realized beauty. The bassist, composer and Amherst College graduate (’94) shared the music with a rapt Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares audience at the Shea Theater on Saturday, October 7.

The concert followed the contour of his eponymous 2016 recording, Stephan Crump’s Rhombal, (Papillion Sounds). The quartet: Adam O’Farrill, trumpet, Ellery Eskelin, tenor saxophone and Kassa Overall, drums, were well-oiled, having logged dozens of performances in the last year, including at the Greenwich House in New York the night before coming to Turners Falls.

What a treat to hear Kassa Overall live for the first time. As you’d expect from a long-time member of Geri Allen’s trio, Overall was precise, but never stiff or too loud. The drum duties with Rhombal rotate. Tyshawn Sorey is on the record, but Crump has used Eric McPherson, Richie Barshay and Ben Perowsky, among others. Overall, who splits time between hip-hop, rock and jazz worlds, had no problems negotiating the piece’s quirky rhythmic turns, while adding texture to multiple moods and tempos.

What a stroke of genius to pair Ellery Eskelin and Adam O’Farrill, who had never played together before this project. Actually, Crump had not played with Eskelin and had only met O’Farrill when the young trumpeter was a student at the Banff Centre for Jazz and Creativity. “When they were warming up before our first rehearsal,” recalled Crump, “their sound together was amazing. They push each other, feed off each other.” Throughout the evening, the horns interwove, not only playing heads together, but conversing, soloing simultaneously.

The writing was magnificent, much of it at slow to mid-tempo. But slow does not mean simple. I had the feeling of looking through a microscope, amazed at the space that exists between things. The clear, declamatory melodies, the tart harmonies and expressive solo statements were all easily examined and appreciated.

The uptempo tunes, like “Skippaningam”, were quite welcome. Composed after dropping his two young sons off at school, the piece was a bundle of skittering energy juxtaposed with a distracted section that seemed to just wander off. Crump also shared the creation story for “Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner”, which was inspired by Zacharias Kunuk’s 2001 film of the same name. Crump translated the image of the title character running naked over Artic ice into a tight flight at rapid speed. It was one of two pieces not on the recording.

Crump’s expressions were as distinctive as his compositions. Were they smiles or grimaces? Release or concentration? He moved with his instrument, strummed with flourish and at one point, rubbed his bass suggestively. He was an engaging host, generous with his spirit. Crump seemed genuinely pleased with the attentive and responsive audience, and told us we completed the connection between music and performer. When the last pieces ended, the elegiac Pulling Pillars and the ebullient Outro for Patty, there was hushed silence. Perhaps the 10 seconds that elapsed before applause erupted was prayerful respect. In any case, we were blessed to partake in the transformative power of art.

Most Welcome Sounds: Tom Rainey Trio Kicks Off Season 6 of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares

No music stands were needed on Thursday, September 14 as the Tom Rainey Trio launched Season Six of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares. The cluttered, but homey barn at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen was full of extra amps and instruments, but full-blown improvisers travel light, with no written notes in sight.

The veteran drummer Tom Rainey, along with his fearless collaborators, guitarist Mary Halvorson and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, gave a spirited, telepathic, 75-minute lesson in creative tightrope walking. No net needed.

The band, which has recorded three albums to date, was in the midst of an 11-city U.S. tour when they touched down at June Millington and Ann Hackler’s magical space, far from everywhere. They had completed seven concerts, with three to go.

We talked over dinner about some of the other gigs on their itinerary, presented by plucky, cash-strapped, die-hards like Paul Lichter in Portland, Maine, Mark Christman in Philadelphia and Bernard Lyons in Baltimore. It was inspiring, yet a little disconcerting to think that this brilliant, constantly evolving American music, revered everywhere on the planet, survives in the States on the backs of a few, grass-roots organizations.

I wished I had the opportunity to hear the Trio a second night, wondering how different the band sounds concert to concert. At IMA, the group would settle on a motif, only to have it pass away. Sitting eyes closed in a stuffed chair in the back without sightlines, it felt like a dream where images and the feelings they evoked scroll by with little time to analyze or reflect. The meaning that emerged from three deeply listening musicians was coherent and revelatory.

There was a moment towards the end of the evening that did have me craning my neck to try to decipher the sound. A meditative, yet curious Buddhist-like chant emerged from the mix. Was it a voice, a voice through a horn, an effect through the guitar, or coming from on high? No matter, it was transcendent.

Halvorson’s role in the threesome was the most varied. At times, she provided ambient drones, elsewhere walking bass lines, at other points a skronked rock vibe. Her sound, utterly her own and devoid of clichés, continues to impress. Even those who have yet to warm to her unique approach, have to give it up; she is doing exactly what is required of all artists: synthesizing the past in service to a present of her own making.

Laubrock has been through Jazz Shares with her own stellar Quintet (Tim Berne, Ben Gerstein, Dan Peck and Tom Rainey) and Andrew Drury’s Content Provider (with Briggan Krauss.) On Thursday she played soprano and tenor saxophone in equal measure, equally well. Like Halvorson, Laubrock has managed to not sound like any of her contemporaries, showing no interest in becoming the next Joe Lovano.

Tom Rainey (not to be confused with NEPR’s Tom Reney) is simply one of the most accomplished living jazz drummers. As we were preparing for the concert I started to pull recordings featuring Rainey. The pile was large and important, and included some of Tim Berne, Tom Varner, Fred Hersch, Drew Gress, Kris Davis, and Tony Malaby’s best work. The perennial sideman, in the last seven years Rainey has started to lead bands. His light touch as a leader, and his sensitivity on his instrument, allows ideas to flow and be heard.

“Authentic acts tend to get noticed amid the fakery and correctness on which postmodern culture thrives.” This statement from Adbusters’ Field Guide to a New World Order rings true for those of us who live outside the mass consumption of popular culture. The 60 people lucky enough to find themselves inside the IMA barn, even those unprepared for the Trio’s free expression, reveled in the impulse to create genuine, personal, authentic musical statements.

Mark Dresser Seven begins 29th Season of the Magic Triangle Jazz Series

The Magic Triangle Jazz Series began its 29th season with a surfeit of virtuosity on Sunday, September 10 when the Mark Dresser Seven filled Bezanson Recital Hall with a mind-bending evening of music. The veterans in the band: trombonist Michael Dessen, clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, flutist Nicole Mitchell, drummer Jim Black, and bassist Mark Dresser are known entities, acknowledged masters who have voluminous discographies and multiple performance credits in the Pioneer Valley. They all met our high expectations. The revelations were provided by pianist Joshua White and violinist David Morales Boroff, two young men who blew away this listener, and judging from audience reaction, others, with their outsized talent.

Our friend Jason Robinson, who first encountered White as a teenager at a San Diego jazz camp, has been singing his praises for years. But I was unprepared for the musical vision and blazing technique that the 32-year old White unleashed. Rapid torrents of block chords juxtaposed with delicate, heartbreaking passages of beauty left our jaws agape. When I asked him about his studies, he smiled and said he had bounced around a bit. Michael Dessen, part of the southern California contingent (Dessen and Mitchell teach at UC Irvine; Dresser at UC San Diego), remarked that most university jazz programs are not designed for musicians like White, not only because of his advanced skills, but because his vision is so much wider than most programs. White, who finished second at the 2011 Thelonious Monk piano competition, was riveting even when he wasn’t playing, slouched, folded in half, listening intently.

Boroff is a 23-year old undergraduate on full scholarship at Berklee School of Music, where he is studying with Simon Shaheen. Already fully formed, Boroff “hears everything,” says Dresser, who first encountered him in his native San Diego. Equally proficient producing rich tones and otherworldly creaks and screeches, the violinist seemed completely at ease playing with accomplished musicians some almost three times his age.

The concert featured music from Dresser’s new Clean Feed release, Sedimental You, a crowning achievement in a career filled with them. From his three previous Magic Triangle performances: duos with Mark Helias and Roswell Rudd, as well as a monumental solo recital, we knew Dresser was a monster on his instrument. Of course he played brilliantly. During one particularly riveting solo bass statement, Ehrlich looked out at his Hampshire College students, as if to say, “Can you believe what you’re hearing and seeing?” This concert showcased his considerable compositional skills.

Sometimes, like the opening composition, Hobby Lobby Horse, the tempo seemed to change bar to bar. Other times, like during the dark, gorgeous ballad, Will Well, dedicated to the great trombonist Roswell Rudd, Dresser provided a uniform bed upon which to improvise. After the concert, Batya Sobel and I both remarked about the piece’s deep, evocative opening chords. White’s solo, delicate and full of consonance, was all the more remarkable when contrasted to his previous one, a churning deluge of smashed keys.

All of Dresser’s compositions, performed in the order they appear on the record, have a story behind them. I wish he had explained them a bit, like he did the previous evening at Hartford’s Real Art Ways. No worries though, the liner notes on the CD give context for Dresser’s evocative pieces.

Dresser has a residency at The Stone, in New York, September 12-17, beginning with the Septet we heard in Amherst. The week also includes Deep Tones for Peace Bass Ensemble (Rufus Reid, Mark Helias, Linda Oh, Jorge Roeder, Ratzo Harris, Ken Filiano, Lisa Mezzacappa, Trevor Dunn, Dave Phillips, Thomas Helton and Mark Dresser), and appearances by Jane Ira Bloom, Hafez Modirzadeh, Mark Feldman, Craig Taborn, Peter Evans and other beacons of creative music.

I am hard pressed to think of another bass player who combines the instrumental virtuosity, composing chops, teaching skills, and organizational acumen as Mark Dresser. Having spent critical years in Connecticut in the 1980s, and having taught at Hampshire College in the early 2000s, Dresser has roots in southern New England. I am glad he includes regular stops in western Massachusetts so we can witness the continuing evolution of one of our national musical treasures.