The Natural Flow: Stephan Crump's "Slow Water" at the Shea Theater

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 Whatever you call it: chamber music, new music, or jazz, what composer Stephan Crump has created with “Slow Water”, his 70-minute suite in celebration of H2O, is beautiful and evocative. Two days after performing it at Roulette in Brooklyn, his sextet: Patricia Brennan (vibes), Carrie Frey (viola), Erica Dicker (violin), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Kenny Warren (trumpet) and Crump (bass), shared the music with 75 avid listeners at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, MA.

Inspired by “Water Always Wins”, a book by science writer Erica Gies about humankind's relationship to water, Crump’s work unfurled with unhurried majesty and a deliberate brilliance. The piece was largely through-composed with improvised interludes, and it showcased how much emotional punch you can pack into slow tempos.

The book, whose subtitle is, “Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge”, lays out the precepts of what Gies calls the Slow Water movement. In the midst of our ubiquitous built environment, the book asks the radical question, “what does water want?” Gies reminds us that water’s true nature is to flex with the rhythms of the earth: the slow phases absorb floods, store water for droughts, and feed natural systems. Figuring out what water wants—and accommodating its desires within our human landscapes—is now crucial for survival.

Without lyrics or program notes, the relationship between the music and the message was left to the individual. Song titles like “Sediment & Flow” and “Pooling”, shed some light on Crump’s distinctive melodies and deliberate rhythms. “Eager”, a lumbering paean to the critical role beavers play in directing water, was built on a series of pleasing two-note figures passed around by bass, brass and vibes. “Dusk Critters” began with the uneven pattering of Brennan’s vibes before the others entered with scurrying phrases.

Crump was at the center of it all. It was his concept, compositions and band, after all, and his bass lines framed each piece. On “Outflow” he played a series of simple, slowly formed notes that provided the basis of the music. Situated between the strings and brass, he cued the ensemble with his body language and facial expressions. His mic work with the audience was eloquent and engaging.

The concert largely conformed to Crump’s excellent 2024 recording on Papillon Sounds. (Violist Joanna Mattrey and violinist yuniya edi kwon are on the record.) The musicianship, all told, was outstanding. Frey, who is currently writing her dissertation on the Wet Ink Ensemble, and Dicker, who has performed throughout the world in various Anthony Braxton ensembles, are integral parts of the New York contemporary music scene. They are part of a growing number of instrumentalists who are high functioning in both the written and improvised music worlds.

Similarly, Jacob Garchik is comfortable in multiple music contexts. Over the last 19 years he has written hundreds of arrangements and compositions for the Kronos Quartet, and has performed and recorded with Miguel Zenón, Mary Halvorson, Anna Webber, Henry Threadgill and John Hollenbeck. He also co-leads Brooklyn’s premiere Mexican brass band, Banda de los Muertos. Born in Denver, Kenny Warren has lived in New York since 2002, where he is active on the experimental, jazz, folk, and world music scenes. His trio, Sweet World, with Christopher Hoffman and Nathan Ellman-Bell, will perform in next season’s Jazz Shares.

This was the fourth Jazz Shares appearance by Patricia Brennan, including her Quartet appearance at the Institute For the Musical Arts in 2022. As the music demanded, she put aside her note-bending pedals and jaw dropping technique and instead spent the evening distilling the musical essence of every note. She told me she loved playing that way.

Together, the ensemble breathed life into the written material.

In contrast to the complex, demanding compositions of say, Ingrid Laubrock, Steve Lehman or Matt Mitchell, Crumps’ “Slow Water” oozed with the direct, unfettered style of a Wendell Berry. It was uncomplicated, long form music and required patient listening, but the rewards were considerable. “If you listen carefully, the music is yours,” writes John Corbett in his handy book, “A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation”. I’m glad I invested the effort to listen with intent. I felt rejuvenated and relaxed after the concert, as if I’d just taken a walk in the woods.

Good Energy: Gordon Grdina/Christian Lillinger Duo

Hot on the heels of presenting The Tokyo Trio, Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares hosted the Canadian guitarist Gordon Grdina and the German drummer Christian Lillinger in concert. Most U.S. jazz audiences are unfamiliar with musicians from other countries, and despite their international reputations, it’s safe to say very few local patrons had heard of Satoko Fujii’s threesome or our latest guests. The onerous cost of a work visa and a lack of decent paying gigs, paired with Trump’s America First rhetoric and a provincial jazz audience, all make it increasingly difficult to get international artists to our country.

So we felt ourselves fortunate that Grdina and Lillinger brought their talents to the Blue Room in Easthampton’s Old Town Hall on April 6. Seeing them for the first time was a revelation and a unique sonic experience. The music was dense and driving, but not overly loud. For the first time, we provided ear plugs at the front table, but none were needed. In addition to Grdina’s guitar, midi-guitar and oud, and Lillinger’s drums, they each commanded electronics, reaping heaps of vibrations. Not sheets of sound, but an oscillating wall.

Grdina began and ended the show playing oud, the ancient, Middle Eastern lute. While he played abstractly with electronics in the first instance, he concluded the evening showcasing his deep understanding of traditional Arabic music. Although he has not performed publicly in western Massachusetts, Grdina has been part of several Arabic Music Retreats, held annually at Mt. Holyoke College each August.

Grdina’s career has been distinguished by a restless energy. Since Think Like the Waves, his 2006 debut with Paul Motian and his mentor, Gary Peacock, the 48 year old Vancouver resident has produced north of 30 albums, including ensembles exploring Middle Eastern repertoire, as well as with jazz titans like Mark Helias, Matthew Shipp, Matt Mitchell, Jim Black, Mat Maneri, Shahzad Ismally and Christian Lillinger.  

Sunday’s Grdina/Lillinger concert had the same rock/punk vibe as their 2024 release, Duo Work, and although the program differed, we heard the same precision amidst the mass of sound. The melodies were embedded in the aural landscape and passed without song breaks or attribution. Closed eyed listening freed us from the futile attempt to identify who/what was producing a particular reverberation, allowing us to revel in what felt like a wordless rock opera.

Closed eyed listening, however, would have robbed us of the thrill of watching Christian Lillinger. The 40 year old drummer moved like a dancer over his instrument, making large, inflated gestures with his arms, torso and face. It was wonderful to watch him move with, and reflect the music. Aside from his animated percussion attacks he manipulated an iPad propped on his music stand, and occasionally reached far to his side to hit a small, thin cymbal with holes in it. The spectacle was not only visually engaging, but his approach: rigorous, exacting, abrupt, jagged, served as engine and architecture.

Lillinger was born in the East German city of Lübben, and has lived in Berlin since 2003. His 25+ recordings as a leader for Clean Feed, Intakt and his own Plaist label, feature artists like Peter Evans, Mat Maneri, Elias Stemeseder, and lots of European musicians we’ve never heard of. When I would mention Lillinger’s name to visiting musicians, they would just laugh. It was the same reaction I got years ago when Tyshawn Sorey’s name would come up. Just a unique and crazy talented artist.

We are so happy to expose Valley audiences to world-class musicians from faraway places. Everyone everywhere deserves to experience the work of artists who have been nurtured in different environments. That’s how fertility works and cross-pollination happens. In such a world Gordon Grdina and Christian Lillinger would not be strangers.

Dream addendum: Jazz has thrived because of talented local musicians who mentor others and enrich their community. What if every region throughout the world had their own all-star ensemble that would travel (with support) to other locales, creating work and raising the profile of their music scenes? The Denver Dream Team, the Berlin Blasters, and so on. A grand international exchange of creatives, on loan to other cities for a couple of weeks. Why not include visual artists and galleries as part of the plan?

Satoko Fujii's Tokyo Trio Comes to Goshen

Although she is humble, soft spoken and stands barely over 5 feet, it’s easy to be impressed with pianist Satoko Fujii. Over her recording career, which began in 1996 with a two-piano effort with Paul Bley, she has produced over 100 recordings  as a leader. She regularly crisscrosses oceans, performing constantly  in Japan, Europe and North America where her fiercely creative work in settings from solo to big band has been uniformly celebrated by critics and audiences.

On March 31, Fujii made quite the impression on 55 listeners at the Institute For the Musical Arts in Goshen, MA, as she led her Tokyo Trio in an engrossing recital of brand new originals. This concert, part of the Trio’s first North American tour, included stops in Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. The band, featuring Takashi Sugawa on bass and Ittetsu Takemura on drums, has been together for seven years and has three recordings to date, including Dream a Dream, which came out last week. But rather than highlighting music from the new disc, (they played only one piece, “Aruku”), Fujii chose to concentrate on even newer music they’ll record next week in New York. Such is life for the forward thinking, boundlessly energetic 66 year old pianist.

Monday’s concert covered considerable territory, all of it rugged, untamed and breath taking. Delicate moments of calm repose, eerie sounds from inside the piano, and volcanic eruptions of cacophonous energy filled the barn (and those of us in it), with a sense of wonder at the Trio’s virtuosity and spirit of collaboration.

Sections of compositional material featured expectation-defying, pointillistic tutti bursts that crackled and popped.  We moved to the edge of our seats wondering if they could keep the angles together. They nailed endings with the precision of an Olympic gymnast. Other times the threesome floated in a loose configuration that begged the question: written or improvised? They tossed around the spotlight, allowing everybody ample time for unaccompanied soloing. Most of the evening was spent with the musicians in deep, improvised conversation, providing accents, color and commentary. Their confidence in themselves and each other meant we could sit back and marvel at their ease of execution, which translated into what every band aspires to: a true simpatico.

Sugawa and Takemura are more than a generation younger than Fujii. They were clearly thrilled to be sharing the bandstand with her. But she told us how lucky she felt to be playing with them. They are in demand sidemen in Japan.

Takashi Sugawa, 45, is a member of bands led by Terumasa Hino and Sadao Watanabe. Hino, the 82 year old trumpeter, and Watanabe, the 92 year old saxophonist, are among the most celebrated jazz musicians in Japan. Educated at Berklee and mentored by Masabumi Kikuchi, Sugawa lives in Tokyo where he leads his Banksia Trio. His technique, both pizzicato and with bow, was impeccable, and at times produced sounds that resembled a human voice or an electronic instrument. Saxophonist Jason Robinson, who recently returned from a tour of Japan, mentioned how most bass players he encountered had the same long hair as Sugawa. What does that mean?

Born in Sapporo in 1989, Ittetsu Takemura has been a professional musician since he graduated junior high school. Like Sugawa, he is also a veteran of Sadao Watanabe’s band, as well as a member of ensembles led by Kosuke Mine and Fumio Itabashi. Wearing a suit, polo shirt and sneakers without socks, Takemura cut a cool figure. His precise and expansive drumming was equally striking. He played with great dynamic range while never overplaying. Like his rhythm mate, he was intimate with the material and it showed in the execution.

Utilizing the entire keyboard (inside and out), Fujii’s playing was magnificent. She used an e-bow, typically used to vibrate guitar strings, to create synth-like sounds, and used what looked like fishing line to “floss” the strings. She used her forearms on the keys to create density, and played repeated high notes with bell-like effect. She led the band with a light touch, using eye contact and slight head nods to move the music along. In explaining how the music was put together to IMA co-founder June Millington, Sugawa showed her the sheet music. Following Fujii’s lead, they could play the complicated piece through as written, or start at any of its four sections, improvising all the way. For Millington, it was a very different way of organizing music.

I first met Satoko Fujii in 2012, when she performed solo as part of A World of Piano, and then in a memorable Solos & Duos Series concert featuring two couples (Fujii/Natsuki Tamura and Carla Kihlstedt/Matthias Bossi) in a series of four duos. Fujii performed a Jazz Shares concert in Northampton with Joe Fonda in February, 2020, and Priscilla Page and I were witness to the recording of her 100th album,  Hyaku, One Hundred Dreams, at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York in 2022. Fujii is an unassuming master, largely unknown among U.S. audiences, but revered by those in the know. She is the right kind of restless and I’m grateful to be in her orbit.