1) Anthony Braxton / Evan Parker: Duo (London 1993)

2) Steve Lacy / Mal Waldron: Let's Call This... Esteem

Reviewed by Scot Hacker

How far can two artists go with a pallette limited to two horns? May as well ask how many different drawings a painter can make with a brush and a stick of charcoal. The field is not limited by the number of tools, especially when the canvas is as wide as these two minds. Braxton and Parker share a long history between them, playing together in various configurations frequently in the early 70s. The soprano was Parker's main instrument, and Braxton was picking up every reed he could get his hands on. Parker was teaching Braxton the art of circular breathing, and the pair were cornerstones in a burgeoning movement which was responding to the demise of the radically dense styles of late 60s free jazz.

The pair are 20 years older now. There's a lot of water under the bridge, and their collaborations have not been frequent in the last decade and a half. Despite the stylistic divergence of their current projects and approaches, they have maintained a deep appreciation and respect for one another, as is evident here. This recording is a register of what Braxton might call "vibrational variables." Frequencies are chosen, sympathetic harmonics established, conclusions reached -- but never without a remnant of ambiguity. It is this ambiguity that keeps their pieces open. Final resolutions are merely hinted at, seldom outwardly stated.

The two work as watersheds to each other: it is as if one is saying, "Here, I'll give you this. See what you can do with it," and the other replies "Thanks, I was just thinking the same thing." There is a sonic handshake, a smile, and then a penetrating dialog on what they've just exchanged. Braxton seems to offer up most of the premises, Parker the antitheses. Neither is dominant. Parker takes most of the circular breathing roles, a technique which eliminates the need to improvise sections in breath groups, though at times they engage the practice simultaneously. Except on the second track, which features a riveting, squirrely soprano duet, Parker's soprano is brought in seldom, and then usually to send screeches or trills over the top of the harmonic base, rather than to contribute melodically. Braxton's improvised lines appear as the more constructed, borrowing apparently from his immense body of abstract compositions. He is also more inclined to lay down the rhythmic aspects, in line with his proclivity for constructing "pulse tracks" (the rhythmically repetetive lines which are often traded between players in his own bands).

These players both possess an internal logic to their work that forms a basis for musical agreement. While Parker has not appeared as systematic in compositional apprach as Braxton, Braxton has said of him, "Evan has always been broader than people think about matters of pedagogy and methodology." While still resisting orthodoxed idioms, both have nurtured in their own work stylistic consistencies which have matured into fully-fledged musical belief systems. Braxton in particular is the executor of a very unique and internally consistent mystical universe as manifested in sound forms. Few musicians are as well-suited to understanding and co-creating within that personal world as is Evan Parker. This live performance was proof.

While Steve Lacy has also been paired with Evan Parker on occasion, "Let's Call This..." bears no stylistic or atmospheric resemblance to the Parker/Braxton duet. Unlike them, Lacy has never tried to master more than one instrument, claiming that would be "bigamy." Instead he has focused his voluminous life's work on the soprano saxophone, a task which he plans to keep pursuing "as long as it stays beyond me." Amazing humility coming from a man whose dry, reedy, yet grounded tone (like Chardonnay, some say) and scant vibrato are practically unparalleled. Mal Waldron is also completely dedicated to his instrument, and to an alliance with Lacy which dates back to the 1950s, when they played behind poets reading at the Five-Spot. Their work as a duo began in 1979, though they have played together on and off in other people's bands frequently. Both Lacy and Waldron are great lovers of Monk and Ellington, as the several covers here, and Lacy's many previous Monk cover recordings attest. What's more, some of the Ellington and Monk covers the pair have treated over the years just keep getting better with age.

For instance, it is worth comparing this version of Billy Strayhorn's "Johnny Come Lately" with the same track on 1987's "Sempre Amore" (Soul Note CD 1170). While the earlier version is already exquisite in its success at capturing the skeleton of Strayhorn's composition while adding flavors the composer could never have visualized, this recent version surpasses the earlier one in terms of sheer joyous spirit and vitality. From the first few bars, it is apparent that Lacy and Waldron have not grown jaded by repetition. On the contrary, they have become even more in love with the tune than ever.

On a similar note, it's a fascinating observation of the process of inspiration to see how Monk-like Waldron's writing and playing has become. The first few times I heard Waldron's "What it Is," I imagined it was a Monk cover that I just couldn't put my finger on. The weight of Monk on Lacy's style is by now more than apparent to all. His weighted fourths, in combination with Waldron's discrete tenths, pay homage to Monk's quirky yet winsome melodies.

Both Lacy and Waldron have engaged duet arrangements with a handful of other artists (Waldron's pairing with Marion Brown on "Songs of Love and Regret" (Freelance 006) shows the pianist at his most pensive), it always seems that they bring one another to full fruition when together. With Lacy, Waldron finds his expression as an ideal accompanist: both proactive and reactive. And with Waldron, Lacy is given idyllic grazing pasture: musical soil lush enough to plant any seed in, and firm enough to walk on without sinking. Rather than encouraging one another to heights and flights, these two bring each other down to earth.

Session statistics:

Anthony Braxton / Evan Parker: Duo (London 1993)Leo LR 193
ParkBrax 1, ParkBrax 2, ParkBrax 3, ParkBrax 4, ParkBrax 5. 47:43.
Braxton, ts, as; Parker, ts, ss. Rec. 5/93

Steve Lacy / Mal Waldron: Let's Call This... Esteem Slam 501
Let's call this... / Monk's Dream / In a Sentimental Mood / Snake Out / Blues for Aida / Johnny Come Lately / What it Is / Evidence / Epistrophy / Esteem. 78:14.
Steve Lacy, ss; Mal Waldron, p. Rec. 5/93


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