The European free improvisation scene has produced a handful
of genuine iconoclasts. While that term tends to get thrown around a lot,
especially when talking about free jazz and free improvisation, the greatest of
the European free improvisers truly reoriented music permanently. They managed
to break free from the bonds of the jazz tradition that ran through the music
of their American contemporaries and create something wholly European. Peter
Brötzmann, Han Bennink, and Alexander von Schlippenbach from Germany and Evan
Parker and Derek Bailey from the UK stand as possibly the most recognized of
the titanic iconoclasts of European improvisation. These five are not only
representative of the scene as a whole in terms of their musical advancements
but in their countries of origin. Germany and Britain have served as the binary
stars around which European improvisation has orbited for the last 45 years.
Yet this does a disservice to the other countries that have
produced great, innovative players who haven’t reached the level of recognition
as their German and British peers. While BYG Actuel primarily released records
by expatriate American musicians, it wasn’t totally blind to the advancements
occurring in its own country. Michel Puig, Jacques Coursil, and the
ever-present Claude Delcloo all led albums for the label, but these artists
(with the exception of Coursil) are eclipsed by the mysterious Acting Trio,
whose self-titled album was the fourteenth that Actuel put out.
Philippe Maté, a saxophonist best known for playing on the
two albums Lawrence “Butch” Morris recorded for Palm Records in 1976,[1]
led the Acting Trio through its brief run, which consisted of just the one
Actuel LP. In many respects, Acting Trio
is not unlike much of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
(AACM)’s work from this period. Like the AACM members, Acting Trio works just as
frequently with texture as with melody and makes great use of negative space, which
allows for sometimes jarring tonal shifts when the composition demands it.
Moreover, the Trio, and especially cellist André Maurice, coax some impressive
nonmusical sounds from their instruments in the course of their sonic
explorations. Yet while the Art Ensemble of Chicago were explicitly working
within a pan-African musical tradition and all of the group’s other early
members’ music had at least some roots in jazz,[2]
Acting Trio seems divorced from the jazz tradition. Maté played in some more
straight-ahead jazz groups in the ‘70s, but the music he wrote for this album
has no swing and its rhythmic base (usually provided by the cello) has little
precedent outside of avant-garde classical and the then new European free
improvisation scene.
“Acting No. 4,” which takes up the entirety of side one, and
“Acting No. 13” are both performed by the trio as a whole. “No. 4” opens with
some tenor sax dissonance, courtesy of Maté, but he is quickly overshadowed by
Maurice. Maurice alternates between a bow and his hand, and both allow for some
exciting sounds. With the bow his sound can get downright spooky, but it is
rarely anything but dissonant, at times sounding like he replaced his strings
with strips of rusty metal. With his hand, he does not seem to pluck or slap
the strings. Instead, he hits, smacks, scrapes, and otherwise assaults them.
When Maurice puts down the bow, his heavily percussive style makes the absence
of a drummer in this particular ensemble not feel like a loss in any way. He is
undoubtedly the group’s greatest asset. Yet Maté and pianist Jean-Pierre Sabar
also both play excellently, and they are able to really explore the space that
Maurice conjures, whether he’s contorting the sound of his cello to mimic a squeaky
door or raindrops hitting the inside of a wooden bucket.
“Acting No. 13,” which opens side two, affords Sabar more of
a showcase, especially when he moves inside of the piano to manipulate the
strings directly. This inner work, coupled with the alien sounds summoned by Maurice
and Maté, adds up to a much more low-key but no less difficult piece. The
volume dynamics that the group works with are particularly impressive, but “Acting
No. 13” is mostly just a stopover on the way to Maurice’s solo showcase “Cello
Discordato No. 9.” Although some odd whimpering and other outlandish vocal
sounds sometimes threaten to overpower the cello, “Cello Discordato No. 9”
makes a great case for the vitality of solo compositions in free jazz and free
improvisation. At the very least, the loud sustained note that ends the
frenzied piece manages to be the most haunting sound on the entire 34 minute
record.
This is a wonderfully strange album. It has none of the
immediate pleasures that some of Acting Trio’s labelmates were able to achieve,
but it rewards those who can move beyond jazz dogma and listen with
unencumbered ears. Yet for all its charms, it remains a footnote in the BYG
Actuel catalog, and rightfully so considering the talents and clarity of vision
of so many of the label’s other artists.
Coming up in the
weeks ahead:
Actuel 15: Anthony Braxton – B-Xo/N-0-1-47a
Actuel 16: Andrew Cyrille – What About?
Actuel 17: Joachim Kuhn – Sounds of Feelings
Actuel 18: Archie Shepp – Blasé
Actuel 19: Jacques Coursil Unit – Way Ahead
[1] So
basically Maté isn’t known at all.
[2]
Anthony Braxton moved away from even free jazz tradition earlier than his AACM
compatriots. More on him when I cover his third album as leader, which is the
next album that BYG Actuel released.
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