All About Jazz Italy Vittorio Albani

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Now Is (CF 263)
Potremmo essere velocissimi. Il bassista norvegese che oggi abbraccia gli orizzonti texani è davvero uno dei musicisti che sono entrati da qualche anno nel gotha del free più creativo e propositivo. La portoghese Clean Feed, che lo sa da qualche tempo, lo santifica nuovamente con questo Now Is che potrebbe davvero essere la definitiva consacrazione di Håker Flaten, crema eccelsa del movimento più intelligente legato alla musica contemporanea. E lui, per non deludere nessuna attesa, benedice il nuovo lavoro lasciando a casa ogni scelta ritmica per eccellenza, scegliendo un inaspettato e sorprendente quartetto con il fido Joe McPhee al tenore, il chitarrista Joe Morris e il trombettista Nate Wooley. Niente batteria, niente pianoforte. Le poche basi interpretative toccano il blues e atomi di bop; il resto è pura improvvisazione in senso davvero nuovo e lontano sia dalle “classiche” accezioni europee o nordiche, sia da quelle del fin qui conosciuto mondo chicagoano o che comunque gravita attorno a quelle aree. Il risultato è una tela sonora di vastità rara; materiale musicale da analizzare per ore che piacerebbe sicuramente a Pollock, per niente assimilabile a qualcosa di similare affrontato da formazioni imparentate ma, forse, più concettualmente vicino alle filosofie di Malachi Favors con un pizzico del Charlie Haden più ricercato. Now Is è un gioco di affinità elettive, spazio destrutturato, quaranta minuti di precisione, dove nulla sembra lasciato al caso. Empatia spontanea e frammenti di lucida avantgarde cross-generazionale. Wooley ci piace moltissimo in “Rangers,” Morris in “As If,” McPhee in “Knicks,” Håker Flaten, giustamente, dovunque.

Che cosa vuol dire? Vuol dire che la tendenza è quella di una pittura sonora dove ogni tassello santifica le varie personalità e l’energia di ogni attore del lavoro. Qualcosa di metallico che avvicina il tutto al punk-jazz e poi il piccolo mare luminoso dei due minuti e rotti finali di “Post,” ballad che chiude il cerchio aperto con il “Port” iniziale.

Astratto ma mai tagliente, sensuale in modo certamente peculiare e personale, selvaggio e controllato quanto basta. Di certo non un capolavoro imperdibile, ma trentanove minuti da studiare a fondo per comprendere le nuove costellazioni del cielo di una modern music fatta di accenti, spazio, colore, cacofonia, naturalezza e momenti di autentica tensione. Grandiosa sintesi di ciò che oggi potrebbe essere per molti eccitazione, per altri (i più distratti) noia. L’originalità è però davvero unica ed è questa, innanzitutto, da portare sull’altare.

http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=9083

Gapplegate Music review by Grego Edwards

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten New York Quartet – Now Is (CF 263)
When people in the jazz avant camp emerge from the scene gigging and recording with some heavy cats, there is always a reason. Contrabassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten is certainly one of those lately. And the reason is that he can really play. So when he puts together a disk with some of the heaviest cats, his New York Quartet doing Now Is (Clean Feed 263), it is an affirmation.  Heavy cats? Mr. Joe McPhee on tenor, Mr. Joe Morris on guitar, and Mr. Nate Wooley on trumpet. That qualifies as heavy. Each is a leader on his instrument, a bandleader in his own right, and the melding of all four on a free date is all you’d hope for.   This is a drummerless group, which makes Flaten’s bass playing stand out all the more. The result is four equal solo voices engaging in dense free counterpoint.   Everybody is in good form. It’s something excellent to sink your ears in.

http://gapplegateguitar.blogspot.pt/2013/04/ingebrigt-haker-flaten-new-york-quartet.html

Jazz.pt review by João Moço

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten New York Quartet – Now Is (CF 263)
Existem ideias musicais que, quando condensadas num curto período de tempo, ganham mais impacto emocional do que se fossem prolongadas o máximo possível. Daí que não saibam a pouco estes 39 minutos de improviso de Ingebrigt Haker Flaten com verdadeiros gigantes como Joe McPhee, Joe Morris e Nate Wooley.   A música que aqui se ouve vive de uma enorme riqueza harmónica, de uma sabedoria enorme sobre como chegar a uma abordagem próxima dos blues. Saber improvisar sem cair nos clichés do experimentalismo não é para todos. Mas Flaten, McPhee, Morris e Wooley sabem como poucos.

http://www.jazz.pt/ponto-escuta/2013/04/06/ingebrigt-haker-flaten-new-york-quartet-now-clean-feed/

Free Jazz review by Paolo Casertano

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten NY Quartet – Now Is (CF 263)
****
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten has already led under his own name an interesting quintet composed of renowned and young musicians (Dave Rempis, Frank Rosaly, the young and gifted guitarist Anders Hana to name a few) releasing two albums on Jazzland Recordings with the solid and eminent production of Bob Weston.

By the way I imagine that the responsibility of being the leader of such a stellar quartet as the one we have here featuring Joe McPhee on tenor saxophone, Joe Morris on guitar and Nate Wooley on trumpet is some kind of different. Especially if you consider that, according to the liner notes, there is only one written composition in the album and the rest of the music comes totally improvised. Who is going to tell for example to McPhee that the approach he may be following in a passage is even just slightly diverse from what you have in mind? Clearly, not me. It goes also without saying that being “the leader” in a more or less extended ensemble doesn’t mean to be the one dictating rules to impose his own instrument on the others.

This is a no piano and no drums quartet and many of the eight tracks of the album are largely built as bass/guitar duets that, working in a compact interplay, give to the brass section the chance to focus on lyricism. At the same time, even when trumpet and sax are phrasing synchronically with vigour, they rarely result as preponderant on the strings section. I like the versatility of Flaten’s style moving nimbly through a clean pizzicato and squawking notes as you may hear in the opening “Port” or in the dramatic bowing passages that gracefully link the two muted trumpets in the background of the acoustic guitar-driven “Times” (one of my favourites). “Pent” is the longest episode of the work and there is enough room for a bass solo setting a bluesy atmosphere that McPhee clearly enjoys (and that’s probably why Wooley answers him with bebop and Morris then thinks that some manouche can’t be wrong either). But the chemistry works well also when the musicians go for extended techniques moments as in “Knicks” or in frenzied interplays as in “Giants” (together with the title of another track -  “Rangers” – there’s an obvious reference to the three famous NY teams of basket, football and hockey).

I like the modular structure of “As if” where the bass/trumpet dialogue is at first hindered by the growing and wearing synchronic “singsonging” of the guitar and the saxophone. But roles in life as in music are bound to change and so, after a brief guitar/bass alliance, it comes the time of Morris’s guitar to be faced by the very same hammering chant of bass during his solo. Flaten seems to win because in the last minute Morris is again seduced by the hypnotic two notes phrase and re-joins him. But you know, life goes on and the bass player has already gone ahead for a new, just a bit evolved but always lullabying (a scale), litany together with the sax…

I can’t avoid thinking how it could have sounded this album with Paal Nilssen-Love behind all the other musicians sharing one time more the traditional rhythmic session with his long time pal on double bass.

http://www.freejazzblog.org/

Tomajazz review by Pachi Tapiz

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten New York Quartet: Now Is (CF 263)
****
Coincidiendo con su paso por el neoyorkino The Stone, el contrabajista Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (Atomic, The Thing) pasó por el estudio Systems Two de Brooklyn para grabar en formato de cuarteto (sin batería ni piano) una sesión de improvisación libre (excepto en su tema “As If”) en compañía del saxofonista (aquí exclusivamente al tenor) Joe McPhee, el trompetista Nate Wooley y el (aquí) guitarrista (en vez de contrabajista, su otra ocupación como instrumentista) Joe Morris. Una formación de grandes en eso del jazz y la libre improvisación  más interesantes de hoy en día que presentaba distintos nexos en común: McPhee y Haker Flaten han grabado en dúo, lo mismo que Morris y Wooley. No obstante el entendimiento entre los cuatro músicos no estuvo dominado por estas asociaciones ya conocidas, sino que a lo largo del disco resulta sorprendentemente deslumbrante el entendimiento mostrado por el contrabajista y el guitarrista. Los ocho temas, más cortos que lo habitual en grabaciones de improvisación libre, en algunos casos son pequeñas porciones (con sentido en sí mismas, incluyendo su planteamiento, desarrollo y conclusión) de creaciones instantáneas más extensas. La música muestra una gran variedad de elementos que sirven para dar soporte a esta opción creativa y estilística, que aquí van desde un himno con un carácter casi ayleriano, elementos del blues, o del free jazz en foma de totum revolutum o más estructurado. La selección de la música incluida, que  no llegue a los cuarenta minutos de duración, sirve para mostrar a estos cuatro gigantes a pleno rendimiento, a la vez que resulta un aperitivo ideal para quien quiera degustar una ración de libre improvisación de primera.

http://www.tomajazz.com/web/?p=4937

Le Son du Grisli review by Luc Bouquet

Ingebright Håker Flaten NY Quartet – Now Is (CF 263)
Trente-neuf petites minutes seulement pour inspecter le New York Quartet d’Ingebright Håker Flaten (Joe McPhee, Nate Wooley, Joe Morris). Trente-neuf petites minutes inquiétant l’harmonie (Times) et se glissant dans une pénombre sonique assumée (Pent).

Ici, faire se dresser la mélodie ; ailleurs, faire appel au free sans y convier cris et fureurs. Et ne pas s’interdire les solos (solo cabré de Joe Morris in As If) pas plus que la douceur des souffles (McPhee in Post). Et surtout : faire accroc au jazz tout en se l’appropriant. Ne pas rejeter ses zones d’inquiétudes et de turbulences (McPhee, toujours lui, in Giants). Puis, sans recourir à la violence, se dégager de la pénombre inaugurale. Tout cela pour faire de Now Is, un disque passionnant si ce n’est passionné.

http://grisli.canalblog.com/

All About Jazz review by Mark Corroto

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten New York Quartet: Now IS (CF 263)
The term “texture” is often used when referring to an artist’s work. The surfaces of German painter Gerhard Richter or American Jackson Pollock’s paintings are rich with tactile feel, but the trained viewer can also appreciate the art below the cosmetic. The same applies to the quartet of improvisers organized by Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.

Best known for his work in the bands Atomic, The Thing, Paul Giallorenzo Trio, and Free Fall, since moving to Texas Flaten has founded both The Young Mothers and the Ingebrigt Håker Flaten Chicago Sextet. The bassist is comfortable in both the jazz and alternative worlds. Here, the music is instantly composed with saxophonist Joe McPhee—with whom Flaten also recorded the duo date Brooklyn DNA (Clean Feed, 2012)—guitarist Joe Morris and trumpeter Nate Wooley.

Clocking in at a brief 39 minutes, the disc packs more punch than many lengthier sessions. The quartet eschews noodling for precision; there is nothing casual about this encounter. Morris, who often doubles on bass, is a most sympathetic companion for Flaten, as are McPhee (equally skilled on trumpet) and Wooley.

Together, this drummer-less quartet floats differing pulses, favoring interactions such as the conversation between Morris and Flaten on “Pent,” and Wooley’s fluttering notes against bowed bass on “Knicks.” The startling speed of “Giants” represents a heart-pounding four minutes of spontaneous felicity, while Wooley and Flaten open “As If” by setting the table for the quartet’s harmonies. McPhee and Morris slide inside this and other pieces, working each track and maintaining the originator’s framework. Each brief improvisation—the longest running 9:34 and the shortest a brief 2:13—is a well-woven tapestry of sound.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43613

Le Son du Grisli review by Guillaume Belhomme

Joe McPhee / Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten – Brooklyn DNA (CF 244)
Plusieurs fois avons-nous pu entendre comment fraternisent Joe McPhee et Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten : récemment en quartette sur Ibsen’s Ghosts et en duo sur Blue Chicago Blues. Quatre ans après cette rencontre à deux, McPhee et Håker Flaten enregistraient le matériau de Brooklyn DNA.

Un art nerveux de la confrontation, écrivait-on hier. Aujourd’hui, un alto répétant une sélection de graves permet au contrebassiste d’inventer une mélodie au son de laquelle fuir l’opposition ; un soprano met en joie un Håker Flaten hors ligne ; une trompette de poche change peu à peu ses expérimentations en expressions vives ; quelques souffles clairs commandent à l’archet de se lever enfin. Ci-fait, la contrebasse peut attirer à elle toute l’invention de McPhee : qui créé une intense ballade dans le sillon tracé par les cordes ou balance sur deux ou trois notes avant de jouer des épaules. Ainsi ces retrouvailles McPhee / Håker-Flaten gagnent-elles en diversité ce qu’elles perdent en autorité : font preuve de flamboyance quand ce n’est pas de haute impertinence.

http://grisli.canalblog.com/archives/2012/10/31/25455821.html

Culture Jazz review by Jean Buzelin

Joe McPhee / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Brooklyn DNA (CF 244)
Nous bouclons la boucle avec Joe McPhee qui cible précisément à l’année 1966 et le disque Blue Note de Don Cherry, “Where is Brooklyn ?“, auquel McPhee répond en 2011 par Here and Now ! On ne peut être plus clair. Les titres des morceaux renvoient explicitement aux clubs de ce célèbre quartier où jouaient Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, J.J. Johnson, Dewey Redman… sans oublier le fameux pont où s’installait Sonny Rollins. On appréciera, comme toujours, le jeu extrêmement sensible et prenant de McPhee, notamment au saxo-alto (il délaisse ici le ténor) et à la trompette de poche, son autre instrument de prédilection, et celui de Don Cherry. Il dialogue ici avec le contrebassiste norvégien Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, peu connu dans nos contrées mais parfaitement en osmose avec son partenaire. Une musique réfléchie qui ne manque ni de force ni de conviction, mais de la part d’un musicien aussi intègre, on ne pouvait en douter.

http://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article1984#up

Squid’s Ear review by Paul Serralheiro

Joe McPhee/Ingebright Haker Flaten – Brooklyn DNA (CF 244)
The articulate and prolific American multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee is joined by Norwegian bass heavyweight Ingebright Haker Flaten in a tandem tribute to the Borough of Brooklyn in this recent release from Lisbon’s Clean Feed label. The duo, evenly matched for their common characteristics of brawny sound and ecstatic sense of musical phrase, here get to exchanges ideas about such thematic starting points as Sonny Rollins “The Bridge,” long-time Brooklyn resident Dewey Redman and the Brooklyn motto “Enoragt Maect Haght,” a Dutch phrase meaning “Unity Makes Strength.”

Strength is definitely a trait that jumps out from this session. It stems, right at the first listen, from McPhee’s sense of form, his consistent ability to develop motivic ideas with fertile melodic thinking in a free improv setting that results in coherent and formal, albeit spontaneously composed, pieces. The Calypso-like tune that emerges on “Crossing the Bridge” recalls Rollins’ inspired rhythmic flights, but is also reminiscent of McPhee’s long-time influence, Albert Ayer, for its concise yet powerful nature.

Fans of McPhee’s trumpet playing will be spoiled here, as the mostly saxophone-centric player lets loose on the pocket version of this instrument on “Putnam Central,” laying down his inimitable fluid style of brass, against a sympathetic bubbling bass counter line, and in “Enoragt Maect Haght” McPhee moans a lyrical dirge on the horn, replete with airy passages and an exchange of timbres and textural explorations with Haker Flaten of an imaginative and intriguing kind.

A stalwart of the free jazz scene since the 1970s, McPhee is blessed with a bottomless wellspring of ideas and gets them across with chops that only seem to get better with age. And here, there is the added bonus in Ingebright Haker Flaten of a more than suitable partner/foil who has the brawn and the brains to match the older master.

http://www.squidsear.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=1469