Patrick Beckman
Big Muddy - Suite for Clarinet & Piano (2008)
I - Memphis Nightrain [7:13]
II - Bayou Lament [9:52]
III - St Louie Thunder [7:08]
IV - Natchez Hymn/Gigue [8:26]
V - Catfish Rondeau [7:45]
Patrick Beckman (piano); Richard Stoltzman (clarinet)
rec.: Futura Productions, Roslindale MA USA, 11 November 2008
Composer Patrick Beckman is a new name to me as is that of the company
releasing this CD - Navona Records. Navona seem to be a label ploughing
a fiercely independent path with discs notable for the individuality
(some might say perversity) of their programming. So I should say
straightaway that I enjoyed this disc greatly. Big Muddy is
an extended suite for clarinet and piano that runs to nearly forty
minutes divided into five movements. The idiom is a successful fusion
of jazz and contemporary music. Beckman has composed the suite to
combine passages of exactly notated music with sections allowing the
performers to improvise in true jazz fashion. With the composer at
the keyboard (not as technically fluent as some might be but totally
in the idiom) and the renowned Richard Stoltzman on clarinet we can
be certain that this is an authoritative performance. The Big Muddy
of the title is the Mississippi river and the five evocatively titled
movements are a kind of musical postcard.
One of Navona's innovations that I like very much is the inclusion
on the "enhanced" CD of pdf files of the scores of the music.
This is particularly fascinating in a work such as this which has
elements of freedom built into it - with the scores on hand you can
see exactly where and how the players are "let off the leash".
At the same time it is interesting to see that Beckman is more cavalier
with following his own dynamic markings than Stoltzman is! Richard
Stoltzman is one of those players who has managed to follow a career
embracing both the classical and jazz fields. I think of him as a
classical player who can swing and certainly that makes him ideal
for this kind of project. I can't say that the sound he makes have
ever been my favourite on the clarinet - a little edgy and lacking
in the mellifluousness I prefer but again I have to acknowledge that
it is well suited to the music here.
The first movement gives a good example of how well Beckman catches
a mood using relatively few musical strokes (again being able to follow
the scores shows how sparse much of the writing is) - Memphis Nightrain
- bumps along in a way that manages to be languorous but with
a groove. The 2nd movement - Bayou Lament - is the
longest in the suite. Again all credit to Beckman for achieving so
much with so little material on the page. Stoltzman achieves an ideal
blanched tone and with some judicious bends into notes creates exactly
the forlorn mood directed by the composer. It has the feel of some
late-night improvisation in a smokey bar - too many drinks and too
many memories perhaps! As the movement progresses the mood hardens
into something with a bluesy slightly funky feel. As with other movements
it is clear the scores changed in the studio - many of the 8 bars
phrases in the score left "open" for the players become
16 bar breaks or more; through this you do get a sense of work in
progress and that the work is a living evolving entity (around bar
127 in this movement what is on the page and what we hear are radically
different for about 15 bars). After a reprise of the opening material
the dying away coda is really beautiful in its gentle melancholy.
The 3rd movement - St Louie Thunder - is more of
a study in mixed bar lengths and contrapuntal writing - the piano
has a strange hybrid mix of Bachian passage-work and stride piano
in the left hand. Both players are particularly successful at negotiating
the transitions in and out of the free sections. The 4th
movement Natchez Hymn/Gigue again starts slowly - Beckman uses
a rising slow musical figure to bind the different movements together
- before diving into a driving compound metre figure that is more
chase than gigue. The ensuing hymn has some of the open air feeling
of Copland in reflective mood. Again Stoltzman is very affecting with
a gently fragile and poignantly nostalgic tone. Together with the
opening of Bayou Lament this is my favourite section of the
piece. Again, the opening gigue reprises before a final gesture of
farewell to the hymn which incorporates the rising figure from the
opening.
The suite ends with Catfish Rondeau which reminded in parts
of Bernstein's Prelude Fugue & Riffs with its jumpy nervous
energy. There is a feel of a jam session which is reflected in the
fact that this movement has the most opportunities for the players
to improvise and certainly Stoltzman takes full advantage to showcase
his considerable technique. I like very much the palpable sense that
the players are having fun.
The recording quality is generally good with Stoltzman's timbre well
caught. I would have preferred a little more body from the piano but
this might well be down in part to Beckman who doesn't seem to be
able to draw as much tone from the piano as I would have liked. It
is hard to know exactly the market this is aimed at - the music is
probably too through composed for most jazz aficionados but too demonstrably
jazz influenced for classical/contemporary collectors. Also, by running
to just 40 minutes it is positively ungenerous. The packaging is good
- the cardboard foldout style preferred for many jazz and rock CDs
with the bulk of the information contained on the enhanced CD including
composer/performer biographies and session photos as well as the previously
mentioned scores. One oddity, no-where on the cover does it make it
clear that Patrick Beckman is the pianist as well as the composer.
At full price this is a disc that will struggle to find a market I
suspect and that is a shame given the qualities of composition and
performance that it displays.
Instantly appealing work fusing jazz and contemporary musical language.
Nick Barnard
CD Reviews
Navona Records NV5815
