- Revisit
- Rocket Street
- Running Without Effort
- Tiring Holiday
- Almost a Good Mood
- Attention!
- Lipuko
- Casio
- Tar Man
- Watermelon from the 80s
- Gift
Kuba Suchar (drums, electronics)
Artur Majewski (trumpet, electronics)
Rec. 15-22 July 2009, Studio OPT, Wroclaw, Poland
As the first ever European jazz group to record for Chicago's Delmark Records, there is a good deal made of the parallels between Chicago and Poland in Raymond Salvatore Harmon's sleeve note. Mikrokolektyw's two members cite numerous influences, from Don Cherry to Dewey Redman, but with jazz being an interactive force and one of the few types of Western music left with a strong aural tradition, this is or should be pretty much a given.
As important is the associations called up by hearing this duo's
fascinating approach. The trumpet and loop combination reminds me
a little of Jon Hassel, although his more atmospheric and ambient
soundscapes are a distant echo when compared to Mikrokolektyw's more
dance-based rhythms. The title track Revisit has Kubar Suchar
in a little pointillist duet with himself, playing muted and unmuted
over a restless bed of electronic pings and a shifting ostinato. The
strength of much of Mikrokolektyw's sound is the mixing of live drums
with sympathetic electronic rhythms and additional music. The electronics
make up a third player, Mr Moog, and the second part of Revisit
has it playing bass to the live players melody and drum. In the infectiously
driving Rocket Street the drum and electronic rhythm take the
foreground, the bass keyboard sound emulating that famous opening
to Weather Report's Birdland, but more often than not remaining
unforgivingly on one note. This is one limitation of the tracks on
this album. Though there is plenty of micro-variety within, the basic
nuances within each track remain fairly constant. While you can get
into the groove and enjoy a certain amount of development through
the improvisation, it only takes a few seconds to be pretty sure about
how things are likely to pan out. There aren't many secrets, and slower
numbers like Running Without Effort are nice enough, but in
terms of staying power and creative depth they miss an extra dimension
or two.
I always enjoy instruments being made to sound like something other
than their usual self, and Tiring Holiday has the trumpet sounding
like a landing aircraft of some kind, and what sounds like a good
deal of suffering with which we can all relate to a greater or lesser
extent. The rumbling beat to this is also great fun but again, once
established it carries on as an unyielding block. Deliberate and sustained
repetition can be a superb creative weapon as has long been proven
by groups like Kraftwerk and Lemonjelly, but their success is often
in change and surprise, which more often than not is missing here.
This approach, with the trumpet improvising over an ostinato, also
brings to mind Weather Report's Dara Factor tracks, but again
the single trumpet needs something extra to play off against. Perhaps
Mikrokolektyw should consider working more with guest artists. One
of my favourites is Almost A Good Mood, which wins in its simplicity:
just a monothematic trumpet riff under which the drums have a ball,
followed by a suitably funky but rather brief improv. This is immediately
followed by Attention! which held mine less. I think the trouble
here, as with many of these tracks, is that they sound like 'jazz
studies' - good practice, but for repeated listening they need to
be more than a springboard for potential development.
Lipuko is fairly successful, with a Bjork-like bouncy ball
bass which creates variety through the finely textured rhythms of
cymbals and snare drum. The wandering electronic secondary melody
quickly becomes irritating however, like an alarm clock which won't
switch off. Casio is another number which promises more than
its five minute duration delivers, though I like the march feel and
clapping hands. Tar Man has some nice gloopy electronic bass
loops, over which Suchar provides Miles Davis muted trumpet shapes.
Watermelon From The 80s has the effective element of chorale
chords going on in the middle of rhythms and trumpet, the latter also
becoming nicely multi-tracked into triads which suggest an effects
pedal but aren't. The best tracks on this album are too short though,
and we are played out with some uncomfortable sine-waves - not my
kind of parting Gift.
I've enjoyed this album, but can't say it will have much staying
power in my consciousness. I have the feeling this would work very
well live, but like a selection from Maarten Ornstein's 'Modular Cookbook',
this seems too much like work in progress to make an album of lasting
merit. The idea of an 'Animal' style drummer hard at work with a rather
dry trumpet player improvising next to him appeals greatly, and the
inventive element of significantly contributing electronics is also
one which should work - and does, for a short while. Either these
guys are working too far within their comfort zone, or I'm asking
for the kind of energy and excitement which will probably never really
zing from these tracks without the addition of some third or fourth
party. While my admiration for Mikrokolektyw's project is great and
my belief in its potential knows no bounds, Revisit is more
concept than content, and ultimately more skin than banana.
Dominy Clements
CD Reviews
Delmark DE591
