Violinist and composer Sam Bardfeld is
fearlessly unique and expressive. He is the product of an NYC upbringing in the
70s and early 80s, which was, he says, "both a dysfunctional and fantastic
place to grow up, specific in time and place but also typical of the violence
and regeneration inherent to America and some of the strange beauty it
produces. Music was everywhere for a curious kid (Central Park rumba circles, 3
A.M. recording at CBGBs, Don Cherry at Soundscape when the cops raided, Zorn
squealing mouthpieces at the Kitchen, high as a kite for Ravi Shankar at
Carnegie Hall.) The decrepit splendor left an inescapable imprint on my young
self."
Bardfeld has been influenced by many
high-profile musical associations and experiences, including being a member of
The Jazz Passengers and a frequent collaborator of Bruce Springsteen (a veteran
of three recordings and two tours). Bardfeld's playing is featured in Roy
Nathanson's Sotto Voce and Joel Harrison's String Choir, and he has toured or
recorded with jazz groups like Michael Attias' Sextet, Butler/Bernstein and the
Hot 9, Steven Bernstein's MTO, Anthony Braxton's Trillium Orchestra, Vince
Giordano and The Nighthawks, the String Trio of NY, and Royal Hartigan's Blood
Drum Spirit. Outside the jazz world he
has toured or recorded with Calexico, John Cale, Debbie Harry, The Red Clay
Ramblers, and Johnny Pacheco, etc. He has also worked with Elvis Costello, John
Zorn, Kris Davis, Willie Colon and Hank Roberts among many others. Bardfeld is
also the author of the book Latin Violin (Hal Leonard, 2002) on the Afro-Cuban
violin tradition.
Bardfeld's previous recordings,
Taxidermy (CIMP, 1999) and Periodic Trespasses (FreshSounds, 2006) have both
earned acclaim, including a four-star rating in DownBeat Magazine, raves in
JazzTimes, Jazziz and four stars in All Music Guide for both recordings.
Bardfeld has taken his groups to festivals and clubs throughout Europe
including Banlieues Bleues Jazz Festival (Paris), Sud-Tirol Jazz Festival
(Italy) and Porgy and Bess (Vienna). After a long hiatus of twelve years since
his last release, Bardfeld and Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records proudly
announce the release of his new recording, The Great Enthusiasms (BJUR 064),
featuring pianist Kris Davis and drummer Michael Sarin. Available September 29,
2017.
The trio's music falls somewhere in the
overlapping vectors of inside ('harmony-based'),outside ('free') and downtown
jazz. Bardfeld has created his own jazz violin language that lies in between
the straight-ahead violinists and the free-jazzers. The Penguin Guide To Jazz
(5th ed.) states, "Bardfeld has devised a language which takes in
classical models, jazz harmony and pure sound". His playing swings hard
and integrates abstraction and expressiveness. One can hear references to a
wide range of musicians that stretch from Stuff Smith, Lee Konitz, and Eric
Dolphy, to 'post-jazz' contemporaries like Mary Halvorson. Kris Davis is a
perfect foil and it's a little bit of a revelation to hear her brilliance and
creativity in all the varied contexts Bardfeld creates. Michael Sarin (Dave
Douglas, Thomas Chapin, etc) brings his tremendous gifts for orchestration,
musical wit, sympathetic dialogue and overall intelligence. The unusual
instrumentation, with no bass, creates extra harmonic and textural space and adds
intimacy to Bardfeld's unique compositions.
Much of Bardfeld's favorite American
music is eccentric and forward while grounded in the vernacular. "Maybe
it's not a total accident that my three most important employer-mentors are all
great musician-poets of weird America and all with significant local roots:
Bruce Springsteen, Roy Nathanson (Jazz Passengers), and Anthony Braxton. Bruce
is (among other things) a poet of the noir side of the city - the
ne'er-do-wells and hookers and guys looking for a piece of the action. Roy's
stories, musical and literate, are infused both by Dolphy and a New York
urbanity that is universal in its eccentricity and vulnerability. The time I
spent performing and recording (soloing on an 'avant hoedown') in Braxton's
'Trillium J' Opera was also a profound education in the lengths to which a
complex, idiosyncratic personal language can be developed and yet represent a
uniquely American story," explains Bardfeld in the album's liner notes.
More on the music on The Great
Enthusiasms: The song titles of Bardfeld's compositions are all derived from
Richard Nixon quotes -- principally from his resignation speech, in which Nixon
quotes Teddy Roosevelt. "Fails While Daring Greatly" is a bluesy chamber-jazz
piece from outer space. Bardfeld's solo is a whimsical post-bop jaunt and
Davis' a muscular free jazz statement. Sarin adds his characteristic humor,
sympathy and coloristic genius to the whole endeavor. "Resignation
Rag" combines a modified second-line groove with a futuristic violin
melody that, with its swoops, pops and wide intervals, evokes Stuff Smith and
Dolphy. Bardfeld's and Davis' interplay sounds telekinetic. Davis' solo
statement and duet with Sarin evoke a freewheeling Monk. "Winner Image"
starts out with a slow building and virtuosic violin solo by Bardfeld weaving
in and out of harmony. Davis creeps in with an off-kilter ostinato leading to a
head with Tim Berne-like tension. The rendition of the classic
Springsteen/Patti Smith tune, "Because the Night," skews the
intervals of the original piano vamp, making it a weirder sort of night. The
cohesion of the verse turns into a free chant-like chorus summoning nocturnal
passions. "The Great Enthusiasms" is an Andrew Hill-like post-bop swing
tune with a touch of folksiness. Davis' solo brings out the bi-tonality of the
writing while Bardfeld moves from harmony into a short free duet with the
pianist. The Band's "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)," is a playful
re-imagining, with Davis covering the proto-synth bass part in her lowest range
and splotchy chords in her highest. Bardfeld solos mightily over the verse
changes and Davis ends the song with an eloquent solo statement that
re-connects with the song's subject matter, the hardships of a depression-era
sharecropper. "The 37th Time I Have Spoken" starts with Bardfeld
strumming ethereal chords on the violin as Davis and Sarin engage in quiet
dialogue. A mix of meditation and mayhem ensues and the piece closes as it
started with ethereal dialogue and strumming.
The Great Enthusiasms is Bardfeld's
'weird America' record. A reflection on American music in all of its glorious
eccentricities, and simultaneously an affirmation that artists must rise up and
create and perform, especially in the face of abject political dissoluteness in
the Trump era. Bardfeld elaborated, "Nixon's resignation speech was my
first memory of being part of a collective political body...Though Dick was a
paranoid, hateful crook, there's intelligence and complexity in him that one
cannot imagine existing inside our current president. During this current dark
stain in our country's history, let's continue to make weird, joyous art."
No comments:
Post a Comment