Search - Implicate Order, Swell, Filiano :: At Seixal

Steve Swell is a Trombone God!

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 05/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"And yet there are only three or so CDs on which he is represented on Amazon. For years I have regarded George Lewis and Wolter Wierbos as being the greatest living trombonists. The combination of their technical mastery and the depth of their musical interests and creativity just made them stand out. In the last few years, I have begun to appreciate that Swell is a contender for the same status as Lewis and Wierbos.

He has proven himself to be a excellent composer and band leader (See his Suite for Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers on the great CIMP label). He plays in The Transcendentalists a great collective with Daniel Carter. He is very in demand on the New York scene playing with Sabir Mateen, Mark Whitecage, Roswell Rudd, Jemeel Moondoc, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Perry Robinson and many many others (see Swell's web site). One of the co-operative groups he co-leads is The Implicate Order with Ken Filiano on bass and Lou Grassi on drums. Filiano and Grassi seem to have become frequent collaborators and form an outstanding foundation for freely improvised music.

Which is what we are talking about on this CD. Not even the solo order has been predetermined. Filiano might move into the lead voice on arco or he and Grassi might improvise a rhythm duet while Swell supports or makes asides.

And as an added treat on the last two songs they are joined by Rodrigo Amado on baritone and Paulo Curado on the alto and the baritone saxophones. Both of these players came to my attention in recent years from their playing with the Lisbon Improvisation Players and on other Clean Feed CDs. I regard them as two of the best of the new generation of European free jazzers/new music players.

As with all really great free jazz it is hard to believe that this music is completely improvised. It seems to have such obvious structure. That is perhaps the most amazing thing about musicians like Steve Swell. They combine simultaneously the skills of the composer, the player and the conductor. They see their individual contributions as part of the whole even within a solo. Sweet.

This is a great intro to the work of Swell, a great addition to the corpus of Filiano and Grassi and a great insight into some of the astounding beauty of the now and future European scene.

As always, if Amazon has no copies for sale, write me for suggestions on where to get this stuff."