Search - Brennan, Cline, Patumi :: Shooting Stars and Traffic Lights

John Wolf Brennan . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 03/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . the Irish/Swiss pianist--another artist (along with Jan Garbarek) I give a free pass to. But could you think of two more different musicians? The latter has achieved huge, and I'm sure gratifying, success; the former? Few know him or have heard his music: he sadly and absolutely wrongly resides in relative obscurity, despite more than two dozen discs as leader to his name. The Swiss Michael Moore? Maybe. The latter plays heartbreakingly beautiful melancholic jazz. The former often assays the outer precincts of cutting-edge jazz. The latter plays tenor and soprano sax--having achieved a concept and tone on the higher-register instrument as original and instantly recognizable as the late, great Steve Lacy. The former plays piano, in a hugely virtuoso way, evoking stylings as diverse as Cecil Taylor, Marilyn Crispel, Irene Schweizer, Don Pullen, Paul Bley, Egberto Gismonti, Horace Tapscott, and Mal Waldron.



But they have something sly, hugely redolent, and highly unlikely in common: an absolute adoration of and ability to effortlessly evoke oceans of mesmeric folk-jazz.



Shooting Stars & Traffic Lights was recorded twelve years ago (in 1995). But you'd hardly know it. Ordinarily, I'd be a little hacked off buying what I thought was a recently recorded disc that actually came out more than a decade ago (on Bellaphon). But when you're dealing with an artist of the caliber of John Wolf Brennan, that simply doesn't matter: He regularly delivers music of such beauty and provocation as to render its release date irrelevant.



Certainly, this band, featuring three out of four members of Pago Libre (Brennan, piano and melodica; Tscho Theissing, violin; and Daniele Patumi, bass), was a kind of template for that altogether remarkable outfit (still going, by the way, and entirely worth checking out). The inclusion of Swiss saxist John Voirol--a name I've never heard before, but someone thoroughly steeped in the history of jazz saxophone and displaying a huge sound and chops to die for--and West Coast percussion iconoclast Alex Cline alone lifts these proceedings way beyond ordinary undertakings. With both operating at stratospheric levels, this band is goosed into epic felicitations. For a taste of their heroic contributions, check out Cline's mind-boggling outro on "Kabak" and Voirol's ruminations on "Gathering at the Threshold": quite extraordinary.



This music, bursting with insane creativity even as it tugs at our heartstrings, represents some kind of pinnacle of chamberish, folk-jazz/New Music absurdity. Certainly one of the 10 most compelling disc in my very large array. I simply cannot implore you strongly enough to check out this ridiculously brilliant music, hopefully, opening a door to that neglected genius, John Wolf Brennan."