Search - Joel Futterman & Kidd Jordan Quintet :: Nickelsdorf Konfrontation

Nickelsdorf Konfrontation is the real title of this album

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 10/31/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The musicians who will twist your mind into knots during the music contained herein are Kidd Jordan, Joel Futterman, Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy and Alvin Fielder.



As the saying goes, this is not for the faint of heart. This is a cool album in that it's a meeting of a more American "free-jazz/fire music" (Jordan, Futterman, Fielder) aesthetic with a more European "free-improvisation" (Gustafsson & Guy) approach. What's the difference, you say? It's too long to go into here, but I know it when I hear it. However one may choose to think of these differences, they go together fantastically well here.



Sometimes this is the full group deftly moving around, in, out and through each other in waves of chaos. Other times it's subgroupings. While it doesn't have the outlandishly high recording quality of Mats & Barry's classic Mouth Eating Trees And Related Activities (but not much does. the sound on that one is incredible), and it's not the anguished, evil, wounded animal that that album is, this is intense, dense, tension-filled music. Of the Kidd & Joel albums I own, this one has Joel's best playing. He thrives here with the larger group.



Barry Guy again proves why he's one of my all-time Kings of arco bass. Sweeping waves of sound that he seems to be able to suck back into the bass, making them disappear as strangely as they appeared. Kidd is again a marvel of beauty. It's incredibly cool how he can find a way to beautifully navigate these most dense and OUTSIDE of waters.



Also, as far as I know, this album is still in print and available through dtmgallerydotcom. It seems Amazon no longer carries anything from the Silkheart label. While giving this 4 stars just as I gave 4 stars to William Parker's Corn Meal Dance, they could not be more different. Corn Meal Dance is beautiful, heartbreaking, and seems to wrap loving arms around humanity. Nickelsdorf Konfrontation is an aggressive, heartpoundingly tense cyclone of sound. If I could only keep 1 of them it'd have to be CMD, but this 1 is still a big deal for any fan of these players.

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