Search - Ivo Perelman :: Ventriloquist

The hard stuff

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 02/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is contemporary free jazz the way it should be: often extremely harsh, but with a sense of humour; texturally quite varied, with a little Latin flavouring courtesy percussionist Ramon Lopez, & avoiding the monochrome drabness & prolixity that beset far too many free-jazz blowouts. The packaging on the disc could be more careful, because it fails to make the personnel & instrumentation clear. There are two different sets of material here:1) a quartet of Perelman, tenor sax; Louis Sclavis, bass clarinet & soprano saxophone, Paul Rogers, bass, & Lopez, drums, responsible for three long tracks2) a trio of Perelman, Lopez and pianist Christine Wodrascka, responsible for three shorter tracksBoth of these groups produce some powerful music. If anything my preference is for the trio tracks, which are probably the harshest & most intense things on here, especially the climax of the title-track (though after it peaks it drops into an entertaining little coda of childish mutterings). But the quartet tracks are superb too, with Sclavis a surprisingly effective & combustible partner for someone whom I mostly associate with the ECM aesthetic.Not for all tastes, I'm sure, but if you're looking for a quality blow, this is definitely it."