Ernest Dawkins: Why Chicago Is Important

Ernest Dawkins (sax; b. 1953)
The Prairie Prophet (Delmark Records; 2011)

Marquis Hill, Shaun Johnson (trumpet)

Junius Paul (bass)

Isaiah Spencer (drums)

Steve Berry (trombone)

Jeff Parker (guitar)

(Photo: John Broughton)

Ernest Dawkins has been a stalwart of the Chicago jazz scene for over four decades. He is the Chairman of the influential Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM), which was as founded by follow sax legend, the late, Fred Anderson. Dawkins has built a solid reputation on his keen ability to blend both post bop and free jazz into something that is both accessible and adventurous all in one listen.

Ernest Dawkins expansive group, The New Horizon Ensemble shares slight similarities to follow Chicago avant-protagonist, The Art Ensemble Of Chicago. They both share unique ability to shift gears at will within a piece. While startling on first listen it becomes more clear and exciting upon the second spin. Moments of spirituality and personal empowerment bubble to the top in many of his recordings. All these aspects are on show on his new release, The Prairie Prophet.

The Prairie Prophet is dedicated to his friend, Fred Anderson and his much beloved venue, The Velvet Lounge in Chicago. The club was a bastion for free improvisation and thinking. The album opens on a gospel-tinged but political note with "Hymn To A Hip King" which is both a subtle tribute to Anderson but more a statement of great African American leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. The piece opens like a Sunday morning roll call all the while holding on to some beautiful post bop sensibilities. The performance from both Dawkins, Hill, Parker and Johnson are real emotional standouts--bristling with energy and joy.

"Sketches" delivers on that AACM heritage with uptempo rhythms and time changes and some fierce playing by Dawkins and Spencer. "Sketches" is a great example of Dawkins philosophy of playing what some may call "inside/outside"--the ability to play both accessible language built on an avant garde theme (or vice versa). "Mesopotamia" written by Steve Berry is a lovely, meditative piece that explores the range of the entire ensemble. It's a ballad with a great deal of depth and range. Berry and Spencer take the lead in the beginning with great solo work. Parker joins in later with an effective and resonant performance. Dawkins closes out the piece with a gentle and impressionist display.

The closing number "Baghdad Boogie" is a whimsical yet jumpin' number that also serves as political statement on the horror in Iraq. The ensemble displays a real craft for melodic movements within solid, bold statements. The chants, vocals and force of Dawkins sax and the intricacy of Parker, Paul here delivers a real impact for me. There have been very few musical statements in jazz about the war. "Baghdad Boogie" hearkens back to the Black Power Movement of the late '60s and '70s and the Vietnam War. A great close statement. 

The Prairie Prophet is yet another stellar and importnat document from the Chicago scene that blends the old and new guard thoughts with ease. Ernest Dawkins keeps the flame and philosophy of AACM, AEC and Fred Anderson alive with another powerful performance that while it might be label as free jazz is still thought-provoking and listenable by any music fan. Highly Recommend.

Best Album Of 2010: Mary Halvorson

JazzWrap revisits our favourite albums of 2010.

Mary Halvorson (guitar)
Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12 Records; 2010)

So when I first wrote about Mary Halvorson a few months back I enthusiastically said I was addicted to her music and her latest release, Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12 Records). Since then I have acquired a boat load of other releases featuring Halvorson; including the spectacular trio album from drummer Tom Rainey, which features some phenomenal playing from Halvorson.

But let's stay focused on the real album at hand. Saturn Sings is a powerful statement from a guitarist who really stands high and above most of her contemporaries, even if a large majority of the jazz public doesn't know who she is...yet.

Saturn Sings features the same trio from her first album as leader, Dragon's Head (Ches Smith (drums) and John Hebert (bass))now expanded into a quintet with Jon Irabagon on sax and Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet. This adds a little more body and rhythm to some of the recordings. But it doesn't interfere with free flowing atmosphere of the original group. In fact I think it gives the musicians more strength and room to breath or expand on different themes.

Halvorson is still the leader but allows the band to do some of the talking as on "Mile High Like" which Irabagon, Finlayson and Smith rip through notes while Halvorson's floats above and sometimes just underneath the rhythm. This is one the best examples of how this quintet melds together beautifully throughout Saturn Sings.

"Crack In Sky" and more importantly "Moon Traps In Seven Rings" are almost ballad-esque, with a loose abstract construction from Halvorson. Finlayson is the standout on "Moon Traps In Seven Rings" until about two thirds of the way in when Halvorson takes a Marc Ribot like solo and the group returns to the original melody. This is a great piece of writing. "Crack In Sky" sees Irabagon and Halvorson interplay beautifully--displaying Mary Halvorson can combine tradition and avant garde into something magical (similar to her mentor Anthony Braxton).

"Sea Seizure" again expresses the more indie-rock leaning side of Halvorson. It's a groove-laden track with aggression and agitation that could sit alongside anything Sonic Youth or Praxis could write. The title track, "Saturn Sings" opens with marching order-like quality led by Halvorson and Smith, only to return to a wonderful group dynamic played out by the rhythm section. Saturn Sings is an album that is another step up for Mary Halvorson in song writing, leadership and performance.

You may have noticed the headline of today's entry was slightly different. I purposely don't like to rank my "Best Albums" because I feel its too difficult to make your deciding factors on how they should be ranked. So I'd rather just talk about them. But in the case of Mary Halvorson's Saturn Sings--I have made the rare judgement that this by far is my #1 Album Of The Year.

I wanted to talk about it early in the week in case a lot of you are not around towards the end of week/year. The sooner you know about this album the better. If you want an album and an artist that is going to knock you socks off or change your thoughts on what the guitar means to jazz, than Mary Halvorson's Saturn Sings is the place you should start. Beyond Highly Recommended.

Chris Dahlgren On The Beauty Of Bartok

Chris Dahlgren (double bass, voice; b. 1961)
Mystic Maze (Jazzwerkstatt, 2010)

Antonis Anissegos (piano)
Eric Schaeffer (drums)
Gebhard Ullmann (sax; clarinet)
Christian Weidner (sax)

Chris Dahlgren is a New York native now living in Berlin. He has developed a unique style in both playing and composition. This may be a result of his many musical partnerships with the likes of Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland, Fred Hersch and La Monte Young to name just a few. While his compositional style is more abstract, Dahlgren's playing is very contemporary in a vein of Dave Holand and Charlie Haden. This I feel allows his fellow band members to express themselves freely within the written material.

Dahlgren has been performing since the eighties (with his debut as leader appearing in the late nineties) but recently he put together a quintet with members that he has played together in various forms, now called Lexicon. Their debut, Mystic Maze (Jazzwerkstatt Records) is a brilliant slice of improvisation, classical theory and poetry.

Mystic Maze is based around the music of the great composer Bela Bartok, or better yet the critics who derided Bartok during his time for the adventurous and original spirit that he was. Dahlgren has constructed a poetic operatic experience that moves freely between melodic Silent Way-esque motifs, explorations on the meaning of music and how we and civilization relate to it.

The title track, "Mystic Maze" begins with almost Beat Generation drum and bass lines matched by Dahlgrens poetic delivery, outlines the direction of this session as journey of meaning of Bartok and his music. This is free form but with meaning and purpose.

Dahlgren utilizes the direct critiques of Bartok as lyrics in a poetic fashion throughout Mystic Maze. "Painless Dentistry No.1 - 3" while have more a jazz improvisational element due contain the underline feeling of angst that was delivered upon Bartok. This is most evident on "Painless Dentristy No.2" which Dahlgren recites a critics thoughts on how more or less Bartok has lost his way and his vision. The delivery of the lyrics and mastery of the musicians within this format is extraordinary. The work of both Ullmann, Weidner (on clarinet and sax) and Anissegos exploratory vision on piano are marvelous throughout each piece.

"The Composer Promenading The Keyboard In His Boots" is another moment in which the material shines not only due to Dahlgren's arrangements but the effortless phrasing from Anissegos, Weidner, Ullmann and Schaefer's perfect timing. "The Composer Promenading..." has a critics discussing the meandering and meaninglessness of Bartok's written material. Under the direction of Dahlgren this diatribe is turned on its head beautifully.

Mystic Maze is work that is reminiscent of an evening at St. Marks Church listening to Allen Ginsberg in the eighties. Or if some of you may remember an album by Heiner Gobbels entitled Man In The Elevator (ECM Records) which beautifully balanced jazz improvisation, operatic themes and poetic parameters. Mystic Maze is heavy but delightful stuff and worth repeated listens so you can gain every drop of knowledge from the world Dahlgren has constructed. ...And then you should go out and purchase some Bartok if you don't have some already.