About the album Reverence

ALBUM NOTES

for Muri­el Gross­mann Rever­ence (RR GEMS Records, 2019),
by Micha­el Jack­lin in con­ver­sa­ti­on with Muri­el Grossmann

                    The sources of jazz are to be found in Afri­ca, as any ency­clo­pe­dia of music will tell you. The poly­rhyth­ms, syn­co­pa­ti­on and impro­vi­sa­ti­on that are inte­gral to jazz all stem from the musi­cal tra­di­ti­ons of Afri­ca. The­se dis­tinct aspects of Afri­can music tra­vel­led to the Ame­ri­cas with the slave-tra­de and, inter­sec­ting in New Orleans with Euro­pean instru­men­ta­ti­on and arran­ge­ment, crea­ted the foun­da­ti­ons of a new sound. Through the twen­tieth cen­tu­ry Afri­ca con­ti­nued its influ­ence, as free jazz inno­va­tors inclu­ding Ornet­te Cole­man and Don Cher­ry tra­vel­led the­re in search of the roots of their art form, while at the same time Afri­can musi­ci­ans such as Abdul­lah Ibra­him and Fela Kuti brought their music to Ame­ri­ca and Europe.

                    The island of Ibi­za lies in the Medi­ter­ra­ne­an bet­ween Euro­pe and Afri­ca and has been a mee­ting place of peo­p­les, cul­tures, lan­guages and music for ages. Muri­el Gross­mann, who was born in Paris and grew up in Aus­tria, moved to Ibi­za in 2004 and the­re she began to record some of the most exci­ting and inno­va­ti­ve jazz of the new mill­en­ni­um. It is no sur­pri­se that with her latest album she turns to the well­spring of Afri­ca, offe­ring eight com­po­si­ti­ons, explo­ring the essence of poly­rhythm in a per­so­nal and com­mit­ted way. As Gross­mann says, ‘What jazz and Afri­can music have in com­mon and what makes it so uni­que is that at its very core, as the stron­gest part of its foun­da­ti­on, each musi­ci­an is dealing with a par­ti­cu­lar rhythm that con­tri­bu­tes to the who­le, the­re­fo­re genera­ting mul­ti­di­rec­tio­n­al rhyth­ms also known as poly­rhythm’. This album is a ges­tu­re of ack­now­led­ge­ment, thanks­gi­ving and rever­ence for the musi­cal tra­di­ti­ons that Afri­ca has given jazz.

                   ‘Rever­ence’ sees the same quar­tet that per­for­med on Grossmann’s pre­vious three relea­ses trans­form into a quin­tet. On this album, Gross­mann plays alto, sopra­no and tenor saxo­pho­nes, Rado­mir Milo­j­ko­vic is on gui­tars, Gina Schwarz on bass, Uros Sta­men­ko­vic on drums, and they are joi­ned by Llo­renç Bar­celó on Ham­mond. The colours and tex­tures of the Ham­mond B3 organ are a per­fect addi­ti­on to the sounds of this alrea­dy tight­ly ali­gned group, pro­vi­ding ever­ything from cos­mic swirls and chir­ped per­cus­sion to bril­li­ant solos of exploration.

                Afri­ca is refe­ren­ced in mul­ti­ple ways tho­rough the com­po­si­ti­ons. The first track is tit­led ‘Okan Ti Aye’, a Yoru­ba phra­se that means ‘Heart of the World’ and from its ope­ning sounds we can hear an urge for cele­bra­ting Afri­can music from its anci­ent per­cus­sion tra­di­ti­ons to more recent traces of Fela Kuti and Afro Pop. The num­ber cul­mi­na­tes in a bla­zing solo by Gross­mann on tenor that sets a tone of cele­bra­ti­on for the ent­i­re album.

             This same high ener­gy approach appears again on ‘Cha­se’. At the foun­da­ti­on of this com­po­si­ti­on is a power­ful, moving, dan­ce­ab­le bass line, while the rhyth­ms crea­ted on the organ and gui­tar evo­ke the dual gui­tar play that was a trade­mark of James Brown’s sound. The drum work ran­ges from tight to more fle­xi­ble groo­ves, while Gross­mann on alto pro­vi­des deep, sin­ging melo­dies, simp­le and direct, as if the saxo­pho­ne too is a part of the rhythm sec­tion. Gross­mann exp­lains: ‘Count Basie once said about his band that he wan­ted it sound­ing like one big drum. That’s what I aimed for with my album “Rever­ence”’.

            Other com­po­si­ti­ons are reflec­ti­ve and pen­si­ve. ‘Uni­on’, for examp­le, is a nine-minu­te medi­ta­ti­on by Gross­mann on sopra­no saxo­pho­ne, working through varia­ti­ons on a simp­le, beau­ti­ful melo­dy while Schwarz groo­ves steadi­ly on the bass, Bar­celó makes his Ham­mond burb­le, and Sta­men­ko­vic sum­mons a shim­me­ring, end­less field of cym­bal-tones. And ‘Sun­down’ has Gross­mann on tenor again, in slow, wea­ving inter­play with Ham­mond b3 and Cel­tic harp to pro­du­ce a fee­ling of deep repo­se, tru­ly a masterpiece.

                    ‘Water Bowl’ refers to the dai­ly rou­ti­ne of women and child­ren in many parts of Afri­ca who walk long distan­ces to fetch water for their fami­lies, and who sing while doing so. Grossmann’s alto moves through one melo­dic idea after ano­t­her, as if sin­ging the mys­tic mea­ning of things, while Milojkovic’s solo reminds us of the blues as he plays soul­ful lines cha­rac­te­ris­tic of the soul-jazz of Grant Green or Boo­ga­loo Joe Jones. Bar­celó con­tri­bu­tes beau­ti­ful­ly on this num­ber, with his rich tre­at­ment of the Ham­mond and its cha­me­leo­nic pos­si­bi­li­ties of chan­ging sound and colors.

                       ‘Tri­bu’ opens with a sump­tuous bass solo by Gina Schwarz that is melo­dic, rhyth­mic and deeply reso­nant; one can feel the wood in its sound, and it evo­kes the spi­rit of many Afri­can instru­ments. To my ears, Tri­bu and Uni­on are uni­que com­po­si­ti­ons in Grossmann’s work, depar­ting from the swin­ging groo­ves found in her records ‘Gol­den Rule’, ‘Momen­tum’ and ‘Natu­ral Time’ and moving toward more RNB ori­en­ted groo­ves.  The the­me on ‘Tri­bu’, and that of the com­po­si­ti­on which fol­lows, ‘Afri­ka Maha­la’, are, for this lis­tener at least, total ear­worms; they play on in the mind, unbid­den, without warning, and without the aid of device or sound sys­tem. ‘Afri­ka Maha­la’ is also nota­ble for a fine gui­tar solo by Milo­j­ko­vic who then hands over to an inten­se duo bet­ween Gross­mann and Sta­men­ko­vic, evo­king the spi­rit of tho­se bur­ning 60s saxo­pho­ne and drum duos.

                   A cho­rus of Afri­can instru­ments intro­du­ces ‘Morning’, the final track, and leads into ano­t­her irre­pres­si­ble the­me on alto, set­ting the mood for the day that comes, embra­cing the cele­bra­to­ry spi­rit, brin­ging lis­teners, as Gross­mann puts it, into ‘a ful­fil­led sta­te of being’.

                       As with several of Grossmann’s pre­vious albums, a dis­tin­guis­hing trait is the use of dro­ne-instru­men­ta­ti­on. Afri­can instru­ments fea­ture, inclu­ding bala­fo­ne, kra­kebs, kalim­ba, ngo­ni and dun duns, along with cel­tic harp, flu­te and sli­de gui­tar. The effects the­se crea­te are sub­t­le; they aug­ment the group’s per­for­mance and their lay­ers of sound are like the intri­ca­te wea­ving of sin­gle threads into pat­ter­ned colou­red cloth, both deli­ca­te and strong.

                        Make no mista­ke: the music you will expe­ri­ence on ‘Rever­ence’ is not Afri­can; it is deeply spi­ri­tu­al jazz from the edge of Euro­pe that gives thanks to Afri­ca for its know­ledge, its wis­dom, its beau­ty. And we now, in turn, give thanks for the­se beau­ti­ful sounds.
Micha­el Jack­lin in con­ver­sa­ti­on with Muri­el Grossmann

REVIEWS

Review of REVERENCE in Jazz­po­di­um, May-June 2020, by Thors­ten Meyer
” One step fur­ther each time. … Gross­mann immer­ses with her group into the ecsta­cy of rhyth­ms and sounds. … music with tonal depth and wide dyna­mic spec­trum.  A musi­cal and hap­tic moment of happiness.”

Gross­mann gets to the Roots of Rhythm” by Deni­se Sul­li­van Down­beat Feb 2020
“…  her new album Rever­ence is a modern masterpiece” …
“Muri­el Gross­mann cha­rac­te­ri­ses her Quintet‘s latest album, Rever­ence, as a spi­ri­tu­al-jazz effort — the sum of her devo­ti­on to a lifel­ong explo­ra­ti­on of rhyth­ms, par­ti­cu­lar­ly tho­se of Afri­can ori­gin. The album is Grossmann’s attempt to com­bi­ne what she calls the “reas­su­ring ele­ments of spi­ri­tu­al-jazz” and its antecedents. … ”

Review of REVERENCE in All­Mu­sic gui­de by Thom Jurek
“… That group is appen­ded here by Mal­lorcan Ham­mond B‑3 orga­nist Llo­renç Bar­celó, who­se play­ing crea­tes a wide palet­te of tonal, rhyth­mic, and tex­tu­ral pos­si­bi­li­ties. Grossmann’s eight com­po­si­ti­ons con­ti­nue to evo­ke Col­tra­ne as a touch­stone, but they also embrace the poly­rhyth­mic tra­di­ti­ons of the Afri­can con­ti­nent and fil­ter their dis­co­ve­ries through the band’s inna­te groo­ve con­scious­ness. … Here, their inspi­ra­ti­on, com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, and pro­found explo­ra­ti­on, result in a new water­mark for excel­lence in jazz.” 

Review of Muri­el Gross­mann REVERENCE Vinyl in UK Vibe, by Nick Schlitt­ner, Dec 2019  “… ‘Rever­ence’ is a record that con­sist­ent­ly and respect­ful­ly draws on Afri­ca influ­en­ces to crea­te won­der­ful, memo­r­able, mul­ti-laye­red, ori­gi­nal and exu­berant tunes. … It’s a joy and a pri­vi­le­ge to hear such a won­der­ful album. If Gol­den Rule was per­me­a­ted with the spi­rit of John Col­tra­ne then ‘Rever­ence’ which with its swir­ling organs, gor­ge­ous strings, and Rado­mir Milojkovic’s dri­ving gui­tar is explo­ring the paths first tra­vel­led by Ali­ce Col­tra­ne, Miles electric bands and Lar­ry Young. It is power­ful, insis­tent, crea­ti­ve and joy­ous music ancho­red by an ama­zin­gly tight rhythm sec­tion that groo­ves like hell…”

Review of Muri­el Gross­mann — REVERENCE Vinyl by Andrew Fran­k­lin, Medu­sa Records

If you are fol­lowing the dis­co­gra­phy, “Rever­ence” is the fol­low up to @murielgrossmann cri­ti­cal­ly acc­lai­med “Gol­den Rule”. If “Gol­den Rule”is an awa­ke­n­ing or start of a spi­ri­tu­al jour­ney, then “Rever­ence” is the dyna­mic ending.

With news of Muri­el Grossmann’s new album “Uni­on” com­ing out next mon­th and a reis­sue of her ear­lier album, “Natu­ral Time” debu­t­ing on vinyl, I find mys­elf pul­ling the remar­kab­le album “Rever­ence” from 2019; pre­pa­ring mys­elf for the new releases. 

Rever­ence” is an album that cap­tures you right away. The album picks up immedia­te­ly with “Okan Ti Aye”, as if you step­ped into some­thing anci­ent and reoc­cur­ring. Muriel’s clas­sic lin­eup, now a quin­tet, quick­ly latch on to you and sweep you off into the sound befo­re you have a chan­ce to turn away. Next thing you know you are mel­ting into a jour­ney of cos­mic bliss with the rest of the band on the track “Uni­on”.

Water Bowl” is more of a hyp­no­tic ecsta­sy that swirls around insi­de your body. It stays with an unrelen­ting tem­po that beats with deep pri­mi­ti­ve urgen­cy. Next is “Sun­down” which is more like a lush tra­di­tio­nal spi­ri­tu­al song remi­nis­cent of Doro­thy Ash­by or Ali­ce Col­tra­ne. This song is whe­re the addi­ti­on of Llo­renc Bar­ce­lo Vives on organ real­ly shi­nes. His play­ing and solo sends the sun mel­ting down past hori­zon. Tog­e­ther he and Muriel’s tone are able to strip away your ego lea­ving you floa­ting cata­to­ni­cal­ly in pure bliss.

The pau­se is wel­co­me becau­se it makes the fol­lowing track “Cha­se” feel fami­li­ar as it swings back to a quick tem­po. At this point, you are one with sound and fee­ling. You are rea­dy for the “Cha­se” which pays homage to the late John Col­tra­ne. The sen­se of urgen­cy returns until the pau­se in the midd­le; lea­ving space for con­tem­pla­ti­on and con­trast. Rado­mirs play­ing is slow and cool and slow­ly builds the sus­pen­se as the­re is still ple­nty left to experience. 

Tri­bu” is one of my favo­ri­te songs on the album. This song shows the bril­li­an­ce of the quin­tet by high­ligh­t­ing each musi­ci­an  through leads and solos. You see the skill and cha­rac­ter of the artist as they gui­de you through the sound. “Tri­bu” builds up momen­tum into “Afri­ka Maha­la” whe­re this cos­mic trip reaches its pin­na­cle. Here you feel dizzy and rus­hing, thin­king and knowing that the end of this fan­tasti­cal jour­ney through the cos­mos of your con­sci­ence is nea­ring. Muriel’s play­ing is screa­ming with decla­ra­ti­on. The band is buil­ding a drum roll fina­le. The­re is anti­ci­pa­ti­on and exci­te­ment as Muri­el and the others wade through the star­ry mud lea­ding to the new world.

Alas, “Morning” is here. You are light and free like the bree­ze. You are awa­ke. You are anew. You are you. Tru­ly you. This world that you’ve arri­ved in is more beau­ti­ful than you ever thought pos­si­ble. The “Morning” is your new fore­ver. Crea­ted by and gui­ded by the quin­tet you are thank­ful to be part of this experience.