For my money this disc is easily one of the most anticipated of the
last few years. The chance to hear Susie Ibarra in a group and setting
of completely her own conception seems like it's been a long time
in the works. Earlier projects including a duet disc with husband
and reed player Assif Tsahar, and dearly departed drummer Denis Charles
touched on this direction, but thanks to Radiance the opportunity
has finally arrived.
Over the last several years Ibarra has carved out not just a niche
in the world of creative improvised percussion, but a veritable canyon
and she is easily one of the most in-demand drummers currently swinging
the sticks. Her propulsive polyrhythms have powered some of the most
celebrated groups born out of the burgeoning New York scene including
the David Ware Quartet and William Parker's In Order to Survive Ensemble.
Sadly, both of those associations have come to an end, but their demise
has allowed Ibarra to focus increasingly on her own projects, among
them the explosive trio which makes it's recording debut on this disc.
The two players who join her are no strangers to the rigors of creative
improvisation, in fact they routinely revel in the demands that come
with spontaneous music. Cooper-Moore has more heads than a hydra:
instrument builder, composer, choreographer, playwright, poet, pianist—he
is all these personas and much more. Burnham is equally well-versed
in his understanding of jazz, as well as a host of other genres and
is particularly adept at blurring the preconceived boundaries between
musical traditions with his bow strings. He possesses one of the most
distinctive sounds on violin and is not the least bit reticent when
it comes to coloring and shading his sound with electric amplification.
Together they make a flexible and eager team for Ibarra to test her
compositions out on.
The opening "Radiance" is a loosely conceived suite comprised of three
interlocking sections and covers a great deal of emotive breadth during
its dozen or so minutes. From initial lyricism of 'blessings' to the
capacious rhythms of 'dreams' and the fleeting humor of 'laughter'
the three players weave a luxurious blanket of congruous sounds. Conversely
"A Glimpse" is an exercise in sharply contrasting dissonance and clipped
phrasings. Perhaps the most unexpected track of all is the creative
cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Up From the Skies" where Burnham plugs in
and steps heavily on his effects pedal—playfully mirroring the
wah-wah utterances that were the guitarist's trademark. Cooper-Moore
and Ibarra keep a loosely grooving time behind him on diddley-bo (a
one-stringed, amplified guitar) and brushes respectively. "Jagged
Threads" centers around Ibarra's prismatic percussion and Cooper-Moore's
keys and both players turn in astounding solos. On the rhapsodic "Arboles"
Cooper-Moore is again at the core of the action sculpting another
reverberating solo across Ibarra's tumultuous, but always disciplined
traps set. Burnham also burns brightly on this piece and his bow continually
showers his partners with sparks of incandescent melody. Two alternate
takes close out the disc, but neither should by any means be considered
filler. The second version of "Dreams" is particularly noteworthy
because it allows the players even more temporal breadth to flesh
out their improvisational ideas than on the piece's first version.
Taken as a whole this disc is much more than a promising debut. It
also serves as an affirmation of what many followers of Ibarra's career
have long known to be true: that she is one of foremost stylists on
her instrument and deserves the opportunity to record even more prolifically
in the future.
Susie
Ibarra Trio
