Agustí Fernández - piano Evan Parker - tenor and soprano saxophones Barry Guy - double bass Paul Lytton - percussion
When Evan Parker, Barry Guy and percussionist Paul Lytton renewed their association at l’Auditori in Barcelona in March 2006, they chose to call the resulting CD ZAFIRO, or “Sapphire”. The following day, the trio was joined by Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández at the same venue to record the TOPOS album. The chemistry changes to an almost microscopic world of shifting colours and densities prompted by Fernández’s mercurial articulations of the piano keys and the strings inside the instrument. The nine tracks on TOPOS represent short essays in controlled instrumental integration and quick fire responses to the nuances of the changing textures. Four dedicated musicians continuing their voyage of discovery and invention.
Als Evan Parker, Barry Guy und Paul Lytton sich in Madrid erneut begegneten im März 2006, nannten sie die CD, die aus diesem Treffen entstand, ZAFIRO. Am nächsten Tag stiess der Catalanische Pianist Agustí Fernández dazu, und am selben Ort entstand die CD TOPOS. Die Chemie wechselt zu einer beinahe mikroskopischen Welt von fliessenden Farben und Dichte, die von Agustí Fernández’ merkurischer Artikulation der Tasten und Saiten im Flügel inspiriert sind. Die neun Stücke auf TOPOS sind gleichermassen kurze Essays von kontrollierter instrumentaler Integration und blitzschnellen Reaktionen auf die Nuancen der wechselnden Texturen. Vier engagierte Musiker die ihre Entdeckungs- und Erfindungsreise fortsetzen.
Reviews
Finding a role within an already existing musical partnership can be problematic. When the relationship has lasted most of three decades it’s that much riskier. Yet as the nine instant compositions on this CD demonstrate, Catalan pianist Augustí Fernández creates no fissure when he performs with the long-standing British trio of saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy and percussionist Paul Lytton. It helps that the pianist, along with Lytton, is a member of extended Guy and Parker ensembles. Yet he’s such an accomplished stylist, whose collaborators range from Free Jazz bassist William Parker to New music flautist Jane Rigler, that his input enhances the tracks so that each part of the paradigm seems indivisible. Parker’s serpentine trilling on the aptly-titled “Open Systems”, for instance, is backed Guy’s by blunt strumming and Fernández’s solitary key pressure, as if both are utilizing the same string set. As the pointillist mixture accelerates, impelled by Lytton’s chain-rattling and pitter-pattering skins, the pianist’s metronomic lilt allows for a quicker pace, but without losing any of the tune’s subtleties. Similarly, Lytton could be whacking steel pans as Parker vibrates constricted timbres around his tongue on the polyphonic “This One is for Kowald”, but until identifiable piano cadences kick in, the spiccato shrills heard could be bass string strokes, mouthpiece whistles or internal piano strings stopping. Probably the clearest indication of Fernández’s simpatico internalizing of the trio’s improvisational ethic is that on the four tracks where he works in duo or trio combinations, it’s as if the quartet textures can still be heard. Especially burrowing within the piano’s bowls, astoundingly the resulting stuck and stopped overtones nearly compensate for Lytton or Guy’s absence. (Ken Waxman,, Coda Magazine, August 2008)
Nine pieces of impulsive, on-the-fly sounds from a core trio of British legends: the saxophonist Evan Parker, improv/contemporary classical bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton - joined by Agusti Fernandez, the most accomplished Catalan jazz pianist since the postbopper Tete Montoliu. Fernandez joined the long-suspended British trio in Barcelona last year to add a seamless Cecil Taylor-like sound-stream to fast tailchasers such as Coalescence, darkly sinister or nimbly banjo-like plucked-strings noises here and there, and scary, door-slam chords. Pieces such as Still Listening, true to its title, are long silences punctuated by bursts of activity. There are extended outings for the endlessly resourceful Guy (who both dramatises the music and hugely broadens the sound stage) and fast, chattering pieces, with Fernandez's and Parker's high, repeating figures doubling each other over Lytton's taut, tambourine-like drumming. It's full of selfless expertise, and (for an improv set) remarkably full of contrasts. (John Fordham, The Guardian, November 2007)
Représentant illustre de la musique improvisée européenne, Evan Parker a réalisé ses premiers enregistrements l’année même de la mort de Coltrane, une influence indéniable sur le Britannique. Pourtant, nul ne saurait le confondre avec la horde des clones coltraniens, tant son style angulaire est immédiatement reconnaissable, sans oublier le torrent de notes ininterrompues assurées par le souffle continu et ses incursions dans le registre suraigu. Depuis près de 25 ans, l’ensemble le plus célèbre de Parker est son trio avec deux autres improvisateurs de haut calibre, Barry Guy (contrebasse) et Paul Lytton (batterie). Dans ce récent enregistrement (effectué en 2006), le trio se retrouva à Barcelone en compagnie du pianiste catalan Augusti Fernandez. Après une brève ouverture (Coalescence), le quartette construit patiemment sur près de dix minutes un Open Systems, qui vient à exploser avant une conclusion haletante sur une envolée de soprano typiquement parkérienne (Evan bien sûr, pas Charlie). Le saxo passe alors au ténor dans les plages suivantes (Air / Luft et Moon Over BCN, deux improvisations très dépouillées, comme This One Is For Kowald, hommage au regretté contrebassiste allemand). Outre les pièces collectives, on retrouve quelques interludes en sous-groupes, soit In Praise of Shadows, un trio sans le saxo, puis Still Listening et Smart Set, où le pianiste dialogue à tour de rôle avec le percussionniste et le bassiste, et, enfin, Inner Silence où le ténor, appuyé d’un accompagnement discret de piano et de cymbales, se fait presque tendre. Cette conclusion appropriée boucle bien ce disque inhabituellement sobre pour Parker. (Scena Jazz , June 2008)
