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Quiver

Name: Quiver
SKU: 72876
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Ralph Alessi, Gary Versace, Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s ECM leader debut – 2013’s Baida – was the album where “everything came together for him,” according to Nate Chinen in a JazzTimes profile. “Without abandoning his yen for oppositional energies, it’s a beautifully coherent statement, not just his most accomplished album but a contender for one of the year’s best.” Baida indeed went on to become the most lauded release of Alessi’s career, with The New York Times praising the music for its balance of “elegant precision and power.” With Quiver, Alessi teams with pianist Gary Versace and the trumpeter’s longtime rhythm section of choice – bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits – to create a follow-up of quicksilver melodicism and subtly energized rhythm; there is a lyricism to Alessi’s playing that channels such forebears as Miles Davis and Kenny Wheeler, the mood reflective, even pensive. As DownBeat says, “Alessi works between the notes, his thoughtful, conversational solos as meditative as a calligrapher’s art, each line free-flowing and declarative but with immaculate shape and beauty.”

Als der Trompeter Ralph Alessi im Jahr 2013 mit Baida sein Leader-Debüt bei ECM gab, schrieb Nate Chinen in einem JazzTimes-Beitrag, dass sich hier „alles für Alessi richtig fügte.“ „Ohne seinem Hang für gegensätzliche Energien nachzugeben, ist dies ein stimmiges Statement – nicht bloß sein vollkommenstes Album, sondern vielmehr ein Kandidat für eines der besten Alben dieses Jahres.“ Baida entwickelte sich zu einer der meist gepriesenen Veröffentlichungen in Alessis Karriere, wobei die New York Times die Musik für ihre Balance aus „eleganter Präzision und Kraft“ lobte. Auf Quiver arbeitet Alessi nun mit dem Pianisten Gary Versace und der langjährigen Rhythmusgruppe seiner Wahl – bestehend aus Bassist Drew Gress und Schlagzeuger Nasheet Waits – und erschafft einen Nachfolger voller agiler Melodieführungen und subtil energiegeladener Rhythmen. Alessis Spiel wohnt eine Lyrik inne, die Vorläufer wie Miles Davis und Kenny Wheeler in reflektierender, mitunter schwermütiger Stimmung spiegelt. Downbeat beschreibt es so: „Alessi arbeitet zwischen den Noten, seine nachdenklichen, kommunikativen Soli sind so meditativ wie die Kunst eines Kalligraphen, jede Linie frei schwebend und selbsterklärend, aber von makelloser Gestalt und Schönheit.“

Featured Artists

Ralph AlessiTrumpet
Gary VersacePiano
Drew GressDouble Bass
Nasheet WaitsDrums

Recorded

September 2014, Rainbow Studio, Oslo

Original Release Date

19.02.2016

1Here Tomorrow
(Ralph Alessi)02:27
2Window Goodbyes
(Ralph Alessi)05:18
3Smooth Descent
(Ralph Alessi)06:56
4Heist
(Ralph Alessi)06:46
5Gone Today, Here Tomorrow
(Ralph Alessi)09:49
6I to I
(Ralph Alessi)06:14
7Scratch
(Ralph Alessi)05:17
8Shush
(Ralph Alessi)07:05
9Quiver
(Ralph Alessi)04:14
10Do Over
(Ralph Alessi)01:27

Die schönsten Momente stellen sich ein, im dichten, rational nicht zu quantifizierenden Interplay eines fabelhaften Quartetts, das insgesamt die Equilibristik meistert, die Alessi selbst in seinem vitalen und subtilen, strahlenden und poetischen Trompetenspiel auszeichnet. Seine Kompositionen sind tricky, aber sie gewinnen im Lauf ihrer improvisatorischen Entfaltung eine erzählerische Logik, die auf Anhieb einleuchtet. Dieses Quartett (mit Alessis altvertrauter Rhythmik, dem fundamentalen Drew Gress am Bass und dem fliegenden Nasheet Waits am Schlagzeug, am Piano anstelle des explosiven Jason Moran der eine Nuance lyrischere, sparsamere Gary Versace) – diese Band, eine Einheit von blindem Einverständnis, macht eine Musik, die eine Art Quadratur des Kreises ist: gleichzeitig evident und überraschend.

Peter Rüedi, Die Weltwoche

With its wistful, melancholic tone and loose but intensely focused playing from four front-rank Americans – pianist Gary Versace, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits – there is also a resemblance to another great trumpet quartet record – Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Gnu High’ – made for the same label 40 years ago but that is to pay ‘Quiver’ the highest of compliments.

Cormac Larkin, Irish Times

Alessi’s compositions here are of a very high quality, and their connection to the improvisational passages is both seamless and organic. The rhythm section of Nasheet Waits and Drew Gress are highly responsive yet unobtrusive with it. In his solos Alessi creates a tension between a tender, lyrical tonality and a pointed dissonance that has echoes of the late Kenny Wheeler. It is perhaps a more accessible side to this trumpeter than we have heard to date, as well as being a thoroughly outstanding piece of work.

Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise

The entire atmosphere here, where Alessi is playing muted or open in his horn, is of panoramic serenity. Even slightly kinetic pieces such as ‘Here Tomorrow’ are held together by Alessi’s warm horn as Waits sticks create some sharp angles. On ‘Window Goodbyes’ and ‘Heist’ Versace’s piano delivers some added romance to Alessi’s lyrical tone, and as the leader puts on his Harmon for ‘Gone Today, Here Tomorrow,’ the mix of Waits’ rumble and Versace’s drapery makes for wistful listening. Gress’ bass is patient and tender, forming a gentle pulse throughout as a gentle guide as on ‘I to I’, keeping things on a slight slope.

George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

Die zehn im legendären Osloer Rainbow Studio aufgenommenen und in New York abgemischten Eigenkompositionen sind zwar von einer grundlegenden Melancholie geprägt und über weite Strecken in gemäßigtem Tempo gehalten, bewirken aber dank ihrer kompositorischen Raffinesse eine latente Spannung, die durchaus fesselnd ist. Alessi verfügt über einen wunderbar lyrischen Ton, kann aber mit vitalen, aus dem Vokabular des Post-Bop und Free-Jazz genährten Ausbrüchen durchaus auch Dramatik erzeugen. Gary Versace hat Jason Moran am Piano ersetzt und versteht es hervorragend, die von Alessi bewusst ausgesparten kompositorischen Freiräume auf vielfältige Weise zu nutzen, um das musikalische Geschehen voranzutreiben und den Bandleader mit zusätzlichen Inspirationen zu versorgen. Drew Gress am Kontrabass und Nasheet Waits an den Drums zählen zu den subtilsten und improvisatorisch kompetentesten Rhythmusgespannen unserer Zeit.

Peter Füßl, Kultur

Was sein Leaderdebüt 2013 andeutete, das unterstreicht dieses Album nun mit einigen kräftigen Fanfarenstößen: Ralph Alessi ist der präsenteste, farbenreichste Jazztrompeter der Gegenwart […] Zehn Themen voll flirrendem Esprit, vier Musiker, die einander zuhören, die Wege des anderen mitgehen, blitzschnell die Richtungen wechseln. All dies ergibt ein faszinierendes Fanal für den Individualismus des Kollektivs.

Reinhard Köchl, Jazzthing

Voici quelqu‘ un qui sait ce que veut dire composer/arranger pour un quartette: point de complaisance, foin de clichés, au diable les facilités mélodiques ou harmoniques…Pas non plus d’aridité cérébrale. […] un disque sensuel, riche, vibrant d’interaction, que l’on n’hésitera pas à qualifier de remarquable.

Thierry Quénum, Jazz Magazine

The trumpeter seems to have found an ideal venue, his penchant for the oblique statement and ventilated ensemble nicely couched in a pristine recording and a magical ensemble. Alessi’s compositions have an allusive vibe, less outright statements than skeletons on which the band drapes its sounds […] The quality of bold indirectness that makes ‘Quiver’ so exceptional is also integral to Alessi’s playing. He can squeeze a run like a lemon, juicing a melody into a little pool of liquid, or he may croon as on ‘Heist’, growing animated but never brash, always reaching for refreshing notes.

John Corbett, Downbeat

Peter Füßl, Kultur

Obwohl insgesamt intim und verhalten, ist diese aphoristisch anhebende und ausklingende CD ein Beispiel funkelnder, wendungsreicher Improvisationskunst, wobei Ralph Alessi mit Gary Versace (p), Drew Gress (b) und Nasheet Waits (dr) drei glänzende, hellwach und uneitel agierende Musiker zur Seite stehen, die dem Schimmern der Trompete noch zusätzliche Lichtreflexe hinzufügen.

Klaus Nüchtern, Falter

“Alessi’s stock-in-trade is to make the angularities and asymmetries of complex tunes sound natural, to assert their logic, to lead. There is always the sense of a direction of travel. His trumpet sound is full, focused, a constant pleasure to hear.” – LondonJazz

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s ECM leader debut – 2013’s Baida – was the album where “everything came together for him,” according to a JazzTimes profile. “Without abandoning his yen for oppositional energies, it’s a beautifully coherent statement, not just his most accomplished album but a contender for one of the year’s best.” Baida indeed went on to become the most lauded release of Alessi’s career, with The New York Times praising the music for its balance of “elegant precision and power.” With Quiver, Alessi combines with pianist Gary Versace and the trumpeter’s longtime rhythm section of choice – bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits – to create a follow-up of quicksilver melodicism and subtly energized rhythm; there is a lyricism to Alessi’s playing on Quiver that channels such forebears as Miles Davis and Kenny Wheeler, the mood often reflective. As DownBeat says: “Alessi works between the notes, his thoughtful, conversational solos as meditative as a calligrapher’s art, each line free-flowing and declarative but with immaculate shape and beauty.”

Alessi has long been renowned as a musician’s musician, a first-call New York trumpeter who can play virtually anything on sight and has excelled as an improviser in groups led by Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch and Don Byron, as well as leading his own bands on stage and on record. But Alessi has stood especially tall as a leader with Baida and, now, Quiver, which was recorded in Oslo and mixed in New York with producer Manfred Eicher. The quartet for Quiver sees Versace step to the piano stool in place of the estimable Jason Moran, who graced Baida. Versace immediately makes his poetic presence felt, the arpeggiated chords in his solo introduction to “Here Tomorrow” being the first notes of the album.

“Gary carries on a continuity of approach from Jason, similar in spirit but definitely his own, distinctive man,” Alessi says. “This is wide-open music, with a lot of latitude for interpretation, especially for the piano. The pianist can play a melodic role, make harmonic suggestions, lay out – all of which Gary does in the most creative way. What I like most about him is that he is such a focused improviser, with his improvising very much spontaneous composing.”

The New York Times has characterized the Gress/Waits rhythm duo as having an “earthy elasticity.” Alessi has been playing with Gress since they teamed in the late 1990s for one of pianist Uri Caine’s groups. “I’ve played electric bass myself for a long while, and I like to write riffs and bass lines,” the trumpeter explains. “Drew can really groove on these to create a subtle tension. He has no problem serving the music by playing those parts, although he always knows when he can open things up and take it to a different place. His ears are amazing, and he’s a great composer himself, so he brings that sensibility to the music.”

Alessi and Waits first played together more than a decade ago as members of pianist Fred Hersch’s quintet. One of New York’s most inventive drummers, Waits once again gives a deeply musical performance on Quiver, providing the sound of surprise as well as quiet groove. “Nasheet has this quality that I love in a musician, particularly drummers – he has this third eye, this intuitive way of playing the music,” Alessi says. “He always creates a magical energy that makes the music so exciting. Some drummers just have ‘it’ – and Nasheet really does.” The album’s closing track, “Do Over,” is a brief tune that was played through new on the session just so Waits could solo over it, capping the album with a final hit. “He shows his naturally dynamic side on that,” Alessi says. “I just wish we would’ve kept going so we could hear him playing like that over and over.”

As with the title track of Baida, Alessi references his young daughter on Quiver, with the title of “Window Goodbyes” hinting at the 5-year-old’s habit of waving farewell to her father, bound for the road. “When I leave, she likes to go to the window and keep saying goodbye,” he says. “As a dad, I just love that, but there’s a melancholy there, too.” For all its balletic rhythmic subtleties, the album has an overall air of wistfulness, as the trumpeter recalls the session. “For whatever reason, it was something of a pensive day in the studio. The music can’t help but have something of that feeling in it, I guess. As a musician, my goal is to express myself as honestly as possible, to feel and react in the moment. That’s how jazz is supposed to be.”