A version of John Coltrane’s ‘Coltrane Time’ kicks things off with a snare pattern Cyrille learned from Coltrane drummer Rashied Ali – which he sustains while the others float rhythmically and arhythmically around him. Frisell’s melancholy ‘Kaddish’ rings quietly on over Cyrille’s far-distant mallets, Street’s ‘Say’ resembles a slow pop ballad, and ‘Dazzling (Perchordally Yours)’ is built around alternations of single chord-hits and silences, the players reacting to the resonances. It all swings without regular swing, sounding fluently melodic, though much of it is cell-like and episodic.
John Fordham, The Guardian
Sie trägt den programmatischen Titel ‚The Declaration of Musical Indepence‘, und das heisst in Cyrilles Fall die Entscheidung für eine freie, aber keineswegs anarchische oder gar beliebige Perkussion. Sie ist, könnten wir sagen, die Rebellion des (gefühlten) Rhythmus gegen das (gesetzte) Metrum, inspirierend offen im Interplay mit all seinen Partnern, mit eindringlich hymnischen Passagen (‚Coltrane Time‘, oder Frisells ‚Kaddish‘) und einer Reihe kollektiv entstandener quecksilbrig changierender Stücke wie der Hommage an den Produzenten, ‚Manfred‘. Heavy stuff.
Peter Rüedi, Die Weltwoche
There’s no ready template for this quartet, although perhaps a certain logic: Messrs. Frisell and Teitelbaum are among the most distinctive and musical players working with plugged-in instruments and processed sounds, each crafting a signature that seems at once otherworldly and personal. Mr. Street is among jazz’s most versatile bassists, exuding rare empathy in every context. Such a band setup might end up messy or disjointed, however, were it not for Mr. Cyrille, whose unrestrained rhythmic flow is always direct, precise and economical.
Larry Blumenfeld, The Wall Street Journal
There’s no ready template for this quartet, although perhaps a certain logic: Messrs. Frisell and Teitelbaum are among the most distinctive and musical players working with plugged-in instruments and processed sounds, each crafting a signature that seems at once otherworldly and personal. Mr. Street is among jazz’s most versatile bassists, exuding rare empathy in every context. Such a band setup might end up messy or disjointed, however, were it not for Mr. Cyrille, whose unrestrained rhythmic flow is always direct, precise and economical.
Larry Blumenfeld, The Wall Street Journal
Bassist Ben Street and keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum weave in and out of the leader’s enigmatic phrasing while, above it, guitarist Bill Frisell – a master of this vast and liquid space – drops shafts of musical light that illuminate Cyrille’s gorgeous, ambiguous grooves.
Cormac Larkin, Irish Times
Das Quartett nimmt sich alle Zeit der Welt, um scheinbar aus dem Nichts heraus spannende musikalische Erzählungen zu entwickeln, bei denen man nicht weiß, was hinter der nächsten Biegung lauert.
Karl Gedlicka, Concerto
There is a lot of air between these four players – especially on the group compositions which are presumably free in some aspects – as they circle and glide around each other, sometimes crossing, sometimes playing alongside though never very close. Quiet, inexplicable, uncanny, fascinating…
Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast
The quartet creates a mesmerizing fusion of natural and synthetic sounds. The music often teeters on the verge of a beautiful sort of chaos but never alienates the listener.
Bret Saunders, Denver Post
The master drummer’s first ECM recording as leader feels very much like a collaborative project, deeply thought out and sensitive throughout. Although perhaps an unexpected grouping with Bill Frisell on guitar, Ben Street on bass and Richard Teitelbaum on piano and synthesizers, there is clearly a common purpose, with fluid and reactive playing from all four.
Peter Bevan, Northern Echo
Pionnier du free aux côtés de Cecil Taylor, Andrew Cyrille a peu à peu épuré la densité foisonannte de son jeu, jusqu’à atteindre une science de l’ellipse et de la pulsation suggérée que seul Paul Motian avait su èlever à un niveau comparable. […] Magistral!
Pascal Rozat, Jazz Magazine
Andrew Cyrille and his bandmates make their intentions clear from the get go of this wonderful new recording on ECM. This is an unabashed exploration into time, pulse, space and atmosphere. […]The closing number, Frisell’s ‘Song For Andrew No. 1,’ offers the best example of where this Cyrille and his quartet are heading. The drummer whips, rapid–fire, across the kit, and Frisell’s guitar sings slow and steady against the groove. Teitelbaum and Street each find just the right spots to create tension and release. The resulting music is ambitious yet simple, rich yet stripped down, challenging yet infinitely satisfying.
Frank Alkyer, Downbeat (Editor’s Pick)
Cyrille’s ECM debut as a leader is a singular affair spanning the spirited launch ‘Coltrane Time’ (a Coltrane tune never recorded by the saxophonist) to Frisell’s magisterial ‘Kaddish’ and Teitelbaum’s angular, inviting ‘Herky Jerky’. Collectively, the tracks speak to Cyrille’s refusal to hew the familiar and the overly accessible.
Carlo Wolff, Downbeat
Cet album en leader – son premier chez ECM, à presque 77 ans! – illustre son sens à la fois libre et poétique de punctuation, définissant un espace de reverie musicale au sein duquel ses brillants partenaires donnent libres cours à leur inspiration […] quant au ‘Herky Jerky’ de Teitelbaum, il èvoque de lointanes réminicences du ‘Misterioso’ de Thelonious Monk. Mais c’est surtout au fil de trois plages librement improvises que la coherence du groupe s’exprime à plein, entre bruitisme, lyrisme èlusif nimbé de silence et moments d’absoue ètrangeté. Magistral!
Pascal Rozat, Jazz Magazine, Jazzwise
Many improvising musicians advocate arrangements that have space and clarity but few apply that principle as well as Cyrille’s group does here. The leader often plays with a sotto voce sensibility, drawing ghost trails of sound from snare and cymbals that drift tantalizingly into the haze of the keys and strings while bassist Ben Street provides an offcentre solidity, often by pedaling right into the cusp of atonality. The result is highly melodic music that sings both in a slightly haunted and haunting way, steeped in electro-acoustic sounds that put some soul in the machine. […] Could well be a career highlight for Cyrille.
Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes
