I,
Claudia
by Claudia Quintet
Cuneiform, Silver Springs, MD, 2004
Audio CD, Rune 187, $13
Distributors website: http://cunieformrecords.com
Semi-Formal
by Claudia Quintet
Cuneiform, Silver Springs, MD, 2004
Audio CD, Rune 217, $13
Distributors website: http://cunieformrecords.com
Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher
Saginaw Valley State University
mosher@svsu.edu
One standard by which I judge music these
days is how well it inspires art students
in my Drawing and Design classes. The
opinions of these young people matter,
for I recall unjaded (though stridently
judgmental) reactions to what I heard
as an undergraduate. So in composing this
review, I mix their reactions in with
my own.
I, Claudia is the 2004 CD by the
Claudia Quintet, a combo led by drummer
John Hollenbeck (www.johnhollenbeck.com)
is which percussion is often given primacy.
The beat that propels "Just Like Him"
then wears an infectious four-note riff
Matt Morans vibes pitted against
Chris Speeds Roxy Music reeds for
some bracing breakfast music. A weird
klaxon or air raid sirenthen
an accordiontransitions the
piece to a mellower mood. There is a similar,
busy urbanity to " . . . can you get through
this life with a good heart?"
"Opening" suggests Brian Enos ambient
theatricality, perhaps Tangerine Dream
playing a dutiful elves workshop
march. In other cuts Hollenbecks
beat is less insistent. "Couch" is quiet
and contemplative, evocative of foghorns
and nocturnal seacoast waves. "The Cloud
of Unknowing", appropriately named, meanders
a bit aimlessly. And this reviewer is
still trying to figure out if the song
title "arabic" alludes to orientalia or
to the gum.
The 2005 CD called Semi-Formal seems to
be better artmaking work music, at least
for my classes. "Major Nelson" is fun
Carl Stallings cartoon music, with tinkling
sixteenth notes in what becomes almost
a xylophonic take on the Batman theme.
"Drewslate" has a middle eastern feel,
a bubbling hookah full of notes that dissolves
into a phone message, inviting a flautist
to burst in; its insistent action-items
beat marches towards a decisive ending.
The Quintet likes to speed up, or to each
play in different rhythms, so their moments
together feel as if they happened by chance.
Easy to achieve through multitrack recording,
it must be difficult for them to play
live with each musician counting time
in his head, blocking out the others.
This is music for math majors, a sort
of "Math Jazz".
"Limp mint" piles vibes atop a pleasantly
off-kilter rhythm. "Susan" gives us daybreak
revealing itself in a manner pleasing
to Erik Satie, maybe Benjamin Britten,
a fauns fateful afternoon or 1950s
serious TV drama soundtrack. "They point
. . . glance . . . whisper . . . then
snicker . . . " is more drummer-led jazz,
this time made up of urbane snare and
vibes, insouciant organ and lively sax.
In contrast, "Kord" uses awestruck open
chords at long intervals that chime like
Big Ben on a foggy night, then fade into
silence. The waterfront is then covered
by nice jazz saxophone in the tradition
of Pharoah Sanders' bleat or Lol Coxhill
improvisations.
Though no vocalist is listed on the CD
cover, my Midwestern art students laughed
at what they called the "dying puppies"
cut near the end. I found the organ workout
"Two teachers" appropriate for the classroom,
a sophisticated bossa nova with fine sax
and rippling accordion working towards
an ominous buildup. Nevertheless, an older,
European-born student chose that moment
to comment on how she preferred drawing
to the accompaniment of classical music,
rather than to jazz.