The idea for pairing these two albums came from seeing them listed together in another publication. While someone else wrote that piece, I still wanted to hear and write about both albums.
Phillip Golub/Lesley Mok
Dream Brigade
(Infrequent Seams) dreambrigade.bandcamp.com/album/dream-brigade
At a concert of free improvisation, it's possible to see the musical connections between players, e.g. when one hits upon an idea and the other performers respond and react to it. Observing this in real time can have electric results for those who pay close attention to such details. There have been many instances when musicians smile or even laugh a little in surprise after a performance, as impressed as the audience at what just transpired in their hands.
Listening to a recording, that immediacy might not come across the same way. It requires listeners to give a little more. Dream Brigade, a set of duos by pianist Phillip Golub and drummer Lesley Mok, is marked by several places where the absence of sound, or the sparse quaility of the music, actually serves as a way to generate a closer listen. "Invisible Ink" starts off like a piano nocturne, with Golub alone, playing bits of notes that hang in the air and decay. It feels like a solo piece but eventually cymbals begin stirring in the background, followed later by brushing sounds. Mok never disrupts or reshapes Golub's work, instead adding complements.
In the two "Low Passage" pieces, Mok sounds deliberately low in volume or in the mix. Cymbals bowed by sticks in part one and a distant floor tom roll in part two lend intrigue. Even when Golub digs into a two-note vamp in part two (in a rhythm that almost recalls Suicide's "Rocket USA"), Mok cuts loose with cymbal splashes and rolls around the kit, avoiding any temptation to blast. When they do play louder, in the rollicking "Tunnel Throat," Mok locks in with Golub, who scales the whole length of his instrument.
Along with six improvisations, Dream Brigade includes two standards. "Darn That Dream" doesn't make itself clear until Golub teases the theme out later in the track. Prior to that, his hesistant chords recall how Thelonious Monk used starkness in a solo performance. George Shearing's "Conception" maintains a little more of its bop grounding, though the pianist's inspired lines forego any rhythmic tethers and Mok makes the whole thing dance.
A Reflection Distorts Over Water
Mok joins tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia and pianist Marilyn Crispell for a set of largely improvised pieces, some based on Nebbia's scores plus one original work. The drummer actually contributed their piece "Longing" to the session, which blurs the line between composition and improvisation with over 60 seconds of ringing cymbals before Crispell plays the gentle melody.
Nebbia doesn't appear on that track, at least not blantantly, but leaves an impressimve mark on the rest of the session, drawing on a varied range of techniques. A throaty rasp factors into "Transitoriness" to create a mix of short thoughts with more extended ones. "Streamside" concludes the album with a gentle spray of multiphonics over brushes and light piano chords.
The 10-minute title track launches the album in a slow and cautious manner. Once Mok unleashes and fiery press roll, things take off, with Crispell jabbing chords beneath the tenor saxophone. The drummer and pianist really lock in together throughout the album, offering a good reminder of how the pianist still manages to blend post-Cecil Taylor fire music with a distinct melodic quality. As strong as the entire set sounds, "A Room is Being Erased" gives the best example of an unhinged three-way conversation about where this music can go.
I probably end a lot of reviews by pondering if a group of this stature ever gets the chance to perform live, tour or even reconvene in the studio at some later date. But it's not my fault that a session of such wide ranging ideas and playing leaves the listener wanting more.
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