CD ECM Records Andrew Cyrille Quartet: The Declaration Of Music Independence

2016

Andrew Cyrille - tobe
Bill Frisell - chitara electrica
Richard Teitelbaum - pian, sintetizator
Ben Street - bas

The great avant-jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille – whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with Cecil Taylor to co-leading current all-star collective Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman – makes his ECM leader debut with The Declaration of Musical Independence. Featuring a quartet with guitar luminary Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum and bassist Ben Street, the album kicks off with an artfully oblique interpretation of John Coltrane’s “Coltrane Time,” led by Cyrille’s solo drum intro. The disc then features a sequence of sonically arresting originals, including Street’s luminous “Say…” and Frisell’s deeply felt “Kaddish” and “Song for Andrew,” with Frisell’s guitar alternately cutting and billowing, the edge evoking some of his most illustrious past ECM performances. There are three atmospheric spontaneous compositions by the band – including the dynamic soundscape “Dazzling (Perchordally Yours)” -- that highlight Cyrille’s individual sense of percussive drama. Cyrille appeared on classic ECM and WATT albums by the likes of Marion Brown, Carla Bley and the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, but this album puts a deserved spotlight on an icon of jazz drumming.

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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

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

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

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