TO OUR ENGLISH SPEAKING READERS: PLEASE ENJOY THE CLUMSY HALF-MACHINE-HALF-HUMAN TRANSLATION OF THE REVIEW BELOW THE SERBIAN VERSION
Jazz Nedeljom je zamišljen kao serija vinjeta koje će ići (možda ne?) svake Nedelje, nudeći preporuku u vidu jednog jazz albuma koji sam tog dana slušao. Ovo nema pretenziju da bude ni ultimativni prikaz neke klasične ploče niti otkrivanje nekog budućeg klasika, već zaista samo to, da se kažu reč-dve o albumu koji sam tog dana rado slušao. Ponekada će to biti stare, proverene klasične stvari, ponekada najnovije izdanje koje sam izvalio na Bandcampu, hoću reći, neće biti pravila. Kako i treba. Kako i mora.
Veoma me je obradovao Jorge Torrecillas kada mi je pre neki dan poslao drugi album svog veličanstvenog projekta koji se big bendom ne naziva samo zato što bi to previše ograničilo očekivanja slušaoca pa bi mu onda mozak bio JOŠ VIŠE razbucan nakon slušanja. Orquesta Inorgánica: Viaje hacia lo inesperado je u prvom redu korektno nazvana ploča; ovo je zbilja „putovanje u neočekivano“, pogotovo ako vam je to prvi susret sa muzikom ovog kolektiva. No, vi ste učena osoba prefinjenog ukusa i sigurno ste kao i ja, pre neke dve i po godine veoma uživali u prvom albumu ovog projekta, Noctámbulos, a o kom je pisano na ovom mestu. Čak i tako, Viaje hacia lo inesperado je takav skok u to pomenuto nepoznato, takva avantura u neistraženim predelima savremene muzike da je, barem meni, sada nemoguće da o Noctámbulos razmišljam kao o bilo čemu drugom do o zagrevanju, isprobavanju, razigravanju mišića. Sa Viaje hacia lo inesperado ovaj muzički projekat se pokazuje kao raskošna, energična kombinacija kompozicije i improvizacije koja se neidiomatskom naziva samo jer ne želi da VAS obavezuje nekakvim pokušajima da shvatite u koji bi žanr ovo trebalo da spada i iz koje tradicije dolazi. Jer se tako slučajno može desiti da vam promakne lepota same muzike, njena neposrednost u izrazu, njena ljupkost u odmotavanju narativa za koje jedno vreme niste bili ni svesni da su počeli.
O Argentincu Jorgeu Torrecillasu, koji je predvodnik ovog orkestra sam opširnije pisao prošli put, a on me je zamolio da ovom prilikom ne pišem o njemu lično jer je Orquesta Inorgánica kolektiv, jedan veliki sastav sklopljen od muzičara različitih žarnrovskih pozadina pa i različitih generacija, sa različitih krajeva Argentine (mada većinski iz Tandila). Kao i na prvom albumu orkestar broji trinaest stalnih članova koji improvizuju i sviraju Torrecillasove kompozicije, pod njegovom direkcijom, ali je ovde onda dodata i Guillermina Moroder kao „gostujuća pevačica“ i to pored već postojeće dve pevačice u postavi (Juanita Flores Arce i Karina Altamiranda).
I ovo već sugeriše razliku između prvog i drugog albuma, a gde su oba izašla za izvrsnu, malu ali žilavu etiketu Numeral iz Buenos Airesa. Noctámbulos je u postavi imao Juanitu Flores Arceovu, ali ona je najvećim delom bila samo jedna od niti u gustoj tapiseriji zvuka koja je karakterisala taj album. Drugi glas koji smo tamo čuli (Alicia Larsen) bio je zadužen za recitovanje i Noctámbulos je, uostalom prirodno, imajući u vidu svoju „noćnu“ temu, bio tamnija i hermetičnija ploča u kojoj se džez komponenta povremeno pomaljala između dugačkih pasaža moderne atonalne kompozicije. Viaje hacia lo inesperado obeležavaju još duže kompozicije, ali je način na koje se one razvijaju, uprkos imenu orkestra, primetno organskiji. Vidi se da je ova ekipa intenzivno nastupala po Argentini tokom proteklog perioda i da se tu izgradila nova hemija. Utoliko, Torrecillas ovde ima slobodu da kreira značajno složenije kompozicije, sastavljene od mnogo slojeva i posebnih celina a koje Orquesta Inorgánica izvodi sa opipljivim entuzijazmom i zaraznom energijom.
To je, čini mi se, ono što najpre čujete kada krene ovaj album i što vam najpre ukazuje na to da je u pitanju grupa ljudi koja se poslednje dve godine tesala na različitim binama, pronalazeći jedni u drugima ono što im odgovara i ono na šta mogu da najbolje reaguju. Kompozicija koja album otvara, skoro devetominutna Caminos Cruzados je, kao i na prošlom albumu, jedan energičniji, ritmički komad sa vrlo izraženom džez-dimenzijom i, štaviše, da je ceo album ovakav, sasvim bih ga bez griže savesti preporučio publici koja voli kada je hardbop malo pustolovniji. Ovde bubnjarka Daiana Grierson na pravi način odšrafi svoje zglobove i zajedno sa iskusnim kontrabasistom Mariom Albom vozi sastav kroz ležeran, slobodan ali ultimativno plesan gruv. Tu duvači onda dosta soliraju – orkestar je pun saksofona ali vredi u ovoj kompoziciji istaći trombonistu Juana Pantusu koji svira kao da je u nekakvom baru na obali i da je svestan koliko su svi već popili – ali se kompozicija prema kraju fatalno transformiše u free jazz sa prvo saksofonima koji razbijaju ritmički, tematski i harmonski okvir koga se do tada ekipa držala a onda sa vokalima koji svemu daju jednu, pa, organsku, dimenziju improvizacije i duha.
Vokali su dalje na albumu često korišćeni kao dodatni instrumenti – ovde nema „pevanja“ u smislu melodičnog izvođenja teksta – i neizmerno doprinose toplini koju Orquesta Inorgánica emituje. A što je dobro pa i preko potrebno jer kada se Caminos Cruzados („Ukrštene staze“) završi, orkestar stupa sve manje utabanim… stazama. Dvanaestipominutna No Hay Razón Para Temer („Nema razloga za strah“… yeah, right) je duvački vođen komad koji samo podseća na džez ali je prevashodno u duhu neidiomatskog, modernističkog zvuka sa temama – kada ih ima – koje vole atonalnost a onda i sa razbijanjem orkestra na manje grupe da se prorade individualne teme i improvizacije. Ovo je komad prektično bez ritma, ali ma koliko da Torrecillas insistira na neidiomatskoj muzici, ovaj album dosta čvrsto stoji u secištu tradicija free jazza, akademske kompozicije, povremeno i art rocka, u smislu da se uvek izražava notama (ako već ne temama i harmonijama) i ne naglašava teksture ili brujanja a što je veoma često slučaj u neidiomatskoj improvizaciji gde je sviranje instrumenta na način koji nje bio predviđen specifikacijom praktično ideal. Rezultat je da Viaje hacia lo inesperado zvuči ne staromodno ali definitivno ugodno familijarno, sa instrumentalistima koji veoma očigledno vole boje svojih alatki i koriste ih da obogate i popune gustu zvučnu sliku koju Torrecillas priziva, baš kao u, na primer, finalu druge kompozicije.
Treća, Sueños Peligrosos („Opasni snovi“) udaraljke, uglavnom doboš, koristi za punktuaciju, radije nego za držanje ritma i ovo se postepeno razvija u kompleksnu kompoziciju iz mnogo epizoda, gde duvači (flaute posebno!) i ženski vokali razvijaju atmosferu i narativ, izlazeći iz mračnijih boja sa početka i nudeći jednu razigranu, poletnu improvizaciju.
Nakon tih petnaest minuta na red stiže trinaestominutna El dolor lo justifica todo („Bol opravdava sve“), još jedan impresivan primer Torrecillasove direkcije. U ovoj se kompoziciji improvizovani gruv bubnjeva, kontrabasa i klavira (Ezequiel Lavayen) postepeno razvija u himničnu, moćnu free jazz kompoziciju sa duvačima i vokalistikinjama koji zvuče kao da ste ih uhvatili usred obreda koji treba da promeni godišnje doba. I sve to ima ugodno poznat miris ekstatičkog džeza i pustolovnijeg roka sedamdesetih godina prošlog veka, a što valjda ima i smisla jer je Torrecillas u nekom muzičkom smislu upravo tada stasavao.
No me pidas que decida („Ne traži od mene da odlučujem“) je onda i sama logičan nastavak ovog smera sa „čistom“ neidiomatskom improvizacijom u orkestru gde svi sviraju u isto vreme ali se haos i kakofonija izbegavaju pažljivom direkcijom energije i ostavljanjem prostora za solo izlete na koje onda treba reagovati u realnom vremenu. Ovo je jedna od najkompleksnijih i po boji, atmosferi i harmoniji najraznolikijih kompozicija na albumu, sa prelascima iz „čiste“ avangarde u džez gruv i nazad. A potpuno je improvizovana, bez startne teme. Kada pomislite da je čitav album ovakve muzike snimljen za samo jedan dan morate da osetite malo strahopoštovanja.
Konačno, album zatvara druga „čista“ džez kompozicija na ploči, Veinticinco no tiene mitad („Dvadesetpet nema polovinu“), jedan ozbiljan i ozbilno cool hardbop u kome sve strategije koje smo do tada čuli na albumu dobijaju počasni krug u jednoj disciplinovanoj ali zarazno plesnoj formi.
Orquesta Inorgánica se, mislim, postepeno transformiše u instituciju argentinskeog džeza, svakako nezaobilaznu pojavu njegovog avangardnijeg krila. Spoj moderne, neidiomatske kompozicije i džezerske improvizacije se na ovom albumu, uprkos tom imenu orkestra, dešava izrazito organski, sa besprekornim uklapanjem ritma, harmonije i eksperimentalne, neidiomatske, gesturalne svirke. Eksperiment se ovde ne dešava na nivou tehnike – kako rekoh česta, možda i prečesta pojava među avangardnim improvizatorima – već na nivou kompozicije, strukture, jukstapozicije naizgled nemogućih parova a onda prikazivanja kako im lako ide ples u paru. Da ponovim još jednom: veličanstveno.
AND NOW FOR THE BROKEN ENGLISH BONUS:
Jorge Torrecillas made me a happy man the other day when he sent me the second album of his magnificent project that we do not call a big band just because it would limit the listener’s expectations too much and then their mind would be blown EVEN FURTHER upon listening. Orquesta Inorgánica: Viaje hacia lo inesperado is first and foremost a correctly named record; this is really a „journey into the unexpected“, especially if it’s your first encounter with the music of this collective. However, you are a gentleman and a scholar with a refined taste and you must have, just as I did, enjoyed the first album of this project, Noctámbulos, about two and a half years ago. Even so, Viaje hacia lo inexpedero is such a leap into the aforementioned unknown, such an adventure into the uncharted territories of contemporary music that, at least for me, it is now impossible to think of Noctámbulos as anything other than a warm-up, a trial, a mere flexing of muscles. With Viaje hacia lo inexpedero, this musical project turns out to be a sumptuous, energetic combination of composition and improvisation, which is called non-idiomatic only because it does not want to oblige YOU with any attempts to understand what genre this should belong to and what tradition it comes from. Because it can so accidentally happen that you miss the beauty of the music itself, its immediacy in expression, its loveliness in unfolding narratives that for a while you were not even aware had begun.
I wrote about the Argentinian musician Jorge Torrecillas in more detail last time, and this time around hhe asked that I omit writing about him due to this project being a collective effort. Orquesta Inorgánica, is a large ensemble made up of musicians from different genre backgrounds and even different generations, from different parts of Argentina (although the majority from Tandil). As on the first album, the orchestra has thirteen permanent members who improvise and play Torrecillas’ compositions, under his direction, but here Guillermina Moroder was added as a „guest singer“ in addition to the two already existing singers in the line-up (Juanita Flores Arce and Karina Altamiranda ).
And this already suggests the difference between the first and second album, both put out by the excellent, small but tenacious label Numeral from Buenos Aires. Noctámbulos featured Juanita Flores Arce in the lineup, but for the most part she was just one of the threads in the dense tapestry of sound that characterized that album. The second voice we heard there (Alicia Larsen) was in charge of the recitation and Noctámbulos, after all naturally, considering its „night“ theme, was a darker and more hermetic record in which the jazz component occasionally appeared between long passages of modern atonal composition. Viaje hacia lo inexpedero features even longer compositions, but the way they develop, despite the name of the orchestra, is noticeably more organic. You can tell this team performed fiercely across Argentina during the past couple of years and that some new chemistry was built right there and then. Therefore, on this album Torrecillas is at liberty to create significantly more complex compositions, composed of many layers and special units, which Orquesta Inorgánica performs with palpable enthusiasm and contagious energy.
It seems to me that this is the first thing you hear when this album starts and the first thing that indicates to you that this is a group of people who have been sweating many concert stages for the last two years, recognizing each other’s preferences and how to best react to them. The composition that opens the album, the almost nine-minute long Caminos Cruzados, is, like on the last album, a more energetic, rhythmic piece with a very pronounced jazz dimension and, in fact, if the whole album was like this, I wouldn’t think twice about recommending it to an audience that likes their hardbop when it goes a little bit adventurous. Here, drummer Diana Grierson really loosens her knuckles and, together with experienced double bass player Mario Alba, drives the band through a casual, free but ultimately danceable groove. Then the brass does a bunch of solos– the orchestra is full of saxophones, but in this composition it is worth highlighting the trombonist Juan Pantusa, who plays as if he is in some kind of bar on the coast and is aware of how much everyone has already had to drink – but towards the end, the composition somewhat fatally transforms into free jazz with first with saxophones breaking the rhythmic, thematic and harmonic framework that the team had been sticking to until then, and then with vocals that give everything an, well, organic, dimension of improvisation and spirit.
Vocals are often used as additional instruments later on in the album – there is barely any „singing“ here in the sense of melodious performance of lyrics – and they contribute immensely to the warmth that Orquesta Inorgánica emits. Which is good and even necessary because when Caminos Cruzados („Crossed Paths“) comes to an end, the orchestra treads increasingly less trodden… paths. The twelve-and-a-half-minute No Hay Razón Para Temer („There’s no reason to be afraid“…yeah, right) is a brass-driven piece that just hints at jazz but is primarily in the spirit of a non-idiomatic, modernist sound with themes – when there are – that embrace atonality and then the orchestra is broken into smaller groups to work through individual themes and improvisations. This is a piece with almost no rhythm, but no matter how much Torrecillas insists on non-idiomatic music, this album stands quite firmly at the intersection of the traditions of free jazz, academic composition, and occasionally art rock, in the sense that it is always expressed through notes (if not with themes and harmonies ) and does not emphasize textures or drones, which is very often the case in non-idiomatic improvisation where playing the instrument in the way that was NOT foreseen in the technical spec is practically the holy grail and the desired endgame. The result is that Viaje hacia lo inexpedero sounds not old-fashioned but definitely pleasantly familiar, with the instrumentalists very clearly loving the colors of their instruments and using them to enrich and fill out the dense soundscape that Torrecillas evokes, just as in, for example, the finale of the second composition.
The third, Sueños Peligrosos („Dangerous Dreams“), uses percussion, mainly drums, for punctuation rather than rhythm and this gradually develops into a complex multi-episode composition, where brass (flutes especially!) and female vocals develop the atmosphere and narrative, coming out of the darker colors of the beginning and offering a playful, spirited improvisation.
After those fifteen minutes comes the thirteen-minute El dolor lo justifica todo („The pain justifies everything“), another impressive example of Torrecillas’ direction. In this composition, an improvised groove of drums, double bass and piano (Ezequiel Lavayen) gradually develops into an anthemic, powerful free jazz composition with brass players and female vocalists who sound as if you caught them in the middle of a ritual that is supposed to change the season of the year by force. It all has a pleasantly familiar smell of ecstatic jazz and more adventurous rock of the seventies of the last century, which I guess makes sense because Torrecillas was, musically speaking, coming of age right then.
No me pidas que decida („Don’t ask me to decide“) is then itself a logical continuation of this direction with „pure“ non-idiomatic improvisation in the orchestra where everyone plays at the same time but chaos and cacophony are avoided by careful direction of energy and leaving room for solo charges to which other musicians then need to react in real time. This is one of the most complex and in terms of color, atmosphere and harmony probably the most diverse composition on the album, with transitions from „pure“ avant-garde to jazz groove and back. And it is completely improvised, without even a hint of an initial theme. When you think that an entire album of this kind of music was recorded in just one day, you have to shit yourself a little.
Finally, the album closes with the second „pure“ jazz composition on the record, Veinticinco no tiene mitad („Twenty-five is not the half“), a serious and seriously cool hardbop in which all the strategies we’ve heard up to that point on the album get a victory lap in a disciplined but infectious dance format.
Orquesta Inorgánica, in my humble opinion, is gradually becoming an institution of Argentinian jazz, certainly the inevitable, unmissable phenomenon in its more avant-garde wing. The combination of modern, non-idiomatic composition and jazz improvisation on this album, despite the name of the orchestra, happens very organically, with a flawless way in which rhythm, harmony and experimental, non-idiomatic, gestural playing fit together. The experiment here does not take place at the level of technique – as I said, a frequent, perhaps too frequent occurrence among avant-garde improvisers – but at the level of composition, structure, juxtaposition of seemingly impossible pairs and then showing how easy it is for them to dance as a couple. Allow me to say it again: this is magnificent.