Double trios and double quartets are common enough in improv, but the
double duo is an avenue quite unexplored. And it was more than likely
thanks to the muse of no planning that this quartet stumbled upon the
format.
Catherine Janeaux has taken to late-night concerts with Marc Ribot
about once a year at Tonic over the last few years. She has been seen
little, stateside at least, since the death of her husband, cellist Tom
Cora, in 1998, so this new association is a welcome one.
The quartet didn't play four-square so much as a game of bridge with
ever-rotating partners. Ribot and Rothenberg were smart and gracious
accompanists, plucking duets from whatever Janeaux or Mori might put
in the air.
Janeaux is perhaps best known (if the term even applies) for her great
records with The Hat Shoes. She does sweet sing-song, innocent
contemplations and surprising screeches and submersions, all made that
much more charming (to monolingual Yankee ears) for being sung in
French, when, at least, it's words she sings. She and Mori have a long
history together, going back to their duo Vibraslap and continued on
Tzadik releases under Mori's name. Mori works well with vocalists (well,
she does well with everything, but particularly with vocalists), and her
laptop microcosms gave broad support to Janeaux's wanderings and
musings. Ribot wouldn't be the superstar he is today if he wasn't a
crackerjack sideman. He played hard acoustic and beautiful electric (?!),
accompanying Janeaux nicely and joining Mori's fields of pops and hums
expertly.
Rothenberg, however, is such a phenom on reeds that it's rare to hear
him in a support role. He played long and low with Mori, alternately
giving Janeaux deep-end grooves on his bass clarinet.
It's a pleasure to see that Janeaux's long relationship with downtown
improv hasn't ended, and these occasional gigs are showing there couldbe plenty more in the offing.
Comments and Feedback:
|