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Christoph
Wagner, Schwäbischer Bote, 11.1.2008
Christoph
Wagner, Jazzpodium, März 2008
Entgrenzung
Die improvisierte Musik hat in den letzten Jahren nicht nur eine, sondern
zwei Revolutionen erfahren: die digital-elektronische und die weltmusikalische
Entgrenzung. Neben dem üblichen Freejazz-Instrumentarium kommt
inzwischen immer häufiger der kleine Laptop-Computer zum Einsatz.
Daneben entdecken Musiker überall auf dem Globus die Instrumente
ihrer traditionellen Folkmusiken für die freie Improvisation.
Das amerikanische Ensemble Maybe Monday unterstreicht den Trend. Angeführt
vom Gitarristen Fred Frith, einem der interessantesten Grenzgänger
zwischen Jazz, Rock und der E-Musik-Avantgarde, breitet das Septett
eine Tapestrie farbenreicher Sounds aus, die sich zwischen poetischer
Sinnlichkeit und aufbrausender Intensität bewegen.
Ikue Mori taucht mit ihrem Laptop die Musik in ein elektronischen Klangbad,
läßt es surren, klirren und rascheln. Miya Masaoka steht
dem nicht nach. Sie entlockt der japanischen Bodenharfe Koto ähnlich
abenteuerliche Klänge, die sie dazu noch elektronisch verfremdet
und verformt. In dieser neuen kühnen Klangwelt bewegen sich die
erfahrenen Improvisatoren Larry Ochs (Saxofon) und Gerry Hemingway (Schlagwerk)
überraschend souverän, als hätte Freejazz immer schon
derart futuristisch geklungen.
cw, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Februar 2008
Maybe Monday is Fred Frith
(electric guitar), Miya Masaoka (25-string koto and electronics) and
Larry Ochs (sopranino and tenor saxes). Their third album features guests
Gerry Hemingway (drums, percussion, voice), Carla Kihlstedt (electric
and acoustic violins), Ikue Mori (electronics) and Zeena Parkins (electric
harp and electronics). Though its members had played with each other
in different combinations, Maybe Monday first performed as a trio in
1997. Recorded in a New York studio in 2006, the present project grew
out of shows that Masaoka was curating for John Zorn at The Stone, the
results of which will be appearing on Intakt next year.
The album opens with "G"'s explosive torrent of sound, setting
the pattern for much of what follows in its kaleidscopic succession
of acoustic instrumental and electronic events. A playful, bucolic interlude
featuring koto, violin and electronics is shattered by Frith's shuddering
guitar chords and more turbulence; the piece ends in a mechanical-clock
anthem. The gentle musings of "Saptharishi Mandalam" centre
on an ethnic cocktail of Hawaiian-style guitar and koto. "Septentrion"
is the most rhythmic track, and sustains a barrage of sound featuring
a free jazz dirge by Ochs on tenor-sax. That mood continues on the final
track, "Unturned", until a more lyrical episode where Ochs's
sopranino curlicues round Frith's plangent, halting guitar line. With
just enough structure to hold things together, seven master musicians
exploit the dramatic possibilities of a freely improvised mix of acoustic
and electronic sounds.
ANDY HAMILTON, The Wire, London, April 2008
Unsquare is the third disc
from the Bay Area electro-acoustic improvisation ensemble Maybe Monday,
and the first since 2002’s Digital Wildlife (Winter & Winter).
Maybe Monday are a trio consisting of saxophonist Larry Ochs, guitarist
Fred Frith and koto/electronic artist Miya Masaoka. Here, four guests
augment the sax and string core: drummer Gerry Hemingway, violinist
Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins on harp, and Ikue Mori on electronics.
This septet evolved from a curatorial gig at New York’s sound
gallery the Stone. Unsquare is the studio meeting of these musicians,
and a two-disc live set is slated for release this year.
It is quite clear that Maybe Monday treads similar lines as collective
improvisation groups such as AMM, the Howard Riley trio with Barry Guy
and Tony Oxley, and the New Music Ensemble. The origins of a given sound
or combination of sounds are not important, and whether what one is
hearing comes from percussion, electronics, reeds, strings or something
else entirely matters little. It is a subsuming of the parts to the
whole, as well as a redefinition of the possibilities inherent in those
very parts.
That isn’t to say there aren’t certain elements that rise
to the top – Hemingway’s percussion, in trio with sopranino
and violin, create an angular and somewhat lumbering center of accents
on “G,” surrounded by a whirlwind of baited indeterminacy.
Skittering guitar runs and alien harp plucks make themselves known in
tense spaces, and tones do become associated with their origins once
one becomes attenuated to the environment. Ochs’ saxophones, especially
his tenor, are a commanding presence of near-lineage in a context wholly
its own as sounds gel and compel, propel forward, lapse and fail in
these five improvisations. He’s somewhat like Lou Gare in AMM,
a Coltrane-like keen duetting with Frith’s guitar in a sea of
samples and found sounds, almost pregnant with meaning in a struggle
for sonic definition. There is grace in this tapestry, too – Ochs’
pensive sopranino chirps and trills open “Nitrogen” alongside
subtle percussive accents and long tones, and Kihlstedt is a frequent
purveyor of ornate classicism and East European folksiness throughout.
But to parse Unsquare would be a disservice to the breadth of its canvas
– this is a very rich recording of electro-acoustic improvisation.
Clifford Allen, Bagatellen,
March 2008
Monté il y un peu
plus de dix ans par Fred Frith, Miya Masaoka et Larry Ochs, le projet
Maybe Monday enregistrait l’année dernière son troisième
album, et invitait pour l’occasion quelques musiciens efficients,
parmi lesquels le batteur Gerry Hemingway, la harpiste Zeena Parkins
et l’électronicienne Ikue Mori.
Improvisé, forcément déconstruit, Unsquare installe
des pratiques expérimentales complémentaires, révélant
quelques fois un lyrisme inattendu (violon de Clarla Kilhestadt, notamment)
mais le plus souvent attirées par ce genre d’intensité
que l’on découvre sur le vif. Alors, voici assemblées
le japonisme soigné de Parkins, les expériences toujours
ludiques de Frith, les couacs et à peu-près sonores d’Ochs
aux sopranino et ténor.
Hemingway, pour faire tenir l’ensemble : indispensable lorsque
Mori, Frith et Ochs commandent une pièce magistrale d’abstraction
bruitiste, bientôt consolidée par l’archet frénétique
de Kilhestadt : Unturned, qui referme ce recueil de musique électroacoustique
extravagante.
Le son du grisli, France, vendredi 28 mars 2008
Eine Art Klang-Guerilla ist
ist die Gruppe Maybe Monday mit Fred Frith, Miya Masaoka, Larry Ochs,
Gerry Hemingway, Caria Kihlstedt, lkue Mori und Zeena Parkins. Dieses
Gipfeltreffen der einstigen amerikanischen Jazz-Avantgarde legt offen,
was vom damaligen Pioniergeist noch übrig ist. Und das ist auf
"Unsquare" (Intakt/Records) eine Menge. Eine aufrüttelnde,
bitterböse und düsterbunte Mischung wie in den besten Tagen
des Fake-Jazz. Vielleicht führt die Obama-Offensive wieder ans
Tageslicht, was seit September 2001 verschüttet wurde.
Wolf Kampmann, Jazzthing, März 2008
Eigentlich sollten es ja
Livemitschnitte werden von MAYBE MONDAY im New Yorker The Stone, vom
Trio allein und dann seinen Begegnungen mit ausgewählten Vierten
- dem Drummer Gerry Hemingway, der Geigerin Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori
mit ihren Electronics und Zeena Parkins mit ihrer elektrifizierten Harfe.
Da aber Aufnahmen im The Stone eine heikle Sache sind, wurde vorsorglich
auch das East-Side-Sound-Studio gebucht und da die Gäste alle Zeit
hatten, versammelte sich um Fred Frith, Miya Masaoka & Larry Ochs
ein ganzes Septett, um Musik zu improvisieren, die jetzt als Unsquare
(Intakt CD 132) aus den Boxen schallt. Unspießige Musik? Ungerade
Musik? Beides und als solche in der elektroakustischen Mixtur nach Intakt-Maßstab
- die bisherigen Maybe-Monday-Scheiben Saturn‘s Finger (1999)
und Digital Wildlife (2002) sind bei Buzz bzw. Winter & Winter erschienen
- näher bei George Lewis Projekt Sequel als bei Fly Fly Fly oder
The Compass, Log & Lead, Trios mit Ochs & Masaoka bzw. Frith
& Kihlstedt. Mit Hemingway ist eine feine perkussive Komponente
im Spiel, auch wenn für ‚Septentrion‘ Frith den Groove
klopft. Das Saitenspiel ist zur Vierfältigkeit verdoppelt, Mori
setzt den deutlichsten unter den elektronischen Akzenten in dieser Ancient-Future-Klangwelt
und dennoch bleibt eine große Transparenz und etwas Fragiles in
diesem kollektiven Stream of Consciousness erhalten. Der sich in der
feinen Kunst übt, nirgenwo hin zu gelangen, wie kürzlich das
Ziel von Friths Projekt Clearing Customs beschrieben wurde. Das Coveraquarell
von Emilie Clark hätte zwar noch besser zum Vorgänger Digital
Wildlife gepasst, aber es illustriert auch nicht schlecht die ineinander
fließenden Klangfarben und wuchernde Unbändigkeit der Klanggespinste.
Mit einem Freak-out stürzt Frith die Truppe auch in das abschließende
‚Unturned‘. Der Mann ist so abenteuerlustig wie eh und je.
Rigobert Dittman, Bad Alchemy, 58, 2008
Daniel
Spicer, Jazzwise, London, Mai 2008
El
Intruso, Spain, Edicion 39. 2008
Bill
Shoemaker, Downbeat, USA, June 2008
In November of 2006 Larry
Ochs' Maybe Monday improv group had a 3-night residency at Zorn's club
The Stone in NYC and one of those three afternoons they all gathered
in my recording studio to create "Unsquare". Larry Ochs on
sopranino and tenor saxophones, Fred Frith on electric guitar and Miya
Masaoka on 25 string koto and electronics joined for the occasion by
special guests Gerry Hemingway on drums and percussions, Carla Kihlstedt
on electric and acoustic violins, Ikue Mori on electronics and Zeena
Parkins on electric harp and electronics. They all recorded live, together,
over one hour of music, pretty much straight through, all first takes,
no overdubs and more than a year later Swiss label Intakt released it
for everyone's enjoyment. If you are familiar with the sounds of NYC's
downtown music scene and the musical world revolving around Zorn, you
should have an idea of what this might sound like. The interesting aspect
of this record is the interaction between the three core members. Miya's
oriental strings plucked lightly while Fred's guitar is making all kind
of sounds, way beyond just plucked strings, and Larry's saxophones whaling
in the background (or foreground). I think that the fact the three of
them have been playing together for a while does indeed transpire in
this recording, but the addition of the personalities and the sonic
palettes of the special guests has taken this experience to a new level
made of subtle complexities and new sounds, usually not part of Maybe
Monday's sonic offering, which makes it all the more unique and worthy
of a listen.
Marc Urselli-Schaerer, Chain
D.L.K., USA, 13. May 2008
Antefatto. The Stone, novembre
2006.
Accade spesso che John Zorn decida di affidare la programmazione del
suo locale, “The Stone”, a un direttore artistico a tempo
perso. Prassi consolidata e degna di lode quella di Mr. Tzadik, che
nel novembre del 2006 cede la chiavi della propria dimora newyorchese
a Miya Masaoka. L’artista di origine giapponese, virtuosa del
koto, prenota subito un week-end per i Maybe Monday, il trio che da
anni condivide con Larry Ochs e Fred Frith.
L’idea è quella di invitare alcuni ospiti d’eccezione
ad unirsi al gruppo in una tre giorni di concerti. Il progetto coinvolge
Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins e Gerry Hemingway. La proposta
di ricavarne un disco piace molto alla Intakt di Patrik Landolt, anche
se i dubbi sull’opportunità di registrare dal vivo, in
un locale notoriamente poco affidabile dal punto di vista acustico,
fanno propendere per una seduta in studio extra.
E così, nel pomeriggio di sabato 18, i sette si ritrovano all’East
Side Sound e se ne escono 4 ore più tardi con 90 minuti di materiale.
Musica registrata, vale la pena sottolinearlo, in un particolare setting
dello studio, che prevedeva l’impossibilità per gli artisti
di vedersi reciprocamente e la possibilità per ciascun partecipante
di auto-regolarsi i volumi in cuffia.
Il disco
Composito, fluttuante, magmatico. Le otto tracce di Unsquare sono altrettanti,
splendidi, saggi di improvvisazione elettroacustica. I complicati ricami
orditi dal settetto si presentano sotto forma di palpitanti creature,
pulsanti divagazioni prive di connotazione ritmica, in cui il gioco
dei richiami, degli interscambi e dei sussulti è al centro di
un continuo lavoro di tessitura emozionante e coinvolgente. Il violino
della Kihlstedt aggiunge squarci di pathos all’impasto, le ance
di Ochs donano consistenza e carnalità, le percussioni di Hemingway
puntualizzano e punteggiano, mentre le corde di Frith, come al solito,
contribuiscono a rendere imprevedibili gli sviluppi del discorso e del
flusso creativo (ascoltatevi l’inizio di “Unturned”).
Al di sotto della linea di galleggiamento, frigge e sfrigola il tappeto
elettronico disteso dalla Masaoka, che aggiunge pennellate orientali
di koto, da Zeena Parkins e da Ikue Mori: una marea montante che si
fa minacciosa, si increspa improvvisamente, per poi diradarsi e dilatarsi
un attimo dopo. Dovessi scegliere una delle cinque tracce, direi “Septentrion”,
scattante e nervoso crescendo marchiato dal tenore sghembo di Ochs.
Epilogo, futuro prossimo
Le tre serate live at “The Stone” sono state provvidamente
registrate. L’intenzione è quella di farne un doppio Intakt
da pubblicare a breve. Speriamo di non dover aspettare troppo...
Luca Canini, All
About Jazz Italia, 26. May 2008
Maybe Monday has now been
around for quite a while, and their strange and tremulous group language
(the quaver in Ochs’ reeds, the eldritch resonance of Masaoka’s
25-string koto, the gutturalisms from Frith’s guitar) is a compelling
one. The addition
of guests from the Bay Area and from New York is welcome, unsettling
the group in just the right ways and thickening the sound provocatively.
What’s truly impressive to these jaded ears is that the musicians
accomplish this without weighing the music down or sacrificing space,
as Kihlstedt’s lines cut across the textures without overwhelming
them, Hemingway’s percussion works emphatically without squeezing
the music into a frame, and the electronics add meaningful detail without
simply becoming a blanket presence. Water, wood, and metal combine into
some strange sonic being on “Saptharishi Mandalam.” And
there’s plenty of detail and counterpoint throughout, things coming
frequently to a boil (as on “Nitrogen” or the fine electric
squall of “Unturned”). A very fine record.
Jason Bivins, Cadence Magazine, NY, July, August 2008
Ed
Hazell, Signal to Noise, USA / Canada, Summer 2008
Andreas
Fellinger, Freistil, Österreich, Juni 2008
Hans-Jürgen
von Osterhausen, Jazzpodium, Deutschland, Juli/August 2008
Bandet Maybe Monday
består av glitrende frijazzutøvere vi hører alt
for lite av og om her hjemme.
Maybe Monday - Unsquare.
Intakt Records/MusikkLosen
For vel 10 år siden kom den meget spesielle og originale engelske
gitaristen – og mye, mye mer – Fred Frith, sammen med amerikanerne
Miya Masaoka – med åpenbare japanske røtter –
og som dermed har større forutsetninger for å beherske
det 25-strengers tradisjonsinstrumentet koto enn de fleste og sopranino-
og tenorsaksofonisten Larry Ochs sammen og dannet bandet Maybe Monday.
Før unnfangelsen av «Unsqaure» har trioen to utgivelser
på samvittigheten. Noe forteller meg likevel at alle gode ting
er tre – Maybe Monday har nemlig invitert med seg noen av sine
beste og mest uforutsigbare venner til et møte som er helt spesielt.
Bakgrunnen for dette treffet var et initiativ en annen original, John
Zorn, tok i forbindelse med ei konsertrekke han hadde ansvaret for på
klubben The Stone i New York i november 2006. Miya Masaoka blei gitt
mer eller mindre frie hender og ett år før det hele ble
en realitet satt hun i gang «innsamlinga» av de musikantene
hun ønsket seg.
Som gjester til Maybe Monday sto trommeslageren, perkusjonisten og stemmemanipulatoren
Gerry Hemingway, fiolinisten Carla Kihlstedt, elektronikeren Ikue Mori
og den elektriske harpisten og elektronikeren Zeena Parkins øverst
på ønskelista. Å få de sju samla samtidig var
sjølsagt ingen lett affære, men Masaoka lykkes og neste
punkt på ønskelista var å gjøre ei liveinnspilling
med drømmebandet.
John Zorn advarte mot det på grunn av trafikkbråket rundt
klubben og dermed blei studio raskt et alternativ. Med åpne sinn
og ingen grenser møttes det elektriske og akustiske, det etniske
og det urbane og det tradisjonelle og det eksperimentelle.
Dette er frijazz/impro av en helt annen karakter enn det vi kjenner
best her hjemme gjennom «kollektivene» rundt Peter Brötzmann,
Mats Gutafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love og Ken Vandermark. Det er ikke bedre
eller dårligere – det er bare ganske så annerledes
og dermed friskt.
Tor Hammerø, Side
2, Norway, July, 22, 2008
Marek
Romanski, Jazzforum, Poland, June 2008
Expanding the long-running
Maybe Monday (MM) trio to seven musicians – most of whom manipulate
electronics as well as acoustic instruments – adds an additional
layer of polyphony to the proceedings, creating distinct and unique
dimensions. Still, the five instant compositions here are only memorably
realized because the septet members are canny enough to place waveform
pulsation into an already established context.
Anchor for these tracks is the initial trio, which has been together
since 1997. Voltage expression was organically introduced to MM before
this CD, due to the electric guitar adaptations from Fred Frith plus
the electronics linked to Miya Masaoka’s 25-string koto. Although
sopranino and tenor saxophonist Larry Ochs is the only acoustic hold-out,
he has demonstrated his familiarity with electronic interface in his
past orchestral works and often as a veteran member of the ROVA saxophone
quartet.
Recorded in New York, since MM member Masaoka now lives there –
Frith and Ochs are still in the Bay area – Unsquare’s guests
impart a mixed East-West sensibility to their improvisations. Transplanted
westerner fiddler Carla Kihlstedt, at points replicates the role cellist
Joan Jeanrenaud filled in an earlier MM session – adding traditional
string harmonies when her instrument is paired with the guitar and koto.
Elsewhere however wave-form add-ons create the sort of spiccato runs
and multiphonics that associate her instrument’s subsequent output
with the pitch mutation and careening tones that are emanating from
New Yorker Zeena Parkins’ electric harp and electronics.
Concentrating on her laptop and samples, fellow Manhattanite Ikue Mori
– who fulfills equivalent roles in bands led by saxophonist John
Zorn and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier – is firmly wedded to the
transformative impulses created by her machines. It’s a compliment
to the others’ instrumental versatility however that her electronic
triggered flutters and drones often can’t be distinguished from
the mutated electro-acoustic timbres of the other players.
Completing the bi-coastal interaction, is another easterner, percussionist
Gerry Hemingway, whose comfort level with patches and signals has been
expressed in other sessions involving synthesizer players such as Earl
Howard and Thomas Lehn. Irregular thumps and splattering ruffs peeping
through the humming and clicking drones on this session sporadically
announce the percussionist’s presence. Eschewing time keeping
and flashy solos, Hemingway busies himself with moving the proceedings
forward using contrasting pulses or moderated rhythmic suggestions.
Layered and focused intonation appears most intricately and extensively
on “Unturned”, which initially seems to cluster every electronic
whoosh and flanged oscillation into one extended piercing chord. Luckily,
soon afterwards, the miasma dispels enough to expose diaphragm-vibrating
reed timbres and chromatic slack-key guitar runs, plus abraded tones
that sound as if they’re produced by scuffling a collection of
scrub brushes against the massed strings.
As the triggered pulsations retreat, Ochs introduces high-pitched split
tones, Frith trebly, single-string snaps and Masaoka gentling runs.
Cat-gut heft is added to the guitar-koto duet when Kihlstedt appends
flowing fiddle harmonies. Meantime, Masaoka’s attempts to replicate
the violinist’s single-string action is detoured by strident canine-like
splutters from the electronics, with tuning static and just-out-of-earshot
radio voices further interjecting unexpected timbres. Shoring up the
koto’s output, Hemingway adds ruffs, bounces and pops from his
kit, that are then checked-mated by triggered circuitry that eventually
strips out their human-created textures and transforming them into further
percussive impulses. Plugged in as well, one of the string players –
perhaps Masaoka – bonds these signals with watery echoes that
mirror similar timbres on “G”, the introductory track. A
concluding postlude reintroduces fluttering electronic wave forms. But
these oscillator-like hums soon take on the properties of low-frequency
electric piano-like pulsations, music-box-like tinkling and machine-driven
splutters.
Other tracks emphasize reed multiphonics, pressured guitar frails, plus
fungible contrapuntal textures among the strings. For the duration of
the CD, particular resonances lock into appropriate places in the performances.
Overall however, the shifting spatial arrangement necessitated by the
introduction of more instrumental sound patches suggests an uncompleted
gelling process, and that MM’s definite sound is still in flux.
Still an expanded MM is an interesting departure for the group. Metaphorically
as well, this CD demonstrates how varied note clusters and pulses from
three established and four newly introduced players can merged in such
a way that the result is more than un-square – more like a hip
circle. Or as the saxophonist phrases it: “way cool music”.
Ken Waxman, Jazzword com, USA; September 2008
Kurt
Gottschalk, All About Jazz New York, USA, October 2008
Any aficionado of free improv
knows Fred Frith. Maybe Monday is a coop unit he shares with saxman
Larry Ochs and koto player Miya Masaoka.In their newest recording (“Unsquare”
Intakt Records CD132 ****), they are joined by percussionist Gerry Hemingway,
violinist Karla Kihlstedt, harpist Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori on computer.
The five tracks are essentially electro-acoustic soundscapes that range
from dream-like mood pieces (tracks 2 and 3) to highly distorted skronk
fests (track 4 and the first part of the final and title track). As
is often the case with such free form music, the effects are arresting
when it works, but when it doesn’t, you hope it won’t meander
for too long.
Marc Chenard, La Scena Musicale, France, October 2008
Marc
Medwin portraits Larry Ochs, All About Jazz New York, USA, February
2009
Luc
Bouquet, Improjazz, France, Avril 2009
Ken Waxman, The New York City Jazz Record, July 2015
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