KEN VANDERMARK / NATE WOOLEY / SYLVIE COURVOISIER / TOM RAINEY - Noise of Our Time (Intakt 310; Switzerland)

Featuring Ken Vandermark on tenor sax & clarinet, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano and Tom Rainey on drums. It was during a six night residency at The Old Stone that Ken Vandermark assembled this quartet to play for the first time. Instead of doing a totally improvised set, like most (all?) of the sets during Vandermark's residency, each of the four members here each brought three compositions of their own into a cosy studio in Mount Vernon, NY. Each member of the quartet is connected through different previous groups/situations. Mr. Vandermark and Mr. Wooley have toured and recorded (two CD's) as a duo, hence their bond is strong. Mr. Wooley and Ms. Courvoisier have a fine trio CD on Relative Pitch plus both are members of Mr. Wooley's ongoing 'Battle Pieces' ensemble. The ever amazing and in-demand drummer, Tom Rainey, keeps pretty busy working with many of Downtown's finest: Including with Ms. Courvoisier in Herb Robertson's Downtown Allstars.
What is most interesting about this disc is how diverse it is, each of the three composers have chosen pieces to push the quartet into different strategical areas. Sylvie's "Checkpoint" has the tenor and trumpet both playing intense, rambunctious solos while the piano & drums both play these tight, jagged lines together. Vandermark's "Track and Field" starts off with a drone-line while Ms. Courvoisier rubs the strings inside the piano, creating some controlled chaos with the tenor, trumpet and piano all erupting together, the drums deliberately adding elements of suspense and punctuation simultaneously. What also works well is when certain duos take off, like the tenor & drums and trumpet & drums and Sylvie adds quick, burning lines of her own pushing the temperature to boiling point time and again. There are a few pieces that I dig but haven't figured out how they work as it will take some time and must listen to these pieces several times. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG