Drummer Tom Rainey’s trio with guitarist Mary Halvorson and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock makes improvised music with an uncanny tune-like sensibility

I had listened to Hotel Grief (Intakt) several times before I noticed that leader and drummer Tom Rainey, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock were credited for improvising all five pieces when the recording was made live at New York’s Cornelia Street Café in April 2014. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief that it was all created on the spot. Although the performances ripple with an attractive looseness and sense of space, the musicians shape melodies with such empathy and cooperative grace that the music feels composed and rehearsed. Halvorson and Laubrock engage in a steady balancing act; Halvorson frequently lays down chordal patterns that alternately hang in the air or shift with rapid, hopscotch pointillism, which allows Laubrock to run biting lines up and down her partner’s movement. At other times the guitarist unspools wonderfully jagged lines that slalom amid the saxophone parts and swerve alongside them. That’s not to say the music doesn’t ever explode with frenzied, free-flowing intensity—the final moments of “Last Overture” splatter with a burst of harried rhythm, split notes, and noise—but more often than not the trio navigate their lyric terrain with uncanny anticipation and rapport. Behind the front line, Rainey is a marvel of control, toggling between gentle, fractured swing that treads lightly on balladlike passages and driving rhythms that amplify the tension and power of his bandmates’ feverish interactions. The musicians have worked together in numerous contexts over the years, and it seems that they’ve developed an ultrasharp, almost telepathic sensibility—this is improvised music at the highest level.

https://chicagoreader.com/music/drummer-tom-raineys-trio-with-guitarist-mary-halvorson-and-saxophonist-ingrid-laubrock-makes-improvised-music-with-an-uncanny-tune-like-sensibility/

Diese Liveaufnahme aus dem Cornelia Street Café in New York City ist die zweite CD in der Konstellation Tom Rainey (dr), Ingrid Laubrock (saxes) und Mary Halvorson (g), aber die Drei kennen einander auch aus anderen Projekten. Ihre klugen, wohldosierten Trialoge stehen stilistisch zwischen Jazz und improvisierter Musik und überraschen nicht nur durch ihren formalen Reichtum, sondern auch mit diesen magischen" Momenten, in denen sich plötzlich, wie auf einem Notenblatt fixiert, ein gemeinsames Thema oder Riff entwickelt. Rainey, Laubrock und Halvorson können sich blind aufeinander verlassen, und obwohl meist alle drei gleichzeitig agieren, wird das Geschehen nie unübersichtlich oder gar floskelhaft. Hohe Improvisationskunst.

Comfortable in settings from big band to solo, guitarist Mary Halvorson joins with soprano and tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock to roughen the edges of the five instant compositions on this CD. Cultivated and self-effacing, leader/drummer Tom Rainey is as far removed from a braggadocious percussion show off like Buddy Rich as Donald Trump is from Martin Luther King. Discretion doesn't mean withdrawal however, and in context the drummer's sophisticatedly positioned strokes contribute more to the architectures of the tracks than would any clamorous rhythm display.
With the guitarist's strategies ranging from distorted reverb to sly, slurred fingering, and the reed tessitura soaring from clenched squeaks to harsh rasping whispers, the drummer's role is analogous to a UN peacekeeper in the Balkans: maintaining consistency without favoring either side and keeping their extended techniques from occupying the other's territory.
"Proud Achievements in Botany", the CD's almost-19 minute centrepiece, is a microcosm of how Hotel Grief's tracks evolve. Halvorson's widening or winnowing licks take on spacey qualities at the same time as Laubrock's intense single reed bites settle into linear melodies. With the saxophonist's now modulated tones circumscribed by string chording, drum rattles manipulate any stray lines so that the three eventually move as if regimental guards in formation. Breaking the concordance with what could be a slo-mo version of "Wipe Out", Rainey tough drum beats join with Halvorson's lopping reverb and Laubrock's slurps and snarls to create a finale that may rattle like an old jalopy, but still conveys the grace and speed of well-plotted locomotion.
Although titled Hotel Grief, this musical dwelling offers very little despondency except for fleeting moods in context. Instead by imagining each track as a separate room, the CD offers a set of quietly resplendent chambers furnished with innovative touches by a trio of sonic designers.

This masterful, angular music finds these three sympathetic artists at the top of their game. Collectively composed, this music is a rather more indulgent affair than much music created for woodwinds, guitar and drums – what a brave combination. Between composition and improvisation, not only does it require carefully handling if its seductive charms and myriad intricacies are to be fully appreciated, the extended improvisatory finale can be tricky to hold together. I’ve been able to wax lyrical about classy fretwork of Mary Halvorson who bends and twists notes almost at will, and the unflappable soaring of Laubrock’s saxophones, but only recently have I experienced the mind expanding percussion colourings of Tom Rainey. Is this trio recording possibly one of the finest yet? I am inclined to think so. After a sultry and intoxicatingly poised opening (‘Last Overture’) the central section of the performance fairly crackles with wit and ear-prickling detail (how good it is, for instance, to have those harmonic overtones register so subtly in ‘Briefly Lampoc’.

As for the ambitious ‘Mr. K.C (for Keith Copeland’, I don’t think I’ve ever hears it essayed with a greater combination of stylish teamwork, sinewy thrust and inevitability. (Both composed sections and cadenzas, by the way, are riveting). I found myself virtually craving more of the ambient glow that the trio mustered throughout. This is music that is beyond reproach and were I to make up a list of fine recordings, Hotel Grief would virtually soar to the top of the list.

https://jazzdagama.com/music/intakt-tom-rainey-pierre-favre/

Van deze combinatie is dit het tweede album na Camino Cielo Echo uit 2011. Daarnaast hebben de musici al in andere bands vaak met elkaar gespeeld, zeker Rainey Laubrock die man en vrouw zijn. De vijf stukken van het live opgenomen Hotel Grief zijn spontaan geïmproviseerd, maar van enige twijfel of misverstand is, zoals wel te verwachten was, niets te merken. Hoe- wel de saxofoniste en de drummer technisch vrij conventioneel te werk gaan, is er aan de rolverdeling niets con- ventioneels. Rainey kan net zo goed melodieuze veranderingen initiëren als Laubrock, terwijl de laatste ook net zo goed een percussieve rol op zich kan nemen. Gitariste Halvorson is altijd aanwezig, zowel op de achtergrond als in de frontlijn, maar lijkt met haar lichte, meestal lange lijnen zelden het intiatief te nemen. Ze slaagt er in ieder geval in om de muziek extra diepte mee te geven. Interactie
op zijn best.

Se c'è Tom Rainey dietro i tamburi, state certi che la musica palpita, veleggia, s'impenna. Che sia un piano-trio jazz (Kenny Werner, Fred Hersch, Kris Davis) o un gruppo a composizione stratificata e complessa (Tim Berne), oppure un gioco di libera improvvisazione (i Lark, Tony Malaby), il drumming di Rainey è garanzia di sorpresa, tensione drammatica, finezza espressiva. Quando si impegna a fare il leader, coordina (più che dirigere) questo ottimo trio con Ingrid Laubrock e Mary Halvorson che, dopo i già notevoli Pool School e Camino Cielo Echo, raggiunge la vetta con questo Hotel Grief.

L'affascinante vaghezza onirica dei primi album si sostanzia qui con una musica più densa e corposa.

L'incipit fa pensare al trio aureo Paul Motian/Bill Frisell/Joe Lovano. Uno spazio orizzontale senza limiti a disposizione, per dar forma a sussurri e articolazioni subito serrate e coinvolgenti. Rainey si affida alla fantasia delle compagne, congiungendo ritmicamente le loro invenzioni a due voci. La cadenza abrasiva di Halvorson in "Last Overture" è eloquente a indirizzare gli impulsi in grado di trasformare di colpo i colori pastello in trame invece calde e possenti; Laubrock sfodera il suo fraseggio più tecnico e fisico. I tre strumenti sono in felice empatia, ciascuno con la sua specificità raggiunge la medesima lunghezza d'onda, c'è una coerenza linguistica che non molla per l'intera durata dell'album, inciso dal vivo al Cornelia Street Cafè di New York. È il miracolo talora realizzato dell'improvvisazione senza rete, là dove i musicisti coinvolti comunicano in telepatia e rilanciano senza sosta conversazioni interessanti.

Il brano più vario è quello che titola l'album, in cui Rainey è anche suggeritore primario e autore di interventi sottili. Anche in "Briefly Lompoc" c'è spazio per un breve solo di percussioni, prima delle astrazioni collettive. Ma, ribadiamo, la forza di Rainey non sta nella muscolarità percussiva, ma nel saper in ogni istante valorizzare la musica, riverberando ciò che sassofoni e chitarra costruiscono e fungendo da àncora in questo mare sonoro molto mosso. "Proud Achievements in Botany" è la sequenza più estesa e precede quella invece più breve, "Mr. K.C.," dedicata al batterista Keith Copeland (scomparso un anno fa). Cinque minuti finali quasi liturgici, con Laubrock al soprano, che chiudono un set davvero mirabile.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/hotel-grief-tom-rainey-intakt-records-review-by-stefano-merighi

“Hotel Grief,” the latest from the Tom Rainey Trio (Rainey on drums, Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones, and Mary Halvorson on guitar), is a live recording from December 30, 2013. For a few reasons, mostly the lack of online chatter, this group seems underappreciated. Yet, the trio consistently churns out dynamic, sensitive improvisation.

Tom Rainey, leader of this group, has a resume about a mile long, and surely most readers of this blog are familiar with his work with Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, and Mark Helias, as well as his recent recordings with Kris Davis and Ingrid Laubrock. He’s been a regular fixture for decades, but this stretch of trio albums released in the past few years have demonstrated the emotion in his performance. Rainey’s collaborative style brings a good deal of surprise to the whole, as he leaves himself open to the river of ideas flowing from Halvorson and Laubrock.

My music library is rapidly filling up with albums led by or featuring Mary Halvorson. This isn’t a complaint, just pointing out the degree to which her sound has come to signify the 2010s. Her waves of sound, accented by effects pedals, complement Rainey’s fluid drumming. Despite the recognizable touchstones of her style, one of the more impressive aspects of Halvorson’s playing is how she gives herself over to the feel of whatever recording she’s on. She’s been on an incredible range of ensemble records this year (Laubrock’s Anti-House, Tomas Fujiwara’s Hook Up, Jacob Garchik’s Ye Olde, Tomeka Reid’s quartet), and it’s interesting to hear how she slightly augments her very distinct sound to adapt to the group dynamics.

And then there’s Ingrid Laubrock. To me, she’s the standout of the recording. I can’t be the only one consistently surprised by her imaginative improvisation, which marries a rich tone with clipped, languid phrasing. The key, though, is Laubrock’s fierce and fiery approach. She’s developing a unique voice on the saxophone and pushing herself to expand her vocabulary with a passionate dedication to the art of improvisation. While it’s not impossible to hear the roots of her style in her earliest records, I feel like I’m listening to a completely different person from the one who recorded those first albums with the F-IRE Collective.

Recorded live, there’s a nice shape to the trio’s performance. The opener, “Last Overture,” gives each member a chance to introduce themselves through an early solo turn. Halvorson opens the song in a textural mood, and her solo is a lovely wash of chords. Rainey’s solo, when it comes around 5 minutes in, is big and bold, somewhat atypical of his signature light touch. Later, when he and Halvorson break into a rock groove, the beat feels oddly metered, and their interplay with Laubrock gives the whole moment a kind of Berne-ian feel. Halvorson layers distortion and pedal-tinged riffs, while Rainey gradually pulls at the threads of the beat, moving all around the drum set. Finally, Rainey and Laubrock fall away, and “Last Overture” ends in a moment of sustained guitar.

There’s a brief pause before “Hotel Grief,” which is a stunning achievement, the high point of the album. Halvorson tweaks the volume **** so her guitar melts in and out of the background. Rainey plays what I’m keen to call melancholy drums. I don’t quite know how he achieves this, but his interplay with the trio is emotionally complex. It’s a passionate, languid improvisation, one of two tracks stretching nearly 20 minutes. The second, “Proud Achievements In Botany,” opens with a searching sax and gentle background fills from Rainey. A few minutes in, Halvorson and Rainey create an eerie mix of effects that gently lead into Laubrock playing a low, patterned line. Gradually, the three transition into an extended minimalist improvisation that quickly ratchets up the tension, maintaining it for minutes on end. It’s an fine example of the power and range of this trio.

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2016/02/tom-rainey-trio-hotel-grief-intakt-2015.html

The Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village is a venue in which specialist leftfield improvisers often converge. One of its most esteemed regulars is the exceptional Californian drummer Tom Rainey. This, Hotel Grief, is his third album to date (all are on the Intakt label) and it was recorded live at the New York Boho basement venue with a trio that have committed over the past five years or so to developing a fluid, non-idiomatic collective approach to making music. A late bloomer as a leader, Rainey is best known for his collaborations with the inspirational alto saxophonist-composer Tim Berne, but is linked of late with a close circle of musicians that includes the ex-London, now Brooklyn-based saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and the guitarist Mary Halvorson. With compositions written collectively and on the fly, the mutual understanding between the trio makes for some fascinating dialogue. Halvorson makes it her role to move the scenery around with whammy bar alt-jazz atmospherics through to understated garage band licks as Laubrock's darkly conversational, probing sax and snaking, climax- threatening skronk-outs ride along on Rainey's brilliantly insistent African-influenced jazz percussion. It's the intense dynamic of negotiation between the musicians that's its greatest strength.

Dans un esprit assez voisin, Tom Rainey prend les commandes en s’entourant de la saxophoniste Ingrid Laubrock et de la guitariste Mary Halvorson, deux musiciennes dont nous avons souvent vanté la qualité et l’originalité. Au jeu très maîtrisé, parfois un peu “plaintif” et au discours sinueux de la première, s’ajoute celui, extrêmement intéressant, en particulier dans la manière de jouer avec des accords inusuels de la seconde. Les improvisations collectives qui, dans un cadre très ouvert, progressent en intensité pour déboucher sur un post free recherché, sont le résultat d’un travail de groupe qui évolue depuis plusieurs années. Une musique forte qui s’écoute : « Hotel Grief »

https://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article2855

In spite of a bulging discography, Hotel Grief constitutes only the fourth entry under drummer Tom Rainey's leadership. It follows Pool School (Clean Feed, 2010) and Camino Cielo Echo (Intakt, 2012) by the same all star line up, comprising Mary Halvorson on guitar and Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones. After two studio dates, this time out they recorded live on home turf at the Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village. Being so familiar with one another's styles means that even though collectively birthed the five selections possess a compelling internal logic, while their skills as improvisers mean they retain the freshness and unpredictability.

And they still remain on at least nodding terms to the jazz tradition through the maintenance of pulse, largely expected instrumental roles and narrative arc. In part that's down to Rainey who brings structure and meter to extemporized settings as much as he brings looseness and vitality to more formal occasions. He's a master of combining timbre and rhythm even in these liberated environments, a trait particularly apparent in the unaccompanied introduction to "Briefly Lompoc." The will it, won't it high wire act inherent in all improvised music is most evident in "Proud Achievements In Botany" which veers between repeated minimalist passages and lurching momentum with explosive saxophone bursts.

In its relaxed pace and finely balanced discourse, "Last Overture" might almost be composed. Laubrock's insistent but not overbearing tenor saxophone dominates. Since relocating across the Atlantic she has become one of the leading saxophonists of her generation. Her abstract expression incorporates overblown falsettos, not necessarily as a signifier of passion, but rather as just another flavor of tonal variety among many. Even when the tempo increases the feel is maintained. Towards the finish Halvorson's fuzzed distortion prompts Rainey into an earthy backbeat which starts Laubrock squalling, in a fine opener which sets out the band's stall in convincing fashion.

As one of the most sought after guitarists on the scene, Halvorson melds a distinctive range of approaches into a readily identifiable voice. She moves from ominous rippling to off the wall invention via reiterated underpinning figures. On the title track her initial ballad style guitar is offset by nervy drum cadences. Over the course of 16 minutes they pass through several moods, as the interplay morphs from the pensive to the intense before subsiding to a delicate filigree guitar/saxophone exchange. That's not the end though. A crescendo of burning fretboard, machine gun chatter and skirling soprano completes an excellent outing.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/hotel-grief-tom-rainey-intakt-records-review-by-john-sharpe