Gregg Bendian & Nels Cline - Interstellar Space Revisited (The Music of John Coltrane)

Los álbumes tributo son cuestionables. Álbumes de covers, donde un álbum favorito es reinterpretado canción por canción, son francamente peligrosos. Covers de amados álbumes clásicos, a menos que su intención sea deconstruir (véase Sonic Youth, y su muy comentado pero nunca lanzado White Album) son casi suicidas. Y, sin embargo, el guitarrista Nels Cline y el batería Gregg Bendian llevan a cabo esta remake del último disco de John Coltrane. Sabiamente, Cline y Bendian no tratan de reproducir el disco original, o transcribir Coltrane y partes de Rashied Ali. En su lugar, utilizan el espíritu inquieto explorador del original como punto de partida, y el uso de estructuras de canciones como base para sus propias ideas. Incluso en la mayoría de fragmentaciones más noisiest, la búsqueda de Coltrane fue para embellecerlo, los gustos de Cline corren más en la línea a la Stratocaster, lo que significa que un montón de fans de Coltrane correrán de terror ante la muestra freakout y casi atonal en el corazón de "Leo". Y, sin embargo, en una escucha atenta que en el fondo, no está en absoluto tan lejos de la venerada original. A lo sumo, se trata de un objeto curioso, pero muy interesante para aficionados de Cline, tanto como de Coltrane.
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Tribute albums are iffy. Cover albums, where a favorite album is reinterpreted song by song, are downright dangerous. Cover albums of beloved classics, unless the intent is to deconstruct (see Sonic Youth's much-mooted but never-released cover of the Beatles' White Album) are pretty much suicidal. And yet, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Gregg Bendian pull off this re-imagining of John Coltrane's final album, the sax-drums duet suite Interstellar Space. Wisely, Cline and Bendian don't try to replicate the original album, or to transcribe Coltrane and Rashied Ali's parts. Instead, they use the restless, exploratory spirit of the original as a jumping-off point, and use the structures of the tunes as the basis for their own ideas. Even at his most shredding, sheets-of-sound noisiest, Coltrane's search was for beauty; Cline's tastes run more towards the Stratocaster-in-a-garbage-disposal line, which means that a lot of Coltrane fans will run in terror from displays like the near-atonal freakout at the heart of "Leo." And yet, careful listening shows that at heart, Interstellar Space Revisited (The Music of John Coltrane) isn't that far removed from the revered original at all. At best, this is a curio, but it's an interesting one for Cline and Coltrane fans alike.

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Gregg Bendian's Interzone: Myriad

El Percusionista y compositor Gregg Bendian es un personaje poco común: un músico con serias credenciales de free jazz que también profesa una gran afición por el rock progresivo de los 70'. Independientemente de la categoría musical, Gregg Bendian's Interzone es un conjunto fenomenal y la segunda edición de la banda es su declaración más fuerte hasta ahora. Bendian controla el vibráfono y la lira, con Alex Cline y Liebig Steuart hábilmente navegando en batería y el bajo. Nels Cline, el hermano de Alex y uno de los mejores improvisadores de guitarra eléctrica de hoy, completa el cuarteto.
Categóricamente hablando, Myriad merece la atención como uno de los principales lanzamientos de fusión posterior al 2000 o, para el caso, cualquier año. Nítido y claro como el hielo crujiente y al mismo tiempo fundido caliente, es una maravilla escuchar.
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Percussionist/composer Gregg Bendian is an unusual character: a musician with serious free jazz credentials who also professes a fondness for 1970's-style progressive rock. Regardless of musical category, Gregg Bendian's Interzone is a phenomenal ensemble and the band's second release, Myriad on the Atavistic label, is its strongest statement so far. The CD's closest stylistic antecedent might be the initial incarnation of Pierre Moerlen's Gong, which during the late '70s featured Alan Holdsworth's electric guitar pyrotechnics propelled along by a crisp and driving rhythm section that included vibraphone, glockenspiel, and other tuned percussion in addition to bass and drums. Bendian handles the vibes and glock on Interzone's Myriad, with Alex Cline and Steuart Liebig ably navigating the leader's charts on drums and bass. Nels Cline, Alex's brother and one of today's finest electric guitar improvisors, rounds out the quartet. While the Pierre Moerlen ensemble of nearly a quarter-century ago ultimately fell prey to many of the same stylistic missteps that afflicted other '70s fusionists, Gregg Bendian's Interzone makes no compromises for the sake of commercial appeal in a jazz market now largely split between soft and retro.

Bendian is a very nimble and accomplished soloist and accompanist on the vibes and glock. As a composer and bandleader, he confidently steers the band away from the jazz-pop or new age comfort zone, even during atmospheric pieces like the opening "Interzonia 1" in which the bright timbres of the tuned percussion are prominent. ("Interzonia 1" is dedicated to filmmaker David Cronenberg, which should say something about the darker sensibilities at work.) The vibes' crystalline clarity (sans resonator-produced vibrato) is even pushed in the direction of distorted noise rather than soft shimmer. Elsewhere, as on the track "Intrepid," Interzone executes a fervent swing that is perhaps the quartet's biggest stylistic tip-of-the-hat to the jazz tradition. Categorically speaking, Myriad deserves attention as one of the top post-fusion releases of 2000 or, for that matter, any year. Crisp and clear as crackling ice and simultaneously molten hot, it is a wonder to hear.

writen by David Lynch, Rovi
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