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Giardullo leads this unit in an open-ended way while playing alto and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet and flute. Compositions are credited to the full trio.  Their take on trio play is an unusual one, starting with the blending of soprano and bass with box drum (tongue drum) on Giardullo’s dedication to his mentor Sam Rivers.  The organic tone carries on through the session, with the leader’s bass clarinet lending a rich sonority to "Fledge," his subtle humor leading to a brief cloudburst of tones.  Bassist Chris Sullivan and percussionist/ pianist Michael Thompson lock right in with Giardullo, making for strong trio interplay in a well defined recording.

"Language of Swans" is a tour de force, the bass clarinet overtone blast pushes the unit into the ether, setting up an attractive bass and drums exchange.  The concluding "Black Swan" is its opposite number; meditative bass clarinet and contrabass in duet, a simple piece that lets the ear catch up.  There is an attention to orchestral color here (not much in evidence elsewhere these days) that expands the trio’s available palette.  Thompson’s piano work, though minimal, conveys an ambiance that would be missed.  It creates an intimacy in this music that rewards listeners’ attention, capturing a successful balance between outside and in.

Coda
Issue 309

Steve Vickery

Saxophonist Joe Giardullo is perhaps best know for his impressive work with fellow saxophonist Joe McPhee, who he met in 1991. McPhee inspired Giardullo to come back to performing after a ten-year hiatus and Giardullo has worked with McPhee in his Bluette group. (One recent pairing that I've heard is McPhee & Giardullo's excellent Specific Gravity recording on Boxholder.)

For Language of Swans, Joe Giardullo is joined by Chris Sullivan on bass and Michael Thompson on trap and box drums. All compositions on the album are improvisations by the trio, who have been working together since around 1997.

The trio gets a large variety of sound textures from their changing instrumentation—Giardullo switches from soprano sax to bass clarinet to flute on the first three pieces and Michael Thompson alternates between traps and box drums (and plays piano on "Tear for the Missing"). The album has a quiet start, with bells, soprano sax, box drums and bass giving the first piece an exotic sound.

Highlights include "Early Spring" which starts with solo flute, joined by bass and drums. After a drum solo, Giardullo has a flute solo that reminded me of birds singing in Spring. "Migrations" is a more outside tune, with energetic sax playing that uses circular breathing and pounding trap drums that build to an intense climax.

Language of Swans is a very enjoyable album. It has a lot of variety in dynamics and sound, but remains unified due to the close listening of trio.    

Jazzmatazz

Alan Lankin

What characterizes all these pieces is the remarkable stop-and-start communication of the players.  At any given moment, two instruments interlock in a mini-duet, while the accents of the third provide just the right variety.  The CD's title track is also its longest and most varied.  Giardullo on bass clarinet bumps and pops on the low end, and blasts and screeches at the top in a constantly shifting mood.  Prepare to be transported.

AAJ - New York
March 2003

Jeff Stockton

Thompson’s piano into to “A Tear For The Missing” is a bit awkward, sort of a sub-Sam Rivers jabbing. But things get back on form with a churning, hard-driving “Migrations” (with hot circular breathing). With one foot in the rootsy impressionism of Air and the other in serious contempo action jazz of the Vandermark/AALY variety, this is a sweet disc.

Signal to Noise
Spring 2003

Jason Bivins

Case in point is multi-reedist Joe Giardullo, who first recorded in 1980, and who has been going full tilt as a first-class improviser since the early 1990s. But it's only in the past half decade or so that he has gained notice for his work in Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening Band and in different formations with woodwind/brass master Joe McPhee.

To add substance to the delay between artistry and audience appreciation, this CD dates from 1998. Not unlike suddenly acclaimed works by prominent visual artists that are discovered and reassessed after the painter gains fame, they show that the inventiveness and technique of 2003's Giardullo was also in evidence five and six years ago.

Low-key throughout, Language of Swans' 141/4-minute title track shows how the three players interact in a leisurely fashion. Although Thompson and Sullivan have functioned as a rhythm section for the likes of vocalist Barbara Sfraga, nowhere do standard patterns come into play. Instead Giardullo's dissonant and intermittent bass clarinet reverberations are met with discontinuous drum beats and bass strings constructing short spherical patterns around them. Nuanced and anticipatory the two also cope with dissonant higher overtones from the woodwind, while Giardullo -- on flute-- and Sullivan later show affinity for each other's conceptions in a passage that allows them to operate in close harmony as the drummer splashes his cymbals swan-like not far away.

Thompson briefly shows off a command of romantic, contemporary piano on "A Tear for the Missing" meshed with delicate alto sax lines, as well as his versatility on bell and box drum on "Rivers." Carnatic in concept, with the percussionist sounding as if he's playing a tabla, Giardullo's simple chirping soprano sax lines cleverly integrates into acoustic sound picture with Sullivan's bass line more felt than heard.

"Early Spring," sort of a bebop chamber music piece, is the bassman's showcase, providing him with an outlet for his string tugs and double-stopping pizzicato. Condensed press rolls and cymbal strokes add to the broken rhythm of the instant composition. High-pitched multiphonics are Giardullo's contribution, but there are times he strays perilously close to parody snake-charmer territory.

Right now, it seems that Language of Swans shouldn't be that trio's swan song.

Jazz Weekly

Ken Waxman

The opening tune, “Rivers,” is reminiscent of an early Gary Bartz on soprano saxophone. On this track bassist Chris Sullivan does an excellent task of feeding the pulse. Two numbers later, “Early Spring” showcases Giardullo's flute playing. The interplay between Sullivan's bass and his flute strongly resembles the Ron Carter / Eric Dolphy mode. Michael Thompson handles the drumming with an approach that’s not overbearing but still keeps the other two musicians on their pace.

“A Tear For The Missing” exemplifies an established improviser painting the melody with strokes as simple as Jackson Pollack. Take the time to locate Joe Giardullo's record; it's worth a careful listen.

All About Jazz

Richton Guy Thomas

The overall tone is gentle, quiet and introspective, even in sections where the energy and pulse have quickened. “Early Spring,” especially has that deceptive energy level, though the 14 minute-plus title piece sees everyone stretch and explore multiple timbral ranges. While Giardullo scratches the sonic palette, Sullivan elasticizes the strings and Thompson beats thunderous explosions behind before the piece settles into a short-lived quiet that builds slowly to crescendo. Seven extraordinary tracks.

Jazz Review

Mark E. Gallo

Saxophonist/flutist/clarinetist Joe Giardullo has spent much of the last few years exploring the notes in between the notes – his approach to pitch has been defined by glissandi and intentionally “out of tune” playing. And his rhythmic approach on his recent LPs, including Specific Gravity with Joe McPhee, Primal Intentions with Mike Bisio, and his outstanding quartet date Shadow and Light, has been similarly open-ended. His playing has been filled with weighty, suspended-time pauses and phrases whose movement from note to note depends more on the individual phrase’s logic than on any predetermined steady beat.

Like his other recent LPs, much of Language of Swans seems to be freely improvised. At first glance, though, it seems to have little else in common with its predecessors. The pitch content of Giardullo’s playing is unusually straightforward for him – he generally sticks to the twelve tones of the octave used in most Western music. And the circling polyrhythms often employed by bassist Chris Sullivan and drummer/pianist Michael Thompson are also fairly regular, as much of the album is based on lulling, unassuming grooves.

On the surface, then, Language of Swans is a departure from much of Giardullo’s recent work. On a deeper level, though, while Giardullo’s approach has changed, his values haven’t. To my ears, his previous open-ended style reflected the influence of Middle- and Far Eastern music from Egypt to Japan. After all, microtones – the notes between the notes – have always been prominent in all sorts of non-Western traditional music. And Giardullo’s loose phrasing and his use of pauses both have ties to the East.

Language of Swans is more conventionally jazzy than the rest of Giardullo’s recent work, but in a secondhand way, it also shares characteristics with much non-Western music. His melodic lines are more traditional on this album, but they’re also slurred and stepwise in a way that recalls classical Arabic music. His wide-open approach to rhythm remains intact, even with Sullivan and Thompson playing more consistent beats than Giardullo’s earlier collaborators. And the way he overblows on bass clarinet reminds me more of Tuvan throat singing than Eric Dolphy.

So Language of Swans isn’t so much a departure as a reorientation, and it allows us to hear the most essential elements of Giardullo’s style, like his relaxed sense of phrasing and his introverted style of presentation, in a context that’s far more accessible than he’s been in the past. The album even contains a lush, romantic piano ballad (“A Tear For The Missing”) and an old-school free jazz blowout (“Migrations). Anyone intrigued by Giardullo but turned off by his use of microtonality or the sparseness of his playing would do well to start with Language of Swans.

Dusted Magazine

Charlie Wilmoth

The multi-talented reed player is an unlikely icon of so-called Avant Garde Jazz. For one thing, although capable of intensely developed clusters he generally performs with a certain delicacy that focuses on color, timbre, and sound to the exclusion of pure energy. For another, he plays a variety of instruments, including the flute, soprano sax, and bass clarinet – all of which lend themselves to a slightly lighter touch than, say, the traditional tenor or alto, the latter of which he also performs here. Thirdly, Giardullo engages in advanced techniques that require close listening: tonguing and valving, for instance, which create new and exotic qualities.

This is not to say that Giardullo cannot solo with intense concentration. He can and he often does so here, as for example on “A Tear for the Missing,” where his exhaustive flute improvisation is followed by Michael Thompson’s slow but powerful and laconic piano eventually leading back to a soft, wistful, contemplative soprano sax. There is hardly a weak track on the album, with all three members of the trio working as a single well-scrubbed unit to produce some extraordinarily synchronized sounds. On soprano Giardullo is indebted to Evan Parker- just listen to “Migrations” in which Giardullo’s extended improvisation builds with terrifying gusto.

There are no written melodies, and while the tunes are thoroughly improvised, they are nonetheless paragons of beauty, exhibiting a natural attraction even if not recognizable.  3 1/2 Stars (excellent)

All Music Guide

Steven Loewy

Giardullo’s improvising trio, which includes bassist Chris Sullivan and drummer (and sometimes pianist) Michael Thompson, have made one of those recordings of quiet intensity that demand repeated play. Giardullo’s improvisational approach is easygoing, yet composed. Whether he picks up a flute or a saxophone, he exhibits a folksy sound. Remember, this is is the kind of improvised jazz where pretty isn’t supposed to carry the day. Nevertheless, his gentle approach has the power to elicit sheer joy.

He utilizes the full arsenal of weaponry and style. From the circular breathing alto saxophone of unflagging energy on “Migrations” to his rambling flute on “Early Spring,” Giardullo paints a consistent and coherent picture of a fully realized jazz master musician. His music combines his experience with Joe McPhee and the musical spirit of Evan Parker. Yet he stands alone, much like Eric Dolphy playing with a naive kind-hearted approach. Especially appealing are the bass clarinet tributes to Dolphy on “Fledge” and the title track. Behind the powerful acoustic bass of Sullivan, he brings his muffled instrument to a howl. This consistent and very diverse recording is all within the character of this very talented musician.

All About Jazz

Mark Corroto

This is a very good record, don’t doubt about that, but the flame and the strength of "Shadow & Light" vanished, showing us that the most successful works of art are those born from extraordinary events, either bad or good ones, and even if they only have a personal and private dimension – for instance, the greatness of "Ascension" had everything to do with the religious illumination lived then by John Coltrane. Peter Brozmann said, in the years of "Machine Gun" and "Fuck the Boer," that a "cruel world needs a cruel music". The importance of "Shadow & Light" was determined by that evidence. "Language of Swans" is, inevitably, the music of the day after, calmed down even if we can notice some wounds, like in 'A Tear for the Missing'.  Between musical normality and exception, I prefer the last one, even if because of the wrong reasons.

Rui Eduardo Paes

Rui Eduardo Paes

Touching Extremes

Massimo Ricci