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Le nom
de Burton Greene n'évoque peut-être que peu de choses pour les nouvelles
générations de musiciens. Et pourtant, le pianiste américain a
accompli une carrière pleine. Né en 1937 à Chicago, le musicien
forme, dès le début des années 60, avec Alan Silva, le Free Form
Improvisation Ensemble et prend une part active dans la Jazz Composer
Guild, institution destinée à soutenir et promouvoir le free jazz et les
musiciens qui entreprennent d'en jouer. Il cộtoie ainsi Marion
Brown, Rashied Ali, Sam Rivers puis fréquente de plus en plus les scènes
européennes. Il s'installe définitivement aux Pays-Bas au début
des années 70.
Live
at Grasland, album solo du pianiste a été enregistré en novembre
2002. Burton Greene's n'avait pas pratiqué cette forme de jeu en
vue d'un enregistrement depuis de nombreuses années. Le disque est
donc en quelque sorte un petit évènement. Il démontre surtourt que
le vétéran américain n'a rien perdu de sa verve, que l'expérience glanée
au fil des ans lui permet de structurer son jeu, de partir dans les
dérivations les plus audacieuses sans pour autant perdre l'essence de la
musique. Ne dit-il pas que, pour lui, jouer free signifie aussi
ètre libre de jouer Mozart? La manière avec laquelle Burton Greene
parvient à captiver n'a que peu d'égale (voir notamment l'interprétation
de la pièce "Angels" de Perry Robinson). On ne peut rester
insensible à cette musique qui doit figurer en bonne place dans toute
discothèque qui se respecte. |
Jazzo Sphére |
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Forever
associated with ESP-Disk, the 1960s New Thing and the Jazz Composers
Guild, pianist Burton Greene's prowess as an expressive composer and
pianist have been given short shift by many jazzers. Hopefully this solo
CD's varied and exciting program will go some way towards redressing
this situation.
Greene,
who has spent most of his time since 1969 living in Europe also teaches
Jewish and Balkan Jazz at Amsterdam's Muziekschool. Here an exposure to
his Eastern European roots through Klezmer and associations with
sardonic Dutch musical chameleons such as drummer Han Bennink and
reediest William Breaker has added an unexpected, swinging melodiousness
to the fire-breathing recklessness he exhibited in earlier associations
with Free Jazzers like drummer Sunny Murray.
"Sylosophy (Digitalville)", for instance, features jumping polytonalism
as he sluices al over the keys. Moving uneven patterns back and forth,
his hands produce simultaneous, opposing lines -- chamber music fantasia
in one and rent party honky tonk in the other. With some near-ragtime,
accelerated chording and vibrating tremolos, he glides up and down the
scale until a walking bass line produces deep tones that are expanded
and speed up to player piano movements. Coda is more characteristic
slurred fingering and exhibitionistic crescendos. Meanwhile, despite its
hippie era title, "A Cozy Winter Veggy Soup" is an uptempo jazz waltz,
build on effortless fortissimo swing. Featuring treble glissandos and a
jaunty bass countermelody, it ends with harmonic concordance from each
hand.
Or take
the frisky "Gnat Dance". Built around portamento slurred fingering and
individual key bounces, a boogie-woogie section soon becomes double and
triple syncopated. Ranging over the keys, ruffling them at appropriate
moments, Greene springs back to complete a phrase with an errant note,
using body English that owes as much to Chico Marx as Thelonious Monk.
At the end, double-timed bottom runs give way to dissonant chords and
cascading note clusters.
A
composer, not a phrase expander, Greene constructs his tunes in definite
sections, a technique most obvious on his almost 161/2-minute "South
Florida Odyssey Suite" in two parts -- "12,733 Shopping Malls" and
"Florida Summer Odyssey". There are times on the former when, as
elsewhere, he seems to be playing a polyrhythmic version of a Broadway
show tune. That's in the later half of the piece, where it proceeds
suggestions of a 19th century waltz and a false ending with the "Shave
and a Haircut, Two Bits" beat. Final cadences include tremolos and
glissandos, which relate to earlier, quick-fingered child-like melodies
that mock consumerism.
Expanding the motif, "Odyssey" uses a tango-like rhythm and a jerky
circus melody to dramatically reprise the polyrhythmic theme, then pedal
pressure to outline a new splayed-fingered romantic fantasia. As these
moderato tones calm the previously frantic rhythms, the tune hymns the
unexposed, pacific beauty that still exists in some parts of Florida.
Stately
too is Greene's solo piano version of long-time associate clarinetist
Perry Robinson's "Angels". Light fingered, Greene creates a gentle
curlicue motion that bounces, jumps and decorates the patterns with
different pitch and tempo configurations. Following a bluesy mid
section, the pianist downshifts to glissandos and two handed pumps,
ending with sharp spinning ratchet cracks and finger cymbal peals.
Like
Robinson and trombonist Roswell Rudd, Greene, 67, is another of the
still vibrant first generation avant players whose contributions are too
often minimized. A fine effort like this one should give him more
prominence. |
Ken Waxman
Jazz Weekly |
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The line
between contemporary exploratory jazz and modern classical music is
often blurred, sometimes even nonexistent. Burton Greene’s 2004 Drimala
Records release, Live at Grasland, playfully jumps between the two
traditions while remaining one of the most dense and demanding pieces of
solo piano music that has been brought to my attention. Removing the
traditional jazz rhythm section, Greene plays in the long tradition of
solo jazz piano, largely popularized by Keith Jarrett’s ECM recordings
of the mid-1970s. Greene, one of the most experimental pianists of the
1960s free jazz boom, brings his music in and out of his self-described
“atomic energy music,” mixing “classical octave pedal[ing]” and
“ostinati” (short, oft-repeated musical patters) with traditional jazz
and Latin playing.
One of
the album’s standout pieces is the first track, Greene’s “Calistrophy.”
It is the album’s most accessible piece but certainly does not lack
Greene’s trademark musical styles. The piece begins with a moderately
traditional jazz head, quietly expanded before drifting into an extended
section of improvisation. While certainly not in the style of classic
jazz, the Latin-tinged playing eases the listener into the challenges of
the upcoming pieces. “Calistrophy” ends with a quietly repeated figure,
evoking the same dreamy sound as many of Jarrett’s solo studio
recordings.
The
album’s second cut, “In the Footsteps of the Bratslav,” explores
Greene’s devotion to the classical tradition, with a lyrical
introduction leading into an improvisation that contains the highly
theoretical, yet seemingly random, bursts of notes that characterize
much of modern classical experimentation. The playing is sparse and hard
to follow; the notes are struck harshly and shortly.
Although
this album does not stand as the most revolutionary work in the current
jazz scene, it is a fine recording. The beauty of a piano going nuts is
lost in the translation between the live performance and the audio
recording, yet there is still enough on Greene’s selections from
“Grasland” to warrant further listening. |
Nash Adamson
The Phoenix Online |
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Dopo
quattro decenni di carriera e una discografia con più di quaranta titoli
Burton Greene dona ancora al pubblico una musica che ha
dell´incredibile. La rivoluzione del free - di cui Greene è stato uno
dei corifei - è ormai distante nel tempo ed il pianista americano ha
deciso di dedicarsi ad una musica che è più "a balm instead of a bomb".
Adesso per lui free significa essere "free to play Mozart too" (ma non
lo fa su questo Live at Grasland, nonostante durante le sue
improvvisazioni ricorra in alcune occasioni a 'classicismi').
Greene
risiede da anni in Olanda e il materiale presente su questo album è
stato inciso nei Grasland Studios, davanti ad un pubblico di
appassionati nel Novembre del 2002. Dalla lunga seduta di registraione
il produttore Philip Egert ha selezionato otto brani. La musica respira
e, priva di retorica e di inutili sentimentalismi, parla delle
esperienze e della vita dell´autore. La qualità e la pulizia della
registrazione colgono tutte le sfumature che Greene esprime sullo
strumento, uno splendido concert grand Steinway.
Le sue
improvvisazioni appaiono accessibili e facili da comprendere anche al
grosso pubblico. Riesce a swingare ovunque, come in "A Cozy Veggy Soup",
dove si alternano tempi di cinque e sei ottavi, uno dei temi più
coinvolgenti dell´album, insieme al finale "Angels" di Perry Robinson.
La
profondità della musica del Burton Greene odierno andrebbe colta dal
vivo, nell´atmosfera ristretta di un club. In mancanza di una tale
possibilità Live at Grasland è una benvenuta incisione che ci
permette di ascoltare uno dei pianisti odieni più espressivi.
Valutazione: * * * * |
Vittorio Lo Conte
All About Jazz -- Italy |
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Like a stand up
comedian out in front on the stage, the solo pianist has no place to
hide. Recorded in November 2002 this is the first Burton Green album for
a while. At one time there were affinities with Cecil Taylor Difficult
to see that now, this, for the most part is lyrical music owing little
to anyone. If you must have a comparison, it would probably be Paul
Bley.
Greene was a key
figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s. He worked with Marion
Brown, Sam Rivers, Gato Barbieri, and Alan Silva. He founded one of the
first groups to play wholly improvised jazz. He recorded for the
ESP-Disk label as a leader which brought him a great deal of kudos but
little cash.
He moved to Holland
in 1970. Since then his recordings have been issued sporadically.Greene
makes a great deal about his distant roots in Romanian and Bielorussia.
Undoubtedly he has much to look back on he was one of the most maverick
of those who explored free jazz in the sixties.
There is always a
surprise when a musician turns up something surprising. Calistrophy is
surprising not say delightful. The piece has form structure and an
almost impish wit. Angels is a beautiful track played mostly on the
higher reaches of the piano, it ripples and shimmers like a brief shower
on a pond in the sunlight. Sylosophy explores the Steinway with ideas
sparked off in all directions.
According to the
insert notes South Florida Odyssey Suite is supposed to show Greene's
disgust at the way Florida has changed. You wouldn’t tell that from the
music which sounds as though it was written for an avant-garde ballet
company. Look carefully and you can see the dancers as the parodies pour
out.
Gnat Dance is the
closest to the wild man that Greene was once seen as. The technique is
visible clearly in this piece as the notes whistle by in the right hand
as fast Peterson and the left hand rolls like Jimmy Yancey. Then there
is the call and response between the right and left hands.
According to the
insert notes the whole concert was recorded before an audience. They
must have been fully absorbed. You cannot hear a breath.
This is not a CD you
will take in at one sitting. You can hear eastern European gypsy folk
music, Indian ragas, klezmer, Satie, Morton Feldman and Bartok as well
many jazz styles. It is an exhilarating album and should cause a
re-evaluation of this forgotten figure. |
Jack Kenny
Jazz Views |
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You
would not be faulted for raising an eyebrow at the appearance of a
Burton Greene solo record. It is not without precedent, of course,
for 1998's "Shades of Greene" (Cadence Jazz) and "It's All One" (Horo,
1975) set a worthy course. Nevertheless, Greene's music has been
fruitfully explored in ensemble recordings, from the classic
open-communications music of the Free Form Ensemble (featuring Alan
Silva and Jon Winter) and his great quintet with master saxophonists
Marion Brown and the criminally under recorded Frank Smith, to a series
of colourful duets with bassists Silva, Maarten Altena, and recently,
Mark Dresser. Naturally, the solo artist's medium is reflection
rather than reaction, but on this recent live set, the pianistic
architecture that inspired many of his cohorts is here naked for our
approval.
Greene's oeuvre is one representing an artist never content to rest on
his laurels; at times embracing free improvisation, Gypsy folk music,
Indian ragas, and klezmer (and sometimes within the course of a solo!),
it comes as no surprise that the selections on this recording run the
gamut and are as slippery as a greased piano key. The Satie-esque
Calistrophy sets the ball rolling with a rhythmically insistent
yet pointillistic drive, and continues through In the Footsteps of
the Bratslav, which begins as a romantic tone poem until Greene's
penchant for Satie's dadism and Morton Feldman take over again,
resulting in a surrealistic and playful solo as dissociated from the
thematic material as one could possibly hope for. It is, in fact,
in these rather free solo flights that one somewhat misses he interplay
of, say, his old cohorts Shelly Rusten and Steve Tintweiss (those bells
could almost be augmented by high bass harmonics). Unlike most
solo piano sets (and I'm thinking of people like Jaki Byard and David
Burrell especially), Greene is not so much a left-handed player, and the
influence of ragtime and its extended bass rolling have little to do
with the fleet right hand brushstrokes that are presented here.
This is not to say that he's not a highly rhythmic player (quite the
contrary: see Gnat Dance), but he builds his rhythms from the
extension of events, the distance between firings rather than an easily
countable pulse. Greene has also embraced his East European roots
in his compositions (especially in evidence here); the rhythmically
repetitious, mildly dissonant thematic material that finds commonality
in both Monk and Bartók makes up a good portion of his book.
Romanticism, surrealism, and freedom: all are fully in effect on this,
Burton Greene's most recent offering of solo piano. For one whose
familiarity is steeped in the pianist's open-communications first, there
were only a few moments where a nudge from a drummer would have been
welcome. The thematic material is strong, and the recording
quality superb -- one can really hear the piano. Suffice it to say
that the progression from free music to Greene music is so logically
perfect that I don't even miss the garbage pail lid on the piano
strings. |
All About Jazz - NY
Clifford Allen |
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Culled
from a marathon performance, all of it lovingly recorded, this is an
hour-long distillation of the venerable Greene at his freewheeling,
playful best. He's still probably best known for playing Fire Music with
Alan Silva and others in the 1960s; and hey, that's beautiful music. But
Greene has been following a pan-idiomatic muse for decades now, even as
he combines multiple structural and compositional approaches with
seat-of-your-pants freedom. Like the late Jaki Byard and a very few
others, Greene is able to synthesize a wide range of influences --
Latin, traditional, jazz, free music, and his beloved Klezmer -- but do
so in a voice that is uniquely his. Arpeggios, stride, block chords,
sweetly lingering melodies, and punishing atonal sections all combine in
each of these loving performances, technique and passion morphing
together in wonderful expressivity. And one of the most interesting
things about his style is, and Dan Warburton rightly notes in the
liners, that his left-hand activity is far more indebted to his
classical training than to standard jazz piano gestures. This often
leads him into somewhat wider harmonic pastures than other pianists, and
when he gets to feeling particularly brash -- as on the crazed "South
Florida Odyssey Suite"--the instrument sounds like it's running off in
several directions at once.
Some of
my faves here are Greene's variations on themes he's played with
Klezmokum, particularly the gorgeous "In the Footsteps of the Bratslav"
and "Calistrophy," which open the recital. As as far-flung as the pieces
get, there's real, memorable warmth to this playing -- its feel, its
personality, its openness (though certainly the warmest and gentlest of
all is Greene's heartfelt reading of Perry Robinson's "Angels"). But to
suggest that a particular track is limited to a particular character
would be missing the point; Greene's is such a wide-ranging, fast
moving, musical imagination that each track is in itself something of an
epic journey. I know that some listeners find this to be a bit grating,
preferring performances that linger long a single mood or idea; but me,
I love Greene's approach and this is one of the finest places I know of
to study it. |
Jason
Bivens
Cadence, August 2004 |
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Exquisitely
savoury, Burton Greene's pianism is a perfect mixture of thematic
exploration and free runs. Lots of influences spring out continuously
during the abundant hour of "Live at Grasland": fractured Eastern Europe
melodies or Bill Evans-ish harmonic ghosts get further fragmentation by
a dancing left hand depicting the utter power of a tangent bass line,
while on the right side of the keyboard Greene lets droplets of
percussive sketches fall like exploded popcorns. The playing is
emphatically rich of humour and - yes - romanticism, but only if
strictly necessary. Anyway, this is music needing no stylistic framework
to be appreciated; it only gets better with listening, while several
shimmering moments distance it from the bunch of "automatic pilot" piano
solo releases, those ones with lots of technique but desperately lacking
the will of being appreciated by all. |
Massimo Ricci
Touching Extremes
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En las notas que
acompañan el nuevo disco del pianista Burton Greene, el
músico y crítico musical Dan Warburton escribe que
Greene y el productor Philip Egert tardaron
casi un año en escoger entre el material grabado en el concierto de la
ciudad holandesa de Grasland, cerca de Ámsterdam, el 28 de noviembre de
2002, aquel que debía integrar su disco “Live at Grasland”
(Drimala Records).
Leyendo esas líneas mientras
escucho el disco, no puedo evitar imaginar la cantidad de otras piezas
maravillosas que tuvieron forzosamente que quedar fuera de la edición y
desear ansiosamente que un día puedan ser escuchadas. Me detengo ahora en
estas ocho, entre ellas un original de Perry Robinson, las
elegidas, por la razón de ser, entre todas ellas, las que mejor permitían al
pianista “inspirar y expirar”; las que, por razones de estructura,
concentración, ritmo y forma, crearon el más amplio espacio de libertad para
dejar entrar la improvisación.
Hablando de improvisación, Burton Greene no es en absoluto
un recién llegado a este campo. Desde hace cuatro décadas llena de música el
corazón de los hombres, desde los años de fuego de los 60, en los que
Greene “incendiaba” escenarios y discos (los hoy clásicos
ESP, por ejemplo), con su free jazz puro y duro, estilo que ha hecho
evolucionar hacia un nivel de madurez superior y que, en sus palabras, hoy
le permite entrar y salir sin estar preso de una forma determinada. Por eso,
para el pianista, tocar “free” significa ejercer la actividad de creación
musical en total libertad, independientemente de las formas o estilos
escogidos en cada momento.
Volviendo a “Live at Grasland”, el concepto de
libertad está bien expresado en la riqueza de las intersecciones y
variaciones de la música, bella en las simetrías y en las cautivadoras
relaciones entre elementos opuestos, en el color, variabilidad e
intensidades rítmicas, con un desarrollo temático magníficamente creado, que
progresa in crescendo y se adentra por los más excitantes parajes musicales,
conducida por las manos de un maestro que concibe un nuevo arte de la fuga.
Esta
obra tiene muchos puntos álgidos. Sin embargo, me permito destacar la
extraordinaria “South Florida Odissey Suite”, un clásico de
Greene, aquí recreado en directo por primera vez en versión íntegra.
También la delicada fragilidad de “Angels”, balada del clarinetista
y compositor Perry Robinson, que en este disco materializa
el sueño que tenía Greene de poder un día grabarla en
solitario.
Creación superior del espíritu humano, digna de un gran artista como
Burton Greene, la música de “Live at Grasland”
es extremadamente viva y luminosa, tejida de líneas melódicas que se cruzan
y penetran profunda y lentamente en la memoria del oyente y que ahí
permanecen mucho más allá de la audición, acompañándolo cuando la música se
apaga en el lector de CD y que inmediatamente prende en el alma.
Un
disco vibrante de emoción positiva, soplo de vitalidad, belleza y simpatía
que apetece escuchar de la mañana a la noche, especialmente al atardecer de
un día soleado. O en todos aquellos momentos en los que la memoria necesite
ser confortada. Nota máxima para
Burton Greene. |
tomajazz
Eduardo Chagas |
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Animateur historique du free jazz, Burton Greene a su éviter l’impasse
de l’acharnement ou de la simple redite en s’intéressant, dans les
années 1970, autant à l’œuvre de Bartok qu’à la musique médiévale.
Répétant à l’envi que, pour lui, « jouer libre signifie pouvoir,
aussi, jouer Mozart », le pianiste a sans doute trouvé la recette pour
exister encore et compter toujours : mêler ses acquis classiques à
l’improvisation la plus inspirée.
Aujourd’hui, Live at Grasland nous donne la preuve de cette
manière de faire. Evoquant les grands noms de pianistes contemporains
(John Cage sur Calistrophy, James Tenney sur In the footsteps
of the Bratslav, ou encore Morton Feldman sur Florida summer
odyssey), Burton Greene n’en oublie pas pour autant ses premières
amours que sont les improvisations tourmentées (Sylosophy
(digitalville)) et les compositions torturées (12,733 shopping
malls).
Venant apaiser une autre obsession de Greene - celle qu’il voue aux
mélodies doucereuses, voire enrobées, South Florida Odyssey Suite
débute par l’interprétation gracile d’un thème qu’aurait pu signer
Gershwin, rapidement contrecarré par une divagation musicale frénétique
et possédée. Le tout étant de faire accepter à l’auditeur aussi bien la
complainte désabusée du pianiste de bar (A
Cozy Veggy Soup)
que les errements majestueux du créateur angoissé (Gnat dance).
Et Burton Greene y arrive, sereinement. Ayant compris depuis longtemps
qu’on ne gagne rien à distinguer l’érudit du sauvage, il convainc à
nouveau aujourd’hui. L’érudit a approfondi ses connaissances ; le
sauvage a encore gagné en troubles ; Burton Greene laisse faire, et en
profite. |
Infratunes
Guillaume Belhomme |
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