Spiritual Prayers is the second album tenor saxophone player Ivo Perelman has completed over a short period in his quest to record with bass clarinet purists. Shortly after issuing the two-disc Kindred Spirits in August 2018 with Rudi Mahall – an exceptional listening experience – Perelman recorded a single album with Jason Stein. The bass clarinetist plays in the Chicago scene and leads the trio Locksmith and his own quartet; he is also a major part of projects Nature Work and Hearts and Minds.
Stein has a raw, powerful style and takes the bass clarinet far beyond the expected, making it a showcase instrument. He has performed throughout Europe and the U.S. in all kinds of projects and different recording collaborations. Ivo Perelman is a Brazilian-born player who now lives in New York City. He is creatively prolific and explorative.
Taking the familiar line of numbering rather than naming tracks, Jason Stein and Ivo Perelman don’t start Spiritual Prayers at a gentle pace. Rather, it is full pelt, into the adventure.
Track 1 starts with the bass clarinet wandering the scales, seeking a line, which the sax subtly provides, joining and guiding, interspersing a touch of Rimsky Korsakov-like lines. Then the bass takes control back again and suddenly they find the togetherness of true improvisation with a kindred spirit. The journey is the same, the road travelled by each a reflection of the suggestions offered by the other.
Provocative lilts, uplifting phrases and gorgeous warbling sections are interspersed with those where the bass travels down the scales – and the sax up them – until they create opposing ribbons of sound which roll up and back, forward and back, crossing midway but never get tangled. The lines of each instrument can be heard distinctly. At times, Perelman wails altissimo over the deepest guttural notes of the bass clarinet creating a searing contrast which engages implicitly.
Track 2 is spacey, eerie even at the start, with both players introducing a breathiness to their style, reading the other like well worn pages of the familiar book. It is difficult to believe Ivo Perelman and Jason Stein had barely met before this recording session, as they seem to connect musically and to have an implicit understanding of where the other is going. There are moments here, amidst the improvised wanderings the two players come together on a note and hold it, as if to say: “We got here, same time, same note, different journey but same destination.”
These points highlight the fact that the two players listen and dialogue with each other naturally in their improvised conversation. Stein tangents the sax lines and at other ties goes toward complimenting harmonics whilst Perelman is inspired to take little adventures of his own, pushing the explorative nature of his playing.
Track 3 uses with beautiful airy stut notes on bass clarinet over breathy and delicately tailored sax squeals where Perelman pre-empts the changes provided by Stein, sometimes to a weirdly accurate extent. The track ascends up, taking the emotive power up a degree, then a bit more until both players are soaring. They then gently descend down through tissue paper-thin textures they created on the way up, peeling back the layers and exploring what is under each one. The great thing about this track is that, with just two instruments there is a huge extension of range using altissimo and lower registers, so you get almost seven octaves range and both players use their part almost entirely.
The short Track 4 begins with comical laughs and squeals from bass clarinet over which the sax trills and purrs like a playful kitten. Both players take a light-hearted approach to the game, creating vocal-like phrases at times. More illusions, more exploration. Track 5 is more serious, more tentative and explorative with just out of kilter phrases, almost touching but each player out of time by a smidge with the other.
It wears thin quickly but no worries, the same for the players and after a few phrases it develops into a more frenetic and emotive play from both. Sandwiched between the changes is a section where both growl, challenge and chase, marking a distinct middle section, unexpected perhaps but there nonetheless. Phrases here are not just placed but eked out, caressed and re-moulded into sound sculptures which both defy convention and yet create something which makes complete musical sense.
Track 6 sees the bass clarinet suggesting different themes, around which the sax sometimes plays and at other times suggests something similar but another vein, another musical bridge, daring the clarinet to follow over the precipice – into which the music finally tumbles, falling down, down spiraling to earth … almost. Uplifted again by a switch in register by the sax, the music climbs, soars and returns to the solid rock face from which it originated. Same keys, different tempo – wonderful.
Track 7 is like waterfalls, two or three falling, crashing, gently flowing and then another tumbling fall. Jason Stein is more aggressive here; you can feel the grip he has on the theme. Powerful and bold, the sax takes to playing in upper register around the strength of the clarinet lines at times. Then Perelman introduces his familiar weapon and squeaks in altissimo over the bass to get attention. It works and soon two lines are flowing, swirling and playing alongside each other. This is the album’s attention stealer. Track 8 concludes Spiritual Prayers, and begins with breathy, emotionally charged sounds: Gentle, gentle then – the great debate: Sax over bass, bass over sax, squeaks, growls and wails for good measure. the dialogue goes on a bit, but there is always something for each player to say.
Whether you are a musician or not, Spiritual Prayers demonstrates one of the key things about improvisation and that is the dialogue set up when two musicians effortlessly read each other. At times, the communication on the album is slightly challenging and each player seems to vie for center place. At others, however, there is an almost surreal interpretation by each player of the other musician – and this far outweighs my previous observation. They appear to pre-empt what each is going to do, which is in places uncanny and slightly unsettling but also amazing listening.
It takes a close listen and it takes a time when you can simply open your mind and heart but this is one of those records which is rare in that it provides a clear demonstration of the characteristics of genuine free improvisational playing. Somehow, more connects these players than heritage or musical background. It is what the major players were doing all those years ago, and the same essences are right here.
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