The animated, spontaneous music of Chrononaux was recorded live in Germany a mere two months before this writing, but the story begins some three decades earlier.
Bassist John Hughes and drummer/percussionist Jeff Arnal (he of Jupiter fame) have collaborated back in the 90s in Baltimore. Working together in Germany after the turn of the millennia, the two met pianist Dietrich Eichmann there, which led to an Arnal/Eichmann duo. This duo released a couple of albums in the aughts, later expanding the duo to include Hughes.
Argentinian saxophonist Camila Nebbia arrived in Europe, quickly leaving positive impressions in festivals and music venues around the continent. Soon, she formed a duo collaboration with Hughes.
With all these connections established, a tie-up among these four seasoned practitioners of highly improvised jazz seemed bound to happen, and it’s led to this record. Chrononaux is a ninety-minute gig at the Brückenstern bar in Hamburg, where everything heard here was extemporarily composed by the quartet, which added to the challenge of that gig.
The art of group improvisation is about leaving it all on table. No safety net, no premeditation, all instinct…and knowing your partners’ instincts. The live set is divided into two performances, one short and the other long (note: the ‘short’ performance runs over twenty-five minutes).
“Lines of Flight” wastes no time getting off the ground and you can already make out Arnal’s use of unusual tonalities. Likewise, Hughes uses his bass as a companion to the piano and saxophone by playing it arco, also vacating the low end of the timbre range. The best free jazz saxophonists can create melodies that make sense out of thin air and Nebbia has that trait.
About midway through it becomes a percussion show, led by Arnal, of course, but Eichmann and Hughes contribute with their own inventiveness as well. When Nebbia joins in to add the notes, she has no problem adapting her attack to fit the rhythmic fabric.
Eichmann conjures up a piano figure to get “Critical Density” going that Hughes and Nebbia use as a launching pad for producing their own explorations. Hughes and Arnal become the anchor, establishing a groove and Eichmann very effective as a conduit between them and Nebbia. Over time, the groove breaks down into part of the loosely structured clatter.
Each participant gets their turn to step up front and radiate for extended periods of time but no one is recycling old ideas in doing so. It’s notable on Nebbia’s turn around the forty minute mark that where she is speaking in her own language, yet it’s rooted in tradition. Further along, Hughes plays a rumbling, intense bass solo and Arnal perceptively traces it on his drums and percussion.
The moments are long on Chrononaux, yes, but there aren’t any dull ones. Camila Nebbia, Dietrich Eichmann, John Hughes and Jeff Arnal are just too dialed into each other for that to happen.
Get Chrononaux now, from Bandcamp.
