Which guitarist relatively new on the scene could be the next Bill Frisell? Or Nels Cline? David Torn? Or even Andy Summers of the Police? Given the effusive praise received from all of these six-string legends, it might well be Gregg Belisle-Chi.
The particular object of their praise is the latest offering from this thirty-one-year-old guitarist. He recorded Koi as a collection of tunes from the rich oeuvre of Tim Berne songs. One of the challenges before Belisle-Chi in covering the music of one of jazz’s currently most adventurous and idiosyncratic composers in the avant-garde realm was to transcribe the scores from this alto saxophonist to guitar. And then, recording these tunes on his own in his small home studio, playing only an acoustic guitar. Using an acoustic guitar instead of an electric was Berne’s idea, actually, and it’s the right call for instilling the humanity seeded in Berne’s songs without any electric filter, just as Berne himself does with his sax.
There’s only one other occasion I can think of where another artist covered all Tim Berne compositions is FØRAGE by Berne’s Snakeoil pianist Matt Mitchell, and here too Mitchell took on the challenge without accompaniment. Koi is likewise mixed by Torn, but Torn needed to do very little to refine the recordings Belisle-Chi made because while Belisle-Chi had nowhere to hide, he had nothing to hide, either: his technique, intuition and touch are impeccable.
Berne is notorious for fully expressing a piece of his in twenty, thirty minute-long odysseys. Belisle-Chi distills these pieces down to their essence, taking only around three-six minutes to complete. It goes quicker when there aren’t other musicians with which to feed off of and the focus is put squarely on composition over improvisation. Belisle-Chi also knows how to channel Berne in a manner that may be better suited for the uninitiated.
On “Chance” there’s a warmth and a sage use of silence. Belisle-Chi doesn’t hit the listener over his head with the complexity of Berne’s chart, he starts simple to make it immediately comforting and reveals the prowess of the composition in very understated ways. At the start, it doesn’t sound like something Tim Berne would have written but by the end, it very much does, and you’re ready to embrace it.
The signature Berne chord clusters come out right off for “Three Whisky Exception,” and it’s astonishing how Belisle-Chi makes it sound like child’s play, hitting every note at precise pacing and never sounding labored to do that. Belisle-Chi’s treatment of “Trauma One” reveals the agnostic approach Berne often takes toward the dividing line between dissonance and melodic.
The limitation of casting these songs with a single, unplugged instrument could be severely limiting to most, but Belisle-Chi keeps coming up with different devices, different arrangement styles for each song. The clipping of some notes during “Giant Squids” resembles the plucking of strings on violins, giving it an almost orchestral kind of movement. Belisle-Chi reveals “Huh/Brokelyn” as a series of connected melodies and counterpoints, starting with momentum and letting it wind down to a state of contemplation. The sliding, low, low notes on “Middle Seat Blues” shout ‘blues’ even though there are no blues melody. But the feel is unmistakable.
The point here is never to show off prowess for the sake of itself; every construction has a clear vision. “Huevos” features advanced fingerpicking to match the advanced progression of the song. “Reception” is presented in single-line notes at first, then with chords later on, like peeling away the layers of mystery in the song. And “Starfish Blues” has all the esoteric quality of a well-conceived through-composed piece.
By stripping down the arrangements to solely an acoustic guitar, Gregg Belisle-Chi was able to illuminate interesting facets of Tim Berne’s music that could get missed in the stormy give-and-take of a full band. A solo performance of rare wisdom like Koi is what happens when the mighty composing pen of Tim Berne meets the mighty insightful guitar of Gregg Belisle-Chi.
Koi drops on June 4, 2021 from Relative Pitch Records. Pre-order/order the album now from Screwgun Records.
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