Clarinet savant Ben Goldberg had spent the darkest days of the pandemic focused on being a bright creative light, but his release to open up the Year 2022 brings out a spontaneous collaboration with guitar great Nels Cline and drumming eminence Tom Rainey that predates all that.
Goldberg, Cline and Rainey are all very good at what they do, but that would mean very little if they were not also good at handling the telepathy end of things. The Art Spirit, Live at the Owl Music Parlor is a document of a club date from May, 2016 that does a pretty good job showing what these musicians are capable of individually and a great job showing what they can do collectively with no premeditation.
I think The Art Spirit begins and ends with the state of mind that the trio brings to this gig; they are audacious, playful and even relaxed. It’s almost cliché to say of improvisations that the musicians take the music wherever the spirit moves them to take it, but it really feels that way over this trio of extended performances. Moreover, Ben Goldberg has a unique flair for making (but not force-fitting) his clarinet fit into any musical setting, and none more effectively than when it involves free improvisation alongside fellow masters of improv.
“tree from the root” just materializes out of nowhere. Goldberg and Cline probe around as they look for interesting vistas, but do so closely together. Rainey uses his drum kit as a vehicle for the right accents at the very moment they’re called for, and Cline is often using his effects pedals to bend his sound around Goldberg’s.
Rainey undertakes a more assertive role for “branch from the trunk,” instigating Cline and Goldberg to keep it percolating. There’s an even a cool, brief moment where Cline makes his guitar simulate the sound of a clarinet. Soon afterwards, the three shut down and reset, re-emerging in a more contemplative frame of mind and some very tight progressions flow from that.
For a while, “blossom from the twig” is a walk on the rowdy rock-ish side, beginning with torrid Cline/Rainey eruptions. Goldberg nudges his way in initially by blowing the lower reaches of his bass clarinet to act as a bass guitar. The commotion softly settles into a trot, and just as elegantly build up momentum again, culminating in another slow release.
The Art Spirit, Live at the Owl Music Parlor can be had today, from Ben Goldberg’s Bandcamp page.
