Axel Dörner, Greg Kelley, Andrea Neumann, Bhob Rainey - Thanks, Cash
(Sedimental)
Trans-Atlantic meetings of improvisers at the forefront of their fields usually cause more of a stir than this one. They often take on epic proportions, but it seems appropriate that the 2001 tour that brought these musicians together was of a more low-key variety. Each member of the quartet has become a big name in the world of little improv, sculpting sounds from extended techniques and miniscule gestures. Dörner and Neumann represent the Berliner faction of the group, Kelley and Rainey the Bostonian, though, especially in this context, nationality meant little, as each of these musicians has stripped away the bulk of any improvisational tradition or heritage, leaving the skeletal remains, sound and space, an approach that attains a certain cleanliness and purity, even in a group setting such as this one.
Aside from Dörner’s use of computer, Thanks, Cash is an entirely organic album, a fact that resonates throughout what sounds like a decidedly alien landscape. With the trumpets and saxophone muted to the point of abstract smears and subtle clicks and pops, Neumann’s manipulation of the piano’s inner workings often becomes the album’s most conspicuous voice. Tones rise and fall in a swaying interplay, slowly devoured by a steady emission from Dörner’s computer or ornamented by the simple percussion of Neumann’s “piano.” Fluttered breaths peter out over the insistent vibration of a foreign object on a piano string, as a trumpet emits a gravelly groan. The players tend to be respectful of each other, playing in unison only when momentum demands it, and fully able to hold back to allow the music to take a different turn. There are moments in which the music’s ingredients don’t mix, but Thanks, Cash is no worse for them, as the disc’s few cluttered moments set the stage well for a reduction of voices and return to the sparse canvas that makes up much of the album.
The performances on this disc may have occurred over three years ago, but time has worn little on their music. And while Thanks, Cash doesn’t necessarily represent the best work of any of the quartet’s careers, it’s a worthwhile listen nonetheless.
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