Category: Reviews

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Old monsters? They were frightening, gargantuan, mythical beasts: fire-breathing, blood-lusting and not at all willing to put together anything close to a danceable riff.New Monsters, at least as envisioned by bassist Steve Horowitz on this Posi-Tone album, are a much more engaging bunch. There’s still some fire-breathing in evidence, but the blood lust is kept at bay in favor of an abundance of delightful melodies, harmonies and rhythms.

Horowitz, who favors the electric bass guitar rather than the upright acoustic instrument, is at the head of a quintet of experienced players. It’s a tight, tough unit, capable of some very powerful playing but also of much subtler and more controlled musicianship, as shown on “Miracle Melancholy” and “Journey To The East.”

While Horowitz leads the session, tenor saxophonist Dan Plonsey, a long-time collaborator, composed all of the original tunes. Plonsey, whose previous credits include work with Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits and Eugene Chadbourne, cheerfully throws a few curve balls with some fun titles. These are complemented by the cover art (another fine Posi-Tone design), but they don’t always accurately signpost the mood of the music. “Vision Pyramid Collapse” is the best of these—an almost apocalyptic phrase which fronts a joyous tune that incorporates a slinky bass line, jangly prepared piano and a catchy saxophone riff.

The jagged piano and drums interplay of “Brains For Breakfast” introduces “Herald Of Zombies.” Once again, Plonsey’s titles are diverting: this is no soundtrack to a George A. Romero nightmare. “Herald Of Zombies” sounds more like a Raymond Scott cartoon tune before Plonsey opens up with his most powerful solo, with pianist Scott Looney gradually coming to the fore with his own percussive scattergun showcase. Plonsey and alto saxophonist Steve Adams engage in imaginative, dueling interplay on “Shattered Silence:” indeed, this dual sax attack could well be said to characterize the New Monsters sound.

The band covers two tunes—John Coltrane’s “India” and Eric Dolphy’s “The Red Planet.” The numbers are merged together and given a driving and energetic arrangement, with some more terrific unison playing from the tenor and alto saxophones of Plonsey and Adams.

So these New Monsters are fun, funky, and far from something to be afraid of. Unless, of course, they’re hiding under the bed.

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Despite the suggestion of the title, New Monsters is not actually crawling with legions of denizens from the netherworld. The promise of monsters has more to do with the unleashing of musical forces as diverse as klezmer and Erik Satie. Moreover, far from being a quaint experiment, the album takes a radical road—one that was travelled by Don Byron on Plays the Music of Mickey Katz (Electra, 1993). Whether the influence is direct is a moot point, but the bassist and leader of this ensemble, Steve Horowitz, has certainly heard his Byron and heard it well, as evidenced by his bold attempt at musical iconoclasm. The voice of the bassist is singular and authentic, and it comes through clearly from one brilliant arrangement to the next.

Horowitz is an edgy bassist. His stuttering legato is peppered with an unusual choice of notes that inhabit the very edge of the counterpoint he creates with tenor saxophonist Dan Plonsey. Although there are many electrifying examples of this, one that stands out is the superb arrangement of saxophonist John Coltrane’s minor intrusion, “India.” This colossal wall of sound, once directed by reed multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, gets an exquisite remake. While the density of the piece is retained, the melodic and harmonic lines become superbly blurred; there is a feeling that Horowitz has infused it with something saxophonist Ornette Coleman would surely have called “Harmolodic” invention. The same holds true of Dolphy’s “The Red Planet,” which is a part of the medley tagged onto “India.”

There is a strange calm that pervades the album that is quite unnerving, like a crepuscular menace that seems to lurk behind the music. This is probably wholly intentional, and has much to do with the tenor saxophone of Dan Plonsey, the composer of all the original charts on the session. Plonsey has a deep, hollow sound inside which his voice echoes and resonates as if it were emerging hoarsely from an icy cave where the spirits of the denizens lurk. His chart, “New Monsters,” is brilliant in that respect, and is full of fear and loathing. “Miracle Melancholy” has a similar feel, the eeriness compounded by an ascending whine created by brushing the piano strings so that they wail and howl with the flute. This goes on as bells are rung, before the song crescendos in thundering drums and bass.

When dissonant music is impressionistically created on New Monsters, it suggests that the music is emerging from an ancient well where death lurks in “Shattered Silence” and zombies feast on “Brains for Breakfast.” This may appear to be quite the menu for an album where improvisation of the finest kind is the order of the day, but this is to be expected from musicians so well-schooled in their instruments, the history of music, and in the sublime ability to create music that is memorable every step of the way.

ejazznews.com

San Francisco Bay Area bassist Steve Horowitz of The Code International amid copious projects with largely cutting-edge instrumentalists leads a manifold progressive-jazz effort, augmented by the artists’ ‘monstrous’ chops. With a superfine lineup, featuring reedman Steve Adams of ROVA notoriety and tenor sax ace Dan Plonsey who gets credit for writing all the original pieces on this album, the program offers an abundance of disparate structural components.

There’s a whole lot of goodness going on under the hood as they say. It’s modern jazz that incorporates a few classical inferences, a two-step dance segment and a bevy of thriving jazz grooves, featuring the explosive dual sax attack. But a primary differentiator resides within Plonsey’s intriguing comps, shaped with memorable hooks, edgy overtones, and odd-metered time signatures. Indeed, it’s a group-centric engagement, offering asymmetrical parts eloquence, muscle, and sublime harmonic content.

Horowitz’s pliant electric bass lines elicit a traffic-cop perspective. And on “Journey to the East,” he lays out a firm bottom-end for the saxophonists’ swirling choruses, tinted with plaintive cries and nods to the free-zone. Here, pianist Scott Looney circles the frontline to create a closed-loop element. Otherwise, the band morphs John Coltrane’s “India” with Eric Dolphy’s “The Red Planet into a fire and brimstone gala, centered on an open-air sound. However, in other regions of the program the ensemble generates toe-tapping grooves and enacts vivid imagery of the legendary beast Bigfoot, partly due to Horowitz’s animated intro that sparks imagery of the monster brooding through the mountain forests.

Simply stated “New Monsters” is an unanticipated surprise that should theoretically find its way on many best-of lists for 2012. Thankfully, Horowitz and associates tender a modern jazz refresh of sorts, providing a much needed contrast to the rolling waves of ho hum, kiddie bop. – Glenn Astarita

Dan Plonsey – tenor sax; Steve Adams – alto & soprano sax, flute; Scott Looney – piano; Steve Horowitz – bass; Jim Bove – drums

https://www.posi-tone.com/newmonsters/newmonsters.html