Joe Fiedler’s low-brass quartet Big Sackbut (sackbut: an early form of trombone used in Renaissance music) enjoys an amphibian lifestyle, while Dave Glasser’s quartet takes classic jazz into fresh territory.

Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut
Live in Graz (Multiphonics Music)
A review
Trombonist Joe Fiedler is a jazz amphibian, living comfortably in the realms of both abstract extrapolation and juicy personal expression, and he’s happy to shuttle you back and forth between them. Live in Graz, with his Big Sackbut quartet—trombonists Fiedler, Luis Bonilla, and Ryan Keberle (left, center, and right channels, respectively, on my system), and Jon Sass filling in very impressively for Marcus Rojas on tuba—delivers a lively example. Fiedler and his companions cover both ends of the spectrum, from mathematically precise explorations of the harmonic structure and beyond to deeply dramatic or aggressively burlesque expressions of feeling.

The album opens with Fiedler’s slyly hip “Peekskill,” with a really nice in-and-out solo from the composer. Charles Mingus’s “Devil Woman” begins with a Fiedler moan before moving on to an animated chatter. Keberle gives all registers a workout on his fine solo, but it is Fiedler’s deep dive into the blues toward the end that will steal your breath. Sass proves himself indefatigably rhythmic—you will never miss the missing drummer—on Fiedler’s “I’m In,” and Bonilla offers a mathematically satisfying and emotionally expressive solo on the late Roswell Rudd’s funky “Bethesda Fountain.” (Rudd, a friend and mentor to Fiedler, was another jazz amphibian, his trad jazz beginnings informing his later free work, and he provided a living example to Fiedler on how to live comfortably in multiple jazz worlds.) Two more Rudd compositions, the bluesy “Yankee No-How” and the irreverent “Suh Blah Blah Buh Sibi,” grace the album with their beautiful spines. Separating those two is Fiedler’s “Chicken,” which opens with a splendid duet between Bonilla and Sass.

Check out arrangements of the three trombones that open and close the final track, Fiedler’s “Tonal Proportions.” The timbres of the three trombonists are so distinctively different that it gives Fiedler almost three different instruments to arrange, and he handles them beautifully. Fiedler, in particular, takes full advantage of the trombone’s near human voice, its palette of growls and smears, and its multiphonic possibilities to maximize his expressive capabilities, and he pushes the quartet to the edge time and again. All four gentlemen can be classified as monsters on their instruments, and they play together with rigorous discipline and unfettered imaginations that will coax involuntary oohs and aahs from listeners.

Dave Grasser
Hypocrisy Democracy (Here Tiz Music)
A review
Although I was unfamiliar with Dave Glasser (soprano and alto saxes, flute) as a leader, the names of his colleagues on his new album, Hypocrisy Democracy—Andy Milne (piano), Ben Allison (bass), and Matt Wilson (drums and percussion)—lured me into giving it a listen. It turns out to have been a very good choice. With 10 Glasser originals and a single cover, the Disney classic “It’s a Small World” (written by the Sherman brothers, Robert B. and Richard M.), the album explores familiar territory but with a new set of ears. You will hear the bop and hard bop traditions, but they don’t confine these four gentlemen, who are more than happy to expand on them. Glasser’s improvisations are less about working the changes and more about keying off the melody and following feeling, so he loosens the structure and unhitches his solos from the changes without violating them. Neat trick, and it reveals the influence of his teacher, the recently departed Lee Konitz. Glasser also makes use of the full timbral possibilities of his instruments, further expanding his expressive possibilities.

The muscular “Knit Wit” opens the proceedings with an invigorating solo from Glasser, an outward push from Milne in his, and Wilson’s characteristically melodic contributions. “Justice” demands the same and celebrates it, while the energetic “It’s Nothing New” rides a funky groove and includes a spacy dream section. The slow, swinging blues of “Dilemonk” opens with a nice duet between Allison and Wilson and includes a memorably sinuous solo from Glasser and a jaunty Allison solo. Allison’s running-not-walking bass powers “Coffee, Dogs, and Telelogs,” while “It’s a Small World” is graced with Glasser’s flute and Milne’s fairy dust. On “Freedom,” Glasser demands it and then finds in on the open road, taking it and owning it with a sculptured solo. “Glee for Lee” is Glasser’s homage to his teacher, with help from Wilson, and Konitz’s influence can be clearly heard in “Revolver,” another groove-driven track. “Deep Dark” is an essay of dread and lament shot through with rays of light, leading into the closer, Minor Madness,” a raging complaint powered by Wilson and in search of a glimmer of hope.

Glasser, whose father, Ira, was the executive director of the ACLU for more than 20 years, has this to say about the group effort: “These guys have all worked in different areas doing their own thing, so this is a group of people who have come together from very far-flung places. We’ve worked side by side in academic circumstances, but never as musicians. Yet we’ve managed to unite to find the things that we have in common instead of thinking about our differences. I think that parallels artistically what I see as a big problem facing society right now: people are focused on their differences, so they’re warring and arguing and blaming as opposed to looking at what they have in common.”

That welcome sentiment informs the music and celebrates the humanity of its four very distinct contributors.

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© 2020 Mel Minter