{"id":8333,"date":"2017-04-22T18:32:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T01:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=8333"},"modified":"2017-04-22T18:34:23","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T01:34:23","slug":"recent-listening-cuong-vu-plays-michael-gibbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2017\/04\/recent-listening-cuong-vu-plays-michael-gibbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening: Cuong Vu Plays Michael Gibbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuong Vu 4TET, Ballet<\/a> (Rare Noise)<\/p>\n

\"\"Trumpeter Vu and three fellow Seattle adventurers explore pieces by Michael Gibbs. It was guitarist Bill Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s idea to bring the British composer to the University of Washington last year for concerts of his orchestral music as well as sets by Vu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quartet with Frisell, bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Ted Poor. In a news release, Vu is quoted as saying that their aim was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6our individual aesthetics coming together and trying to find a common goal\/language.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The language is post-bebop bordering on free jazz. Recorded at the concerts, the 4TET\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwith exhilaration and a sense of risk\u00e2\u20ac\u201dapply their unique idiom to five Gibbs compositions. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ballet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d begins as a series of collective abstractions and soon assumes a waltz feeling. Vu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dazzling state-of-the-trumpet-art solo leads to him and Frisell ending with Gibbs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eccentric melody appearing in the piece for the first time.<\/p>\n

“Feelings And Things,” an abstract ballad, is primarily an occasion for Vu to bring his lyricism to the fore and let one of Gibbs’s most attractive melodies speak for itself.”\u00a0Ted Poor introduces \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blue Comedy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in”\u00a0a short, incisive solo charged with hi-hat licks and Roy Haynes pops. As Vu and Frisell introduce the tricky melody, the trumpet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first few notes ”\u00a0echo. Whether that is”\u00a0intentional is impossible to know, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an intriguing effect. Frisell invests his solo with quirky asides and what sound like country licks. Rhythmic intensity builds under the impetus of Vu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gnarly solo. Far from getting in the way, Poor \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcs drum chatter under Bergman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bass solo enhances it.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And On The Third Day\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an exercise in drama and emotional density. Vu rasps, growls and echoes before settling into what could be taken, briefly, for a resonant Esbj\u00c3\u00b6rn Svensson excursion in Nordic placidity. Soon enough, however, he is fluttering, swooping, playing extended growls and, in general, giving a lesson in 21st Century jazz trumpet fluency. In his solo, Frisell uses amplifier distortion and alternates power chords with decisive downward strokes. As the track eases toward its close after 12 minutes of heat, the lower register of Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guitar guides us to a peaceful conclusion. This track has remarkable power. To absorb it, the listener may want to take the trip at least twice.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sweet Rain,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d probably Gibbs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best-known piece, opens with Vu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trumpet as mellifluous as a cello\u00e2\u20ac\u201din distinct contrast with the raucousness of his work in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And On The Third Day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The lyricism of Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solo has soft, but hardly timid, support from Poor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brushes. This is Vu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first album together since 2005\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mostly Residual<\/a>. Twelve years is too long between collaborations by musicians who are so stimulating together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cuong Vu 4TET, Ballet (Rare Noise) Trumpeter Vu and three fellow Seattle adventurers explore pieces by Michael Gibbs. It was guitarist Bill Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s idea to bring the British composer to the University of Washington last year for concerts of his orchestral music as well as sets by Vu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quartet with Frisell, bassist Luke Bergman and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}