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Site review by ramesh February 8, 2009
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'Poolplayers' refers to a quartet of musicians which formed in 2005, and recorded this album of nine pieces in 2006. As their website is inactive, I suspect the group has dispersed. Due to the scanty liner notes, I have utilised the label's advertorial : http://www.songlines.com/poolplayerscontent.html
'The group came together in France in 2005, and its members are all well known on the European scene. Arve Henriksen is in the Norwegian ambient/noise/improv ensemble Supersilent and is acclaimed worldwide for his trumpet/vocal styles, influenced by shakuhachi music, Mongolian overtone singing [...] as well as jazz, and modified by electronics. Benoit Delbecq [ on the ] prepared piano [...] and British drummer Steve Argüelles, who lives in Paris and runs the electro-jazz label Plush, have worked together since the early 90s, currently in the duos Ambitronix and PianoBook. Lars Juul is the co-leader of two long-lasting Danish jazz/improvised music groups, Sound of Choice and Takuan.[...] Arve suggests the links are to contemporary and classical music, and adds, "The trumpet has a vast potential for tone and sound vibrations which we have still not heard. I was astonished by the sound of the shakuhachi and its meditative and minimalistic quality, and my trumpet sound has gradually moved along to [ its ] spirit."
What I take from the above is that the performers on the SACD are not novices groping around for some simulcram of an original style, but relatively experienced practitioners from the worlds of avant-jazz and electronica. For me, strangely enough, the album's mood conjured up the late-night serenity of 'Kind of Blue'. That that Miles milestone in its 50th anniversary is still some millstone around the efforts of newcomers is not to damn this SACD with unreachable comparisons. This Poolplayers album is a compendium of styles which come after 'Kind of Blue' : various electronic/computer manipulations both on the hoof and preprepared, and eclectic influences from Asian rather than African music. Nevertheless, the core of the compositions are still the traditional jazz grouping of trumpet, keyboard and drums. The general late-night ambience which 'Kind of Blue' did so much to codify even away from the core jazz audiences is not subverted in this 2006 album by lashings of exuberant avant-trendiness. This would probably have been the case with less experienced, or less tasteful performers. The vocal overlays are restrained, and the electronic reprocessing generally doesn't draw attention to itself. Most of the compositions have a strong improvisatory feel to them, but like the improvisatory nature of classical Hindustani music, unless one listens to multiple performances from the same group of musicians, it's impossible for the casual listener to discern what is caught on the wind and what has been fully set down beforehand.
Doubtless those whose tastes in pop and jazz are underlined by an insistence on catchy tunes and simple structural forms will look elsewhere, as will those whose preferences lie in the ideologically complex, overprocessed classical avant-garde. The former will find this album too formless, and the latter, too 'simple'. As new, unpredictable late-night music, I warmed very much to this SACD over the several months I've had it. Consequently, I can confidently say that the musically curious will want to listen to it over an extended period of time, if not all at one sitting. The works are a unhurried exploration in texture, but make no particular demands in terms of polyrhythms nor Western classical harmonic complexity. For those who know of Tuvan throat singing and Japanese classical string music, some short sections will fascinate in terms of how a jazz ensemble can approach a generic simulation before veering off onto other tangents.
The 24bit/48KHz recording was mixed in analogue to stereo and 5.0 presentations. There is a wide stereo spread, with a constricted stage depth as is typical in works with added electronic reprocessing done on stage rather than post-production.
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