This CD was named one of the “Best 10 Jazz CD’s Released in 2008" by Bill Shoemaker (Down Beat) and Art Lange (Point of Departure) in the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll for 2008
Connie Crothers/Bill Payne (New Artists)
By Marc Medwin – AllAboutJazz-New York (November, 08)
Connie Crothers is one of the most versatile pianist on a scene that is often mislabeled "free" jazz. Her pianism has been cultivated through long years of studying and deep listening, evident in each tone, chord and gesture. Overwhelming intensity, at whatever volume, is juxtaposed with transparent beauty in a style that is as unique as it is unpredictable
Crothers has the perfect partner in clarinetist Bill Payne, this disc of dialogs belying a long musical relationship. Just listen to the moment in "Conversation #3" when Payne plays a two-note figure, immediately following which Crothers flourishes downward to land on Payne’s
E-flat. In fact, counterpoint is the duo’s MO throughout. It opens "Conversation #4" and is even more rigorous in the tenth conversations. Crothers’ Tristano association is made plain in the latter, but as the tenth track heats up, bluesy inflections and clusters pervade, lending to a surprisingly trilled ending from Payne. By contrast there are the Messiaenic sonorities of "Conversation #12" and, with pPayne beginning in the lower registers and with such rhythmic freedom, it almost sounds like a movement left out of Quartet for the End of Time.
The duo’s rhythmic diversity is stunning. "Conversation #1" finds them establishing motoric rhythms in variously shifting meters seemingly without effort. If several of the improvised pieces do, in fact, invoke the high dynamics usually associated with Cecil Taylor, such concerns are momentary and they reflect only one facet of this duo’s remarkable ability to communicate quickly and efficiently on many levels. This is improvised music at it’s finest!
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There’s not a wasted note on these tightly constructed, pithy duets between pianist Connie Crothers and clarinetist Bill Payne. Each of the fourteen improvisations sprouts from an initial phrase played by each partner and grows by means of elaborations, variations, and recapitulations of the seed planted by the first notes. Throughout each improvisation, Crothers and Payne remain absolute equals, synchronizing their lines of development without there ever appearing to be a leader and a follower. But they are clearly listening to one another in these intimate dialogues. Each will pick up a hint from the other –mimic a contour, shadow a phrase – but use it only long enough to weave it into what he or she is doing. It’s a kind of a hall of fun house mirrors effect, where images are warped and reflected back and forth until they are utterly transformed. Tempos remain at slow and medium, but there’s lots of variety in other aspects of their collaboration. “Conversation #2” is full of short gestures, Crothers making brief sweeping arcs as if she were juggling scarves, while Payne dips and arcs like a dragon fly. “Conversation #4” is a braid, a macramé construction of lines and knots of chords that form beautiful patterns. On “The Desert and the City,” Payne’s clarinet moves like a leaf buffeted by the wind, tracing long peregrinations, then wafting upward in little curlicues, or using multiphonics to jump in place. Crothers under girds and enfolds Payne with a kaleidoscopic progression of chords and note clusters. The precision with which they fit together is uncanny at time. Like all students of Lennie Tristano, Crothers is often branded as cool, but this is very passionate music, a product of intense concentration and discipline as well as emotional openness and depth.
Ed Hazell
Point of Departure
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Clarinetist Bill Payne is the very definition of the itinerant musician—his extensive résumé lists stints with at several traveling circuses, Broadway and Vegas shows, tours with the Russ Carlyle Orchestra, cruise-ship bands, and the infrequent bad day gig. Pianist Crothers's pedigree is a bit purer from a jazz perspective: once the protégé of Lennie Tristano, she remains one of the most exceptional representatives of his musical philosophy. Payne cites studies with Crothers as a turning point in his life. He's now obviously her peer. This track presents the pair in intense one-on-one engagement. Payne's non-tonal lines are classically tinged, augmented by a jazz musician's concern with forward motion and free expression. Crothers has the touch of a first-rate Debussy interpreter, and here her lines as well possess an impressionistic strain. Each player gives as much as he/she takes. Their interplay is indeed conversational, albeit highly animated—even argumen tative. Crothers's status as one of the most accomplished in/out improvisers is only enhanced by this release. Payne's rep, newly minted compared to hers, benefits even more.
Chris Kelsey
Jazz.com
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Rather than a high-energy blowout, these
collaborations leave space, are generally thoughtful and
feature close communication between the two musicians,
whether they are echoing each other’’s thoughts or offering
a pair of contrasting voices. Sounding very much like
““conversations,”” the improvisations give Crothers and
Payne opportunities to create new melodies and thoughts
on the spot, and it often makes for an intriguing listen. It is
obvious that they have played together many times before
and have a familiarity with each other’’s playing even as
they continually surprise each other.
This colorful set is available from CD Baby
Scott Yanow
L.A. Jazz Scene
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Hi Bill,
Listened to your CD. Very nice music I think. The interaction between the two of you is amazing.
Piano and clarinet is never an easy duo but you did a fine work. Nice surprise from 2 very capable musicians.
All the best
Fred Van Hove
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Conversazioni
di
Cosimo Parisi
Due musicisti dalle diverse origini - Connie Crothers al piano e Bill Payne al clarinetto - intessono serrati dialoghi liberamente improvvisati, divertendosi a proporre una musica dalle coordinate piuttosto originali. Lei proviene dalla scuola di Lennie Tristano ed il suo quartetto insieme a Richard Tabnik, Roger Mancuso ed un contrabbassista che cambia a seconda delle occasioni è una delle realtà musicali contemporanee più interessanti, Bill Payne invece ha suonato un pò ovunque e di tutto, comprese orchestre per il circo.
Un dialogo libero dunque, per due strumenti che di solito non si incontrano facilmente (un altro esempio è quello dei fratelli Joachim e Rolf Kuhn) e che prendono strade convergenti improvvisando quello che passa l´intuizione del momento.
La loro è una musica free, che rifiuta l´immediatezza espressiva: li si apprezza piuttosto per la bellezza delle linee melodiche, per la pulizia dle suono di Payne e per il delicato accompagnamento della pianista americana, a scoprire attimi di dialogo totale, senza alzare troppo la voce. Alcuni brani sono di breve lunghezza, aderendo quasi alla poetica del minimalismo, altri piu lunghi, dalle atmosfere crepuscolari, notturne, a modo loro coinvolgenti per chi presta attenzione a questo genere di proposte.
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Conversations
Bill Payne, clarinet; Connie
Crothers, piano
The clarinet in jazz seems to go in and out of
fashion every couple decades. This may be in part because its subtle sounds don't necessarily fit with the high-volume, over-miked and often heavily electronic ensembles of our contemporary music culture; and partly also, I suspect, because in its understated way the clarinet conveys emotions with directness that challenges our desensitized comfort zones.
Never mind. The CD you're holding here is not a
fashion statement but a sequence of free-improvisation musical dialogues inviting you to listen in. To do so, you may want to take a minute to minimize the ambient background noise of your own environment. These twelve
"Conversations" tracks, sandwiched between an opening "The Desert and the City" and enigmatic closing "To Be Continued," will repay undistracted and active contemplation.
Crothers has spoken and written of "moving beyond
the separation of free improvisation from tunes," including a memorable occasion when she risked inserting a free-improvisation number in her group's set at a
tourist-packed Blue Note night club in New York, and got the biggest ovation of the evening. Crothers was a student of the legendary Lennie Tristano,
whose playing combined the detailed knowledge of melody and "changes" with the rigorous avoidance of lapsing into well-worn bebop clichés.
On the borderline of what's called "jazz" and a
broader avant-garde that defies boundaries and labels, Payne and Crothers share
ideas, build and extend each other's phrases without getting in each other's
way. Melody arises spontaneously rather than by pre-set structural design,
as generally required for larger ensembles. Happily for this listener, this is
acoustic music without electronic distortion and distraction.
Bill Payne's range and truly beautiful sound on the
clarinet should hold your attention. There's also enough variety in tempo and
volume to sustain interest, but don't expect massive crescendos or
crowd-pleasing effects. It's about playing and listening to and for each other.
But when artists of this caliber converse together, there's always a third
participant: you, the hearer. Open your ears, listen in and join.
-- David Finkel
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