Corsano/Baczkowski 2
CORSANO/BACZKOWSKI DUO - LIVE AT THE TRANZAC IN TORONTO 9/9/07
a note from Byron Coley in '05: "Dim Bulb" is not a word pair traditionally thrown around in praise. I mean, think about it. The gist of the phrase is what? You are not very bright and a baldie, to boot. And I mean, I kinda get the baldie part. Both Corsano and Flaherty are known for their lack of tonsorial topping, but Baczkowski has so much hair it looks like he's wearing a goddamn wig! So you have to wonder if Paul and Chris are kinda making fun of Steve, because they've been on so fucking many albums and he hasn’t. It's a puzzler! And the dim part just doesn't register at all. Like, yeah, the baritone sax has a sorta dark low tone to it, and I suppose you could call that "dim" if you weren't very fluent with English. But these guys are all Anglos of long standing, so WHAT THE FUCK?
Anyway, for reasons of their own, they call this album The Dim Bulb. And it is really a goddamn churning duck of a session. Baczkowski has made some incredible appearances at various subterranean haunts across the Northeast over the last few years, but this is the first time (apart from a super limited CDR) that his baritone bonhomie has been available for home use. And he sounds totally choice. Not many guys are up to the chore of really blowing the stuffing out of a baritone (Charles Tyler, Hamiet Bluiett, Peter Brotzmann, Charlie Kolhase, and not too many others come to mind), but Baczkowski not only blows the living shit out of his here, but he does so after having bicycled to the gig with the instrument in question strapped to his back. Flaherty is still shaking his head about it. But Baczkowski has a kinda iron man rep in his beloved Buffalo. He helps lotsa avant players get gigs there, bikes all over the place and plays like a storm.
The three pieces here are wonderful gobs of instant composition, recorded at Hallwalls in Buffalo in May, 2003. Many people have had the pleasure of witnessing Corsano and Flaherty destroy the universe over the last few years. Their shows as a duo (or as part of a larger ensemble) have achieved legendary status in many quarters. Paul is a massive generator of sideways tonal aggression on both tenor and alto, and Corsano has kinda turned himself into some sorta human drum kit. I don't know how else to really describe the way that he has absorbed the instrument. Lately we've been trying to think of things that he can't do. But the bastard always dashes our theories the very next time we see him. When he and Paul play together it is always exciting and Transcendental in the best New England tradition. The addition of Baczkowski puts them in some of the best company with which they've yet traveled.
Because it is as big as a horse, the baritone is underutilized and when it is used, it is generally underblown. But there is none of that sparrow-fart stuff when Steve is playing. Listen to the woozy, Ayler-esque quality of his tone at the begining of "Soaking in Gravel and Shale." Hear the way that Chris' drums collapse around him while he works at turning his horn into something like a train-sized harmonica, before Paul comes busting in like a bantam rooster on amphetamines. The size of the sound these three generate, it's width, it's depth, it's feverish pulse, I mean, it just feels natural. It's like the music of TEN apes!
The other two tracks are equally dope. "Return to the Pasture of Ants and Sweet Rapture" seesaws back and forth between event and reaction like a flock of geese chasing a kite made of corn. There are layers of fluid displacement here that make the trio sound as organic as they are ferocious. "No Boat Will Ever Come," the album's magnum opus, is a bruising experience, not unlike discovering a charred ghost of the Giussepi Logan Ensemble sparring with Ben Webster on a very soft cloud.
And if that ain't yr cup of chowder, well, I don't know what to say. Just don't call these bulbs dim. -Byron Coley Deerfield MA, 2005
STEVE BACZKOWSKI
(baritone/tenor/alto saxophone, bass/alto clarinet, didjeridu, wood flutes, voice, prepared turntable, objects...)
Steven Lee Baczkowski (b.1975): baritone saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer, adventurer, music producer and free-lance sound informant. Born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., Baczkowski began studying music playing alto saxophone at age eight, switched to baritone by the time he was twelve, and has remained committed to exploring this oft-overlooked member of the saxophone family ever since... Baczkowski solo, Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha Duo, Baczkowski/ Nola Ranallo Duo, Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Michael Hermanson's Nucleo Polyglot, Baczkowski/Will Redman Duo, 12/8 Path Band, Space Trio, Eulipion, Hylozoa...
"The Dim Bulb", a live trio recording CD with Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano, was released in 2005 on Wet Paint Records... In the summer of '05 the BSPU released their debut CD recording "Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit" on Realm of Records... Baczkowski and drummer Ravi Padmanabha released "Tongue Rust and Lead Moth" CDR on Utech and a live duo recording "Aqua Machine" on the Italian vinyl-only record label Qbico. They released a trio recording with Robert Dick in '08 on Epoch records and a live recording of the Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit "Alive" was released on the Portugese label Ruby Red Editora: http://www.freewebs.com/rubyredlabel - Baczkowski/Padmanabha performed live at the Instal festival in Glasgow, Scotland in October '06 - for free downloads of live concert audio and video documents visit: http://www.arika.org.uk/ and click on Instal '06 Live. They've just self-released a new acoustic duo, limited edition cdr "Supplications" and will join William Parker and Bill Cole in William Parker's Trance Quartet for recording and touring in spring 2010...
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REVIEWS: BACZKOWSKI/PADMANABHA "AQUA MACHINE" -------
"This partnership's previous venture, Tongue Rust and Lead Moth, met with my overwhelming approval, and to say that this new disc trumps it would be to miss the enormity of the accomplishment. The duo has expanded its scope in every way, employing many more sound sources, much more intricate interaction and, most impressively, engaging long-term process with satisfying results. From the opening thwacks of the first track, a wonk and a truncated holler, the two are in almost hyperconscious communication; the ensuing ten seconds expose a delectable grab-bag of gesalts, from the sultry half-melody laid down by Steve Baczkowski - this time on saxophone and accompanied by Ravi Padmanabha's delicate cymbal musings - to the multiphoinc clashing furor that errupts on its heels. Crescendi crash headlong through excitement into the realm of disturbing, as they do at strategic points throughout this set of live recordings, each reigned in with unbelievable tastefulness. Then, there are the moments of introspection, such as the first note of track 2. I say note, which really is a misnomer, as Baczkowski's slide bass clarinet slides up and down a bit more than a halfstep over the sound's trajectory, dragging overtones in its tremulous wake. Equally poignant is the stirringly contemplative fourth track, where Padmanabha's tabla playing is in full effect, a beautiful rhythmic timbral exploration amidst Baczkowski's ultra-expressive moans, sighs and exclamations, peppered with multiphonics, loose growls and flashes of Orientalist melody. The piece moves along as if each part was constructed independently, a great machine whirring just above the void."
Marc Medwin - Signal to Noise 47 Fall '07
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BACZKOWSKI/PADMANABHA "TONGUE RUST AND LEAD MOTH" ---------
"The finest preacher I ever heard began by speaking so softly, almost meekly, that I wasn’t even sure I had his vocation right. At some point, I realized that he was screaming, and that the ascent had been so beautifully controlled that I never noticed it.
I have been left with this impression many times throughout this sax-and-percussion set. Steve Baczkowski first came to my attention through a scorching live date with Paul Flaherty; he sparred tremendously with the elder player, complementing Flaherty’s l arsenal with inventiveness and timbral surprise. I then heard Suicide Prevention Unit’s debut, a group that employs both Baczkowski and Ravi Padmanabha, and that disc increased my admiration for Baczkowski’s reedwork and showed Padmanabha to be an equally exciting player. Tongue Rust and Lead Moth is the work of two communicative improvisers unafraid to incorporate elements from all over jazz’s historical spectrum. Just for a taste, check out the opening moments of “Moth”; Padmanabha’s swinging cymbals and fat-back snare – so old-time, almost rhythm-and-blues with just that touch of off-tempo post-modern hipness – are eventually joined by an equally slinky riff from Baczkowski. It’s repeated, tweaked and drawn out, pretty but strident. This is the kind of interplay so often evident throughout the disc. We’re neither given an Interstellar Space, where I get the impression that Trane and Ali play against rather than around each other, nor is this so much like Evan Parker and Eddie Prevost’s collaborations, which can be intensely intimate. In fact, the duo dwells in both camps, straddling the line from moment to moment without any pretense and often with stunningly cohesive results. They bob and weave around each other, trade licks where necessary while each presents a very convincingly independent narrative. Of course, a disc like this has passages that don’t work, but these are forgivable in light of what has been accomplished. Group work has clearly done this duo good, and I’m impatient for more." Marc Medwin 6/3/06 - Dusted Magazine
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I hope you are surviving and thriving in this rough economy. I am OK. I wanted to alert you to a belated review of one of your CDs on my new, second blog: http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com
Thanks for Being Freinds with My Cracka Ass!! Hope you enjoyed my mix of Punk Rock Hip Hop!! Holla, Lazy D if you get this message in time, we're playing at the Gateway Gallery in Buffalo on Friday July 31st www.lazyassdestroyer.com
Hey Steve how are you doing! We are missing you back here at Monterrey, we just had the encounter and it was awesome... hope to talk to you soon man have a nice day!
oh...my.....od man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that set we played was ammmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
i listened to the playback and could not believe how long we swung and hard too!!!!!!!!!
it's gotta be those Hall Walls! lol
R O-
