Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Ernie Paik
Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:32
Col. Bruce Hampton, Ret.
Songs of the Solar Ping
(Brato Ganibe)The Atlanta-based musician Col. Bruce Hampton is a star in the jam-band scene with a devoted following, best known for his material with the ’90s outfit the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Some fans, from the jam-band world, who wanted to expand their Hampton collections may very well have been startled, confused, or simply repelled when delving into his other work. You see, Hampton is a surrealist at heart, with a catalog of out-there music that has drawn its own committed audience. This work, from the late ’60s-early ’70s outfit Hampton Grease Band to his offbeat solo records, leans toward eccentric styles akin to those of Captain Beefheart or maybe Frank Zappa, but more unhinged.

Hampton’s musical worlds occasionally overlap, but his latest solo album, Songs of the Solar Ping, is squarely in the oddball territory that this reviewer finds most endearing out of Hampton’s approaches. There is an unfettered, non-self-conscious spirit throughout the album, particularly when it comes to musicianship; his aim isn’t to demonstrate his chops but to catch the listener off guard, like on the two erratic piano pieces that sound like an untrained version of Cecil Taylor. Some tracks, including the opening title track, dive right into free jazz, with drums and cymbal taps providing a jittery momentum and guitars (which sometimes sound like sitars) weaving a meandering path.

Hampton plays all instruments on the album, with the exception of keyboards played by Dennis Palmer (of the Shaking Ray Levis) on two tracks, which happen to be among the album’s most colorfully deranged numbers. The ones that don’t quite work are the distorted guitar tracks that are reminiscent of a visit to a Guitar Center’s demo room, and some of the album’s best pieces are the ones where Hampton plays around with language (or a lack thereof) and vocal sounds, using mumbled lyrics, gibberish, nonsense, and even gargling noises. Those are the songs that best demonstrate Hampton’s attention-grabbing, wickedly playful, and brain-arresting talents.

Jon Hassell
Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street
(ECM)

Trumpeter Jon Hassell is known for developing music he calls “Fourth World,” which subtly meshes minimalist and ambient styles with South Asian influences he picked up when studying in India in the ’70s. His excellent 1980 collaboration with Brian Eno, Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics, introduced the globe to his approach, which made use of long, breathy, gently-sustained trumpet tones that were manipulated electronically to create harmonies in real-time. Hassell’s work is among the more successful combinations of a modern classical compositional style with non-Western musical elements, recognized by collaborators and artists such as Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder, and Björk.

Hassell is often compared to Miles Davis, and while Hassell indeed admires Davis and his electric period (e.g. Bitches Brew), the influences on Hassell’s latest album for ECM aren’t as salient as they were on previous efforts, such as 2005’s Maarifa Street: Magic Realism, Vol. 2. Here, the listener is reminded of Davis’s fusion work from some stark electric piano notes, but more importantly, with Davis’s less intense music, his exquisite talent for balladry is carried by Hassell, like on tracks such as “Courtrais.”

This underscores one of the delicate triumphs of Hassell’s album: here’s how to make a placid, soothing work that isn’t coma-inducing. His talent for phrasing is notable, often having a free, patient fluidity while also sounding deliberate, making it occupy some ambiguous space in the listener’s mind between composition and improv. Actually, without the bass and casual percussion providing meter, a sense of time is hard to grasp on the album. Overt genre gestures are avoided by Hassell, and even the dub undercurrent of “Northline,” with its delay effects and deeply felt bass, is a bit muffled. When genres are limiting, you invent your own, which is just what Hassell did, and his latest album is one of the best atmospheric albums in recent memory.