Case #576: Andrew Barker, Fritz Welch, Ed Chang: Live at 5C Cafe, March 9, 2007

Andrew Barker: Cello, mouth harp

Fritz Welch: Drums, percussion

Ed Chang: Alto saxophone, mouthpiece attachments

     In 2006 I was performing on alto saxophone in a few smaller free improvisation ensembles. One adhoc group featured Andrew Barker on cello and Fritz Welch on drums and percussion. After probably just one private session in August 2006 (and maybe one other?), we did a public performance at 5C Cafe on Avenue C in New York City, seven months later.

     I first met Andrew while touring with guitarist Doug Theriault in the power-improv duo Dual. In 1997 Doug and I were touring through Atlanta and being hosted by the Gold Sparkle Band, for whom Andrew was drumming. Eventually Andrew and Charles Waters (Gold Sparkle Band reedist) relocated to New York City, where they connected with the free jazz crowd (most notably bassist/bandleader William Parker). I had only ever seen Andrew play drums over the years, but in this trio he wanted to play cello instead of drums, as he apparently wanted to develop his improvising skills on a stringed/bowed instrument (in the performance he also plays some mouth harp).

     I had never played with Fritz Welch before our one rehearsal, but I had always admired his fearless, un-selfconscious playing in Peeesseye (his trio with guitarist Chris Forsyth and Jaime Fennelly on harmonium/electronics). As I recall, Peeesseye's often impenetrable performances sometimes got a bit "unnerving" - but I later found Fritz to be a real sweet guy.

     For myself, Motoko (Shimizu) and I were generally concentrating less on our primary composition project Spin-17 and looking for fresh inspiration from other musical groupings (although these side bands eventually often intermingled in one way or another). Instrumentally, I was at this point well into the period where I was "preparing" my sax mouthpiece with various kinds of toy whistles and reed parts from Halloween party horns. This was, of course, a major element of my duo project, Agents at Midnight (with Ed Howard), but where that ensemble went for wide swaths of ear-splitting, electronically-enhanced, wide-bandwidth noise, this group was concerned with more acoustic scrapings and flutterings. In retrospect, however, there were a lot more similarities than differences...

     Anyways, I think this recording (our first and last gig), is a good showcase for how the three of us were able to cooperatively engage in dialogue while creating layers of abstract (but deliberate) sound textures. In a free improvisation ensemble, freshness over a long term can be exceedingly difficult to maintain (which is why Derek Bailey always prized "first meetings"), so I guess this recording captured us at a ripe moment.

     You can stream the entire performance below or download it from Archive.org. I've also provided an 11-years-later post-game commentary, where I attempt to explain what I think were the thought processes at work back then. Or maybe we were just noodling, who knows? That's a joke. This performance was recorded and mastered by Andrew Barker. Andrew is on the left and I am on the right, with Fritz in the center.

• 0:00: Andrew (on mouth harp) establishes a pulse, as Fritz creates a layer of bell-like, tuned percussion. I add in intermittent commentary on a whistle as Fritz moves to metallic textures.
• 2:24: Andrew begins low cello scrapings and high plucks, as I move to prepared sax, playing wide vibrato trills, leading to a heavier drone trio texture. 
• 4:08: Groaning textures develop into thornier dialog exchanges, and then back to layers of abrasive/pizzicato attacks and bell tones.
• 6:08: Cello and drums jazz dialog. Low reed tones signal a brief return to layered textures, developing into a free jazz trio dialogue.
• 8:55: Isolated shrieks/moans from sax and cello over textured metals, leading to a lyric, folk-like bowed cello motif. Sax develops into a compressed, muted sound layer as a rhythmic counterpoint. 
• 10:41: Cello moves into rapid spikier figures, soon joined by sax. Cello soon resumes lyric figures but sax continues staccato phrases (drums layer sharp metallic figures, developing into low rolls). 
• 12:19: Cello signals a new drone sequence and sax/drums follow suit with a variety of trilled/scraped textures. Cello moves into higher harmonics and "post-Romantic" figures, as sax adds new "prepared" elements.
• 14:17: Sax flutter-tonguing signals a new dialogue sequence, starting in contrasts and moving into percussive trades. 
• 15:51: A slightly quieter (simmering) jazz trio dialog. Fritz adds high, rubbed squealing textures as a contrast (and whispers, I think).
• 17:21: Sax employs a new preparation to the mouthpiece and cello moves into groaning, lamenting, bowed figures. This develops into a freer section, with each member pushing for essentially different ideas.
• 19:36: Sax drops out, as cello and percussion settle into harmonics and bell-tones, moving into bowed cymbals. Eventually prepared sax returns (coinciding with the approach and departure of some police sirens from the street). This leads to a more lyric, playful cello/sax dialog (somewhat Ayler-ish).  
• 22:10: A bluesy figure on cello (accompanied with bowed metals) is joined by dog-whining on sax. This develops into a tussle of sorts. Cello introduces additional motivic material.
• 24:05: Rapid staccato/fluttery textures with scraped metals.
• 25:17: Some final toy whistle commentary with textural percussion. The opening mouth harp figure returns to end the piece.

Here are some links to...

Andrew Barker

Fritz Welch

     As additional background info to this performance, here are my CD purchases during the week prior to this performance - surprisingly apropos..?

• DJ Spooky & Dave Lombardo - Drums of Death
• Blind Blake - Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Fingerpicker
• György Ligeti - Clear or Cloudy
• Teach Yourself Instant Japanese
• VA - Drums of Death (Field recordings in Ghana)
• Autolux - Future Perfect