While the International Anthem label is a jazz label, one which releases into the world some of the best, most risky records we're lucky to have in the early part of this century, the label's willing to take even more risks. To that end, the new one from Carlos Niño & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Chicago Waves, pushes the boundaries of what can be called jazz. And while a listener like me might reach for the ambient tag, I'd be an idiot to do that when the music is taking quiet risks, and subtle ones that don't seem as obvious as those on a hard bop or fusion release, for example.
Carlos Niño (percussion & soundscapes) and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (5-string violin & effects) put this together in the wake of meeting for a performance of label-mate Makaya McCraven’s Universal Beings, and this set of pieces exerts a spell on a listener. Structured into a collection of eight segments, Chicago Waves finds the players using the lightest of touches, and most precise patterns of performance that those rooted in improvisation are likely able to undertake. While the parts here use a mix of percussive elements, bells, found sounds, and the like, the whole point seems to be a build-up to "Part VI - Into Eternity", a rather lush, though brief, number that recalls compositions of Harold Budd, Laraaji, and Brian Eno. Finally, "Part VIII - Chicago Waves" finds the duo reaching a kind of frenzied pitch, with the violin figures here circling as the bells and percussion mimic a chant. It's on this one that the relatively subdued style of the earlier parts seems to have come to fruition.
A recitation of the pieces of Chicago Waves is redundant, of course, because so much of the power of this sequence of compositions is down to the overall effect. If Carlos Niño & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson approach their respective parts with a good deal of restraint, it's the kind of restraint that suggests knowing what not to play as much as what to play. In that sense, their music is jazz-like, and the fire here is of another kind, one which is affecting in total through a period of intense and attentive listening, with an awareness of the quiet spaces between the notes.
Chicago Waves is out tomorrow via International Anthem.
[Photo: International Anthem]