For the Love of Fire and Water marks the recorded debut of pianist/composer Myra Melford's 2021's quintet featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson, cellist Tomeka Reid, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and drummer Susie Ibarra. All are notable bandleaders. She put the group together to play a one-off during a 2019 residency; afterwards, she was asked to record and tour with the quartet. Melford composed for this group during 2020's COVID-19 quarantine, and it was recorded in 2021 at Firehouse 12's New Haven, Connecticut studio. Melford wrote from the developmental core of a multi-part work inspired by the drawings of artist Cy Twombly, and her work will be further developed and expanded upon while touring. This installment uses the visual artist's Gaeta Set (For the Love of Fire and Water) drawings as inspiration.
Rogue Art divides the continuous 44-minute work into ten numbered selections for listening convenience, but it's performed continuously. The intro section finds Melford laying percussively wrought chord clusters for a couple of minutes before Reid enters to dialogue with her. Ibarra joins halfway through, rolling, accenting, and filling the space between. Laubrock joins a minute later, adding blips, trilled lines, and interjections in direct conversation before Halvorson appears with multi-note runs and a solo supported by rumbling undercurrents from her bandmates. A syncopated four-chord piano pulse introduces a melody in "II" played by the saxophonist and guitarist, who weave solo interactions throughout post-bop and modal blues as the piano and drums pace them. Reid offers tonal fluidity and physical energy in the middle section, pushing the group toward free interplay. The delicately articulated and gorgeously restrained processional pace of "IV" gives way to "V"'s interlude-like splintered piano chord voicings and bleating sax in a mirror image of its preceding section. "VI" is rendered abstractly as Halvorson and Melford pluck and rub their strings and Laubrock airlessly fingers the holes in her horn with a fixed, pulse-like steadiness. Shard-like guitar chords emerge suddenly and disappear just as quickly as Ibarra taps brushes and sticks over the metal frames on her kit. Reid joins during the final third, playing arco in drone-like accompaniment before Ibarra adds resonance on detuned gongs. "VII" crisscrosses free jazz and blues as Halvorson bends strings while laying down rock chords over wonky rhythmic piano accompaniment. Laubrock joins the dialogue, then assumes the spotlight. "VIII" begins with syncopated handclaps before Reid and Ibarra deliver a kinetic dialogue rich in dynamics. The final section is a beautifully articulated ballad drawn from classical, Italian folk, and flamenco sources. As Halvorson, Reid, and Laubrock add poignant, gorgeously abstract, gently dissonant solo flourishes, Melford anchors the harmonic melody as her band jointly embellishes and complements her playing at will, with a gentle, yet dramatically poetic finish. Whether or not For the Love of Fire and Water is appended by additional thematically related works is immaterial. It stands alone as an entire universe in sound, musical virtuosity, and intimately balanced communication. For now, Melford makes use of all that her quintet has to offer.
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Tracklist :
1. I 7:53
2. II 2:11
3. III 3:17
4. IV 5:21
5. V 2:40
6. VI 4:26
7. VII 6:25
8. VIII 2:56
9. IX 4:16
10. X 4:50
Credits :
Cello – Tomeka Reid
Drums, Percussion – Susie Ibarra
Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Piano, Melodica, Composed By [All Compositions By] – Myra Melford
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Ingrid Laubrock
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