Dave Liebman’s dedication to the soprano saxophone makes it a pleasant surprise to hear his tenor voice in full cry alongside drummer Abbey Rader. Mixing strong free playing on tenor/ drumkit (A Quick Hello) with the meditative flute/congas (Village Life), Rader and Liebman explore melody and rhythm in its strongest sense. In places reminiscent of Coltrane’s Interstellar Space duets with Rashied Ali, Inner Voices is a timely release.
The duet form in music has probably been around since cavemen discovered that you could get different pitches by clunking each other over the head with rocks. With the passage of time, the duet naturally became more civilized when discoveries such as the human voice and musical instruments started to make the papers. Music students play duets (usually with their teachers) practically from their first lessons, to get the sound of music in their ear. Concert audiences have heard countless types of duets for ages, be they vocal, piano and violin, or anything else that you could imagine.
The CD at hand, Inner Voices, is a unique recording of duets that brings together drums (or more correctly percussion), and saxophone (or more correctly saxophones and “world flutes”). Drummer Abbey Rader produced a CD and plays traps, miscellaneous percussion, and a variety of hand drums. David Liebman plays soprano and tenor saxophones, piano and various world flutes. The music on this CD is totally improvised and for the most part done in one take. The only written music are the pieces titled Short Calls (#’s 1, 2, 3, & 4), and Inner Voices, giving credence to the idea that the music played is “free jazz.”
Liebman takes issue with that term in his portion of the liner notes, stating, “so-called free jazz is really a misnomer, because it implies not restrictions, no structure, no pulse, etc. But what it really means is to be free FROM being obliged to maintain structures, pulse, harmony, etc., not free of.” That argument becomes all the more compelling upon listening to this recording, where the listener becomes aware of the presence of all of the aforementioned elements when appropriate to the music.
Much of the music is high energy and very intense, but not exclusively so. Several of the pieces offer a still and tranquil contrast, through the use of tempo, dynamics, and a variety of instrumental colors. The opening piece, A Quick Hello, and the following piece, Eternal Cry, feature drums and tenor saxophone. Liebman gave up the tenor for approximately fifteen years, then began to record on it again in early 1996 (listen to Return of the Tenor/Standards by Liebman on Double Time Records: DTRCD-109). He is definitely “in charge” when he plays the tenor, which is completely evident on Hello. After the opening drum solo, David enters with some blistering tenor scale lines that immediately set the pace for the entire piece. His sound is strong and sure, and completely his own, the scale become a structural device as Liebman builds and embellishes each one from the bottom of the horn to the top. This structural building, something Liebman does on all of his solos on this CD, acts as the glue to bind them together, much the same way a melodic line or clear harmonic progression would. Liebman and Rader are completely in sync, pushing and provoking one another as the frenzy continues.
Three of the tracks find Liebman playing one of several world (wooden) flutes, and Rader playing either hand drums, or some other percussion instruments. The Norwegian Fisherman is a very interesting piece in which David plays a high wooden flute and Abbey plays temple blocks and cowbell. The piece begins with an improvised motif by the flute that grows in intensity as Liebman build his solo, accompanied by Rader cooking underneath. Wind and Skin features Liebman playing a low-pitched wooden flute and Rader on hand drum, offering a nice contrast to the rest of the CD.
Over the course of the last fifteen or so years Liebman has carved a niche for himself in jazz as one of the most individual voices ever to play soprano, probably the most perilous and unforgiving of the saxophones. His sound and style are completely his own, identifiable after only one or two notes heard. Whether playing a row of short staccato notes (Short Call #4), screaming and squealing in a mad frenzy (Wild Banshees), or just laying down some low register muted tones accompanied by bells and mark tree, this is unmistakable Liebman, distinctive as a snowflake.
This CD comes to a conclusion with the title tune, Inner Voices. This piece is a total departure from everything else on the CD, neither a duet, drum solo nor saxophone solo, but a lovely piano solo by David Liebman. The CD is a little bit like the month of March, “comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb,” a beautiful gently lamb.
It’s amazing just how much meaningful music two people can make without the aid of a clear melodic line, or a harmonic path to follow, but just their instincts and emotions to guide them. Abbey Rader and David Liebman run the complete gambit of musical color and emotions on this CD, and I assure you, that they do it in a way that is completely civilized.
- Billy Kerr