Chris Welcome "Quartet" Tigerasylum release 2007
Available on CDR $6 and Vinyl $15
http://www.tigerasylum.com/Artists/ChrisWelcome.htmlPersonnel:Jonathan Moritz: tenor and soprano saxophone; Chris Welcome: guitar; Shayna Dulberger: upright bass; John McLellan: drums.
Exclaim.ca
Glen Hall
July 2008
This is wonderfully spacey music. Filled with eerie moans, hushed
thumpings and soft whisperings, guitarist Chris Welcome¹s compositions
get reverential readings by his co-conspirators Shayna Dulberger on
bass, John McLellan on drums, and Jonathan Moritz on tenor and soprano
saxes. Pieces have no titles to give the listener something to hold
onto. Instead the numbered tracks convey the ineffability of time,
pitch and space with a sparseness that is made all the more compelling
by the musicians¹ mature self-restraint. Quartet isn¹t a free improv
blowfest. Instead, it is a thoughtful, evocative and deeply intelligent
musical conversation made by people who clearly are interested in what
each other have to say. As much as the sounds convey a noirish vibe,
the most outstanding thing about Welcome¹s music is how hard the
musicians listen to one another. This recording is well worth tracking
down. By
WFMU
Scott McDowell
June 10, 2008
Dark Summer: Chris Welcome Quartet & Alfredo Costa http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/06/dark-summer-chr.html Monteiro
I don't know what it is about summer. The last several weeks I've
either been listening to reggae (mostly the Studio One comps on Soul
Jazz), or Black Mayonnaise or Merzbow or my Joy Division Zune (dude,
I'm joking!). The reggae thing is understandable, but until the NJ heat
got officially oppressive a few days ago, the blackness less so. Two of
my other favorite releases to come through the WFMU new bin of late
have been pretty dark as well so we'll just go with it.
Well, to be fair the Chris Welcome Quartet album (on the terrific Tigerasylum
label), simply called Quartet, is not so much dark as it is plain
spooky in the Hitchcockian sense. This record comes out of the free
jazz tradition, at least I think so, but it has such a refreshingly
light touch to it; it is slow burning and almost quiet, as opposed the
the Arthur Doyle school: The Birds vs. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Also,
one gets the sense that the compositions, simply numbered 1-15, are
more of the game here than the deft musicians are letting on, a series
of mini controlled explosions, putting all senses on heightened alert.
Chris Welcome, who plays guitar, is content to gently supply the
mystery, while the saxophone (Jonathan Moritz on tenor and soprano)
darts around rootlessly, adding to a mounting ennui. The rhythm section
(Shayna Dulberger, bass and John McLellan, drums) is impressively
reactive and almost stilted, there's hardly a steady groove to be
found, creating a sense of suspense akin to wondering what that noise
is in the woods, is it coming closer and will it kill me.
All About Jazz
By Terrell Kent Holmes
(2008)
The eleven tracks here seem to be painted as much as played and the music
is sometimes about effects as much as notes. The sequential numbering
of these spare compositions, all penned by guitarist/ leader Chris
Welcome, recalls the method of numbering paintings in a series, thus
underscoring the artistic parallel.
The songs revolve mostly around the sax work of Jonathan Moritz, whose
brooding ruminations on soprano and tenor unfold slowly while Welcome,
bassist Shayna Dulberger and drummer John McLellan fill the spaces on
the canvas behind him with spirited, laconic riffs. For his part,
Moritz sometimes breathes into his mouthpiece for effect before playing
and his clever use of harmonics, the upper register and atonality serve
as the album's thematic foundation.
There are a few moments, however, when the band falls into more
conventional playing. "4" has a free jazz bent that recalls Ornette
Coleman; Welcome plays rapid-fire riffs like a man unshackled, his
single note lines sounding sharp enough to break the strings. On "3"
Moritz' skyscraping soprano mimics a flute and Dulberger's arco on
"8+15+6" moans somewhere between an Indian raga and a Tibetan monk
chant. These moments of inventive mimicry widen the scope of the
performances and raise the album above the level of plainness.
The atmosphere ranges from somber to lively to almost forbidding. The
songs are carefully crafted and played by a group of distinct and
talented musicians who manage to convey their unique and cohesive
message amidst the mysterious, stark landscapes.