June 10, 2008
Dark Summer: Chris Welcome Quartet & Alfredo Costa http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/06/dark-summer-chr.html Monteiro

Chriswelcome_cover 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.

MP3: Chris Welcome Quartet - [listen] 1+2 (from the album Quartet on Tigerasylum)