Taylo Ho Bynum & Tomas Fujiwara - True Events

Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet
Tomas Fujiwara: drums

The duet is an idea idiom: the scaffolding of improvisation laid bare, like wires gutted from a conduit. Here, musical dialogue becomes something about communicating, or miscommunicating, through paper cups. It's far less obvious that an improviser is making no sense, or has no sense, and/or no ideas, than when musicians are speaking ear to ear.

True Events hazards—if "hazard could describe music so careful—scrutiny, packed, coiled, and double-coiled with ideas. A less generous judgment might call this a "well-studied album, and it certainly does not shock of the new so much as it does the nu—or the "now, involved as much of it is with the historical reduction that seems to consume the jazz milieu these days. At the same time, Bynum and Fujiwara are so well- equipped a pair of intellects that merely hearing them communicate so directly is enough to ignore the fact that little, if anything, truly innovative has been said.

Perhaps a better appellation would be "scholarly —as in well-grounded. Bynum has a warm, malleable tone, a talent for coaxing out the personality of the cornet that few players of his generation seem to possess; it is colored in elements of Don Cherry and Bobby Bradford—with, in pedals and splatter-effects, a few remarkable traces of Bill Dixon—and it lapses here and there into the sort of insouciant effrontery of those earlier masters.

Bynum has an adroit, sensitive partner in Fujiwara—yet another tremendous drummer out of Boston—and the conversational, strongly melodic character of this combination sides recalls any number of definitive brass-percussion duets. What separates a session like this and, for example, Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell's Mu (BYG/Actuel, 1969), is that those classic recordings had the feel of tightrope walks; True Events is a more like a jog—facile and quick, with little derring-do.

In other words, it sometimes seems that Bynum and Fujiwara are taking it a little too easy on themselves—dancing on the line rather than breaking it, which they seem amply capable of—but one never feels a lack of intelligence or grace. Hearing Bynum and Fujiwara impose and superimpose rhythms on the time is great fun, and, especially in quieter spots, there's a potent lyricism, a subtle beauty that only the finest partners—I'm reminded of Louis Moholo-Moholo and Evan Parker—can conjure. These two players have no problem exposing their intricate, voluminous ideas, though I wish they would spill their guts a little more. (from AAJ)

2007 TRUE EVENTS (482 Music) rapidshare/mediafire

Anthony Braxton - Quintet (London) 2004

Anthony Braxton: reeds
Taylor Ho Bynum: trumpet
Mary Halvorson: guitar
Chris Dahlgren: bass
Satoshi Takeishi: percussion

This concert was the undisputed high point of the 2004 London Jazz Festival. Braxton, appearing in the UK for the first time in years (decades?) played the first half of a double bill (the second half featured Cecil Taylor) and effortlessly stole the show. I was one of the 2,000-strong audience who cheered the quintet after a triumphant performance, so I have keenly anticipated this release ever since. Given that kind of anticipation, the actual CD was bound to be an anticlimax, and so it proves to be. That is not to decry the quality of the music, which is excellent; it is simply that the anticipation and thrill of the live event is absent (not to mention Braxton's bemused absentminded professor air, which is as endearing as ever).

Nonetheless, for those who attended the concert or listened to it on the BBC (this is the BBC's own recording), this release is a faithful record of the music. Those who have never heard it before have a treat in store. Composition 343 is as spiky and atonal a piece as any by Braxton. Yet he leads from the front, injecting life and energy into its realization. In his hands, it makes sense. He is in impressive form as a player; his solo passages are varied and never fail to enthrall; his finest moment comes some sixteen and a half minutes in with a prolonged, rapidly articulated solo that shoots adrenalin into the ensemble. All the other members deserve credit; in particular, the trumpet is a worthy partner to the leader's sax. Taylor Ho Bynum achieves the same sort of balance between articulation and unpredictability as Braxton himself. A special mention also for guitarist Mary Halvorson, who is a constant source of fresh ideas and interest.

Braxton has been on a roll recently; on this evidence it looks set to continue. (from AllAboutJazz)

2005 QUINTET (LONDON) 2004 (mediafire/hotfile)

Anthony Braxton & Taylor Ho Bynum - Duets (Wesleyan) 2002

Anthony Braxton: sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, F alto saxophone, Eb alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet, contralto clarinet
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, trumpbone, shell, mutes

Extracting information (and sometimes pleasure) from an Anthony Braxton large ensemble recording is often an arduous task. The music's density and somewhat impermeable nature often exhausts a listener's patience. Somehow this has rarely been the case with his duo recordings. Duets with Max Roach, Georg Grawe, Gino Robair, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, and now Taylor Ho Bynum lend insight into one of the true musical geniuses of our time.

Joining Braxton is cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, Braxton's masters student at Wesleyan University. Bynum is no novice. He has recorded with Braxton's larger ensembles, made two nice duets discs with drummer Eric Rosenthal, and is a member of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, which is a sort of 21st century update on Ornette Coleman's early 1960's band.

This post-Ghost Trance 2002 recording finds Braxton switching between saxophones and his much loved clarinets. The pair mixes up the session with two compositions by Braxton, three by Bynum, and a spontaneous improvisation. The relaxed nature of these tracks is the story here. Neither player grandstands, opting for fidelity to the compositions and deference to the other player. Not that there aren't moments of outstanding merit, such as Braxton's verbal overblowing on "Scrabble, his circular breathing on "Composition 305, and Bynum's deft mute work. The pair work through minimalist breathing exercises on Bynum's "To Wait and a jocular post-bop romp with "All Roads Lead To Middletown. Bynum seems to be following the pathways of modern trumpeters Bill Dixon, Don Cherry, and Axel Dorner. He extends the possibilities of the trumpet, yet includes us along for the ride. This is a highly accessible and very enjoyable date. (from AllAboutJazz)

2002 DUETS (WESLEYAN) 2002 (rapidshare/mediafire)

Rodrigo Amado - Searching for Adam

Rodrigo Amado: tenor & baritone saxophones
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn
John Hébert: bass
Gerald Cleaver: drums

What a band! And what music!

Rodrigo Amado on tenor and baritone, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and flugelhorn, John Hébert on bass, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, four musicians whom I've come to appreciate over the years and who all four stand for creative inventiveness. Here, they come together for the first time, playing the great music of possibilities, but doing so with a very precise voice : you have rhythm throughout, powerfully delivered by bass and drums, not melody per se, but combined lyricism and interaction is what the horns bring. In that sense the tradition of the jazz line-up is respected, but not necessarily musically.

Although the second piece starts with a slow Amado solo, that with its warm and round tone, could well come from jazz in the fifties, but Taylor Ho Bynum's staccato outbursts pierce through this, adding edgy sounds and counterbalance. Interestingly, they keep this strange dialogue going, with bass and drums slightly increasing the tempo into a kind of lightfooted dance, slowly evolving into a more meditative piece of stretched sax notes and muted cornet, all sensitive and subtle, then ending in absolute frenzy.

The third piece starts slowly, yet quite rapidly it becomes more agitated with again Cleaver and Hébert laying down a great rhythmic pulse for the short blasts of the horns. You also get a staggering - yet somewhat lost in the overall concept - three minute drum solo by Cleaver.The highlight is the last piece, which takes you along on a journey through jazz, with boppish episodes, bluesy moments, absolute avant-garde, yet ending with incredible beauty and restraint, deep and warm.

What you get is jazz, strong emotionally powerful jazz, very warm and welcoming, yet utterly free in its delivery. This is without a doubt the best musical result I've heard from Amado so far, full of paradoxes between old and new, between lyricism and abstraction, between the familiar and adventure, between sensitivity and rawness. Highly recommended! (from freejazz)

2010 SEARCHING FOR ADAM (rapidshare/mediafire)