It's not as if Disaster Amnesiac has had any opportunities to attend one in a very long time, but I do remember these things called dinner parties, wherein people would get together and enjoy the preparation and sharing of food and drink. They're mentioned in tandem with recent listening to Tales Of Hackney, the 2020 release of a 2017 recording by the improvising trio of Arild Andersen, Clive Bell, and Mark Wastell, because as is recalled, more often than not there would be Jazz playing. That would work, too. Much Jazz music can strike the delicate balance of being able to serve as either listener-focused sound or as background ambiance, and, getting back to Tales Of Hackney, while it may not be a strictly Jazz affair, it certainly has had those same aspects for this listener. And I definitely mean no disrespect towards the abundant musical merits of the players on the disc: bassist Andersen, woodwinds player Bell, and percussionist Wastell strike delicate balances within each and every one of the nice pieces presented on the album, ones clearly pulled from decades of dedicated Jazz/Improvised Music pursuits. Arild's playing has the refinement that seasoned masters evince. Each and every note that is plucked, bowed, or struck from the strings of his double bass is precisely the right one, and they all hit at the exactly correct moment within the matrix of the tune. His melodic gestures arise in ways not forced yet simply emerging, as they've clearly been known entities to him for quite some time. He is not hacking stuff up but revealing insights that true and well earned. The electronics that he contributes are very subtle, and the listener must really pay attention in order to catch them. Back to the dinner party theme here, in that one can simply let these sounds float past or get more intellectually engaged with them. Either way, they exist and they'll let you choose your course of action. How brave! The woodwinds on Tales Of Hackney offer a very unique, for Jazz (if you'd like to refer to the album's offerings as such), timbre in that they are played on Asian instruments such as the khene, shakuhachi, pi saw, and shinobue. Clive Bell does exemplary work with all of them as he explores their tonalities and sonic ranges while never blowing them out or turning their sounds into simple novelty items. The sounds from them are always raw, earthy and Bluesy and they color the pieces beautifully. Resonant metals and non-drum set percussion are what Wastell strikes for the most part. He strikes them in ways that allow them to ring out and into the mix but he also holds back so that they do not overpower his mates within the group. There's a sparseness to his playing approaches which brings much satisfaction. As opposed the the overly demonstrative mode, Mark's playing sounds as if it's defined by the willingness to let the sounds emerge, from himself and the others, in manners that show patience and ego sublimation. Never a bad thing. Taken from a macro aspect, Tales Of Hackney's overall vibe is one characterized by restrained beauty and touched with contemplative refinement. Engineer Shuta Shinoda gives all of the sounds their spot within the mix, presumably an easy task when working with musicians of the stripes held by Andersen, Bell, and Wastell. For all Disaster Amnesiac knows, at this point in time there may be dinner parties happening again, and additionally they may feature any and all type of background music while people gather and eat and socialize. Who knows, right at this very instant there may be a congregation of people cooking and laughing to the sounds of Deicide or the Nightingales. Or maybe they're still playing Cool Jazz from the 1950's. However unlikely it is, if I ever have a dinner party a mi casita, I'd gladly play Tales Of Hackney and hope my guests would dig its fine sounds and tones.
