Kalaparush & the Light-Morning Song; Delmark Records, 2004

 

After a summer that featured a lot of Noise and Electro-Acoustic music, Disaster Amnesiac had been experiencing a certain amount of ear fatigue. Some kind of pivot was needed, and just such a pivot arrived in the form of Morning Song, the Delmark Records release from Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre's trio the Light. Consisting of Kalaparush on tenor sax, Jesse Dulman on tuba, and Ravish Momin on drums, the disc's eleven songs present a group working outward and inward from Jazz conceptions of musical production and into pieces that transcend this (very important) root. 

Kalaparush was the elder of the group, having been playing since the late 1950's. The man sounds wonderful on Morning Song. One can hear his seminal Jazz influences, and surely he would have been unashamed of it. Atop that, the listener hears the aesthetics of AACM music that McIntrye had a direct hand in shaping, and surely so many more discrete elements that comprise a musical approach. His control of the axe and its varied tonalities and timbral possibilities go on full display throughout the set. When he solos, accompanied or unaccompanied, the amount of information is not thin; no, Maurice achieved densities within his saxophone playing.  It's also been noted as to how much space Kalaparush gives to the other two members of the Light. Disaster Amnesiac has thought of it in terms of generosity. Kalaparush probably could have behaved as the ball hog, but he did not. Dudes, even established dudes, can choose that. 

You do realize that within the initial Jazz combos, it was generally not a string bass but a tuba or sousaphone that provided the low end thrum, right? Morning Song's bass player Jesse Dulman surely must have known about this, and his bass comes not from strings but from his human breath blown into and out of a tuba. The tuba's sound is obviously going to be significantly different than the plucked bass fiddle, and it's one of the intriguing aspects of the album. Dulman plays it straight up and down sometimes, providing marching band feels to this listener, pretty much making me really appreciate the middle school band that I sometimes hear rehearsing at current place of employment. It's kind of an Ur Jazz feeling that hits many times Song, and that's a welcome one within this cranium. Jesse can get abstract and spaced out with the best of the AACM crew, and does that as well at times. An interesting and skilled player is this Jesse Dulman. Is he still on any kind of music scene? Send the documents hither! 

The drum seat of the Light was occupied by Ravish Momin. His playing often revolves around rhythmic structures that repeat into patterned phrases. Ravish gets very musical sounds from his Jazz drum kit, sounds coaxed with sticks, brushes, mallets, fingers. Jazz techniques are interesting techniques, especially when utilized by drummers such as Momin. Nary a bash to be heard on the drumming Morning Song features, only sounds appropriate to the intimacies available to astute improvisors as they work together within a room. The ways in which Ravish blends cymbals with drums are damn tight and well thought through. A top flight performance, and Disaster Amnesiac knows as little about this guy as I do his tuba huffing band mate. Ravish, you out there? 

Morning Song is the kind of recording that would reaffirm a Jazz fan's deep conviction that the form still matters and can have relevance in a timeless manner. When presented the way that it is by Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre & the Light it's really juicy and fun. Chicago in general and AACM in particular come through for Jazz again and again again. Many hails to this album and group.