Artist: Darius Jones
Album: fLuXkit Vancouver (its suite but sacred)
Genre: Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Jazz
Label: We Jazz
Released: 2023
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Fluxus V5T 1S1 (10:35)
- Zubot (6:43)
- Rainbow (17:57)
- Damon and Pythias (16:50)
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- Personnel:
- Darius Jones - alto saxophone, composer
- Jesse Zubot, Josh Zubot - violin
- Peggy Lee - cello
- James Meger - bass
- Gerald Cleaver - drums
Darius Jones' fLuXkit Vancouver (its suite but sacred) is a four-movement composition. It was commissioned by Vancouver's Western Front, an artist-run institution for multi-disciplinary experimentation and collaboration, and torchbearers for the ideas of the 1960s and '70s art movement fluxus and its founder, George Maciunas. He sought to create art (individually and collaboratively) at once accessible, beyond categorization, and motivated to challenge acceptable notions about what art is. Jones created the work over several residencies and cut it with drummer Gerald Cleaver, double bassist James Meger, violinist siblings Jesse and Josh Zubot, and world-renowned cellist, Peggy Lee. The title references the "flux kit," an extension of the fluxus art movement. The kit has historically been comprised of a varied selection of printed and fabricated artworks packaged together in attaché cases. Deeply influenced by the ideas of fluxus, he made this a collaborative effort musically and aesthetically. Vancouver-based Stan Douglas used his "Occ6," on the cover, a brightly colored abstraction created through manipulation of frequencies, amplitudes, and color values during the digitization process, where photographic images are represented by code. Also included is a liner essay by Los Angeles-based poet, author, biographer, and dancer Holly Holiday.
Human emotion in its complexity and vulnerability is at the core of Jones' music. Opener "Fluxus V5T 1S1," is introduced by Cleaver's cymbals and tom-toms, Meger's droning arco bassline, and Jones, playing slow, bluesy, and mournful. The ensemble engages tentatively at first, but midway through, in an attempt to make something happen, they move into intense improvisational language. Lee and Jones trade lines and phrases as Meger walks his bassline and violins offer statements in ascending scales. "Zubot" doesn't only focus on the violinists, it walks a tightrope between post-bop and canny improvisational dialogue just as Jones and Cleaver assert modal authority over the siblings' vanguard, dissonant challenge. The 18-minute "Rainbow" movement commences with Cleaver's tasteful solo offering brilliant examples of unforced, fluid dynamics and masterful timbral control. The bass sneaks in, followed by the focused strings playing parallel in contrapuntal utterance. The effect is a dreamy, rhythmic pulse followed by a long, tremendously imaginative bass solo and by Jones fostering a separate but complementary conversation with strings before joining Cleaver and Meger in a powerful outro. Set closer "Damon and Pythias" is the crown jewel here. Cleaver dances around Lee's four-note cello vamp as the Zubots swirl in unison, then separately, sounding like birds crying to one another across space as Meger speaks from his bass' lower register. Jones enters at four minutes, playing a minimal contrapuntal phrase in contrast with Lee's, which is buoyed by the violins and drums. Jones' alto then graces us with a deeply moving, resonant solo that compares with his recorded best. fLuXkit Vancouver (i ̶ t ̶ s suite but sacred) is one of Jones' most compelling, forward-thinking recordings; it's remarkable for a deeply imaginative musical language, profoundly vulnerable yet confident communication, and the open expression of generosity in collaboration.
Review by Thom Jurek