The combination of baritone saxophone and trombone always takes me back to the time of the countless albums by some of the jazz giants with a rooted forward thrust. I’m talking about examples by the mighty Duke Ellington (Harry Carney vs. a stellar list of trombonists) or the master of dynamics, Charles Mingus who also made use of this combination. Listen to “Moanin’” on his seminal Blues & Roots and listen to the contributions of Pepper Adams, Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis, infusing the music with a hefty blues and unstoppable force. They are large instruments and infamously hard to master, but those who succeed are in control of an incredibly rich range of sounds.
Of course Translucence is an entirely different matter. Cath Roberts and Tullis Rennie probably sound more like resp. Hamiet Bluiett, Daunik Lazro and Mats Gustafsson, and folks like Paul Rutherford, Wolter Wierbos and Jeb Bishop than the musicians mentioned above. They are adept at a free language, even though the mutual empathy is obvious from their many previous encounters – with bands like Favourite Animals, Article XI and cr-ow-tr-io and several ad hoc performances. Both are experienced improvisers who master their instruments’ conventional ranges, but also add an impressive series of extended techniques.
It creates the kind of interaction that is earthy and highly physical, but is also flexible enough for eccentric flights and sizzling abstraction. And in the context of this trio with guitarist Dirk Serries, whom they first performed with at the 2019 edition of Antwerp’s Summer Bummer Festival, it quickly leads to remarkable results. If opener “Match” sounds fairly conventional with its kinetic energy and free-yet-tight interplay, then “Moving Sideways” delves headfirst into a universe of unhinged sounds, full of scraping and creaking, animalistic grumbling and staccato cooing. Observe how fluently the three of them move from a kind of simultaneous commentary to a smoky reunion of sorts.
With its smart use of mutes and other effects (trombone), the gruff staccato patterns (baritone) and the half-muted strums (guitar), the title track constructs a restlessness with surprisingly soulful turns (and then it’s not that strange to think of Mingus’ sidekicks). Similarly, the closing “Found Within” also finds a balance between the mercurial and the tangible, Serries functioning as a stubborn mediator, approaching his colleagues from a different angle. As such, the music succeeds in maintaining a balance between cohesion and surprise, occasionally coming close to the jazz tradition, but always on its own terms. It gives the album a refreshingly unconventional approach, a counterpoint of ideas that consistently marches to the beat of a different drummer.
Guy Peters 2022
