OKKYUNG LEE — Noisy Love Songs (for George Dyer) (review)

OKKYUNG LEE — Noisy Love Songs (for George Dyer) album cover Album · 2010 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
snobb
"Noisy Love Songs" is Korean cellist Okkyung Lee's second album on Tzadik, five years after her debut (on Tzadik as well). Its a small piece of beauty and art, just in a NY downtown manner.

The album opens with three tuneful songs full of soul. Lee's Eastern naturalism and asceticism are in full effect, lots of space and chamber style groove-less sound. All familiar elements that we know from many other Tzadik recordings, just without the klezmer/Eastern European roots and characteristic sentimentalism. Right when the experienced listener starts to feel danger(is this another catchy artsy Zorn commercially-oriented product?), Okkyung switches towards radical free-form improvs, and again - all are deeply rooted in an Eastern ascetic. These improvs contain small pieces of tunes, similar to what we already heard on the first three songs and while being far less accessible, are still cinematographic enough to become a soundtrack to some artsy cartoon one day.

Following the formula already mentioned above, after the three improvs, the music becomes different again - this time it's kind of freaky rock-jazz with electric violin sounding as heavy-metal solo guitar, accompanied by repetitive doomy rhythms. Then - a percussion and cello dialogue, first slightly melancholic, later - passionate, almost explosive. A few more down-tempo minimalist tuneful songs, similar to the album's opener closes the album.

A great team of collaborators (including percussionist John Hollenbeck (of Claudia Quintet),trumpeter Peter Evans (of Mostly Other People Do The Killing), pianist Craig Taborn, and the main Tzadik electronics wizard, Ikue Mori,among others), did a great job here - every sound on this album is added only if it really needs to be there. An excellent work of non-orthodox chamber jazz, more modern and less mannerist than its European equivalent from the ECM catalog. Great example of how experimental music can be accessible and attractive too.

This is the right place to start for everyone interested in one of the most interesting contemporary NY downtown artists. Okkyung's other albums are all different but often less accessible.
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