MARK WINGFIELD — Wingfield Reuter Stavi Sirkis : The Stone House (review)

MARK WINGFIELD — Wingfield Reuter Stavi Sirkis : The Stone House album cover Album · 2016 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
js
Most jazz fans are well aware of ‘free jazz’, which has, over the years, become quite common, but on “The Stone House”, Mark Wingfield and Markus Reuter bring something a little less frequented, free fusion. There is some precedent for the idea of free jazz rock/fusion to be found in some albums by Sonny Sharrock, Miles’ live Fillmore sessions, early Lifetime with Tony Williams, Larry Young and McLaughlin, as well as in-between-song jam sessions by fusion influenced rockers King Crimson. Still, such improvs are rare, simply because free fusion can be a risky endeavor. Whereas the free jazz musician is welcome to ignore a regular beat or any melodic content, the free fusion musician has a narrower tightrope to walk as most fusion fans expect some kind of groove, as well as some recognizable solo licks and melodies. To this end, much of “Stone House” is a total success as Mark, Marcus and crew come up with jams that are imaginative and free-wheeling, yet often very musical and a real rockin kick to listen to. At their very best, the two guitarists become a dream team of soaring psychedelic fret work, along the lines of what it would have sounded like if Pete Cosey could have teamed up with Robert Fripp. In between the more magical moments, there is the sort of searching that one could expect from a free improvisation like this, but usually it doesn’t take this crew too long to find what they are looking for. It also sounds like there was a certain amount of post jam editing to single out the best moments, but I may be wrong on that.

Opening track “Rush” contains some of the hottest moments, after the band discards a couple of grooves that don’t click. Once they find the right one, they are off for some very exciting psychedelic screaming fusion guitar work, backed by nimble syncopated rhythms from drummer Asaf Sirkis and bassist Yaron Stavi. The following track plods a bit on a generic rock beat, but number 3, “Silver”, picks up the pace and finds the two guitarists intertwining on some very Frippian intersecting guitar lines. “Fjords de Catalunya” is floating ambient sounds that work really well. Track 5, “Tarasque”, has the band in search mode, followed by some frantic moments, seems the band loses some cohesion on this one. They end the CD strong with “Bona Nit Senor Rovira”, which opens with some intense rocking, followed by more blissful melodic ambience.

There are some really great extended moments on “The Stonehouse”, some of the guitar work is far more imaginative than your average fusion jam, but the listener may also find some moments that find the band in search mode, which is to be expected from a session like this. Overall, a much better CD than I would have expected given the premise it is based on.

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