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Milford Graves/Bill Laswell: Space / Time - Redemption

By Dave Wayne
June 23, 2015
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Milford Graves/Bill Laswell: Space / Time - Redemption

An unlikely duo, yet-somehow-also the perfect duo, electric bassist

Bill Laswell

bass
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Laswell and multi-percussionist

" data-original-title="" title="">Milford Graves generate all sorts of musical fire on Space -Time: Redemption. Once again, TUM Records' lush packaging includes numerous photos, copious liner notes, and some uncannily prescient poetry by longtime Laswell associate

Umar Bin Hassan

" data-original-title="" title="">Umar Bin Hassan. One of the photos shows Graves adjusting his well-worn, hand-painted, single-headed drum kit as Laswell warms up in front of a small stack of amps with a dozen-plus effects pedals, loopers, and other electronic gadgets at his feet. A musical odd couple, perhaps, these guys are two of the deepest musical thinkers (and doers) of their time. Their collaboration, also documented on the digital-only release, The Stone (M.O.D. Communications, 2014), though lacking somewhat in timbral variety, is nothing less than fascinating.

Given both Graves' and Laswell's individual musical histories, one might expect a healthy dose of free improvisation. And there is plenty of that magical, spur-of-the-moment energy here. Surprisingly, there's also a palpable thread of tenderness running throughout the duo's music. Laswell, a supreme melodist, dips deeply into that well on the first track, "Eternal Signs." It's a welcome sign that Space—Time: Redemption is simply not another free improv jam session. Throughout the album, Laswell comes up with a number of surprisingly gentle melodic lines that waft in and out of the collective action like wisps of smoke from a hidden incense burner.

The energy, too, ebbs and flows within each piece but never subsumes the duo's remarkable cogency and penchant for deep listening. "Sonny Sharrock" starts out with a languid slide bass solo which gives way, after a brief drum flourish, to a gamelan-like melody played on a set of bells. During the ensuing improvisation, perhaps the most energetic of the album, Laswell refers to Graves' bell melody as he builds his sounds into a thrumming, pulsating mass. The bells reappear at the end of the tune, a ghostly out-chorus; perhaps noting the passing of piece's dedicatee and fellow musical giant. "Autopossession" is all Graves, though Laswell contributes a barely audible drone and some cello-sounding effects. Well into his 70s, "The Jazz Scientist" continues to play with the energy, spirit and flexibility of a much younger person.

The album's two lengthiest pieces, "Another Space" and "Another Time" follow different trajectories. The latter, essentially a feature for Graves' swirling, hypnotic percussion, coalesces slowly as Laswell weaves spectral bass harmonics and a mournful melody around Graves' meditative, circular drum and bell patterns. By comparison, "Another Space" has an almost jazz-like flavor, placing Laswell the improvisor front and center. He darts in and out of Graves' percussion sandstorm with surprising, odd-metered bass lines and intricate scalar runs that, for once, aren't obscured by vocals, guitars, keys, DJs and whatever else would normally be going on.

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Track Listing

Eternal Signs; Sonny Sharrock; Another Space; Autopossession; Another time.

Personnel

Milford Graves/Bill Laswell

Milford Graves: drums, percussion; Bill Laswell: basses, electronics.

Album information

Title: Space / Time - Redemption | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: TUM Records

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