Terje Rypdal
Bleak House
Round 2 Records
If music is a
living entity, as these pages and the struggle for even more storage for
cd’s continues at home suggest , then
this re-issue of Terje Rypdal’s Bleak
House from 1968 must surely be in its DNA, carried across the decades and
swathes of popular music. It’s revealed
in the music of say Sky, Stone Roses, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Miles Davis,
Weather Report, Santana and Korn. It’s
Fusion and to misquote AC/DC for effect – Fusion aint a bad place to be! It’s not to be confused with the often
bloated jazz funk indulgencies which featured too much improvisation and not
enough composition. On the contrary,
Terje was following in the footsteps of both classical and jazz composers such
as Gershwin, Stravinsky, Ravel, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington and Charlie
Mingus who blended jazz and classical music.
He was born in
Oslo the son of an orchestra leader and composer and he studied piano and
trumpet before picking up the guitar inspired by Hank Marvin. By 1967 his second band The Dream were
performing Hendrix’s Are you Experienced as part of the
band’s live work. Inviting Jan Garberek,
the jazz saxophonist, and drummer Jon Christensen, and Christian Reims on Hammond
organ from his band proved to be a stroke of genius. Classical, Jazz and Rock were thus blended in
this little over 33-minute tour de force.
Within four
seconds of opener Dead Man Tale, I’d taken this music to my heart. Beautiful jazz guitar, skilful drums and striking
Hammond organ ebb and flow firstly with a delicate vocal then his flute taking
a turn in the spotlight for seven minutes of no strings attached joy.
Wes is more
mainstream jazz with a walking bass and a strident brass section led by Jan
Garberek into an almost big band sound that feels so much like a theme tune
from a British crime film, I half expected Michael Caine to suddenly appear
with a quip.
Side A closes
in serious style with the three part Winter Serenade, though I could only
easily distinguish two parts. Soft
piano, mournful saxophone, fade-ins/fade-outs, cymbals, give way to a very
experimental but effective wall of
sound, reminiscent of West Side Story percussion, fleshed out with a cacophony
of discordant saxophones which is notable for its absence of musical cliché
with merely the percussion providing the direction before subsiding to just the
piano.
Bleak House,
the title track, also over seven minutes opens Side B. Eerie guitar, bass and
drums set the theme. Brass enters stage
left and is augmented by big band sounds swelling in prominence to centre
stage, only to be nudged right by Rypdal’s Hendrix-like guitar which
compliments the composition without overwhelming it. Screeching saxophone and trumpet fight back
against Django-like guitar and the theme returns in waves.
Sonority begins
with the flute, slow jazz guitar, trumpet, trombone and such delicate
percussion that it evokes the upending of and listening to rainsticks as a
child.
The final track
A Feeling of Harmony, is simply acoustic
guitar, vocal scatting, and flute utilised like a lead guitar, which is
followed by compelling folk guitar that Bert Jansch made his trademark in
Pentangle.
Each generation
plays different music but Bleak House
is a timely reminder of the grandeur of Jazz.
Sometimes the new sounds we are seeking have already been created, just
awaiting rediscovery.
NE
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