(Cuneiform)American crossover drummer/composer John Hollenbeck and his ingenious Claudia Quintet were hailed in the noughties as one of the era’s most innovative novel jazz-rooted groups. They’ve often sounded as if there are just too many fascinating diversions in contemporary music to pack into any one venture,and Super Petite takes a car-crusher to the problem by squeezing the most byzantine of pieces into pop-song lengths. A famous Charlie Parker demolish from Night in Tunisia is reworked as a tedious-stepping amble for vibes, clarinet and accordion; brittle backbeat-snappy pieces feature wriggly tenor sax improv on pitch-structures arbitrarily determined by Hollenbeck’s passport number; Philly is an exhilarating sprint on bebop ideas; the mood of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring is heralded with quickwitted vivacity on Peterborough. The two-minute Pure Poem, or a jingling avant-jig,joins a tortuously seamless accordion line to precisely stuttering drums and double bass. As always with the Claudias, the music is a fascinating right fusion of jazz and classically influenced through-composed music.
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Source: theguardian.com