Cooper's Park

The fact that the group feels as centered and focused in the less structured moments as the more scripted ones is a testament to the players' mutuality and shared sense of purpose....Grdina limits his oud playing to "Wayward," the last of the album's longer tracks, and it offers some of the most beautiful playing on the record. The first half of the piece possesses the restrained give-and-take that emerges during the most open segments of the other tracks, with compelling moments of lyricism from Grdina, while the second half has a much more idiomatic feel and a decidedly Middle-Eastern groove, but with Noriega's howling bass clarinet reminding us that this is music with some definite roots in avant-jazz....Grdina has a lot to say, and he's fortunate to have such a terrific band with which to say it.

Group interaction is the law of the land, and this quartet, rounded out by the subtle muscle and rippling snare of drummer Satoshi Takeishi, is well-versed in that proviso, having first applied the frenetic aesthetic in 2017 on Grdina's attention-grabbing Inroads (Songlines). It's there the course was set for the five Grdina thought extensions that become Cooper's Park. "Benbow" moves through deep space improv before sledding into an intensified full bore climax. Noriega breathes life slow and intently into "Seeds II" before Takeishi, ala Rashied Ali, concusses low as Lossing's ringing Fender Rhodes and biting clavinet join Grdina's phase-shifting Frank Zappa-like solo into a somewhat unsettling, yet impossible to turn away from, performance. And that's only half way through the track.

The unique and interdisciplinary vocabulary of Canadian guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina can be fully enjoyed on his new quartet album Cooper’s Park, the excellent follow-up to Inroads....Grdina’s compositional eclecticism hits active crossroads that have the power to ground us to the avant-jazz realm in a way, and simultaneously transport us to [other] worlds and cultures. The patiently layered “Seeds II” fuses some folk esprit wrapped in wha-soaked keyboards with rock tenacity, using hot/cold routines to challenge dynamics. It expresses a wide range of emotion that reflects the musical vision of the composer....Grdina and his peers explore their instruments with passion, giving the appropriate direction to an admirable sonic conception.

The title track acts like a would-be suite, loaded with swerves, pouncing straight into a dense, winding theme with guitar, alto saxophone and piano inseparably entwined. After this opening rush, everything disintegrates into a spacious probing. Halfway through the track’s 18-plus minutes, a heavy riff grows, with saxophonist Oscar Noriega passionately soloing. A move from rigorous angularity to sombre reflection—and then right into headbanging—illustrates how Grdina infuses his work with weight, thrust and dynamism.

There are just five tracks here, four of them together stretching to an hour and filled with both controlled evolutions and vigorous improvisation. That focus on group interaction results in Grdina’s strongest recording to date, whether he’s emphasizing formal coherence, insistent intensity or both. The 18-minute title track sets a fluid standard for the program, generating episodes from lambent reverie to pensive conversation to pitch- bending wails. There’s a special link between Grdina and Lossing everywhere here, blurring their identities on lyrical near-acoustic flights or matching distorted guitar with the harsh electric edges of Lossing’s clavinet (a keyboard that served to launch some of Sun Ra’s stellar travels). Noriega is an inspiring presence, generating rapid coiling lines at once raw and adroit on both alto saxophone and bass clarinet, while Takeishi’s complex drumming can unite impetus and commentary.