Label: NoBusiness Records

メチャクチャに素晴らしいソロ・パーカッション・アルバム!!ロシア生まれ、リトアニア・ジャズ界の長老とも例えられる打楽器奏者Vladimir Tarasov。過去にAnthony BraxtonやAndrew Cyrilleとも共演、更にはパーカッショニストとしての活動に加えサウンド・インスタレーションなども行なって来た人物の非常に素朴なソロ演奏集。低く響くタム、ゴング、ベル、タンバリン、シェイカーを特殊な奏法で単独で鳴らし、アフリカ及びアジアの楽器が混在するミニ・オーケストラ的アプローチ、また完全アコースティック演奏ながらも急激な音色の変化がエレクトロ・アコースティックを思わせる録音まで、ソロならでは凝縮されたテイクが満載。









Russian-born percussionist Vladimir Tarasov is sort of the “old man” of jazz in Lithuania – he’s called Vilnius home since 1968, and achieved international renown as an improviser with the Ganelin Trio (1971-1986). In addition to work as a sound installation artist and solo percussionist, he has also worked with American composers like Anthony Braxton and drummer Andrew Cyrille. Thinking of Khlebnikov, a dedication to Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov, is Tarasov’s first disc to be released on Lithuania’s No Business label and a follow-up to the eleven-volume Atto solos (released as a boxed set in 2005). There is something comparable to Cyrille. Tarasov’s movement from rumbling toms to large gongs, bells, and smaller tuned gongs recalls the Afro-Asian mini orchestra of Cyrille and Milford Graves’ Dialogue of the Drums (IPS, 1974).

The rapid twists of manipulated skins on “Having Saddled a Herd of Sounds” approach electro-acoustic textures, a fierce upset to the tense delicacy of its “Introduction.” Modern classicism, in the vein of ensemble percussion music, shows up on “Bi-chiming Dreams,” a spacious and metallic exploration of metal, air, and resonance. Concentrated action and small sounds take up “Pin, Pin, Pin! Rumbled Zinzeever,” a piece for muted bells and shakers far less rackety than its Futurist title would suggest. With tambourine and brushed patter, “Poles and Poles and Poles” is elegantly swinging. Though creating a sound environment is certainly part of Tarasov’s modus operandi, Thinking of Khlebnikov is just as much an intricate and joyous solo percussion disc.

Clifford Allen

All music by Vladimir Tarasov (LATGAA)

Recorded March 20th, 2009 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in the context of MaerzMusik 2009 / Berliner Festspiele, Germany