Album Review: Frank Carlberg's 'Uncivilized Ruminations'

Having reviewed Nicholas Urie's My Garden (Red Piano 2011), I experienced a bit of musical Déjà vu upon hearing Frank Carlberg's Uncivilized Ruminations (Red Piano 2011).

To begin with, the rhythm sections are identical: Carlberg plays piano, John Hébert is on bass, and Michael Sarin is on drums. The albums share Christine Correa's unmistakable voice, and even take similar approaches to poetry setting. Urie wove short texts by the poet Charles Bukowski into seven-, eight-, and nine-minute compositions, and Carlberg does the same with poems by Jim Gustafson, Anselm Hollo, and Kai Nieminen. Compare Urie's “Round and Round” to Carlberg's “Old Age,” and the similarities in approach are clear.

These similarities are no accident, of course. Carlberg and Urie both earned Masters degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music, and have performed or studied with Bob Brookmeyer, one of the undisputed gurus of jazz composition. Both are among the pioneering artists behind Red Piano Records, founded in 2009, and have a unique sensitivity to and passion for the written word. Urie even contributed the cover design for Uncivilized Ruminations.

Carlberg's smaller ensemble enables him to highlight an energetic dialogue between soloists and accompanists that in a larger ensemble might sound heavy. “Old Age” is a great example: the poem is stated within the first thirty seconds, then opens up for free solos on piano, alto saxophone, and bass.

Carlberg's solo is dextrous as it is passionate, flying busily around Hébert and Sarin's commentary. O'Gallagher's clarity and precision on alto saxophone are a perfect segue from Carlberg's piano, and Hébert adds a bowed conclusion, sprinkled with Sarin's incomparable drumming. Carlberg's ensemble takes a piece with a simple head-solos-head form and turns out a fascinating exploration of Niemenen's poem.

The ensemble's abilities stretch far beyond the angular and bombastic. “Don't Rush Me” sounds appropriately timeless, a beautiful lament for the death of down-time. “Prairie Dogs” plods mechanistically through Hollo's misanthropic, political text, a relentless string of melody over broken march-like drums. Like Urie's, Carlberg's aesthetic is fearless.

Release Date:

June 14th, 2011 on Red Piano Records

Personnel:

• Christine Correa – voice
• John O'Gallagher – saxophones
• Chris Cheek – tenor saxophone
• Frank Carlberg – piano
• John Hebert – bass
• Michael Sarin – drums

Track List:

1. Lunatics
2. “It Was All About…”
3. Old Age
4. Posthumous Success
5. Misanthrope
6. Don’t Ruse Me
7. Perfect
8. Prairie Dogs
9. Pygmy Hut