The cello has never been known as a real genre-busting instrument in general music circles. In fact, other than the occasional solo in E.L.O. (which was more of a contrived concept than even a break-through) or the trendy style-hopping of the still decidedly classically entrenched Yo-Yo Ma, or the edgier leanings of the KRONOS QUARTET, there have been very few cellists who have spent their careers hopping from idea to idea, style to style. Avant-jazz/rocker, the late Tom Cora seems the only real model. Sure there have been cello-sightings through out the jazz world for years, Mingus but generally they were either instances of the instrument used in a basically jazz formula or as colorization or thematic foils as in some of the Third Stream music of the late fifties/early sixties.
Cellist Friedlander has been part of the NYC underground scene for years while not remaining true to any die-hard stylistic tendencies other than that of change. While he has been heard in avant-garde, chamber, Easter European, rock, and free jazz ensembles over the years making his rep playing sessions and/or gigs with John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Myra Melford and Marty Ehrlich.
What Erik Friedlander has done with his latest recording, Bonebridge (also the name of the ensemble) has been to simplify the melodies, clean up the harmonies and dissonance into a more rural sound where bluegrass, Appalachia, and Delta immediacy, converge with swinging rhythm and jazz improvisation. It is, in essence a strings album with cello, the upright bass of Trevor Dunn and the slide guitar of Doug Wamble joined by drummer Mike Sarin’s delicate drive. Wamble’s Southern sensibility as a jazz player known for his affinity for rootsy blues and seminal country textures is a perfect foil for Friedlander’s vision. Sarin and Dunn’s simpatico playing comes from their time as 2/3 of the cellist’s Broken Arm Trio.
Bonebridge is an incredibly listenable album which transcends the jazz categorization in which Friedlander has most frequently been pigeonholed. The music’s melodies are, for the most part, tinged with a rootsy Americana vibe but less stylized then Bill Frisell’s best-known excursions of similar textural reference. My initial thought on first listen was that this music hung on the “New Acoustic” shingle from which sprang Bela Fleck, Mark O’Connor and Viktor Krauss. That genre’s more overt bluegrass and Gypsy stylings are hinted at but the compositions here are emboldened by a concrete jazz sensibility in the way the musicians react to one another. Not overtly swing driven like Grisman or classically emboldened or slickly countrified like some of the more ambitious music of the genre, but taking the music into a more simple and rootsy space balanced by some very melodic choices out of the bluesy Southern rock vibe at times. Coupled with occasional outside elements from the underground jazz school and virtuosic playing from all involved, Bonebridge creates a roots-based primitive feel intrinsic to much of the great music of the aforementioned genres. Catchy, tasteful, communicative yet still challenging enough in the sheer instrumental prowess and succinct point of view. Loved it.
Here is Friedlander in other contexts...
above: Masada String Trio: Erik Friedlander: cello, Greg Cohen: bass, Mark Feldman: violin
above: Bar Kokhba - live in Marciac 2007 // Marc Ribot - guitar / Mark Feldman - violin / Erik Friedlander - cello / Greg Cohen - bass / Cyro Baptista - percussion / Joey Baron - drums / John Zorn - conductor
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