 They exist: Gunther Schuller’s heirs, the continuers and renewers of the Third Stream approach, the protagonists of intertwining jazz and e-music, hard to define stylistically, border-raiders at the crossroads of advanced composition and contemporary improvisation. Some of them, not the least important, are represented under the between the lines label: John Lindberg, Franz Koglmann and James Emery. Guitarist / composer James Emery has already presented two productions with btl. Both come under the category of subtle Chamber Jazz (Luminous Cycles, btl 015 und Fourth World, btl 020). With Transformations, Emery now develops his profile as an orchestral composer with very deliberate roots in American traditions. In this 5-movement piece, interspersed by three interludes, three soloists (Tony Coe, the eroto-maniac of the tenor saxophone, Franz Koglmann, the flugelhorn lyricist, and James Emery, the guitar virtuoso himself) encounter one of the key ensembles of New Music, the Klangforum Wien under the baton of Emilio Pomárico. In the piece, several themes are sent through a compositional blender and come out of the process transformed beyond all recognition. While hints of American film music traditions are superbly mixed with reminiscences of a Third Stream à la André Hodeir, it is ultimately Emery’s inimitable personal signature that brings this piece, which was premiered at the Wiener Konzerthaus, to full bloom. Transformations is complemented by five quartets interpreted by the three soloists with the valiant support of bassist Peter Herbert in the drum-less tradition of the likes of Jimmy Guiffre. Vague memories of Be and Hard Bop (Full Circle) alternate with a deceptively easy style (Down Home Tone Poem), a coolly distanced manner (Bird’s Nest) and an abstract process of dissolution (Fugitive Items). Highly inspired, this chamber music reflects on the principal milestones of jazz and its development in the second half of the 20th century.
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