New Generation Quartet - Dances

Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes

It's a nice work that made by the good people at Ayler, keeping publishing documents of contemporary jazz that tend to avoid worn out etiquette while presenting obscure talents worthy of recommendation. This particular quartet is formed by Vladimir Timofeev (tenor sax), Roman Stolyar (piano, flutes, harmonica), Dimitri Averchenkov (bass) and Sergei Belichenko (drums).

The material was recorded in Novosibirsk in 2000. The album features three rather brisk pieces, comprising different moments of impulsive playing characterized by detailed exposition. This circumstantial impetus doesn't put the clarity of the music out of business, as everything remains illuminated by the invisible will of leaving a door open to the audience also during the most intense crescendos.

There is no fashionable attitude, no patchy reference to ascensions or silent ways; it all starts from a melody, often something that might even be memorized if we tried. Then, the group adds cell upon cell of linear development where still comprehensible dissonance and more accessible thematic sketches find a way to coexist.
When a climax is reached it doesn't last for too long, the escalation going back to the rest position with a cycle of dreaming piano chords (it happens in "Two-Step Blues") or a clever drum solo. Only in "No Strauss" the musicians leave their energies be heard a little friskier, clapping hands and giving voice to inside eruptions.

The 51-plus minutes run away without a single moment of tiredness in this noticeably bright release, which could teach a thing or two to the manikins who infest those clubs where snorting cocaine and shaking heads like idiots while hearing "So what" for the 1000th time is the rule of thumb.