Ensemble: Nick Mazzarella Trio

Label: Astral Spirits / Spacetone Records

Release Date: June 28, 2019

Personnel:
Nick Mazzarella – alto saxophone
Anton Hatwich – bass
Frank Rosaly – drums

Track Listing:
Side 1
1. Phoenetic
2. The Puzzle
3. About Looking
Side 2
1. Counterbalance
2. Headway
3. Innermost

All compositions by Nick Mazzarella (BMI).

Production Credits:
Recorded by David Allen and Dave Vettraino on January 19, 2018 at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, Chicago.
Mixed and mastered by Dave Zuchowski.
Cover artwork by Morris Barazani, untitled, c. 1950, gouache and varnish on cardstock, 11 x 15 inches, private collection. (Courtesy of Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago).
Sleeve photograph by Scottie McNiece.
Liner notes by John Corbett.
Layout by Drew Liverman.
Produced by Nick Mazzarella.
Executive production by Nate Cross for Astral Spirits and Quin Kirchner for Spacetone.

Reviews:

Free Jazz Blog (5 stars)

There is a masterful quality to this music. It's in the nonchalance of the playing & in the musicians' relationship to create with each other, sure. But it's not just high caliber improvisational music. The trio's ability to hear each other so completely is so.. well.. mature. There is an unhurried quality here. There is nothing forced; but neither does any stone lie untouched. The music within Counterbalance is about being fully developed in one's practice – and then carrying that into a space where change and adaptation is a prerequisite for creative collaboration. The end result exudes a richness that only a maturing process can produce.

The recording happened in front of a live audience in Chicago early last year. There are six tracks, divided evenly onto the LP's two sides, that all begin and end with simple head arrangements which the band members use to explore the elasticity of those heads in between. Four of the heads remind me immediately of Ornette's early work, particularly the Golden Circle era, given the trio setup here – but two of them have the jumpy melody lines more associated with Thelonious Monk, particularly on the last cut, “Innermost.” It doesn't conjure up any particular Monk composition, of course – just an overall unmistakable feel. What the group make of the head is altogether unsuitable for Monk: it becomes a brooding collaborative composition made up of long whole notes from bassist Anton Hatwich, smoking spiraling runs by Mazzarella on alto, and distant ghosts rattling chains by percussionist Frank Rosaly.

Mazzarella has a natural ability to expertly map a course for the music out of thin air which serves the group incredibly well. Rosaly and Hatwich are always enthusiastically on board. They not only provide the type of active support most band leaders dream of; they also excel at staying within the psychic realm of the music while escalating the overall structure with precision and melody. Yes, even the drummer – especially the drummer. Rosaly's soloing couldn't be more melodic if he was playing vibes. The axis he creates with Hatwich is often a steady rumble, but they may be at their most impressive on “About Looking,” where they lurk in the shadows, idling patiently, waiting to strike. The strike never comes, by the way – carrying the sense of unease into the title track which follows.

The title track was what I was listening to as I wrote the first paragraph of this review. I want to be clear. This music is not ecstatic, unhinged blowing. There is not a full-on rager in sight. It does not scream (too much) and it absolutely does not showboat. It does serve as an elegant bullshit repellent with which to class up any room it envelopes. It will serve as a smudge to clear away bad mojo. These creations are solidly within the tradition of free improvisational music, which means they also constantly push against the definition of that term. The statement that I'm hearing is an addendum. We are adults and this is our music.

– Tom Burris

Chicago Jazz Magazine

On the stimulating Counterbalance, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella reunites his decade-old trio for a program that includes six multilayered originals. Recorded live at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, the album deftly captures the urgent vibrancy of the performance. The pieces, even though unique, are thematically cohesive—and together make a dramatic whole that engrosses from the first note to the last with no slack in momentum.

Over rumbling bass and drums, Mazzarella starts off “Phonetic” with crisp, short phrases that transform into a yearning and chantlike melody. The simmering energy bursts into three overlapping stream-of-consciousness monologues that, despite their divergence, are quite complementary. Bassist Anton Hatwich contributes lithe and eloquent lines while drummer Frank Rosaly adds intricate polyrhythms to the group sound. Mazzarella’s vibrato-filled saxophone notes flitter over both sidemen before a moment of silence ushers in a return to the head.

The captivating synergy among the musicians, honed over several years of playing together, is on full display here. For instance, on the title track Hatwich’s bowed bass hauntingly echoes Mazzarella’s saxophone, while Rosaly punctuates the duet with his angular drumbeats. Their dialogue is both lyrical and delightfully dissonant, as Hatwich and Mazzarella alternate between sparring and mirroring one another. A riotous three-way conversation precedes the tune’s stately and contemplative conclusion.

The ensemble strikes a sublime balance between the emotive and the cerebral. The cinematic “Headway,” for example, features Rosaly’s stirring and explosive solo that is nevertheless intricately built. Mazzarella lets loose intelligent, crystalline phrases that are warm and soulful, while Hatwich coaxes out of his strings a breathtakingly agile and elegant extemporization that moves and intrigues.

As Counterbalance demonstrates, what sets Mazzarella, Hatwich, and Rosaly apart from other trios is more than their seamless camaraderie. It is that they make spontaneous music that is abstract yet not abstruse, fiery and emotive without being jarring, free flowing yet rooted in tradition.

– Hrayr Attarian

All About Jazz (4 stars)

Although he is well-accustomed to working in other settings, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella is perhaps at his strongest in a trio format: specifically, the sax-bass-drums configuration that allows for both maximum harmonic freedom and focused rhythmic interaction. In 2017 his Meridian Trio (featuring bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Jeremy Cunningham) released Triangulum (Clean Feed), an excellent free-bop outing with razor-sharp improvisations and engaging compositions. On Counterbalance he's working with bassist Anton Hatwich and drummer Frank Rosaly. This unit goes back to 2008, so there's some deep history here. And it shows. Recorded live in Chicago in 2018, the fourth album by this accomplished trio reflects a decade of growth and development, with music that places a premium on the group's well-honed collective concept.

Mazzarella has potent range as an altoist, at times capable of keening intensity while at others reflecting a more subdued, tenuous fragility. The record's dynamic opener, "Phonetic," sees him producing long, extended upper-register wails while Hatwich and Rosaly surge alongside him, with an implied pulse rather than an obvious one, thereby allowing for substantial independence. But this isn't a free-for-all. All three players come together here brilliantly, with Hatwich's and Rosaly's focused contributions integral to the group sound, as the band proves adept at finding coherence amidst their liberties. The same goes for "The Puzzle," an even more energized cut, which charges out of the gate, Mazzarella soaring high, while Hatwich and Rosaly's expert "bend-don't-break" strategy succeeds wonderfully, with rhythmic fluidity that moves well beyond strict time yet never gets out of control. And to prove that the group can swing with the best of them, they offer up "Headway," with an enticing groove and some especially strong exchanges between all three musicians.

Just as interesting are the more reflective, mysterious pieces, such as "About Looking" or "Innermost," in which Mazzarella's approach changes dramatically. No flurries of notes pouring forth, as on "The Puzzle." Instead Mazzarella seems to agonize over each one. Hatwich and Rosaly provide perfect companionship, limiting themselves to their own sparse commentary, providing just enough to sustain Mazzarella on his quest for just the right expression. The delicate web that the group weaves on these tracks is just as compelling as their more demonstrative moments, and they clearly hold the audience rapt throughout, with a use of silence and space just as captivating as the notes that are played.

The strongest cut may be the album's title track, a six-minute extravaganza of group interaction, with Mazzarella's leaps, rushes, and sustained lamentations supported perfectly by Hatwich's arco bass and Rosaly's simmering rhythmic substructure. All three are in persistent rapport throughout, with listening skills sharpened to the finest point possible. It's an exceptional collaborative moment on an album that seems both a celebration of a decade's worth of work, and a hopeful foretaste of much more to come.

– Troy Dostert

Tiny Mix Tapes

The classic jazz trio setup, am I right? Sax, bass, and drums, just like the doctor ordered; just like old times; just like the prophecies foretold. Nick Mazzarella leads his band on alto sax, and Anton Hatwich and Frank Rosaly fall in on bass and drums respectively. The whole thing was recorded on January 19, 2018, at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, Chicago.

But hey, you can get all that from reading a description.

What you can’t get is the sense of being there, like really BEING THERE being there, the smoke billowing from your lungs and hair because the Mazzarella Trio was hot-fire that night! Rosaly had even moved away from Chicago to Amsterdam, and this all occurred on a return trip for him, but it was like no one had ever been away, ever. The three rip through six new compositions like they were born to play them, like the material had come together in cosmic confluence and burst forth from the players’ bodies in a whirlwind of technique and speed and tone and restraint. The audible “Woo!s” from the crowd act like air currents on which they ride a spiritual fire that quickly overcomes and engulfs everything in its path. A whirlwind-fire-tornado of complete organic mastery. Who comes away from that unscathed?

No one. Burned and cleansed as the heat from friction ignites the unsuspecting oxygen, we’re all leaping from our seats and clapping and cheering, even though we’re not even there — we’re somewhere in our house with an extension cord and some massive headphones, hiding in a closet or a bathroom, audibly freaking out and scaring cats and dogs and fish and hamsters at each outburst. Not a single sick heart beats out of time, and Couterbalance, the recorded document of that night (how did I get so far without naming it?), sets it right, preparing us for fibrillation with crackling energy currents. Lightning strikes once, twice, six times. Everything goes up every time.

I’m still cheering this on in the bathroom.

– Ryan Masteller