Recording details
CD Title Three Way Conversations
Glen Hall, Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax, Flute, Bass Flute; Bernie Koenig, Drums, Vibes; M.J. Idzerda, Electric Keyboard
Track details: 1) Long Time No See; 2) I’m Not Sure I want To Try; 3) Can You Keep a Secret; 4) Plenty to Say; 5) I Still Have More To Say; 6) Let’s take a Moment; 7); You Can Always Count on Me; 8) I think I Got It; 9) Getting Into The Swing of Things; 10) My First Taste of Jack; 11) You Know; 12) But Have You Heard; 13 How About Your Turn…No Your Turn; 14) Perhaps it’s Time; 15) The Light of Dawn
Track lengths 1) 2:48 2) 6:04 3) 5:13 4) 2:43 5) 11:10 6) 4:00 7) 4:19 8) 5:33 9) 2:41 10) 8:00 11) 5:15 12) 5:46 13) 3:18 14) 4:05 15) 7:00
Total: with 4 seconds in between tracks 78:50
Composers Tracks 1,4,6,9,11,13,14 Hall and Koenig Tracks 2, 7, 8 Hall and Idzerda Tracks 3, 12 Koenig and Idzerda Tracks 5, 10, 15 Hall, Koenig and Idzerda
Date and place of recording. Feb 27 and Aug 5 2016 London Ontario Canada Name of sound engineer for recording and mastering. Richard Moule
The album starts off with the drummer seemingly talking to himself for a short while until the tenor decides to comment on this when a duo conversation does get underway, and so it goes. Duets and triplets between instruments may often be represented as conversations, but I don’t find it significant because I see it as reducing the high art of the language of music to something at a baser level. Why not just call them duets and triplets or duos and trios?
More importantly, the musical interchange grows into something essentially calming and perceptive, though it does at times languish into near silence. Yet in every piece there comes something new, due perhaps to the ever-changing constructions, whether in duo or trio.
The tone from the tenor is large and robust, but by contrast the soprano is eel-like in its game of ‘Tick’ with Idzerda’s electrics. All three might create a mêlée, all improvising together and with many a giggle, as they fashion such entertainment from their new sounds. Glen Hall’s wide-ranging involvement with the genre shows and the spontaneity is nigh-on inflammable.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham http://www.jazzviews.net/hall-koenig-idzerda-ndash-three-way-conversations.html
This takes the conversation metaphor/method to substantial lengths, 15 mostly quite short tracks in which the trio breaks down into different duo and instrumental pairings. The most interesting track, tellingly, is the long trio piece I Still Have More To Say and it’s perhaps a pity that there isn’t more in that vein. Particularly effective is the combination of vibes and bass flute, which you won’t have come across very often. Intriguing enough in its schematic way, this one leaves you wanting to hear more from the full group. Brian Morton, Jazz Journal, July 2018.
Bernie Koenig plays vibes and drums, MJ Idzerda is on electric keyboards and Glen Hall rotates between tenor sax, soprano sax, flute and bass flute on fifteen pieces that range between duets and trios. Hall’s tenor tone is big and Rollins-strong, and is freely wheeled with Koenig’s drums on "Long Time No See" or with impressionistic vibes during "I Still Have More To Say." Hall’s soprano plays cat and mouse with Idzerda on the slay "Think I’ve Got It" and is laconic for "You Can Always Count On Me." The three scramble like eggs on "My First Taste of Jack" and with Hall’s flute gets mystical for "The Light of Dawn." Spontaneous without combusting George Harris http://www.jazzweekly.com/2018/05/free-and-outsidetania-chen-john-cage-electronic-music-for-piano-hall-koening-idzerda-three-way-conversations-michael-mosss-accidental-orchestra-helix/
Papatamus
THREE WAY CONVERSATION [SLAM
580] is between GLEN HALL [ts/ss/flt], M.J.
IDZERDA [el key] and BERNIE KOENIG [drm/vbs]
and is just that; a conversation. Recorded 2/27/16 and
8/5/16 these conversations are pretty much subdued,
although at times are animated but always congenial
over 15 improvs [79:05]. Conversations of varying
depths.
due musicisti canadesi Bernie Koenig alla batteria ed al vibrafono e Glenn Hall al sax tenore, al sax soprano, al flauto ed al flauto basso che insieme avevano già inciso per la Slam Productions si è aggiunzo per questa nuova produzione il connazionale M.J. Idzerda alle tastiere elettriche. Si tratta di un’incisione in cui le formazioni cambiano di continuo, a volte in duo a volte in trio, così che in ogni brano c’è qualcosa di nuovo. Difficile prevedere cosa succede nelle esecuzioni, ad esempio I Think I Got It è un duo per sax soprano e pianoforte, ma verso la metà del brano il sax soprano lascia al solo pianoforte il compito di continuare l’esecuzione, libero di gestire lo spazio lasciatogli come meglio crede. Anche in trio il dialogo funziona, interessante <í>My First Taste of Jack con il sax soprano insieme a vibrafono e tastiere. Hall è un musicista con una vasta esperienza alle spalle e lo dimostra nei suoi interventi. Su Plenty to Say è al sax tenore insieme alla batteria e si lascia andare ad un assolo free nella migliore tradizione della New Thing degli anni ’60. Altrove le atmosfere sono più meditative, come quando è al flauto, ma sa esprimersi con dolcezza anche al sax tenore su You Know. È un disco variegato, in cui i tre si divertono ad improvvidare insieme traendo i loro spunti dal jazz del passato.
Vittorio Lo Conte http://www.musiczoom.it/?p=29086#.WsT9P3rwbct
Google translate:
To the two Canadian musicians Bernie Koenig on drums and vibraphone and Glenn Hall on tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute and bass flute that together had already recorded for Slam Productions, the compatriot M.J. Idzerda on electric keyboards. It is an incision in which the formations change continuously, sometimes in duo sometimes in trio, so that in every song there is something new. Difficult to predict what happens in performances, for example I Think I Got It is a duo for soprano sax and piano, but towards the middle of the piece the soprano sax lets the piano to continue the execution, free to manage the space left to him as you see fit. Also in trio the dialogue works, interesting <í> My First Taste of Jack with the soprano sax along with vibraphone and keyboards. Hall is a musician with extensive experience behind him and shows it in his speeches. Su Plenty to Say is a tenor sax along with the drums and lets himself go to a free solo in the best tradition of the New Thing of the 60s. Elsewhere, the atmospheres are more meditative, as when he is on the flute, but he can also express himself gently to the tenor saxophone on You Know. It is a varied album, in which the three have fun improvising together, drawing their inspiration from the jazz of the past.