Joel Futterman & Chad Fowler - Timeless Moments

Those aware, open to possibilities and to whatever
attendant possibilities ensue, are cognizant of moments
that bespeak contexts so myriad that implication only
becomes apparent with the luxury of reminiscence. Take a
moment and listen as four notes issue from the middle
register of Joel Futterman’s piano as this first
collaborative piece with Chad Fowler concludes,
somewhere between proclamation and invitation; it’s all
Fowler needs! Picking up the narrative thread, the Protean
tone emanating from his alto, rife with reiterated
multiphonic suggestion, he creates an open space around
which Futterman weaves intricate lines, scintillating
harmony and something in-between. It’s an instant
indicative of deep listening, instantaneous reacting and
the parallel creative courses emerging from those
coexistent modalities. The opening miniature indicates
what lies ahead.

Though Mahakala has released Futterman’s recent Vision
Festival appearance, in tribute to the late Alvin Fielder,
this is Futterman and Fowler’s first collaborative musical
statement. Beyond the requisite depth, fire and
introspection of shared inspiration, it is also graced with
flashes of sardonic humor, as in the second piece, from
Fowler’s rollicking “Tea for Two” opening to
Futterman’s immediately ensuing descending sweep, all
swinging into a contrapuntal blues as far down in the
gutbucket as it is fractiously funny. Contrast that wittiness
with the bluesy balladry of the sixth piece to hear the
duo’s range and versatility as they ride the chromatic
waves, each leaving room for the other to bend and sway
a solo or two into existence, and dig Futterman’s double-
time as Fowler responds with growling bebop alacrity.

The fourth piece is redolent of late 1960s or early 1970s
spirituality, channeling the gospel-infused freedom
consciousness so important to both musicians as they’ve
traveled their respective paths. The track arcs with a
winning mixture of intensity, precision and grace, as
when Fowler and Futterman complete and overlap
phrases beginning at 3:37, where the pianist provides his
now-ubiquitous drone. The eighth piece inhabits a
similarly meditative space, awash in the dynamically
disparate phrases traversing the shared territories
conjoining history and influence.

Nothing prepares for the radical sound worlds evoked in
the final ten-minute tour de force, the duo stretching in all
directions, initiated by an incisive piano-innards strum
from Futterman. Closest in spirit to the third piece, this
concluding venture raises the stakes, and Fowler enhances
the proceedings with his melodic multiphonics. No mere
exercise in tonal complexity, he actually creates serialized
sonorities, weaving webs of concentric melody to
complement Futterman’s thick or dotted lines and
multihued densities.

The two unify their work with a
vocabulary as tactile as audible, palpable with shape and
rhythm supporting each motive in context. Futterman’s
driving repetitions at 4:55 push Fowler to and beyond the
limits of his instrument’s range, just as their combined
percussives guide the track’s inaugural moments. Most
moving of all, after the intensity and uplift, is the
concluding minute, where the instrumental integration is
so complete as to obscure identity. Temporal motion thus
thwarted, we are truly in the sacred space, the most
timeless of moments, the creator’s abode and the
listener’s boon.

- Marc Medwin