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I, CLAUDIA
(Cuneiform)
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The appeal of the Claudia Quintet’s second CD comes in the sonorities conjured by drummer/composer John Hollenbeck: the deep woody tones of Chris Speed’s clarinet against the wheezing delicacy of Ted Reichman’s accordion and Matt Moran’s vibes. The opening "Just Like Him" sets up the template: Hollenbeck’s motoric drum ’n’ bass patter of snare, kick, and hi-hat, then Speed’s slow-moving, long-toned line, then a spare vibes line set against the clarinet, then yet another line, like spaced channel markers — big black things — in the transparent current, from bassist Drew Gress. It isn’t until a full minute into the six-and-a-half minute piece that Reichman offers that first aromatic wheez of harmony. It goes along like that, melodic counterlines weaving around each other in a kind of contrary motion. Then there’s a pause at the four-minute mark that leaves clarinet and accordion see-sawing on a dissonant interval before the whole thing starts up again, this time with Gress the first to leap in after Hollenbeck’s drums. Those cyclical rhythms contribute to the music’s seductiveness, as they do in minimalists like Glass and Reich. (The stuttering out-of-sync rhythmic-melodic figure of "Opening" even suggests the Cure’s "Close to You.") But, again like Glass and Reich, those "process" rhythms can drive you nuts. There is some relief in some beautiful out-of-tempo passages, but every once in a while you might wish the band would just give in to their jazz side, play a straight walking four, and blow. And on "Misty Hymen," the most frantic, out-there, and jazzlike of the pieces, Speed does get off a ripping tenor solo.
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