Three Rushes

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS227, Lisbon 2012

Katsura Yamauchi made a name for himself about ten years ago with the solo saxophone album, Salmo Sax, which established him as a leading figure among saxophonists involved in that period’s reductionist movement (Doneda, Bosetti, Denzler, etc.). There, we heard his very personal practice of playing in a stream near his home, immersing himself like a salmon swimming up river. That image colors my perception of this reemergence alongside Ernesto Rodrigues, who plays harp here, and Carlos Santos, on electronic synthesis. These two run the irreplaceable record label, Creative Sources (200 titles in its catalog!). The harp leaves a welcome space here, allowing an almost visual balance among the three musicians and their “floating music.” Carlos Santos’ iridescent and volatile sounds curl like networks of lines and signs on the surface of an imaginary stream that eddies among the stems of stylized branches evoked by Ernesto Rodrigues’ limping, trickling harp. In this context, Katsura Yamauchi’s weightless blowing takes on a new specificity. His manner of stripping and slowing the dynamics of his multiphonics will fascinate connoisseurs of the alternative saxophone. All the same, the group has its jerky moments. An anemic life slips in like a dream in a bare gallery hung here and there with familiar signs that resist understanding. But the musicians know how to bring character and a contained expressivity to the details of their improvisations at points where the listener’s attention may begin to fade. Beautiful work.

The two minds behind Creative Sources—a leading label in the renewal of musical forms in the world of improvisation—have collaborated with dozens of improvisers, researching and regularly renewing their approach and contributions as they find the perfect musical match with their successive partners. In this universe of radical, “abstract” and minimalist improvisation, that makes no concessions, their open approach and great adaptability merit underlining. The recordings they have made for Creative Sources over the years and the present trio show how to remain faithful to oneself while fully sharing the proposals of the other musicians they meet. Quite a rare accomplishment indeed.Young creators entering this musical path have plenty to learn from them.

JEAN-MICHEL VAN SCHOUWBURG

Translation by Wade Matthews

1. Scene1 - Cookie's Birth - 9'29''

2. Scene2 - Cookie's Role - 12'35''

3. Scene3 - Cookie's Departure - 11'08''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Harp

Katsura Yamauchi - Alto Saxophone

Katsura Yamauchi - Alto Saxophone

Carlos Santos - Computer

Recorded in July  2010, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/three-rushes

Reviews

Big surprise: Portuguese viola player Ernesto Rodrigues is heard here... on harp! It’s the first time I hear him on anything else than viola. He is in the company of Japanese sax player Katsura Yamauchi and electronician Carlos Santos. Three Rushes is a short record (33 minutes) consisting of three free improvisations of the reductionist persuasion. Rodrigues approaches the harp like a sound source made to be struck, brushed and occasionally pinched. Rather dark pieces, dry, a demanding listen. This is not the most enriching music Rodrigues has committed to record. François Couture (Monsieur Délire)

Rodrigues once again on harp (and objects), Yamauchi on alto and Santos wielding computer and piezos. Nice, quiet improv in three parts. Rodrigues' harp work (first I've heard it, I think, on the recording above and this one) is well considered, more recognizable than one might expect (a good thing, in this context). Yamauchi is restrained as well, adding brief daubs of gentle color and Santos electronics tinge and tickle the canvas; all grays and tans with hints of pink and orange. It's very calm and enjoyable; nothing earthshaking but doesn't strive to be and that's fine. A good recording. Brian Olewnick (Just Outside)

Ernesto Rodrigues on the harp, which sound played more like an object by sudden and unexpected strokes, whose strings are just occasionally played in the conventional way, as they sound more whacked (so that they sometimes give the impression of breaking springs) than plucked, Carlos Santos' sonic creatures from computer and piezos which sometimes goe up to the surface like imaginary sea serpents with their threatening eclat and subtle crimping, Katsura Yamauchi, whose technique on saxophone hit the headlines of more demanding lovers of the so-called reductionist movement by his album Salmo Sax and integrates into the ensemble with muffled breathing, which sometimes look like puffs in the bottleneck, and temporary stews of melodic glimmers, improvised this amazing and somewhat estranging three rushes on the borders between noise and silence. Some moments could let you imagine a narcotized emotional tension which explodes by means of abrupt rashes, while they gradually interlace thin torn mantles. I found particularly catching the central and second of three tracks (they call them scenes), "Cookie's Role", for the cliff-hanger they managed to set, even if the third one, "Cookie's Departure", is quite rich of funny flaky disfigurations of respective instruments without turning the "thespian" aspect down. Vito Camarretta (Chain DLK)


L’enregistrement né de la rencontre d’Ernesto Rodrigues (ici à la harpe et aux objets), Katsura Yamauchi (saxophone alto) et Carlos Santos (ordinateur), n’excède que de peu la demi-heure. Ce sont là trois plages, trois scènes, et aussi trois fois trois « précipitations », trois fois trois « hâtes ».
Pas toujours virulent, le produit des opérations électroacoustiques abonde en souffles découpés, cordes tremblantes, qui traînent avant de disparaître quand les larsens et parasites en liberté persistent, eux. Car Santos ne ménage pas ses efforts, multipliant les déstabilisations électroniques d’un champ acoustique déjà perturbé. A force de mouvement, les instruments en présence vous ont assigné une place : cœur de cible que dessinent les trois anneaux de sons qu’ils ont enchassés. Guillaume Belhomme (Le Son du Grisli)

Three rushes est une courte suite de trois pièces improvisées par Ernesto Rodrigues à la harpe cette fois, Carlos Santos à l'électronique et Katsura Yamauchi au saxophone alto. Les trois pièces se ressemblent assez, il s'agit à chaque fois d'improvisations réductionnistes et minimalistes. Une musique toute en finesse, en délicatesse, poétique et subtile, parcimonieuse et attentive. Rien de très nouveau en somme mais j'aime beaucoup la harpe de Rodrigues, ses résonances disséminées à travers un espace éthéré, ainsi que l'aspect très espacé de ces improvisations. Un souffle, un bol tibétain, une courte sinusoïde, du bois frotté, une corde pincée, une légère note au saxophone, quelques bruits, ça fait bling - tsss - chhhh - tzzz - hmmm -et ça s'imbrique facilement. 

Trois rushes subtils et délicats, aux sonorités pures et audacieuses. Une musique calme, belle, aventureuse et sensible, comme seuls ces trois musiciens peuvent en produire. Un beau morceau de réductionnisme, sans nouveauté, mais qui est achevé et personnel. Julien Heraud (ImprovSphere)

One of the abiding tropes of documenting improvised music is the role of the recording as silent partner. Its role is to remain largely unnoticed, to recreate the live performance as faithfully as possible. Accordingly, many listeners tend to have some kind of a mental picture of the performance proceedings. One has a sense of the room, the instrumentation, the relative positions of the players.
One of the things that makes Three Rushes a special — and especially effective — recording is that this sense of a spatial locale is often missing. Or, when it is not missing, it is distorted. Acoustic sounds hover briefly in the foreground before they seem to twitch, then stretch at the edges, then morph into something less recognizable. It is something of a filmic effect. Haunting and surrealistic. Perhaps this is reflected in the tracks on the record being called "Scenes."
Electronic music's recording aesthetic tends to be less about documenting performance events. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that it is Carlos Santos' work with computers and electronics on this album that seems to be behind its pleasantly alien demeanor. "Electroacoustic" has become a familiar term lately, and has become something of a catchall phrase. However, this blended term seems more appropriate to a recording like this one, where the sonic elements are so deeply and effectively integrated. This synthesis of elements is so ingrained in this music that sometimes has more in common with composed music or soundtracks than other musics that fall under the category "improvised." A quiet, restrained approach to improvisation, associated with players like Rhodri Davies, John Butcher, and Bhob Rainey, is not new. But there is a seamless quality on tracks like "Scene1: Cookie's birth" that seems to transcend the genre. There is a less a feeling that the musicians are trying not to break the "keep it quiet" rule, and instead that they are all contributing just the right ingredients to the mix.
We get the most distinct flavor of the three players on "Scene2: Cookie's Role." Ernesto Rodrigues plays harp and objects, producing pleasantly junky rattles, buzzes, and cluster chords. Katsura Yamauchi, on alto, maintains the "small sounds" approach to saxophone throughout the album, his breathy wheezes only occasionally punctuated with slightly louder, sustained tones. Even on this track, though, Santos' electronic sounds set the scene, sometimes seeming to swirl around the acoustic players like a swarm of cicadas; other times fading-in ominous computer moans that subtly darken the music like clouds moving in.

This is quiet, subtle, and moody music; you'll need to look elsewhere for a fix of raucous, noisy improvisation. Wyman Brantley (The Squid's Ear)

Álbum em que Rodrigues tem a companhia de Katsura Yamauchi e Carlos Santos, “Three Rushes” transporta-nos por sua vez para um plano de maior proximidade, sendo nesta edição de assinalar a poética atmosfera de tonalidades escuras, não estranha aos preceitos de algum “soundscaping” electrónico e electroacústico. Rui Eduardo Paes (Jazz.pt)

Ernesto Rodrigues utiliza aqui (novamente) a harpa, acompanhado por Katsura Yamauchi no sax alto e Carlos Santos, parceiro regular, no computador/electrónica. Os três temas que correspondem a três cenas: “Cookie's birth”, “Cookie's role” e “Cookie's departure”. A música do trio é trabalhada, como habitualmente, de forma contida, precisa. A segunda faixa (“Cookie's role”) é paradigmática do trabalho do trio: a harpa é utilizada de forma pouco convencional, apenas pontualmente se reconhece o seu som tradicional; o saxofone de Yamauchi repete obsessivamente o mesmo som, de forma repetida; e Santos fornece um leve tapete textural, em fundo. Nuno Catarino (Bodyspace.net)

Creative Sources label leaders Carlos Santos on computer and Enresto Rodrigues on harp are joined by saxophonist Katsura Yamauchi, using unorthodox techniques to create a beautifully floating album of modern ea-improvisation. (Squidco)