Review by Dan Warburton about CD: Anthony Braxton / György Szabados / Vladimir Tarasov – Triotone (Leo CD LR 416)

Seasoned readers of Paris Transatlantic might recall PT’s roving Balkans correspondent Vid Jeraj’s splendid review of the 9th Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music that took place in Kanizsa, Serbia Montenegro in September 2003, one of the highlights of which was this trio set featuring Anthony Braxton on saxophones, György Szabados on piano and Vladimir Tarasov on percussion. It’s no surprise that it should eventually have been released on Leo Records, given that both Braxton and Tarasov (as one third of the legendary Ganelin trio) are Leo household names. Less well known perhaps – though hopefully this release might go some way towards setting that straight – is Hungarian pianist Szabados, now 65 years old, as important and iconoclastic a figure for progressive jazz in Hungary as Ganelin, Chekasin and Tarasov were in the former Soviet Union. His 32-minute suite “Trioton” forms the backbone of this set, which also includes a shorter Szabados original “Black Toots” and three brief trio improvisations. Vid Jeraj recalled a 40-minute set with “the briefest of brief encores” (one not three – not sure which of the three improvisations he might be referring to) and seemed to indicate a certain lack of enthusiasm on the part of the musicians. Fortunately that doesn’t come across so much in the music, though Tarasov sounds a little skittery and unfocussed (Barry Altschul or Gerry Hemingway he definitely is not – and Braxton is at his best when supported by a top notch drummer), and Szabados’s excursions inside the piano aren’t always entirely convincing. Braxton is as quintessentially Braxton as ever, with that unmistakable tone, simultaneously fluffy and gritty like a Brillo pad hidden in a pair of woolly mittens, and is surprisingly adept at following Szabados’s Bartók-inflected charts (the two first played together in the early 1980s, recording an album of duets in 1984). But it’s the pianist that steals the show, and when those folk rhythms kick in with a vengeance even Tarasov wakes up and starts to swing.

~ Dan Warburton

I see that I am being misquoted a lot regards this CD review. Let’s get this straight – cause it showed up even on the page associated with Anthony Braxton. and I don’t need NO bad rep. I am definitely sure that I heard three encores; and Dan’d surely know about Leo Feigin, and you’d ALL know about the methods used in post-production of live albums.
i.e., you are not trying to recreate the whole atmosphere, cause then it would’ve been “documents” – AND NOT live albums. only Szabadosz showed up for the the first encore, and hit a chord on the piano “more a philosopher than a musician”… and I am definitely sure that this moment was CUT OUT, period. if this is not on the album, it still is a live album, right?

Interesting.. who’s been giving you a bad rep, Vid?

Although we’ve had some misunderstandings along the way, you’re the least to give me bad rep, Dan. At least, “Vid Jeraj’s splendid review of the 9th Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music” doesn’t read as such. ’cause over the past few years many people asked me about the three encores thing, and its become almost a curse for my rep… Not to mention that I really have no frequent input of music media coming my way, and have to struggle to survive, doing various jobs that have nothing to do with music at all… As much as you do; at least I’m not trying (not achieving, respectively) to be pathetic! ;-)) Quoting Frisco from Jazz Corner who said, “Funny that Vid Jeraj (who write the original concert review) refers to the set as a “highlight” of the festival, then states that there was a “certain lack of enthusiasm”. Must’ve been a pretty sleepy festival.”. Frisco obvioulsy misreads that it was “musicians’ obvious lack of interest” to give an encore. If someone was sleepy, I was exhausted as explained with my travel experience in the article’s introduction. And “…Szabados sits legs crossed on his stool, head propped on elbow, looking at us. More philosopher than comedian, he plays a quick flourish, and turns to see Braxton and Tarasov waiting for him. They embrace, bow to the audience, and head backstage again, until, eventually summoned back, they return for the briefest of encores, leaving the public in no doubt that forty minutes is all they are going to get.” is what happened afterwards, whereas I don’t know of strategies Leo used in post-production. Someone Leo-experienced could speak up.