Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu

The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, 09/03/2011

It’s a tribute to the growing reputation of The Edge that artists of the calibre of guitarist Ralph Towner and trumpet/flugelhorn player Paolo Fresu can be seen performing in rural Shropshire. The Edge’s artistic director, Alison Vermee, has established a fruitful relationship with the legendary German record label ECM and tonight’s concert was just the latest in a series of triumphant appearances by ECM artists at this enterprising venue. Towner and Fresu followed sell out performances by Bobo Stenson, Tomasz Stanko and Mathias Eick. Tonight’s performance even saw people being turned away, such was the demand for tickets. It’s heartening that a so called “minority music” can still bring people out in such numbers in these difficult times.

I’ve been listening to Ralph Towner’s music since I first heard his magnificent solo album “Diary” some thirty years ago. As a solo artist Towner has been signed to ECM throughout his career, and as he told me later it’s a real privilege for him to have his whole back catalogue- an entire artistic life- still available. He spoke warmly of the vision of ECM founder and chief producer Manfred Eicher.

Since “Diary” I’ve acquired many other Towner albums, many of them still on vinyl, with personal favourites including “Solstice” (1974 with Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber and Jon Christensen) and “Old Friends, New Friends”, a 1979 recording featuring trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and cellist David Darling among others, plus “Solo Concert”, a remarkable live recording from 1980.

Besides his solo career Towner has guested on numerous other recordings, many of them with his label mates on ECM, but also famously with Weather Report on the 1971 album “I Sing The Body Electric”, an appearance that did much to enhance Towner’s reputation. The guitarist has also pursued a parallel career as a member of the long running group Oregon, a seminal band of the 70’s who did much to introduce folk and ethnic elements into their innovative acoustic version of “world jazz”. The classic Oregon line up featured Towner alongside Paul McCandless (reeds), Glen Moore (bass) and Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, percussion). Following Walcott’s tragic death in a road accident in 1984 Trilok Gurtu and latterly Mark Walker have filled the percussion chair and the group is still very much a going concern although economic considerations make visits to the UK something of a rarity. I was lucky enough to see them in Birmingham -in 1992 if memory serves-on a Contemporary Music Network tour with Gurtu undertaking the percussive duties.

At the age of seventy one (I hope he doesn’t mind me mentioning that) Towner’s talent and technique remain undimmed. He is still a prolific composer and wrote many of the pieces to be heard tonight as he and Fresu visited a judicious selection of Towner originals and jazz standards.
Despite coming to the instrument relatively late Towner has created a unique jazz vocabulary on the classical guitar, there’s nobody else who sounds remotely like him. It’s something he’s honed pretty much throughout his solo career but he’s also a talented multi instrumentalist and has also featured on piano, synthesiser, trumpet and French horn.

I’m less familiar with the work of his younger colleague Paolo Fresu, a player I first encountered via his sumptuous contribution to the 2007 ACT album “Mare Nostrum”, a project credited equally to Fresu, accordionist Richard Galliano and pianist Jan Lundgren. In 2010 I saw him live for the first time, performing superbly at Cheltenham Jazz Festival as a member of pianist and composer Carla Bley’s quintet The Lost Chords. Much of the material played at that festival set was drawn from the hugely enjoyable album “The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu”, released on Bley’s Watt label and distributed via ECM. Fresu, too, is a superb technician with a rich, velvety tone that draws on the inspiration of Miles Davis and Chet Baker. He’s a highly expressive performer, a point emphasised by this evening’s performance in the exposed setting of a duo.

In effect tonight’s performance was more akin to a classical recital than a jazz concert. Both seated on a bare stage in front of a rapt and attentive audience Towner and Fresu made every note count. The guitarist is also a master of utilising silence, the spaces he leaves between the notes can speak volumes. Towner takes the techniques of classical and baroque music and applies them to improvisation. He’s a virtuoso but one never gets the impression that he’s showing off, for all the prodigious technique his playing seems natural, unforced, logical, organic. And yet there’s a quiet intensity about his music, a quality that he shares with Fresu. The pair came together in 2008 to record the album “Chiaroscuro” for ECM, a duo record whose title acknowledges not only Fresu’s Italian heritage but also the light and shade of the music itself. The music is often beautiful, pretty even, but there’s still a residual element of darkness there, a characteristic that has distinguished Towner’s best music throughout his career.

Towner always used to augment his trademark classical guitar sound by also featuring himself on 12 string guitar. These days he prefers an Australian made baritone guitar (“it’s a fifth lower than the standard classical guitar” as he later explained to us). The duo began with Towner on this larger instrument and with Fresu on flugelhorn. The first tune was “Punta Giara”, dedicated to the town in Sardinia where Towner first heard Fresu play. The Sardinian native quickly became immersed in the music, wriggling in his chair as he played, contorting his legs, pointing the bell of his horn to the floor during his solos. Towner offered a more detached presence but his fingers were all over his instrument coaxing an improbably full sound from just six strings and a wooden sound-box.

Fresu switched to trumpet for Towner’s beautiful tune “Wishful Thinking”, the opening piece on the “Chiaroscuro” album. His tone on the open horn was pure and clear with just a dash of echo from the minimalistic electrical system he had on stage. Towner complemented him superbly, his enormous hand span allowing him to produce seemingly impossible combinations of notes, chords and tones.

Towner stuck to baritone guitar for his tune “Doubled Up”, an appropriate title as he and Fresu sketched intricate, intertwined melody lines, the trumpeter using a harmon mute in the style of Miles Davis. After a lengthy solo passage from Towner Fresu returned with the now open horn for a brisk and breezy trumpet coda.

Towner has always had a fascination for the music of pianist Bill Evans and has often said that his writing and playing on the guitar is an attempt to capture the nuances of a piano trio. Evans’ celebrated “Blue In Green” from the Miles Davis album “Kind Of Blue” is a long term Towner favourite and given Fresu’s declared love of Davis’ music the tune was an obvious choice for “Chirascuro” where it represents the only standard on the album. For this Towner switched to classical guitar and remained on the smaller instrument for virtually the rest of the gig. In homage to Davis Fresu again used the Harmon mute on a beautiful version of this much loved favourite.

Another standard followed, this time “Beautiful Love”, introduced by the rounded tones of Fresu on flugelhorn. After another passage of solo guitar from Towner Fresu returned for a more exploratory solo as the duo stretched the fabric of this old standard in new and interesting ways.

The first half closed with Towner’s attractive composition “Zephyr”, again drawn from the duo’s album and with Fresu again on flugelhorn. Towner has a degree in composition so it is perhaps not so surprising that he is a consistent writer of good tunes. What is surprising is the sheer volume and quality of his output over the course of a long and distinguished career.

The second set was to be even better. The house lights were more dimmed in the second half making for a better and more concentrated atmosphere- even if it wasn’t quite so easy for yours truly to take notes.

With Fresu still on flugel the second half opened with a new Towner composition “As She Sleeps”, evidence that his creative powers are as strong as ever.

The Sardinian then switched to open trumpet for the standard “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, introducing the piece unaccompanied and utilising discreet echo effects. This was very much a showcase for Fresu, after a brief solo guitar interlude he returned to give a remarkable demonstration of his circular breathing technique in the closing stages of the song. Although Fresu is clearly indebted to Davis and Baker he has also absorbed more contemporary aspects of the trumpeter’s art, perhaps from label mates such as Mathias Eick and Nils Petter Molvaer.

“Chirascuro” itself proved to be another winning example of Towner’s way with a tune with Fresu on rich hued flugel horn. “Sacred Place” which also follows the title track on the record, saw Towner return to the baritone guitar and Fresu to open horned trumpet. Another beautiful piece of Towner writing this featured more of the duo’s brilliant interplay and was scheduled to be the last number of the night. The beauty of the performance resulted in what was probably the first standing ovation ever to be seen at The Edge.

It was inevitable that the pair would return with Towner returning to the classical guitar and Fresu picking up the flugel horn to perform yet another new Towner composition “Summer Hand”. It was one of those tunes that you somehow feel you’ve known all your life. It sounded like it could have been a standard and it was only after speaking to Fresu that I discovered it was brand new. Following Towner’s solo Fresu switched to trumpet for the latter half of the tune.

This had been a supremely successful evening both for the venue and the duo. Both Towner and Fresu were present in the foyer after the show to sign albums and talk to the fans. Towner proved to be very affable guy and his obvious enthusiasm for the music was both informative and infectious. I later found out from Alison that the duo had sold more albums here than on any other date on the tour.

Towner and Fresu produce music that possesses not only great beauty but also a certain intellectual rigour. It transcends mere prettiness to produce something more substantial and in this exposed setting the quality of the musicianship is paramount. This seemingly fragile music speaks eloquently and harbours a robust inner strength. It had been almost fifteen years since I last saw Towner play (at the very first Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 1996) so tonight was a real treat.

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