Misha Mengelberg Quartet - Four In One - Songlines Recordings SGL SA1535-5 (2001) SACD rip via PS3 to iso (2.39GB) | 24bit/88.2kHz flac | Only 2ch (0.97GB) DR19 (+3.8dB gain) | Jazz DSD recording / live mix to DSD. DR up 21 on some tracks :) ------------------------------------------------------------------ AllMusic: Pianist & jazz restructuralist Misha Mengelberg has received much acclaim for everything from his solo performances to his leadership of the Dutch ICP Orchestra, but the small-ensemble recordings he began making in USA during the '90s are perhaps the best places to begin investigating his wonderfully offbeat charms. Four in One, recorded in September 2000 & subsequently released in Super Audio CD format by the Songlines label, is an album with particularly wide-ranging appeal, satisfying for listeners with tastes ranging from the avant-garde to more traditional post-bop, & certainly anyone interested in the commonality between Mengelberg & 1 of his primary influences, Thelonious Monk. The half-American, half-Dutch quartet (shades of Gerry Hemingway), featuring Mengelberg's longtime co-conspirator Han Bennink on drums & New Yorkers Dave Douglas on trumpet & Brad Jones on bass, is a perfectly compatible 4some. A few scattered free rhythmic episodes aside, Bennink is in nearly straight-ahead mode throughout the disc, curbing the subversions & hijinks he often throws into the ICP mix in favor of a consistent, highly charged swing. Jones' walking basslines push the ensemble through the chord changes at a sprightly pace, providing a foundation that effectively balances the freewheeling solo flights from Mengelberg & Douglas. Those solos are freewheeling indeed. Mengelberg's idiosyncratic sense of timing, phrasing, & melody are on full display beginning with the opening track, his up-tempo boppish 'Hypochristmutreefuzz,' originally from the very 1st recording on which Mengelberg appeared (& a very early 1 for Bennink too) back in 1964, Eric Dolphy's Last Date. On this new version of the tune, Mengelberg doesn't attack the keyboard with as much relish as on the take from over 35 years earlier, but rather in a more personal style with a completely elastic sense of time; he inserts fragments of the melody here & there in a seemingly careless fashion that somehow makes perfect sense. If it's possible to conceive the idea of rigorous nonchalance, Mengelberg would be its embodiment. He ends the solo with a musical shrug, as if to say, 'OK, that's enough, I'm done, now it's your turn, Dave.' As expected, Douglas doesn't disappoint. His timing here is more spot-on than Mengelberg's, so the trumpeter relies on his continually expanding arsenal of techniques to offer up a slippery solo filled with chromatic runs, wide-interval leaps, & an escalating urgency that ups the energy level right through into the tune's slam-bang finish. It's another great Douglas performance that stands up well in the inevitable comparison to the Dolphy bass clarinet solo on the Last Date track. Whether in soloist, accompanist, or ensemble mode, all 4 musicians shine on the diverse selection of tunes across the entire disc, a number of which revisit Mengelberg compositions from various phases of his career, including not only 'Hypochristmutreefuzz' but also 'Reef' from Dutch Masters & 'Kwela P'Kwana' from the ICP disc Bospaadje Konijnehol II. The somewhat melancholy 'Kneebus,' also from Dutch Masters, reveals Douglas' debt to Mengelberg in some of his own work with Tiny Bell Trio & Charms of the Night Sky. But as for a connection between musicians, the strongest exhibited here involves Mengelberg & Monk. The 3 Monk covers -- 'Monk's Mood,' 'Criss Cross,' & the title track -- fit in so well that one scarcely realizes where the Mengelberg tunes end & the Monk tunes begin. Yet, as always, Mengelberg projects an identity all his own, as he effortlessly redefines the possibilities of jazz with another tossed-off shrug. ~by Dave Lynch allaboutjazz.com review: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/four-in-one-misha-mengelberg-songlines-recordings-review-by-mark-corroto.php BBC review: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/vp25 Tracks: 01-Hypochristmutreefuzz 02-Reef 03-Kneebus 04-Die Berge schuetzen die Heimat 05-Four in One 06-Monk's Mood 07-Criss Cross 08-Blues after Piet 09-Kwela P'Kwana 10-We're Going out for Italian 11-Poor Wheel Time: 59:06 Musicians: Misha Mengelberg - Piano Dave Douglas - Trumpet Brad Jones - Bass Han Bennink - Percussion ** starwanderer ** http://www.filefactory.com/folder/b909feec0efce94e ------------------------------------------------------------------ Checksum for iso: 1d00b401fe9666757e8697dc23304f5e *Misha Mengelberg Quartet - Four In One.iso Checksums for flac tracks 2ch: 7b29ad21eba01ede6dd0f42867fc4622 *01 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Hypochristmutreefuzz.flac a37ca26252879267133b2bef6b754f8d *02 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Reef.flac d89050258ba1c325c4231ef5e7bea7c2 *03 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Kneebus.flac 235af46cb2eacde1bef743faa713a5b3 *04 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Die Berge schuetzen die Heimat.flac 42b9e345905518a32ed692340065f1c8 *05 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Four in One.flac 426f9c736d2334365d5ea01043bd0702 *06 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Monk's Mood.flac a8843c13b6cb40d01e35024c9dd532ca *07 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Criss Cross.flac 4d5b75cf4f67f5d43eb2cb870ffba229 *08 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Blues after Piet.flac 004b676426978cd946bab78d4b1a0a49 *09 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Kwela P'Kwana.flac 5a6e98c9078cfbb8023fd52cb443a4c5 *10 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - We're Going out for Italian.flac c95371c9e6c071b60da5f5eec72e9172 *11 - Misha Mengelberg, Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink - Poor Wheel.flac