Edward Vesala - Sound And Fury
Lumi

The project leader, Edward Vesala, who died of a heart attack in '99, was one of the most renowned and respected drummers, percussionists, and composers in Finland, and was long an "invisible engine" of free music in his country. He collaborated extensively with other notable names from the ECM stable, among which stand out the saxophonist Jan Garbarek, guitarist Terje Rypdal, and trumpeter Tomasz Stanko.

At the time of these recordings, Vesala was leading a group of ten Finnish musicians made up of his best students, called "Sound And Fury." The ensemble included: trumpet, two alto saxophones, two tenor saxophones, trombone, piano, guitar, accordion, bass, and drums. Most of the musicians also ended up playing different instruments, hence there are also soprano and baritone saxophones, flute, clarinets, bass tuba, harp, and percussion present.

The music performed on this record is entirely composed and arranged by the leader, and from the very first notes, it leaves a profound mark... one might have expected something noisy and aggressive given the musicians, but instead, one finds oneself facing forty-four minutes of sublime and brilliant music, conceived as a suite in nine movements, where everything and its opposite is tackled, with an incredible variety of atmospheres, timbres, and orchestral colors. The melodies conceived by his mind, often dark and sinister, seem instead to emerge from some deep place in the soul, a place where they echoed eternally before being "brought out."

The first impression upon listening to the first track, "The Wind", is one of strong intellectual rigor, an underlying severity, a toughness that calls the instrumentalists themselves to order and discipline; an almost palpable tension, capable even of frightening in the gloomiest moments, but alleviated by the arrival of bursts of light (the "Lights"?), a Nordic, pristine, and icy light, of virginal purity that speaks of first times, of ethereal, twilight, fairy-tale visions.

This spectral light is well depicted by the cover, where under a dark and nocturnal sky a figure similar to Kafka's Golem is illuminated at the sides of an empty and desolate road, surrounded by darkness. In the distance, a tree, the only visible life form.

Following is the unforgettable "Frozen Melody"; never was a title more fitting... a perfect and lyrically infused melody is suspended in a rhythmic dislocation and comes to be "crystallized" in its own perfection, reiterated in a virtually infinite play. A superb exercise in harmonic stasis, operating on the descending repetition of four notes.

The album does not lack more frenzied moments: the pressing and obsessive rhythm of "Calypso Bulbosa" and "Camel Walk" explodes like a bomb, while "Fingo" (a play on words between tango and Finland) reveals the humorous and pleasantly caricatured side of this multifaceted author, with its surreal tango sound.

The title track contains moments of poignant pathos, with a sax solo so anguished and intense it furrows the brow and closes the eyes. The extraordinary timbre recalls the best of Jan Garbarek, or the solos of Charlie Mariano in "The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady", Mingus's masterpiece.

As for Vesala's own instrumental performance, the key word is: control. Far from his youthful explosions of energy (of which he would still have been perfectly capable), with Sound And Fury, Edward plays enough to give the pieces their proper momentum and to support the soloists, and despite the great technique being perceptible, this is not an album "for drummers," not in the commonly understood sense. Nonetheless, it remains a great "Concerto for Drum," imbued with pagan religiosity.

Original compositions and arrangements of the highest quality, played excellently, recorded excellently. Put it at the top of your shopping list!