INNERPAUSE by Joel Futterman, Piano Michael Wimberly, Drums and Percussion

A caesura, a reflection as question: To what pursuit is the artist called? In times of turbulence, where is the bliss and internality of silence, and to what end? Answers may only inhabit those magical moments of repose achieved following the turmoil of claim and counterclaim, or in the places where those boundaries dissolve. If music is thought and expression in time, the pause elucidates time’s elasticity. On this, their first collaboration, Joel Futterman and Michael Wimberly interrogate the points intersecting time and space, cause and effect, and, paramount, the resplendent and elusive realms embodying sound and silence.

        In the past decade, Futterman’s musical vision has turned toward the episodic, embracing the state of becoming corporealized in shifting direction. It elongates and bifurcates the arcs so often formulated by improvisers, encompassing topos transitions and harmonic interventions as he skates, in multi-direction, over ivory. A more sympathetic fellow traveler than Wimberly would be difficult to imagine, so complete does he counterpoint each motive and gesture. Tempo, rhythm and motion expand and collapse with the brittle promise of flux and fluidity as percussive melodies converge, deep grooves enmesh and diverge amidst the felicities of point and pause, each by turn supporting, reflecting and refracting the other. Microgestures of luminous richness bolster, break and reconfigure with the bristling or brittle certainties of ocean and cloud in formation, as witnessed by the open fifth and pursuant percussion 2:17 into Part 1 or the vast and swinging dialogue informing the 8th minute of Part 2. Even notions of pause in effect are subverted as whimsy emerges, as with Wimberly’s immediately subsequent metal and skin interjections, cheekily complementing Futterman’s interregistral webs of inquiry.

        Isolated moments, no matter how integral, only represent. They comprise brilliant or hazy signposts along a circuitous path replete with historical landmarks, in resonance and reverberation, that verbiage can only approximate. As swift and all-embracing as wind or water, with the same sweep and scope, returns are reached. They harken back and illuminate the way toward resolve. Nearly a minute into the first part, a minor theme appears to unify the piece, transformed and retransformed as scale and chord unite across planes of space and Protean sonic pools. More flavor than mode or center, each shared area informs the next and conjures what has already been absorbed, as Futterman’s brief solo (Part 2) prepares the chromatic clusters in turn abetted by Wimberly’s brushwork. That distillation points the way toward the thunderous peaks and stride-and-swing-inflected valleys the two intrepid explorers inhabit before the poignant theme, now in shard and fragment, makes its final appearance.

        The moment is equally exquisite and nostalgic, as imbued with hope as it is an acknowledgement of loss, of completion neither fully achieved nor wholly abandoned. Yet, even these emotive states are fabrications, consequents to the melodic, rhythmic and timbral antecedents prepared with such spontaneous significance. When all such impositions are dispelled, when the art is at liberty to inhabit its own expressive space, in that instant of pure being, hope resides. The glorious symbiosis of tone and texture births each glimmering moment, each cymbal stroke and crystalline tone in glacial dissipation, in disparate glories of morphing context. Ultimately, in every event, is implied a resolution. Marc Medwin

 

JOEL FUTTERMAN / MICHAEL WIMBERLEY - Innerpause (JDF 15; USA) Featuring Joel Futterman on piano and Michael Wimberley on drums & percussion. Michael Wimberley is a master musician/drummer who has worked with a number of other giants: Charles Gayle, Oluyemi Thomas, Louie Belogenis, Ivo Perelman and Kali Z Fasteau. I recall first hearing/seeing Mr. Wimberley's playing in the Charles Gayle Trio in the mid-1990’s and realizing what a great drummer he was and still is.

This disc was recorded in November of 2023 at Master Sound Studio. Joel Futterman is also a master musician pianist, one of the greats who consistently pushes the barriers outside of usual expectations. There are only two long pieces on this disc, one 25 and the other one 35 minutes long. “Innerpause Part 1” starts off quietly, sparsely, quite different from what I usually hear from the often rambunctious Mr. Futterman. It sounds as if the duo are getting to know one another, taking their time to build and explore the way they play. This is a fine, righteous, well-balanced duo with no one leading or pushing too hard. It is more like a conversation or a combination of kindred spirits speaking the same language together, a language that only serious listeners can appreciate. Things build to an intense eruption, volatile and bristling with the energy flowing back and forth as the waves increase in power and centrifugal force. Much of the music here reminds me of a symphonic effort where some strong forces are working tightly together and pushing each other higher and higher. Mr. Wimberley takes a long drum solo towards the end of this piece which keeps the flow going and is a gem of its own. It sounds to me like these two giants were meant to work/play together since the music has a common bond which holds it together. Extraordinary, yes indeed! –

Bruce Lee Gallanter,  DMG NYC   8/27/24    


 

 

 

Joel Futterman Piano Indian Flute

Known for his spirited, highly imaginative, and innovative piano technique, Joel Futterman is an internationally recognized veteran pioneer into the frontiers of spontaneous, improvised music. He is considered one of the foremost inventive and adventurous artists shaping the creative, progressive music scene today. www.joelfutterman.com

joelfutterman.com