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Bab-Ili is distributed by Metamkine
www.metamkine.com
Ils ont vécu à New York City pendant les années 60 (sans se rencontrer) et ont fait là-bas leurs premières expériences en improvisation libre (Goldstein dans le cadre de la musique contemporaine et Phillips dans le cadre du free jazz). Tous deux ont souvent travaillé pour et avec la danse contemporaine (Barre a commencé avec Carolyn Carlson et Malcolm avec le Judson Dance Theater). Dans les années 70, les deux se sont retirés de la vie métropolitaine pour vivre à la campagne, sans électricité ni téléphone (Goldstein dans le Vermont aux E.U. et Phillips en Provence, en France). Ils ne se sont rencontrés pour la première fois qu’en Avril 2006, dans la cave Bleu Bœuf à Puget-Ville pour réaliser une série de concerts en duo. Immédiatement, une affinité solide, amicale et artistique, s’est déclarée. La face A de ce CD contient 80% de la musique enregistrée lors de ce premier concert en public, le 15 Avril 2006, et la face B 80% d’une séance sans public enregistrée le surlendemain.
Paris Transatlantic Magazine - mai 2007
It's amazing that their paths didn't cross sooner, when you think about it. In the early 1960s both Malcolm Goldstein and Barre Phillips were living and working in New York City, and both discovered free improvisation about the same time – violinist Goldstein in the context of his groundbreaking work with the Judson Dance Theater, Phillips as a jazz bassist with the likes of Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Giuffre and Bob James (yes, that Bob James, but if you've never heard his ESP' Disk Explosions you've got a thrill in store). And yet, like characters in a Pynchon novel, you just know that at some stage these guys will (have to) run into each other. Their first meeting in fact occurred at the Densités Festival in Verdun in 2004, in what was originally scheduled to be a trio with British guitarist John Russell, and it worked out so well that when Goldstein returned to tour Europe again last year he and Phillips set up several dates, both as a duo and as a trio with percussionist Lê Quan Ninh. I remember being somewhat underwhelmed by their trio appearance at the Instants Chavirés, and now I think I know why; as the old saying goes, two's company, three's a crowd (especially when the third member is a one-man Percussions de Strasbourg like Ninh): Goldstein and Phillips quite simply complement each other to perfection. The six tracks on this fabulous live set recorded in Puget-Ville near Phillips' homebase in the South of France run the gamut from austere drone to hyperactive hardscrabble, from pure chorale (the end of "BMPG" is magic) to extended technique jamboree, from playing that would dazzle any conservatory-trained violinist and bassist to what sounds like the untutored scratching of a four-year-old's first fiddle lesson (except of course we know it isn't). It's also curiously "traditional" improv – Goldstein in particular has always been a very vocal player (and often sings along to prove it), and his improvisations often follow the kind of dramaturgical plan that many post-AMM post-redux improvisers studiously avoid – while remaining spellbindingly "in the moment", i.e. seemingly out of time altogether. Such is the mysterious and beautiful paradox of these master musicians.
Dan Warburton
La capsule cardioide est une préparation Jean-Marie Mallet. La capsule bi est une Schoeps MK8. Sur 2, 4, 6, 7: adjonction d'un micro Neumann U 67 pour la voix. La console de prise de son est une mix 2000/AETA Audio/François Staman.
Production: Thierry Azam (MDLC)