Anthony Braxton - Quartet (Standards) 2020 (New Braxton House, 2021)
Anthony Braxton has a long history playing standards. Despite a reputation for writing hour-long compositions designed to be played by orchestras on different planets, to name just one of his many compositions, a look into his back pages will show a player who’s never been more than a step or two away from the blues.
There’s albums like Charlie Parker Project (1993), Six Monk's Compositions (1987), and several records dedicated to Lennie Tristano’s music1. Several discs are dedicated to standards, too, including some he plays piano and leads groups through deep songbooks. Even on his own records, standards are often mixed in with his own compositions: Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” showed up on a duo record with Muhal Richard Abrams, “Donna Lee” on a duet record with George Lewis and “Impressions” on Quartet (Victoriaville) 1992.
Indeed, he’s far from being the cold, un-swinging iconoclast he’s sometimes made out to be. He’s a player in touch with tradition, whose cool tone recalls Paul Desmond, but one who isn’t afraid to have his groups give the classics their own twists. Which is what makes Quartet (Standards) 2020 such an engaging listen.
Spread across 13 discs, this box set showcases Braxton and his group (pianist Alexander Hawkins, bassist Neil Charles and drummer Stephen Davis) touring across Europe in early 2020. It includes material recorded at Cafe Oto in London2, plus gigs in Poland and Austria. And despite over a dozen hours of music, there’s no repetition: it’s been carefully edited and sequenced so no song is repeated. And, I’d argue, no ideas are repeated either. The music’s fresh throughout the set, with ideas freely flowing between a group showing a lot of interplay.
Take “Jinrikisha” which opens disc eight. An old Joe Henderson tune, one might expect this to be a showcase for Braxton’s blowing. And he does take a nice solo. But after a few minutes, it opens up into a gorgeous solo by Hawkins, where he’s accompanied by Davis’ light touches on drums. It’s a great example of the kind of almost telepathic interplay this group shows in live performance, the way they’re able to all work together without any one element dominating the sound.
An interesting wrinkle in this set is the inclusion of several Paul Simon tunes. A curious choice, since it puts the songwriter on the same level as, say, Thelonious Monk or Charles Mingus, but it works well: the gorgeous harmonies and pop hooks translate well to this group, with songs like “Bridge over Troubled Water” sounding like well-oiled standards. Usually, Braxton plays the vocal line, while Hawkins carries the melody, before they open up into extended soloing. “Bridge” becomes a space for a free-flowing Hawkins solo where he runs up and down his keyboard, while “59th Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” becomes a space for Braxton to trade licks and riffs off the chorus (it also has a nice, slow and almost jagged solo by Hawkins).
There are moments where Braxton’s group stretches out into the free-jazz zone. Burt Bacarach’s tune “Alfie,” opens disc two, contains some spacy playing with touches of prepared piano, light touches of percussion and arco bass, and finally some melodic playing by Braxton. It’s reminiscent of the old group he had with Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway and Mark Dresser, and the way that group pushed sonic boundaries on a regular basis. By coming so early in the set, too, it sets a tone that this group isn’t just going to play the standards by numbers.
It’s also nice to see Braxton revisiting some of the lesser-remembered figures in the tradition. Pianist Andrew Hill’s represented here: they go deep on his tune “Pumpkin,” which opens with Hawkins taking an extended solo that builds up for a good six minutes, settling into some fascinating interplay with Davis, before Braxton steps up and takes a solo. So is Mal Waldron, who’s “Dee’s Dilemma” comes deep in the back end of this set.
Indeed, one nice thing about this set is the sheer scope of the music included. There’s everything from old show tunes - Cole Porter is represented multiple times - up through Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, to the 1960s and on: Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Henderson and Sonny Rollins. Taken this way, it’s an impromptu lesson in jazz history, with the ways composition has changed and the ways older standards can be re-interpreted even more than half-century on.
Maybe the big drawback to this set is the way the music’s been sequenced. Instead of having complete shows in order, it jumps around from set to set: a song from London might be followed by one recorded a few days earlier in Poland, for example. Take the Sextet (Parker) 1993 box, for example. It had full shows and allowed some duplication, but each of the sets had its own flow and ebbs, and contained arguably the best live material of Braxton’s long career. This one doesn’t feel the same, it doesn’t have the same feeling as a live show.
Another is it’s length. The casual fan likely doesn’t need 13-something hours of music, even if every disc offers something new. In a word, it’s a big baggy, like one of those old Keith Jarrett box sets. Perhaps a two-hour distillation is coming? Or, I suppose, maybe that’s what Spotify or other playlists are for. And while the performances here are generally of a high level, they do occasionally really push the performance past 20 minutes, which asks some patience from the listener.
But these are minor gripes. The music here is great, and even if it’s isn’t quite as transcendent as the Parker box, there’s a lot for almost any devotee to chew on. It’s currently available for pre-order from New Braxton House in both physical and digital formats. Recommended.
There’s even a Tristano box set, which I would also strongly recommend!
Several of these shows are available for streaming on YouTube!