Joelle Leandre Project

by Glenn Astarita Highly regarded improvising bassist Joelle Leandre aligns herself with a multinational, all-star entourage of forward thinking and like-minded improvisers on this 2000 release simply titled Joelle Leandre Project. Essentially this outing represents a series of works that interweave in somewhat of a seamless manner as the overall tone and flow might suggest a multi-part suite. Some of the highlights of this project are rooted within Leandre's angular, craftily executed and often-emotive arco-basslines during episodes of fervent interplay with violinist Carlos Zingaro, pianist Marilyn Crispell, and keyboards/electronics expert Richard Teitelbaum. Throughout these expressive and at times free-flowing improvisations, the listener will hear fluttering dialogue amid drummer Paul Lovens' undulating rhythmic structures and multihued backwashes of crashing cymbals and gongs. And while Richard Teitelbaum provides supple statements via his acute utilization of analog synths, Crispell occasionally employs a cavalcade of huge block chords intertwined with pensive harmonies and swirling clusters of sound. The band often pursues vertical movement in concert with curiously interesting dialogue as they create grooves and motifs that announce a distinct sense of urgency atop temperate crosscurrents. Despite a few lulls in the momentum where the dialogue seems to flounder, The Joelle Leandre Project is a relatively strong outing, teeming with impassioned interplay and abstract thematic invention, brought to listeners by an assemblage of celebrated stylists.