the songs of Steve Dalachinsky
Five after the impressive Barclay, already released on Ayler Records, Chicagoan guitarist Scott Fields is back, still on the same label, with his remodeled and expanded Ensemble pour l'occasion. Paying homage to the free poetry of the poet Steve Dalachinsky , who died in 2019 and author of the texts in the repertoire, the guitarist offers an elaborate score voiced by German soprano Barbara Schachtner .
With a lot of expressiveness (which in a way recalls Marc Ducret's Lady M ), she appropriates the poet's words to which she gives a new resonance and a playful vitality. Supported in this by clever arrangements which use the timbres of the instruments in action as a palette (clarinet, tuba, flute, accordion, guitar and a hint of electronics), the music serves both as a backdrop to the text, punctuating with a lightness in suspense in the singer's words or, at other times, accompanies the dramaturgy of the piece, with humor sometimes, and a certain sense of tragedy elsewhere.
Sound and meaning flow with fluidity, which is the mark of relevant training, and the delicate balance between improvisation and compositional work allows you to listen to a measured ensemble that chooses its notes as the poet chooses his words. With sensitivity but without imposing his mark too strongly, Scott Fields pays homage to a man who played a role in the vitality of the underground scene and jazz-poetry and at the same time signs a work that belongs to him in his own right. — Citizen Jazz