Search - Susie Ibarra :: Flower After Flower

The loveliness of Susie Ibarra . . . .

Matthew F. Watters | Seattle, WA USA (when in Seattle, please visit my | 06/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Susie Ibarra is, hands-down, the most exciting jazz drummer working today, an endlessly inventive texturalist who channels the techniques of her former master, Milford Graves, and her own experiences playing the percussion and musics of her Filipino heritage, into an endlessly inventive, highly-detailed and coloristic style of jazz drumming that leaves pure time-keeping far behind and replaces it with an emphasis on fascinating and ever-shifting textures. Ibarra has risen to prominence among young improvisors by playing in some very high energy outfits, including the David S. Ware Quartet and William Parker's In Order to Survive. Recently breaking out as a leader in her own right, her solo work on the recent Susie Ibarra trio record, Radiance, and on this lovely new recording on John Zorn's Tzadik label, emphasizes subtlety and and texture over forcefulness, with no lessening of passion. On Flower After Flower, Ibarra employs a shifting group of musicians that includes Cooper-Moore on piano and flute, Chris Speed on clarinet, her husband Assif Tsahar on bass clarinet, and (as something of a featured guest star on the album) Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet. The ensembles tend to be dominated by strings (Charles Burnham's violin or John Lindberg's bass), Ibarra's delicate and subtle percussion or drumming, or the soothing sounds of woodwinds and flutes (there's nary a saxophone or harsh note on the record). Even Smith's trumpet, with its lovely tone, is used for lyricism, not force. Ibarra's strengths as a composer and arranger are also more in evidence here than in any of her previous recordings, as many of the record's longer pieces seem very much to have been mapped out in advance and carefully orchestrated by Ibarra. Despite this, there is still a highly improvisatory feeling to this record but in a peaceful, almost zen-like mode. The longer ensembles are interspersed with short "fractals" that each feature a short improvisation either by Ibarra on drums or by one of her guests on this record (e.g., a Cooper-Moore piano piece, an ambient exercise on accordian by Pauline Oliveros, etc.). The collective effect of the record is that it is the work of an artist of immense gifts and command who has directed her artistry towards creating a spiritually and sonically soothing experience that is in no way diluted in craft or intelligence. Ambient music for a most sophisticated palate but accessible to anyone with an ability to appreciate sheer beauty, Flower After Flower is a marvelous achievement, absolutely lovely."