The Charlie Kohlhase (Cole-Hace) Quintet is a fun-loving group, a regular traveling road show of jokes, impersonations, dialects, and burlesque routines. Suspended between the banter they play music, original music for the most part, which seems very grounded and developed in its parameters but very open to surprise within its framework. And they sound like nobody else. In a period when groups are fabricated from one day to another, chasing (the myth of) the golden clone and where commercial concept has largely replaced the creativity of expression as the basis of this music, the Charlie Kohlhase Quintet is notable. Notable because they have been together since 1989 (John Carlson joined in 1992) as an active group and because they play interesting music and then try to find its market.
The music of the Charlie Kohlhase Quintet is both complex and straightforward and is consistent with the group’s 3 previous recordings on Accurate Records. Their music has a very broad focus, intricate arrangements, and shifting colors. Fortunately, the group manages to play and tour with some regularity, another notable exception to the rule. And that consistency has led to an easy familiarity with the complexities of the music’s foundation, which therefore is better able to support the body of the quintet’s individual explorations. As a result, little time was spent during this recording session on false starts, incomplete takes, or tedious and soul-sapping run-throughs of heads. In fact, during the first day’s playing, 14 of 16 starts resulted in complete takes. But efficiency and familiarity still allowed for changes, a good example being “Julius,” a piece Charlie wrote in 1982 in respect of Julius Hemphill. The take issued here is exceptionally strong, but it is the fourth and final take. It was the feeling after the first take that the construction of the tune rather sabotaged the strength of the whole. Originally, the trades followed the theme and, rather than inspire, tended to sap the energy and listener interest. Subsequent takes modified the extent of the trades but after 3 takes it still seemed to result in more effort than satisfaction. The next morning the consensus was to open with the trades and work in and up to the theme. It was the first piece recorded on the 26th; enjoy the results.
There is a persistence to this group and an insistence to this music which is both challenging and satisfying. How nice it is that after 10 years they’ve figured out how to stay afloat and artistically viable without becoming one of the bottom feeders off bop.
Robert D. Rusch - 3/25/98
