The first time Ken Wessel (1956, White Plains, NY) recorded with CIMP was back in February 1999 as part of violinist Sam Bardfeld's quartet. So impressive was his playing that since that time I've been waiting to produce a session featuring Ken. He has appeared as a sideman on 3 other CIMPs since then, all as part of William Gagliardi's group, with no less impressive results. On those sessions, Ken demonstrated a broadfamiliarity with genres (as you might expect from an artist who has been a member of Ornette Coleman's P.T. group since 1988 and over the years has worked and/or recorded with artists as diverse as Laurie Anderson, Red Prysock, Badal Roy, Dave Liebman, etc.), showed how to be unobtrusively supportive, strong in ensemble lines, and able to consistently step up with pithy and hip breaks and solos of his own.
Making the trio more than the sum of its parts are Lou Grassi (1947, Summit, NJ), Ken's bandmate with William Gagliardi's group and leader in his own right on a number of his almost two dozen CIMP dates, and Ken Filiano (1952, Patchogue, NY), Lou's bandmate on a number of CIMPs and a notable personality on the creative improvising scene.
After months of rehearsals, and just prior to this session, the group played a concert in Canton, NY, which was followed the next day by a noon workshop at St. Lawrence University. They arrived at CIMP in the late afternoon.
The group opened with Victor Schertzinger's (Victor who? we all thought. Yes, the Victor Schertzinger who also wrote such classics as "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry," "Flight of the Bumble Bee,"and the ever popular "If You Build a Better Mousetrap.") I Remember You with Ken taking the lead on a descending, somewhat backdoor approach to the standard, waiting almost 5 minutes before actually referencing the theme, while Lou seamlessly made the rhythm transition. Note how he sets up KenFiliano for his bass feature. It's always a special high when a session opens on such a strong joy, in this case rhythm and creative energy feeding off each other in a fine synthesis. It's evident from all the various directions of this music that, aside from chops, these guys take both their work and the listener seriously.
One of the added pleasures of having Ken Filiano on any date, aside from his phenomenal bass creations, is the possibility of the inclusion of one of his compositions. Here it's Behind the Mirror, another of one of his involved omnibus excursions with Ken setting theambient architectures which eventually has the whole trio sucked in and grooving. For Ken, space is the place.
After a break, Ken (W.) called for Softly As In a Morning Sunrise, approaching the piece in the similar circuitous manner he employed on I Remember You, this time leading into a bit of afree-in time-jam, the ending of which almost serves as a segueway into his lovely impressionistic ballad, Sunset. This piece was originally meant to be much shorter, but the string players seemed to get inspired by each other and played off of and into that shared involvement.
After another break, they addressed Ken F.'s Collectivity, and a free improv (Kenluken) that moved between the group, interspersing solo statements with sound support, developmental riffs, and directions which worked very nicely.
The next morning we started by readdressing Jawboning, a piece whose success, even after multiple takes, was elusive the night before. This time up the pieces, energy, and spirit conspired in much greater coordination, with the results issued here.
At this point we all agreed we had the standard for issuing the CD. A relatively easy two days yielding lots of substance and lasting value.
Robert D. Rusch - Sept. 10, 2004
