maher shalal hash baz: je est un autre

Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Je Est Un Autre is not a "best of", it is a reflection of Tori Kudo's evolution as a composer, from playing with seasoned musicians, to playing with people just starting out, from playing meticulous scores, to playing call and response melodies written down, to the songs presented here. These are instant improvisations based on keyboard compositions that Tori plays for the group. Yes, that is it. He plays a recording of himself on the keyboard, with singing or humming sometimes and he leaves it to the "big band" to interpret this on the spot. Sometimes, one can make out the melody, other times it is quite obscure, as if a sort of common shyness flows out of the collected instruments assembled. And other times, well, it is a big party. Kudo and the group were invited to tour Europe to celebrate 20 years of the project Le Ton Mité, members of which are absorbed into the ensemble. The recording evolves from the static sound of hermetic conditions to a live concert in the later tracks. The studio here, a trendy concert hall in Brussels. One can hear the applause of the brave ears that weathered the ride of accidental psychedelia and the moiré of various notes fading into and out of each other. This is only a sliver of the material from the 20-hour recording marathon documenting the new composing/playing style of Kudo, as well as snippets from the last concert of the March 2018 tour. Perhaps the album should be called Je Est Un Autre: Volume One in a vague reference to the My Brother The Wind series from Sun Ra. In any case, here are four sides of ten inch vinyl to take the listener on a journey into Maher: Je Est Un Autre...