Adding another voice to an established improvising ensemble is more precarious than it seems. With a group having worked out strategies allowing for individual expression within a larger context — and without notated cues — the visitor (s) must be original without unbalancing the interface. Luckily the sessions here demonstrate successful applications.

Invited to Rimouski, Quebec to give a workshop, British saxophonist Evan Parker also participated in Vivaces (Tour de Bras TDB9006 CD), recorded with the 12-piece Grand groupe régional d’improvisation libérée (GGRIL) . Made up of players from different musical backgrounds living in the Lower Saint-Lawrence region, GGRIL is distinctive in that the group includes two electric guitarists, an electric bassist plus two accordionists, but only three horn players. Using these circumstances to best advantage, these tracks, alternately directed by Parker and GGRIL violinist Raphaël Arsensault, employ the accordionists’ tremolo pulsing and sweeping electronic oscillations to thicken the bottom. With upturned slices from the strings and barnyard cries from the squeeze boxes, two clarinets and the tuba, it’s often Parker’s restrained undertone that gives a linear shape to the improvisation. The best example of this is Marcottage that manages to include contributions from nearly every GGRILer. As Parker pushes forward with staccato split tones he’s backed by sympathetic grace notes from fellow guest, trombonist Scott Thomson, and skittering, slurring accordion lines. Triangle pings signal a timbral shift and presage a ferocious solo from the saxophonist. Band members’ responses range from rebounding percussion ratamacues, crackling electronic runs from the guitars and bass plus one accordionist sounding a faux balladic line as the other pumps powerfully. Finally the mass cacophony downshifts to a satisfying connective rumble.

If you are a fan of longer, exploratory forms and large-group ensembles, this will be a very rewarding disc. Le Grand groupe régional d’improvisation libérée (GGRIL) is an improvisational collective based in Quebec, Canada, and Vivaces captures a live recording from a concert in Rimouski. Le GGRIL often hosts guest artists to head workshops and conduct the group, and this recording captures illustrious saxophonist Evan Parker conducting and playing with the GGRIL.

The three songs on this recording display great willingness to explore the depths of each improvisation. The mixture of sounds in loose rhythm that open Vivaces gives a hint to the surprising textures at work in this ambitious recording. These are accomplished musicians, and the interactions between them progress in surprising ways. At times the structures remind me of Parker’s work in the Global Unity Orchestra, and like those recordings, the music here is consistently rewarding and occasionally difficult. The array of instruments and sounds present in each track creates a sonic map that shows us how the conductor’s thinking progresses and still manages moments of great lyrical beauty. We hear accordions, violins, voice, tuba, guitar and of course Evan Parker’s saxophone.

The final third of opening track reaches a brilliant set of surprises and some magnificent saxophone work by Parker, but mostly he is conducting on the first two tracks. And in many ways the conductor is the star here, with Parker directing the sound by dropping instruments in or out of the music, and extending certain tones by bringing them to the forefront. As the second track, Boutrage, crescendos with a wonderfully demented and circus-like rhythm (yes, the tuba!) you feel the full potential of the improvisational large group. The music alternates between rhythmic propulsion and lyrical, floating tones, often involving the accordions. Organic textures provided by violin, voice and accordions often bring a very welcome dreamlike quality to passages in the recording.

The second track covers so much territory, from lush to spare, from hypnotic to jarring, that it alone acts as a large-group improvisational workshop. It’s this 25 minute track that most intrigues me, especially because the musicians never seem to run out of new territory and the music often takes on a mind-altering quality. During the third track Parker’s playing provides space and melody for the other players to work off, and they often enough find sublime moments behind him.

It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to a live recording with so many textures on it, and all this in only three songs. Congratulations to the GGRIL and to Evan Parker on this fine recording. The disc is nicely mixed and its live quality adds to that tightrope, highwire tension, that feeling that the musicians could slip up, take a wrong turn, disassemble. But of course there are no wrong turns, only opportunities for the next turn. Vivaces is a blueprint of sorts, a how-to for groups exploring large group improvisations. As a recording it is fascinating listening, and the GGRIL project is an excellent model for the development of a regional avant garde.

Pour des raisons souvent aussi économiques qu’esthétiques, l’improvisation se pratique bien plus en petite formation qu’en orchestre à l’heure actuelle. C’est certainement pourquoi je n’avais pas entendu d’improvisation collective, dirigée ou non, mais sous forme orchestrale, depuis maintenant pas mal de temps. C’est donc plutôt avec plaisir que j’ai découvert le GGRIL, accompagné ici d’Evan Parker et de Scott Thomson, un orchestre de 11 musiciens québécois réunis autour d’Éric Normand. Je ne sais pas vraiment si l’initiative de ce projet lui revient, mais Vivaces a néanmoins été publié sur son propre label, et il est le seul musicien que je connaisse à l’intérieur de cet orchestre. Côté instrument, on trouve deux violonistes, deux clarinettistes et un percussionniste, deux guitares et une basse électriques, deux accordéons, un tuba et un trombone, ainsi que les saxophones soprano et ténor d’Evan Parker.

Ma première surprise en écoutant Vivaces fut tout d’abord l’absence notoire de saxophonistes (hormis Evan Parker, mais qu’on ne peut considérer comme un membre régulier de cet orchestre), et c’est peut-être la première fois que j’entends un orchestre d’improvisation libre où ne se côtoient pas tous les types de saxophones, qu’on pense seulement à l’orchestre d’Alan Silva aussi bien qu’au Globe Unity Orchestra. Fait peut-être anecdotique étant donné la présence d’Evan, mais je ne peux m’empêcher de le signaler étant donné mon amour pour cet instrument…

La deuxième chose qui m’étonne, en comparaison surtout avec les deux orchestres précités, c’est la facilité avec laquelle s’écoute ces improvisations, et la joie présente dans ces improvisations, deux éléments qui rapprochent le GGRIL du côté de l’ICP plus que des deux précédents orchestres. En tout cas, les improvisations (dirigées par Evan Parker sur la seconde piste, et Raphaël Arsenault sur la troisième, ou totalement libres) sont plutôt massives, sans pour autant manquer d’aération. On se croirait d’ailleurs assez souvent à une séance de sound-painting, notamment sur la troisième piste, qui est peut-être la meilleure du fait qu’Evan Parker assume la fonction de soliste durant son intégralité, mais également grâce à la direction assez fracturée et originale d’Arsenault…. Plus denses qu’intenses, il ne s’agit pas de produire le plus fort volume sonore, ou de multiplier des couches criardes, mais plutôt de construire des pièces où s’empilent des blocs sonores massifs, assez conséquents et souvent énergiques tout de même. Des improvisations pleines de spontanéité, de liberté, et d’écoute, dirigées de manière à ne jamais fatiguer et à nettement entrecouper les différents tableaux. L’improvisation libre marque très fortement cet orchestre, qui n’est cependant pas forcément rigide et n’exclut pas de ses improvisations des lignes mélodiques, des ostinatos, des cycles rythmiques, différentes combinaisons instrumentales et certains autres éléments rejetés parfois trop systématiquement par les européens.

For the 2011 edition of Rencontres de musiques spontanées, the Grand groupe d’improvisation régionale libérée had invited none other than the great improvising saxophonist Evan Parker. Vivaces documents the concert that came out of their collaboration. Three improvisations: a free one, one conducted by Parker, and a final one conducted by Raphaël Arsenault. I can’t help but think of the London Improvisers Orchestra when I hear this sound mass (11 Rimouski-based musicians, plus Parker and trombonist Scott Thomson) unfold, react, and interact. The ambient sound capture is not perfect, but it’s okay enough. And after all, Evan Parker has released very few titles on Québécois labels, so I’m glad we have this one.