It may be premature and overly optimistic to say so, but judging from this duet of improvisers on this release, aptly titled Brass Knuckle Sandwich, it seems that women have come into their own in high-energy jazz and brawny improvised music.
Pianist Marilyn Lerner and trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud definitely pull no punches here and deliver seven solid tracks that keep the listener on the ropes. A blend of lyrical and abstract ideas communicated via extended techniques characterizes the music, as Rampersaud makes extensive use of air through the horn to articulate all kinds of noises and melodic and textural material tumbling along with Lerner’s percolating and multi-timbral rhythms on keyboard. A wide range of emotions run through the seven tracks, from the fiery and insistent Bristles, from the ironically tranquil pointillism of Clamour, to the lyrical long tones and piano ostinato figures of Susurration, the pedal-tone, loose-lipped airiness of Floufe, the pastoral beauty of Evermore, the other-worldly poignancy and study-in-contrasts of Nat.pit.hat, and the grand symphonic proportions of the closer Rizzoo. A lot is packed into this album.
Snippets of lyrical motifs from famous tunes like Body and Soul and some Kenny Wheeler compositions (especially in Rampersaud’s horn on Rizzoo) blend in with elements borrowed from the avant-guard vocabulary established by people like Bill Dixon and Leo Smith, while the piano is reminiscent of a Paul Bley or Mal Waldron with touches of Bill Evans and Cecil Taylor, or at least those are the referential echoes that register with this listener.
Recorded in 2018 at Studio Union Sound in Toronto and engineered and mixed by Jeff Elliott, Brass Knuckle Sandwich is evidence of women not only getting the opportunities they deserve to ply their creative imaginations, but also evidence of impressive mastery of their instruments in service to finely crafted real-time composition.
