randee silv: painting 736 - oil on canvas 30x30 in. Front Cover Art Patrick-Earl:Too Deep - paintied for insert, but not included due to technical problems at Clean Feed

sonic openings under pressure MUHHEANKUNTUK river that flows two ways Clean Feed CF081   patrick brennan compositions, saxophone David Pleasant densemetriX! (percussion, harmonica, voice) Hilliard Greene bass viol   1. tilting curvaceous 2. abundant 3. flash of the spirit 4. The Hardships (Pleasant) 5. prosified 6. the terrible 3s 7. permeations gumvindaboloo     Recorded June 2006 ParkWestStudios Brooklyn, NY

Liner Notes by Rui Horta Santos:

To simply associate patrick brennan’s music to the free jazz movement would be like reducing Arnold Schoenberg’s work to mere free atonality, thus neglecting the composer’s major contribution to western music: his twelve-tone composition technique. The comparison may seem far-fetched but it is not, as both musicians have searched for an intrinsic compromise between freedom and form. In Schoenberg’s case the issue initially addressed was the antagonism between tonality and melodic invention. With brennan the concern begins with rhythmic and tonal structures but ends with the same obsession: formal coherence. Consequently, his original sense of structure both sets and enhances the atmosphere for the subsequent improvised musical drama. The resulting tension may mislead a less attentive listener. On the one hand there is a profound sense of tradition; on the other hand there is the will to defy those same limits. But what brings this music unquestionably alive is the strife between these apparently antagonistic forces.

What also reveals patrick brennan’s exquisite sense of musicianship is his careful crafting of polyrhythmic grooves as much as his more-than-adequate choice of musical collaborators. Both aspects go hand in hand. Thus it is not by accident that he should choose so sharp a focal point as Hilliard Greene or the intricate rhythmic harmonies emerging out of ensemble co-composer David Pleasant's Densemetrix! conception.

There are quite a few good reasons why a CD by patrick brennan should have such a name as ‘muhheankuntuck’. The idea of a river flowing in both directions, which is what the title means, gives a good hint as to how the composer, alto player and band leader, relates to the cultural environment in which he is submerged. Muhheankuntuck was the original name given to the Hudson River by the New York City area indigenous Lenape tribe.

In the first place, although patrick brennan is extremely concerned with breaking into new musical territories (the river’s continuous forward flow), his work is constantly informed by the tradition that lies behind him (the recurring backwash produced by the incoming tide). Although that can be said of a vast spectrum of musicians, in patrick brennan’s case the latitude of his search is indeed far-reaching. It starts with the trance-inducing aspects of traditional African music and ends with the musician’s very personal metamorphosis of those qualities into something quite new and which he denominates as ‘metagrooves’. In between those two poles lies his interest in the vast heritage of African-American music. As David Pleasant has put it, "Africans gave us a way to see the multi-layered authenticity of human experience through polyrhythm and syncopation. That gift allows us to realize a daily connection to the essential motion of all things."

Secondly, recording for Clean Feed Records is a ‘slight return’ within his own personal history. Having lived and performed extensively throughout Portugal in the early and mid 90’s, he paid too many dues in a country that was basically not yet ready for his forward vision. Fortunately things have radically changed, for the better. patrick brennan’s presence on a Portuguese label confirms the lasting impression he has left behind, at least in the eyes of a significant few. Curiously enough, the first time he heard Hilliard Greene and David Pleasant play was while he was still residing in Lisbon, through Charles Gayle’s record ‘Repent’. So it seems like the loose ends of his European phase have finally locked into place.

If at the end of the day any ambiguity remains as to which way the river really flows, the music leaves no doubt as to where it is really heading: FORWARD!

Lisbon, 1 April 2007

Rui Horta Santos

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patrick brennan on the music of sonic openings under pressure:

This is music composed specifically to unfold through collective improvisation, which means that the form of the music itself is directly shaped through mutual interplay among its participants, and that collaborative drama contributes centrally to the musical narrative a listener hears.

This approach to coordinating music poses a deliberate alternative to the relative one way flow of information that passes between composer & performer in much euroclassical practice as well as to that genre’s orientation toward the construction of sonic monuments, a propensity also shared by much pop music. Pop formulations furthermore have tended to compress rhythmic scope down to basic denominator background beats. And, while much contemporary improvised music may emulate open form as developed through jazz, the root African elements & attitudes out of which this evolved have many times been distilled out.

Collective improvisation can also be recognized as a theatrical personification of the dynamics of polyrhythm - that intricately sophisticated African model of coordinated multiplicity. Polyphonically organized music is able to integrate divergent voices, levels, directions & narratives; but the wave matrix of polyrhythm’s gravitational convergences & suspensions further enriches each moment of music with a holographic sensation of depth. This especially charges & activates the gaps & silences that envelop musical gestures & encourages attention beyond linear & sequential interpretations of activity to include more multidimensional perceptions of time & movement.

This music often explores making polyrhythm central to the organization & participation of the entire ensemble. One strategy has been to code polyrhythm into the music via a stacking of interrelated countermelodies that places each instrumentalist in a position of direct responsibility for the composite ensemble sound. The countermelodies - & the relationships among them - provide a thematic interface that supports both extemporized development & communications among improvisers as the music progresses. MetagrooveÔ is an allied compositional process that associates successive, contrasting polyrhythmic constellations (i.e. grooves) to create a overall groovic resonance (in other words, a meta- groove).

Each voice in this ensemble maintains an equal distinct narrative foreground persona; & it follows that much of the compositional focus has been on developing music through the rhythm section. As Bakongo scholar Fu-Kiau Bunseki has put it, “Treble voicings represent our world, but bass patterns come from the spirit.” The bass not only carries on an independent melodic narrative at a pace appropriate to its register, but often functions as conductor of the ensemble, cueing shifts from one metagrooveÔ constellation to the next. These shifts are also multidirectionally jointed, allowing an overall form to wrap around itself & construct an ensemble narrative that’s more oriented toward immersion than linear progression from beginning to end.

It’s also natural that drums figure prominently in a music that explores rhythmic harmony & multidirectional movement. Some listeners may at first be disoriented by percussion’s abundant role here. But, as a trap kit enables the playing of as many as four simultaneous lines, it can also be considered as contributing more than one instrument to the ensemble. The non-tempered tones enunciated by drums contribute a significant component of this music’s melodic & tonal framework. Even a casual listening to Dou Dou Njaye Rose’s orchestra of sabar wolofs from Dakar, for example, can reinforce a recognition that drums, all by themselves, have more than enough range to enact complete & nuanced statements on as high a level as any music.

Some market oriented & cultural perspectives argue that music shouldn’t overly stretch or challenge listeners’ imaginations. Contrarily, this music aims toward a threshold where some aspect is slipping just enough beyond a listener’s comprehension to invite a sense of wonder & mystery as a small reminder that there’s always something more happening anywhere than is already known & recognized.

- patrick brennan

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