State of the Union

On his new collection of jazz songs, State of the Union (Fresh Sound New Talent), Carlberg revisits some of the poets from "In the Land of Art" but as part of a grander program that also takes in the terrible absurdities of the current national moment. That his music can transport such weight on the same wings that convey the metaphysical spirit of other texts is testament to solid instincts, to his continual discovery of how to hear the whole world through his art.

Jason Weiss
Shuffle Boil-a magazine for poets and musicians

 

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The Crazy Woman (Accurate 4401)

Finnish-born, New York-based pianist Frank Carlberg's sophomore  outing on Accurate is quite a revelation.  Smart poetry, captivating  vocals, tight ensemble interplay and seemingly effortless, anti- gravitational improvisation all add up to make The Crazy Woman a rare  jewel of  a CD.

Odds are you haven't heard anything quite like this.  Carlberg has  taken 11 quirky, whimsical and poignant short contemporary poems  written by such noteworthies as Gwendolyn Brooks, Jack Kerouac,  Anselm Hollo and Wallace Stevens and given them the jazz treatment.   But instead of jamming the words into convenient musical forms,  Carlberg lets the contours of the poems themselves dictate how he  reinvents them.  He impeccably captures the mood and emotion in his  free and fun interpretations given voice by Christine Correa's horn- like, half-spoken, half-sung vocals.  The result is a compelling and  delightful, fresh and unpredictably collection of tunes with oddly  shaped melodies and soundscapes that are more cinematic in nature  than song-like.

In addition to Correa's splendid contributions, Carlberg's musical  vision is aided and abetted by a top-notch simpatico band, featuring  tenor saxophonist Chris Cheek and rhythm team Ben Street on bass and  Kenny Wollesen on drums.  Also of note: the leader's stark, oblique,  swinging, ponderous, pouncing piano lines that invigorate each piece.

The show begins on a jubilant note as Carlberg and crew frolic  through the playful "Godlike."  He does a fanciful dance on the keys,  then wheels and spins with Cheek in tow during an instrumental  interval that serves as a break from Correa's skip through Hollo's  lines: "When you suddenly/feel like talking/about the times/in your  life when you were/a total idiot asshole you resist/the impulse/&  just sit there/at the head of the table/beaming."  It's a great  beginning to a cool-jets outing that includes a murky, snail's pace  take on Anna Akhmatova's muse on the world's brutality, "The Last  Toast," the flitting waltz "Fireflies" with Carlberg's light piano  touch giving Rabindranath Tagore's haiku-like poem mellifluous drama, 
bopping vocal liftoffs through Kerouac's "Life Is Sick" and Cheek's  blue tenor sway in the spotlight, and the ebullient end song, Hollo's  "No Way & Now," tinged with tango and klezmer.

Both a romp and a haunt, joyful and grey, The Crazy Woman streams  with nourishing beauty."

Dan Ouellette
Downbeat
 

In the Land of Art...Frank Carlberg (Fresh Sound New Talent)

The 50s beat poets and writers idolized the bop players of their  day.  Jazz served as a template for their compositional methods,  performing styles and as a soundtrack to their writings.  This  adulation may not have gone both ways though, as a quote attributed  to Miles Davis indicates: "The Beat Generation ain't nothin' but just  more synthetic white shit!"  It's been a half century since Beat and  Bop were the hip countercultures, and pianist Frank Carlberg has used  that to his advantage to freshly interpret them on In the Land of Art.

In a clever turnabout, Carlberg has chosen to base several of his  musical compositions on literary pieces by beat stalwarts Jack  Kerouac, Robert Creeley, and Kenneth  Rexroth.  in addition, poet  Gertrude Stein, 18th century epigramist Sebastien Chamfort and latter  day beat-influenced writers Joel Oppenheimer and Anselm Hollo  contribute.  What makes this work so well is that Carlberg and his  bandmates have a keen sense for that which Allen Ginsberg termed  "spontaneous bop prosody" - the variations in pitch and rhythm that  served as the basis for the beat's art.  Christine Correa's  exquisitely expressive voice alternates between poet and instrument  on these cuts while saxmen Chris Cheek and Andrew Rathbun showcase  instrumental and interpretative abilities that are wide ranging.  In  addition, bassist John Hebert and drummer Michael Sarin are able to  set their own paces while keeping up with Carlberg's changing ones.  

From the opening bop stream of consciousness presentation of  Kerouac's classic angry lament "Misery Poesy", to the group  recitation of his "Pull My Daisy (Fie My Fum)", the players display a  smorgasbord of moods and styles.  Hollo's "Hills" receives a Kurt  Weill treatment and the wittiness of his "Land of Art" is not lost,  as Correa clearly enunciates each verse to a marching boppish beat.   On other tunes, Correa is capable of contorting and slurring  individual syllables into new shapes.  This can result in scat as on  Oppenheimer's "The Act" or in  the exotic chanting performances of  Creeley's "Nowhere One Goes" and Stein's "Asparagus".  With its on- the-mark musical, vocal and piano interpretations, adventurous rhythm  section explorations and expressive dual sax playing, Carlberg has  shown that sh*t can flow uphill In the Land of Art.

Elliott Simon
All About Jazz
 

Variations on a Summer Day..Frank Carlberg (Fresh Sound New Talent)

The woodwinds march slowly, weeping along with deep brass.  The  lyrics, based on poems by Wallace Stevens, are sweetly enigmatic;  Christine Correa sings them like classical arias.  (Think of Irene  Aebi, heard on many Steve Lacy projects.)  Carlberg's band plays  thickly, wrapping the words in an abstract fog.  Brushes slap tension  onto "Say of the Gulls", as Ben Street twangs a sleepy bass.  The  horns moan, and Christine soars: "...they are flying/In light blue  over dark blue sea."

"A Music", with its circular words and funky riff, reminds me of  Gunter Hampel.  Frank's piano stays in the background - his solos  move easy, with 'Sixties cool.  His walking chords frame "Star Over  Monhegan": on one side a whispered voice, on the other a booming bass  drum.  A clarinet sighs, the piano creeps...a mood is fixed.  "One  Sparrow" does it better: in solitude Christine praises the bird, and  is joined by sleek woodwinds.  While most of the album screams, this  song hums - and does it with eloquence.

Most of the tunes are group efforts; the solos are short, and mostly  uneventful.  Of course, there are exceptions.  Curtis Hasselbring is  great on "The Rocks of the Cliff", his trombone relaxed and rubbery.   "Shaken and Shaken" has the best lyric, and sounds like a circus gone  made.  Chris Cheek twirls a fast tenor, dancing beside the clarinet  of Chris Speed. "A Exercise" is a great cantankerous on "To Change  Nature", as horns wiggle in and out of the mix.  Hasselbring has 
another good solo, and Frank is icy-cool.  With "Round and Round",  the group creaks like an old machine.  While Christine warbles, the  cymbals scrape and the reeds squeak - an unsettling experience.  For  a taste of the unusual, this off-center collection could be your dish.

John Barrett
Philadephia City Paper