Mezzacappa Plays with Music and Semantics

Lisa Mezzacappa with her bass (from the Bandcamp Web page for the recording being discussed)

This past Friday Queen Bee Records released bassist Lisa Mezzacappa’s latest album. There are nine tracks collected under the somewhat playful title othrwrldly, with at least some of the play attributed to the fact the “y” is the closest letter to a vowel that appears. Four of the tracks have the title “biome;” and more of the play involves the fact that there two “biome II” tracks, distinguished by their subtitles: “in the loam(ing)” and “alluvial.” Note that these are the third and seventh tracks on the album, suggesting another playful gesture!

Then there is the combo. Mezzacappa is joined in the rhythm section with Brett Carson on piano and drummer Jordan Glenn. Kyle Bruckmann alternates between oboes of different sizes (probably including the English horn). He is joined by Aaron Bennett on tenor saxophone and vibraphonist Mark Clifford. Finally, guitarist Fred Frith makes a “special guest” appearance, contributing to the two “biome II” tracks.

My guess is that the “play” in this album would be only partially ascribed to how these musicians perform. It would not surprise me if these tracks were created because someone started recording and then stopped when the time seemed appropriate. It would also not surprise me to learn that all of the musicians knew each other well enough to exchange jokes through their performance gestures. I have now listened to this album several times and catch myself chuckling each time I return to it.

After all, taking the music too seriously almost always undermines the listening experience; and each time I go through the tracks, I feel less and less haunted by the serious!