Fantastic Merlins are, well, Fantastic

I'm a rock 'n roll guy. But every now and then there's some "jazz" that reaches out and grabs me. Usually "jazz" with a saxophone. I love the sound of a saxophone and rock music doesn't offer a lot of great sax. Clarence. Michael Brecker here and there. I'm sure there's a few others that aren't coming to mind right now.

But for good sax, you've got to be listening to jazz music. And right now, that means the Fantastic Merlins. The Merlins are a four-piece band featuring sax, bass and drums, and (get this) cello. Very unusual. Two mostly single line melody instruments with similar range and reedy timbres. Interesting.

But just how interesting depends on which version of the Merlins you're talking about. Saxophonist Nathan Hansen has been there throughout, and plays a generally fairly low-key, calm and peaceful style only occasionally given to going a little bit wild.

Look Around and A Handful of Earth

The Merlins' versions are defined by their cellist. Originally it was Jacqueline Ultan, who played a romantic, melodic style, mimicking Hansen's. Ultan was featured on both of the Merlins' true ensemble recordings, Look Around (recorded 2005, released 2007) and A Handful of Earth (recorded 2008, released 2009). Both are absolutely terrific records.

Look Around features 2 stunning songs in the Merlins' 2 basic styles. "I Was Behind the Couch All the Time" is a funky, whimsical piece, a theme and variations based on an uptempo 4-bar riff in the sax. From there the variations wander all over the landscape in seeming free form, returning to the main theme about 2 minutes later. Big fun.

The other is a romantic, emotional piece called "Line." Here the sax and cello are basically in counterpoint, suggestive in a manner of speaking of a Bach fugue, around a long, slow, elegaic, lovely melody suggestive of Edward Elgar. Roll it together, explore it for about 7 minutes, and this is a truly beautiful and moving piece.

The title piece "Look Around" and "Letting Go" are in the general vein of "Line," though moodier and more dissonant. "It Would Seem," "Dance Partner" and "Lenny" are along the lines of "Couch," based on minimalist riffs, often whimsical. "Lenny" is especially funky, based on a simple two-bar, eight-note riff, then wandering off into one of Ultan's most expansive solos, though Hansen's sax is also featured more or less throughout.

The songs that seem to jump off of Handful of Earth are more along the lines of "Line"--slow, soft, contemplative pieces. "Inversion Is The Condition" opens with a minute or so of cello atmospherics before Hansen states the theme, again a minimal two-bar, four-note melody that quickly expands out and becomes the basis for an extended sax solo. "The Face in the Window" uses the same formula to produce another soothing, relaxing piece, maybe better described as pop than jazz.

The title tune is different, edgier, over a staccato cello rhythm throughout. But the Merlins get really edgy on "Purple Orange," which begins slowly in the bass and then the cello before drummer Peter Hennig takes over and jacks up the tempo at the 3 minute mark. Hansen follows with a lengthy and boisterous improvisation and his best recorded solo.

The Merlins describe their style as "visceral power" and "sparse textures." But they're surely no tower of power, nor are the textures that sparse. The melodic material, yes. The textures go on forever. In any event, the 2 records together establish Hansen and the Merlins as a terrific ensemble working its way around the edges of the jazz and jazz-fusion genres.

How the Light Gets In

But the newer of the 2 is 4 years old. They do not represent the Merlins of today. Nor does their 3rd recording, How the Light Gets In, recorded in 2009 and released in 2010. This is mostly a collection of Leonard Cohen tunes, with vocals supplied by Kid Dakota. The fact is the Merlins never sounded quite like this except on this particular recording and at the Sons d'Hiver Festival in Paris in 2010. Matt Turner played cello for the Merlins for just a very short time including the recording and the festival, then was replaced by Daniel Levin.

How the Light Gets In works very hard at giving the Cohen a new sound and it succeeds but in an eccentric, forced, mannered way. The exceptions are "Memories," by Kid Dakota, and "The Little Bird," an instrumental piece by the Merlins, where there is a coherent and an appealing voice.

Live at the Black Dog, 2012

So if you want to know what the Merlins sound like today with Levin as Hanson's chief co-conspirator, a recent gig at the Black Dog in St. Paul, MN, will have to suffice. And the answer would seem to be that Levin favors a terrifically gnarly, avant guard, free form style that is anything but easy listening. Levin nay be the Alvin Lee of jazz cello. He sure can play fast!, but I'm not sure what he's trying to say.

But most of you will never make your way to the Black Dog, so don't worry about it. In the meantime, Look Around and Handful of Earth are a couple of immensely enjoyable recordings that anybody can access.

Kathleen Edwards' Voyageur

So, who was that strawberry blonde with Boney Vair at the Grammies? I suppose the more hopelessly romantic among us thought, Emma! But, no. The strawberry blonde was new girlfriend--and, a singer, herself--Kathleen Edwards. Edwards, a Canadian, debuted way back in 2003 with Failer, featuring a really terrific tune "Six O'Clock News," and released 2 additional LPs before her current Voyageur.

Her 1st 3 records were produced in collaboration with husband Colin Crips, but the 2 were divorced in 2011. In the fall of 2010 she began work on her 4th record with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as producer. Sometime later they became an item and about the same time Vernon/Bon himself became an item with the massive success of his 2nd album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

All of which has undoubtedly helped Voyageur to get a hearing and a #39 rating on the U.S. album charts, and a much deserved hearing it is. I mean, there's a certain sameness to it, with a surfeit of ballads.

But 3 of the up-tempo tunes stand out. "Empty Threat" opens the record with a pretty little easy listening verse. The chorus, "I'm moving to America," is repeated a bit much, but all in all it gets the record off to a pleasant start. "Change the Sheets" is the 1st single. Driven by a staccato piano figure, it builds to an arena rock crescendo that seems a bit over the top for the material and also for Edwards' thinnish voice. But aside from the overstatement, it too is a nice enough tune.

"Sidecar" is tossed off without fanfare mid-record, but it proves to be the most enjoyable of the up-tempo tunes. At a modest 2:38 it avoids the repetition and overstatement of the other 2. Thank goodness for these 3 tunes because the rest is pretty much all ballads.

Some of the them a very nice ballads, of course. I'm particularly fond of "Soft Place to Land" and "Pink Champagne." Not only are they nice tunes, but they suit Edwards' voice nicely. It is on the ballads, too, that Vernon's Boney sonic palette comes into play and as on Bon Iver, Bon Iver, the effect is most pleasing.

"For the Record" closes the record and at 7:07 falls prey to the repetition that mars "Empty Threat," only more so. I don't know how many times she sings "For the record, I only wanted to sing songs," but it's too many. "House Full of Empty Rooms" has another pretty little melody but maudlin lyrics, while "Chameleon/Comedian,""Mint" and "Going to Hell" are also mostly enjoyable tunes.

All in all, a nice collection of ballads tempered by just enough of a more active sound to avoid monotony. I know this all sounds like faint praise. But roll it all up and you've got the best album-length collection of songs of 2012 so far. Of course, that is in part because 2012 thus far has been a pretty weak year in pop music. Only Craig Finn's Clear Heart Full Eyes really stands out otherwise, though The Shins' long-awaited Port of Morrow has its moments. I also have high hopes for Bonnie Raitt's Slipstream and Rufus Wainwright's Out of the Game, neither of which I have listened to yet due to an active travel schedule.

Then there's also this: A Handful of Earth, an instrumental record by The Fantastic Merlins, was released a year ago, though I only became acquainted with it a month or two ago. I will write about the Merlins forthwith.

I will also be seeing The Shins, Steve Earle, Los Lobos and Rufus Wainwright live this summer, and I'll let you know how those turn out.