Prezens

by

David Torn

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To roughly paraphrase an axiom: one's judgments about something say as much about you as about the thing being judged.

If you buy this CD expecting jazz, you might be disappointed. This doesn't adhere to most concepts of jazz. Even the most crucial element of jazz - improvisation - has been mediated by Torn's production and manipulation.

Torn is no longer simply a guitarist on this album. His guitar playing is not always the foreground, and varies between texture and soloing; his blowing chops here are largely in the 'rock' idiom. Here he is the producer and auteur; besides playing the guitar, he 'plays' loopers, samplers, the mixing board, and lots of electronic devices. The band tracks on the disc have been edited, chopped, mangled, distorted, looped, etc., to suit Torn's compositional sense. Teo Macero did a similar thing to Miles' Bitches Brew sessions; that end result was as much Teo's as Miles'. (Apparently, reading the reviews here, Prezens shares a little of Brew's ability to provoke, as well.)

There is little in the way of conventional form here; Torn's choices of juxtapositions and assembly will require a lot of digestion on the part of the listener. There is also little in the way of conventional melody or harmony, but there is a detectable flow of events. In many places it's hard to discern the original source playing from Torn's production. If I have a gripe about it (so far), it would be in allowing more of the individual playing, and less of Torn's assembly. But that would change everything. (That, and sometimes I wanted to hear more clarity and detail in the drum sound.)

Let me approach it Rumsfeld-style:

Is it jazz? In my opinion, not really. But I can't think of any label that fits it.

Is the playing good? Yes.

Is it fun to listen to? For me, yes.

Is it rich, fulfilling, satisfying? So far, for me, yes - there is a lot of content here to take in, and it won't all be revealed in two or six hearings.

Let me first start by saying I am a huge, longtime fan of David Torn, going back to his Everyman Band work. He has a singular style and sound - which is quite a feat these days. Also let me say that I am a fan of improvisation, freestyling, blowing - whatever you want to call it.

But I have been saddened and disappointed by Torn's work over the past several years and the new release Prezens furthers the disappointment. From what I have read, Torn took the output from some recording sessions and did a mash-up - the result of which is Prezens. Why he felt compelled to do that I'm not sure, since this band is full of crack players who, in a slightly more standard, structured context, sound like they could really knock your socks off. (I saw the group play in New York in April and couldn't help thinking how great it would be to hear them play some Monk tunes, for example.) Why not just assemble the band, work out some loose song structures, and jam?

The songs are, for the most part, uninteresting and rather cliched sonic explorations. If Torn's goal was to somehow recreate and represent our increasingly fractured way of life, in this age of cell phone calls, e-mails and BlackBerry thumb, I could kind of see what he's getting at here, as the music flits from quiet to loud, from throb to tinny screech, from calm to chaotic. But even operating under that idea, the music isn't compelling or captivating or even pleasurable to listen to (and again, I LOVE full-out noise as much as the next person).

Being such a gifted artist, I'm sure Torn has grown weary of structure and wants to explore a range of sounds and styles and modes of expression. But selfishly, as a fan of his playing, I just wish the old David Torn could resurface for an album or two and give us a handful of the exquisitely brief and thrilling solos or chill-inducing chord changes that blessed his earlier efforts.

Were Prezens the output of players of lesser talent, I would merely shrug my shoulders and move on in search of the next worthwhile album. But when it comes from such an obviously talented and capable group, it makes the sense of failure that much more apparent.