Marco Eneidi
Reviews

ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK

by Stanley Zappa

BananaFish Issue #15 2001

One of the initial, and to be sure, continuing appeals of music is its energy. While the NEW in NEW MUSIC derives largely from harmonies and rhythms, just as integral (if not more so) to its "newness" are impossibly fast tempos and louder voices and sonorities - all of the usual expressions of "energy". I always understood these to be good things that made music exciting and interesting.

For whatever reason, tides have turned. The new day rising is filled with pouting. In the last few years, and certainly more in recent years, I've heard ENERGY MUSIC used as a pejorative: "Oh, he's just an energy music player." As if reinforcing the most base stereotype about "energy music" – that it can be done by anyone – will somehow exempt the assumer's efforts from the same criticism.

There's no need to pretend that players are never inappropriate and insensitive, if not simply incapable of getting quiet sounds out of their instruments. Yet those musicians have an audience in only the most gullible, and as such there's little that's flattering about attacking or defending them.

What's immediately attractive about Marco Eneidi's saxophone playing is that it's loud and fast. Nothing can prepare you for his tone; let loose in a small ensemble his tone won't intimidate as much as terrify. Regardless of what's going on and who's playing what, if Eneidi's playing, Eneidi can be heard.

Then there is his superhuman virtuosity on the horn. No tempo is too fast; for that matter, the faster the tempo, the more natural his playing sounds. But if loud and fast were the sum and substance of Marco Eneidi, he would be enjoying a widespread albeit conceptually emaciated popularity. Unfortunately, Eneidi challenges those merely looking for someone to gawk at, inevitably frustrating the vanilla-inclined and otherwise shallow with his sophisticated approach to tonality and phrasing.

Eneidi's Cherry Box CD (Eremite) marks the first small ensemble recording with Denis Charles and William Parker since Vermont Spring (Botticelli, 1986) that he's not using Jackson Krall on drums. Donald Robinson's drumming is less conspicuous than Jackson's and as a result one of less constraint. Not that Jackson is a constraining drummer – with Jackson, the feel is more two-voice counterpoint.

Though his closest antecedent is Jimmy Lyons, Eneidi isn't cowering in his shadow. Like Lyons, his ability to arrange (or follow, if you look at it that way) a solo is remarkable."Slashing the Bird" illustrates the consistency with which he creates challenging variations on already advanced ideas without being redundant.

Eneidi is an asset to the music, contributing new material and giving us fresh perspectives on this music's tradition. As with all of Eneidi's small group work to date, Cherry Box eloquently and ably moves the music ahead.

Taking on Eneidi's Marco Eneidi and the American Jungle Orchestra double-CD (Botticelli, 1996) can fill one with the same anxiety that comes with reading long Russian novels. Its length, the intricacy of the characters, even the pronunciation of their names is daunting (so instead we read and write record reviews). As is evident in any of his small ensemble recordings, he produces more than enough musical data for anyone to process in a sitting. The sound of Eneidi accompanies by up to seventeen other musicians, including Glenn Spearman, is simply overwhelming. Again, were Marco Eneidi and the American Jungle Orchestra simply a full-tilt free for all, it might be easier to assimilate both CDs in their entirety. Shifting from silence to din and back to silence with ease, the ensemble demands much from the listener. While connoisseurs of huge, seething masses of sound, regardless of idiom, will delight in American Jungle, Eneidi varies the arrangements throughout the two-hour-and-twenty-minute double-CD set, treating all configurations from solo to small ensemble to full group. The ensemble's direction varies as well, consisting of both written parts and group improvisation. Highlights include Jackson Krall's drum solo on "Lakota (upper), Eneidi's solos on Lakota (lower) and the ease with which his tone cuts through the entire group on "Going To Meet the Man". Even the interpretation of "Jumpin' at the Woodside" is as successful a redux of older material as one could hope for. On top of all that, Eneidi's music can speak in a 20th Century formal concert music voice, evident throughout the recording, though most clearly on "Landscapes VI - X." Were it not for the classical music establishment's peculiar reluctance to embrace the saxophone (or if the saxophone players on America Jungle were playing clarinets and oboes) it would be the toast of that community. But then , if your aunt had a dick, she'd be your uncle.

Eneidi's Live at Radio Valencia CD (Botticelli), recorded in 1997, features Spearman along with familiar rhythm section of Krall and William Parker. Eneidi had recorded (relatively) frequently with Glenn Spearman in the years preceding; both in the large ensemble (American Jungle Suite) [Music and Arts, 1995], Marco Eneidi and the American Jungle Orchestra) and small ensemble setting (The Marco Eneidi Coalition [Botticelli, 1991]). This is the first full length recording of Marco in the quartet setting. It quickly becomes clear that nothing matches the unadorned quartet of Marco, Spearman, Parker and Krall. Most striking is the surety of the group. Their confidence is evident by the total absence of hesitation or reservation. Their undeniable mastery of the craft is a rare achievement in music.

Though there's nothing "jazz" about Radio Valencia, as in Jazz at Lincoln Center ( or the jazz of William Parker's O'Neil's Porch, for that matter), it's form and arrangement owe much to bebop predecessors; the pieces have "heads","solos" are taken, there is a "rhythm section." Yet the music neither comes off as dated, nor bludgeons with the predictable or the cheesy.

With Eneidi and Spearman in such excellent form, their unique and sorely missed symbiosis is never encumbered, nor their individuality hindered by the other. Parker, whose pulstative high energy is in large part what is so singular about his bass-playing, doesn't have to hold the leash of the soloist du jour out to mark his scent in the already amply scented clubs of downtown New York. Krall, an uncommon drummer and integral voice in the quartet, likewise displays comfort and authority that comes only with years and years of work with the same group.

Some excerpts of reviews from the March 6th, 1999 Glenn Spearman Memorial concert in Amherst, Massachusetts

“Marco Eneidi on alto sax and Donald Robinson on drums put the night cap on this evening of continuous music. Eneidi’s alto playing was fiery, often tuneful. His repetitive phrases complemented the soft nature of Robinson’s drum playing. Robinson worked his drum set, including the cymbals, like a timpani. He often stood, as a timpanist would have. Eneidi’s alto was charged with arppeggiation. He sometimes hopped because his playing took him off the ground. At times, the altoist’s brief note phrases were marked by Robinson’s drum beats. In the third piece, the sound Eneidi made was guttural; he sucked the air in and out of his horn and gradually brought in pitches, one at a time. That piece ended with a haunting split tone and quiet drums beckoning in a resolution in reverberating silence.”

Lyn Horton

“The duo was perfectly balanced and absolutely amazing..Eneidi was pure genius, I can’t believe how much he has grown since I saw him play with Bill Dixon at Bennington in the mid-80’s - -he was great then, but. whew!”

Maria Klein

“I couldn’t imagine how the Eneidi/Robinson duo would/could have been improved upon. Their set “stole” the show, I’d say. It was really the most beautiful thing I’ve heard from these guys ever. Their long term relationships with Glenn added enormous depth to their pieces. The musicians really did justice to Spearman’s life and work.”

Jason McGill