David Murray & The Gwo-Ka Masters - 2004 - Gwotet

David Murray & The Gwo-Ka Masters featuring Pharoah Sanders

2004

Gwotet

01. Gwotet
02. O’léonso
03. Ouagadougou
04. La Jwa
05. Djolla Feeling
06. Go to Jazz
07. Ovwa
08. Gwotet (Radio Edit)

Mixed by Bill Szawlowski at Studio Victor, Montreal, Canada (Oct. 2003).
Mastered by Bill Szawlowski and David Murray at Ventura Digital Audio, Brossard, Canada (Nov. 2003).

David Murray – Tenor Sax
Pharoah Sanders – Tenor Sax
Klod Kiavue – Ka Drums, Vocal
Christian Laviso – Guitar, Vocal
Hervé Sambe – Guitar
François Ladrezeau – Boula Drum, Lead Vocal
Jaribu Shahid – Bass
Hamid Drake – Drums
Alexander Brown – Trumpet
Carlos Sonduy Dimet – Trumpet
Leonardo Alarcon – Trombone
Angel Ballester Veliz – Alto Sax, Flute
Moises Marquez Leya – Baritone Sax
Elpidio Chappotin Delgado – Trumpet

A passionate prolific player with lots to say and the vocabulary to preach, David Murray finds an aggregation capable of burning through the music with him in the Gwo-Ka Masters. Anchored by the ambi-rhythmic drummer Hamid Drake and Gwo-Ka drummer Klod Klavue, this thirteen piece ensemble rolls like an 18 wheeler downhill. Using hyper funk rhythms of Afro-Cuban music, Murray keeps his big, rough sound light on its feet for the fast dance through hurtling beats. Herve Samba and Christian Lavlso slice and dice those beats with clear percolating chords, rubberizing the rhythm. Tightly layered horn sections call and respond, exercising their own take on tweaking the beat. Add Pharoah Sanders on several tracks and you have a second tenor player as ferocious as Murray blasting the groove.

The title track starts at a run with a brief vocal trio, followed by the horns in a cascading arrangement that blows itself out for Murray's entrance. Drake keeps it neat as Murray provides all the ornamentation needed. He unfurls a spiraling ribbon of melody that even veers outside. After a restatement of theme, Pharoah says hello. His solo rides the rhythm, his textured tone easily moving through an expanded saxophone range. A beautiful guitar solo lovingly explores the melody of "O'Leonso," then the ensemble adopts a driving rhythm foundation for Murray's statement.

Murray plays a jocular bass clarinet solo on the slower "Ouagadougou." But after the languid intro, the gears change and the tempo quickens. A quicksilver guitar solo shimmers over the gathering momentum. Sanders and Murray take individual turns before several measures of ecstatic duo improv. As the rhythm section smolders, Sanders takes an unpredictable break on "La Jwa." After a palette cleansing guitar interlude, Murray returns roaming with the reed, a second guitar solo brings the coda.

Slightly offbeat and heavily counted, "Djolla Feeling" features blistering guitar followed by Murray low and seductive, quickly segueing to rampant. The vocalists turn rappers for "Go to Jazz," the results vaguely recalling M-Base. Soloists on trumpet and soprano sax. Again on bass clarinet, Murray navigates the dense riff that is "Ovwa," vocalists and percussionists weaving the beat.

From the opening beat to the climaxing ultra funk of the "Gwotet Radio Edit," Murray and company keep their attention on intensity with this scalding entry to his crowded catalogue.

Tenor saxophonist David Murray & the Gwo-Ka Masters mix together aspects of jazz with African rhythms (propelled by both Klod Kiavue and Hamid Drake on drums), occasional group vocals, a flexible horn section, and Christian Laviso's distinctive guitar. Most intriguing is the opportunity to hear both Murray and Pharoah Sanders taking raging solos over catchy but unpredictable grooves. Freed from playing jazz standards or very free improvisations, Murray really thrives in this exotic setting, which was inspired by his move to France. "Gwotet," "Ouagadougou," and "Djolla Feeling" are high points, but there are no slow moments during the infectious set of danceable but somewhat unclassifiable music.

In 2000, David Murray, in the late 1970s a founder member of the World Saxophone Quartet, began exploring Guadeloupe’s traditional gwo-ka music, a relative of Haitian voudoun. After a couple of so-so albums, by 2003 Murray had the idiom down and released Gwotet with the French-based 14-piece the Gwo-Ka Masters featuring Sanders. The album has so far only been available on CD, but Murray released 33⅓ rpm 12” remix packages of the title track in 2004 and 2005. Both discs are winners, with 2005’s ‘Yoruba Soul Remix’ ahead by a margin. Sanders is in fierce form, his playing, as on Message from Home, sometimes reminiscent of his mid-1960s outings.