SYZYGY : REVIEWS

RIP IT UP : George Kaye

In times when CD releases in New Zealand are dominated by attempts to be radio friendly, here is an album that definitely goes against the grain, in some ways where none have gone before. Nothing here for your average radio fan just a highly charged, take no prisoners musical beast. SYZYGY'S music is very diverse and refuses to be restricted by labels or stylistic barriers - their sound is constantly evolving and very dynamic, spacious and powerful. No covers or standards here . . . jazz yes, instrumental improvisation much more so. Having contributed 3 songs including the haunting title track to 1996's best local jazz release TREES : YELLOW EYE JAZZ SAMPLER here is the first full length CD debut to spawn from that compilation's beginnings. SYZYGY CREATIVE MUSIC ENSEMBLE are a Wellington based five piece led by the undoubted brilliance of alto sax playing, chief songwriter Jeff Henderson. Rejoice in a band who are in the NOW, not for the faint at heart. Free form jazz based quintet led by the prodigious sax and compositional talent of Jeff Henderson (previously on TREES). From the lunacy of DEMENTED 2 to the sprightly sax flourishes of BREATHE NOW, this is high class mayhem. TONGUE GROOVES is a showpiece of SYZYGY's idiosyncratic improvisation.

O.U.S.A. CRITIC : Gavin Bertram

Avant garde jazz is an area of music most avoid, regarded a bit like abstract expressionism is in the art world. A pity really, because it's a field concerned with the progress of musical form, as opposed to merely standing still and regurgitating the same old ideas. From it's roots with COLTRANE, CAGE, DAVIS, COLEMAN et al, it seems to have been eternally condemned to an elite audience. Mile's jazz-fusion of the early 70's made sense to some people, and remains one of his most captivating periods. SYZYGY, a Wellington combo, operate somewhere in this area, producing a formless, fascinating sonic experience, with much imagination being expelled. Second track, DEMENTED 2, truly lives up to its name, a rising cacophony that peaks and recedes down its weird percussive spiral. On TERIU LE MON, however, the band show a vastly more melodic side, smooth syncopationtying it together. All the musicians are amazing, guitarist Joe Callwood and Alto Saxist Jeff Henderson stands out. Henderson is the main songwriter, displaying a vast array of ideas and styles. TONGUE GROOVES also contains some great liner notes from Erik Gerritsen, who puts into words much of what I cannot express about this music.

NZ LISTENER : Nick Bollinger

Improvised. Free. Experimental. These words have often been used to validate music that is prohibitively oblique, or just plain bad, but SYZYGY is a group that restores a measure of dignity to them. Alto saxophonist and leader Jeff Henderson creates strong structures for the fellow members of this Wellington quintet to hang their notes on. Electric guitarist Joe Callwood is responsible for some particularly ear-bending moments, and John Bell's vibraphone (not to mention Henderson's riffs) gives the flavour of FRANK ZAPPA at his most musicianly.

PAVEMENT : Mark Amery

Anyone of a jazz bent who can clear an Auckland nightclub with their uncompromising take on the limited spectrum we call music deserves open ears. And with SYZYGY, you won't find one single kowtow to pop motifs. Instead, on their album TONGUE GROOVES, it's all intelligent, incessantly creative, often uncomfortable and also actually rather funny sounds. And thank God these flag bearers of the void between noise and music don't treat themselves too seriously. SYZYGY describe themselves as a 'creative music ensemble' and TONGUE GROOVES is an eclectic collection. The uncompromisingly morbid mantra of opener PAIN AND DARKNESS is more deserving of its title, while the surprisingly soothing fluidity of album closer BREATHE NOW is a piece of easy mood music par excellence. It's all a mile away from what you'd expect from a New Zealand pop outfit blending and then marinating genres (pop culture this is not). But it provides a welcome breather from the try hard jazz inflections of the new beat generation.

OTAGO DAILY TIMES : Bryan James

The Creative Music Ensemble SYZYGY is a New Zealand group consisting of some very well known musicians including Paul Dyne, Jeff Henderson, Chris O'Connor, John Bell and Joe Callwood, whose disc, TONGUE GROOVES, is extremely difficult to approach if your thing is mainstream jazz. But, like much contemporary music, perseverance will bring rewards. Be warned though, some will find this music utterly unforgiving. It is very free music (try track 11 for example, called BREATHE NOW) at its most uncompromising, yet the band is capable of sounding exactly like a fused rock and jazz combo in say, track five given the title NQUITPAUSUCKOWASHAWMEN. In fact, this track was the one that most appealed immediately to my ears, there simply isn't any better bassist around this country than Paul Dyne and he provides the architecture for the whole piece. There is something about the sound this group makes that occupies that unexplored territory touched in passing by FRANK ZAPPA and CHARLIE PARKER at their most extreme. Like the old maps which used to mark such places blank, we know we will both be excited and repelled by what we discover there.

NEW ZEALAND MUSICIAN : Peter Dent

I had the pleasure to meet and witness this unique band during my tenure at Christchurch Jazz School. It wasn't so much a concert as a clinic-questions and discussions were welcomed. Many of us were stunned at the fluidity and spontaneous nature of the compositions, many of which in complex time signatures. One cannot pigeon hole SYZYGY music (or even explain it for that matter !) Their name says it all - creative -improvising within the loose framework of altoist Jeff Hendersons compositions. For this, their first full length CD, SYZYGY are now a quintet, with the addition of guitarist Joe Callwood to the sax, vibes, bass, drums line up. The music is far more versatile and explosive than on their debut cassette release, which included bassist Teriu Le Mon (now replaced by Paul Dyne). SYZYGY'S music is not for the faint at heart, but saying that, this could quite possibly be the foundation for a new genre that could lead NEW ZEALAND music into the new millennium and beyond . . . exciting stuff.

REAL GROOVE : Jon Bywater

Despite the sales pitch about their being something completely different there are clear continuities between this band of wild and arty Wellingtonians and previous generations of same, the SIX VOLTS and , before them the BRAILLE COLLECTIVE. The willful wackiness of the former and the avant improvisational impulse of such as the BLACK SHEEP here combine in a mode of jazz rock fusion. SYZYGY, though, are probably more directly informed (as the liner notes suggest) by the two best advertised strands of popular experimentalism, the BILL LASWELL - AXIOM axis and the BIG APPLE blat of JOHN ZORN and HIRELINGS. There's a guitarist , who more or less always has SONNY SHARROCK in mind. There's a saxophonist, who sounds the most accomplished player. And there's three others, handling bass and various sorts of percussion. From track to track they try out quite different basic ideas and even quite different instrumental combinations . The record has its semi industrial moments of ponderous unfunky funk and unrocking rock sludge as well as elaborately structured post bop fiddle. Because they never really hit much of a groove or establish any very interesting interplay, though it ends up sounding like a showcase of possible textures rather than a set of finished pieces. While the sax occasionally shines, lots of the lines played by the lead voices are only so much restless needle and jerk, and are occasionally rehearsed into painful unison passages of wonky for its own sake eccentricity, a fact that combines with (a) their repeat an odd and little else riff forever tendancy, (b)their weird time signature penchant, and (c) their related speed mistaken for complexity mistake to remind me of bad prog rock. What they're trying is basically interesting, and DONT GET ME WRONG, it does spark into life. Its probably because the stuff thats good along these lines is played by super-virtuosos, above all, that this seems sadly bad!

NZ HERALD HEADLINE A SHORT TRIP TO NQUITPAUSCKOWASHAWMEN : Graham Reid

Jazz these days most often breaks down into the serviceable, the atmospheric, the homages, and the honourable but dull. Fortunately there's always that avant-guitar and abrasive saxophone stuff (with a multiple threat percussionist, of course) It isn't easy, its usually worth the effort and, when its not taking itself too seriously, is a lot of fun. It can also sound edgy and aggressive, so it's easy to hear why people associate it with New York. It is certainly played there. Not a lot of it is heard around here, and albums by its finest exponents, such as JOHN ZORN and JAMES BLOOD ULMER, are hard to find, usually excellent but seem to be of minor interest. So if that edgy stuff suffers for lackof an audience here, it's doubly difficult for a New Zealand band to be working in that style. SYZYGY, out of Wellington, have been at this for a while and thats clear on TONGUE GROOVES, a thoroughly difficult and rewarding trip through sometimes twisting and often anxious knots of melody. On the more nuggety tunes (TERIU LE MON, THE RISE) there's a sharp, recognisable shorthand to their style, but they can also include a short ambient bass 'n' vibes piece (TEASE), bring home some unashamedly 70's blistering fusion funk guitar and vibes on NQUITPAUSCKOWASHAWMEN (sic), a carousel of saxophone rap (Demented 2) and a daring Afrobeat journey on Nigeria held down by formidable bass and percussion. And there's a network of chant-type, minimalist-style vocal variations on the minute long SAYYDAH'S TONGUE GROOVE. SYZYGY - aptly billing themselves as a creative music ensemble - are amusingly trustworthy guides through experimental territory. If its a trip you fancy, start with NIGERIA and that funky one with the impossible title - and there'll be no looking back.