Nobody could suggest that Martin Küchen, the Swedish improvising saxophonist and composer, is an underachiever. His latest grand project The Death Of Kalypso (THANATOSIS PRODUKTION THT32) is an ambitious “jazz opera” suite, laden with profound allusions and oblique references to many burning contemporary issues, from the conflict in the Middle East to prison camps.
He conceived it during the throes of lockdown, an episode which showed him just how “polarised” mankind was capable of allowing its collective mind to turn, but the core piece ‘A Campaign of Tragedy’ even predates that, dating back to around 2014 approx., so that could be reckoned a significant gestation period for these far-reaching ideas. After working alone with overdubbed saxophones and a Casio, Küchen sent his plans to Alex Zethson, the composer who runs this label and is a proven champion of unusual string arrangements – which is what he contributes here, turning those parts of Kalypso into mournful chamber-music of contemporary proportions laced with undertones of imminent catastrophe.
The other main recipient was the vocalist Elle-Kari Sander, the Swedish jazz singer who performed in The Tiny with her husband Leo Svensson, as well as the rock-pop group Vega, and started her own band The Other Woman, and she lends her distinctive tones to interpreting the complex libretto of Martin Küchen. I say complex, because this rather dense and layered prose doesn’t exactly parse itself into naturally singable segments, forsaking natural speech or song rhythms in favour of story-telling and lamentational expositions. No repeated chorus or verse forms here, just a continual screed of linguistic acrobatics that would present quite a challenge to anyone less experienced or able than Sander. Parts of the record even reminded me of Art Bears, or Henry Cow, or any records where the great Dagmar Krause collaborated with Chris Cutler.
Did I mention the release is credited to Angles, Martin Küchen’s band that has been active since 2007 with a number of releases on the Clean Feed label – the band includes Zethson on piano and Küchen on saxes – and the combined brass, woodwinds, bass, drums and glockenspiel are providing the jazz elements of this jazz opera, when they appear. I must admit these jazz moments are outweighed by the solemn and sorrowful pieces which describe the great world-wide tragedy, so it’s the chamber music and operatic singing that dominates, but fans of 1960s free jazz may enjoy ‘Cutting The Woods’. Or they might not, as it’s a rather stilted and schematic take on free jazz – the musicians are highly competent, but the music lacks real force or passion, no matter how hard they try to reinvent a Jackson Pollock painting in sound.
Readers of classical mythology may also wish to bend an ear; the original Calypso myth was part of Homer’s Odyssey, and the story involved a seven-year sojourn on the enchanted island for our hero, during which time he was promised immortality as well as infinite sensual pleasures with this temptress. The snare also involved magic singing to lure Odysseus to his doom, and weaving on a golden loom. Not all these aspects of the myth have made it into Martin Küchen’s interpretation, but as indicated above the myth is just a starting point for this project – the end result is an ambitious attempt to make artistic, poignant observations about the state of mankind’s fate in the 21st century. From 23rd Feb 2024.
Not unrelated: Calypso on her Island