The free improvising trio of Andrew Barker, Matthew Shipp, and Charles Waters is captured in a NYC club date on Apostolic Polyphony.  Waters heard here on clarinet and alto, and drummer Barker are co-conspirators in the Gold Sparkle Band.  With pianist Shipp as their partner, the influences of Messiaen and free jazz are equally strong, and the music is sometimes thunderous, always absolutely serious, and full of passionate interplay.  In a sign of the times, and a possible indication of different audiences beginning to overlap, there's a DJ remix of one of the tracks, 10 minutes of beats, bursts of distorted saxophone, and more.

IAJRC Journal,
Summer/Fall 2003

Stuart Kremsky 

Many contemporary free jazz performances follow only one dynamic arc. Often, it seems as if the art of the episode – the brief, inconclusive excursion – has been lost. In light of this, it is refreshing that the three musicians on Apostolic Polyphony – Charles Waters on alto sax and clarinet, Matthew Shipp on piano, and Andrew Barker on drums – improvise episodically. Though they dig in deeply from time to time, the trio are never far from a scene change.

A player might effect such a change by simply laying out, creating a tense vacuum that the other two must fill. Waters does this to excellent effect on "three-part invention," the fifth section of the continuous performance that takes up the first six tracks. Spurred on by Shipp's dark, miasmic accompaniment, the reedman, on alto, builds to a breathless, squealing peak only to suddenly cease, leaving Shipp and Barker to face off warily.

The players calculate their entrances with great care as well. "One-three invention," seemingly an encore piece, opens with Shipp playing a dense solo and sounding somewhat uncertain. Waters murmurs in on clarinet, casting the piece as a kind of ballad as he caresses the pianist's lines. Barker, ever attuned to the reedman (his long-time partner in the Gold Sparkle Band) begins to flutter his brushes in agreement.

Though Shipp occasionally sounds tentative here, the two Gold Sparklers seem thrilled to be playing in this setting, and they pulsate passionately throughout. Barker is an exciting, fleet drummer whose playing crackles with groove even when it’s ametrical; he dances across his snare drum and ride cymbal in a manner reminiscent of his marvelous contemporary Nasheet Waits. On "three-two invention," left alone with Shipp, the drummer surges ahead in meter only to lapse intriguingly into rubato. On "part-two invention," a skipping, buoyant duet featuring Waters on alto, Barker employs this same device to great propulsive effect. Waters's saxophone work, particularly on "part-two invention," reveals a knack for motivic development and a compelling sound that is gritty, bright, and urgent, but it is his clarinet work which impresses most. He shows a quiet restraint when playing the instrument – particularly on "two-part invention," in which I hear several nods to Benny Goodman's "Body and Soul" – that he seems less apt to employ on alto. These two are players to watch, and I anxiously await the next "Sparkle Project" release, on which Ken Vandermark joins Barker and Waters.

Dusted

Hank Shteamer

From the opening of part-one invention, the music here swirls in waves of sound. These three strong voices push things forward with a dynamic energy. Waters’ clarinet stands out, its wooden voice thinner and more nasal than a sax. The tonality is a perfect foil for the strength of the piano and drums. Pianist Shipp delivers a strong performance. Whether pounding out thick chunks of chords, or spinning arpeggiated lines, there is a sense of harmony to his playing. Drummer Barker plays free and propels the music while retaining a jazz drummer’s sensibility.

The duet, two-part invention, has the piano and clarinet spinning musical webs around each other. Shipp’s playing is reminiscent of Marilyn Crispell, strong, yet often delicate in touch. Barker shines on three-one invention. His solo drumming dances with a lightness that many free drummers seem to miss from their playing. He plays with intensity without being heavy handed. part-two invention is a rolling sax/drums duet that flows by in a spiraling motion. part-four invention is a remixed track that brings in electronic sounds/noise, as well as cut up snippets of the band to form a sort of free jazz collage. The results are interesting and not out of place within the context of the music.

The musicianship here is first rate and the playing inventive and interesting. Recommended for those who love adventurous free jazz.

Jazz Review

Michael Bettine

"Apostolic" as in the work of apostles, this recording does in fact indicate a direct line of succession.  In this collaboration, alto saxophonist Charles Waters communes with Matthew Shipp and Andrew Barker, in a lineup (piano, reeds, drums) that begs comparison to Cecil Taylor's 1960s trio with Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray.  C.T. casts a long shadow on the generations to follow, and here we have a free-improvised music that channels the avant-jazz spirit conjured forty years ago.

It is a volatile music both radical and familiar (one still shocking to the unprepared).  The musicians push hard against limits of definition in a series of solos, duos, and trios.   The results, though, can be exhilarating if you have the energy as a listener to take it all in.  What was once revolutionary here becomes the foundation stone for the trio.  Matthew Shipp continues to refine his work, forging his own idiomatic sound at the piano, stretching to grab something that he can hear but maybe can't quite identify.  In the company of Waters and Barker, he is getting closer.  The trio move toward something personal in the music, and that makes this session worth hearing.

Coda
(Jan/Feb 2004)

Steve Vickery

Originally hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the Gold Sparkle Band has made its mark on New York City and other music locales like Chicago (where a significant part of GSB's Fugues And Flowers was recorded). As a result of their work together and with NYC's leading lights, the group has presented a series of "projects" at the city's venerable Tonic club. These workshops have allowed reedist Charles Waters and drummer Andrew Barker several opportunities to collaborate with other like-minded thinkers, one of which bears its fruits on Acoustic Polyphony. As a guide for the musicians' search for a deeper meaning, the liners contain simply four quotes from the disparate voices of William Parker, Oliver Messiaen, a treatise on Divine Worship and Duane L.C.M. Gallas, all of which represent the connection between art, humanity, spirituality and higher aims. Lofty ideals, yes, but ones that serve to connect the dots between this trio of musicians.

The performance itself contains a series of eight freely improvised "inventions" that utilize the above-referenced ideas, as well as the strong chemistry between the musicians. The settings include various pairings, ranging from brief solos to engaging duets to full trio excursions. The program focuses on neither brazen energy nor flatulent textural musings, but rather consists of a dense suite of steadily flowing interactions connected by a high level of musicianship, huge ears and respect. Special collaborator Matthew Shipp proves to be a marvel, with his dark, pliable chords creating an urgency leading Waters and Barker to flights above, around and over this backdrop.

The disc commences with a lengthy ensemble excursion ("Part-One Invention") that signals the musicians' unity and serves to feature Waters' coiling clarinet lines over Shipp and Barker's oscillating rhythms. Shipp proves to be the linchpin, sparring with the others and adding a shred of mysticism. The program continues with various collaborations, including a Shipp/Waters dance that emphasizes the latter's nimble clarinet work ("Two-Part Invention"), a drum-focused display of dynamic variance that underscores Barker's stick and brushwork ("Three-One Invention") and a Gold Sparkle duet featuring Waters' staccato alto lines ("Part-Two Invention"). The centerpiece of the record ("Three-Part Invention") is a crescendo reverie where Shipp's bubbling moodiness proves to be a catalyst for Waters, who paces himself in dramatic fashion to reach an ecstatic finale.

Unfortunately, two items do detract from making this record a complete success. First, although minor, the Shipp/Barker foray "One-Three Invention" features compelling interplay that is abruptly cut short, leaving one wondering how the duo managed to resolve their discourse. Finally, although certainly announcing an exciting possibility, the trio's "Part-Four Invention" is subject to a "remix" by DJ Shannon Fields. The problem is that it sounds out of place considering what has come before, a platform for spontaneous alchemy that emphasizes organic construction. While the altered state does create an eerily chilling finale to the disc, perhaps it would have best served as an exclusive download or part of an entire remix disc.

Despite the reservations expressed above, this is marvelous improvised music that emphasizes Waters' skills on reeds, Shipp's continuing strength as a nonconformist and Barker's exciting kitwork. Although this appears to be a one-time collaboration, we can only hope that this communion will bear future meetings.

One Final Note

Jay Collins

Waters seems to be the leader here: he is billed first in the song credits (or "inventions," as they are called), and he plays frontline instruments -- alto sax in typical but emphatic free style, and clarinet for more intriguing color and effect. Barker (drums) and Shipp provide rhythm and background, and keep "Three-Two Invention" to themselves. All three musicians make their marks, but this is an especially strong showcase for Shipp, who proves to be a remarkably attentive partner, with chops to spare. Last cut is a Shannon Fields remix, a nice touch.

StaticMultiMedia

Steve Hull

Apostolic Polyphony is a weighty title and it denotes a weighty trio.  Pianist Matthew Shipp carves out glowering basalt blocks ventilated with trickling lines.  Drummer Andrew Barker rumbles and drizzles around the rock-face.  Charles Waters on B flat clarinet and alto saxophone, flashes through the gravity and soberness with fine incisive coiling lines.  The trio components lock together but each player is granted space for more expansive personal statements in the course of the music's eight movements.   Waters is especially impressive on "Three-Part Invention".  The concluding track is a Shannon Fields remix, an unexpected and effectively disturbing coda to this acoustic suite with squally electronics raked across the trio's sombre ground.

The Wire
August 2003

Julian Cowley

A polifonia já foi algo do domínio do sagrado, cantada exclusivamente pelos coros das congregações ou tocada nos órgãos das grandes catedrais. Depois “secularizou-se” e entrou no geral domínio da música. O propósito de Andrew Barker e Charles Waters, membros do Goldsparkle Trio, nesta sua associação com o pianista Matthew Shipp, foi a reintrodução de religiosidade na execução polifónica. A motivação veio-lhes de um dito de Messiaen, o de que a verdadeira música deve ser espiritual e um acto de fé que lide tanto com as coisas como com Deus, em conjugação com outro do contrabaixista de jazz William Parker, cujo misticismo já é bem conhecido: «É papel do artista ser humano e ver a arte da vida como a única arte que existe.» Música religiosa, esta que resulta não sei se o será propriamente - o propósito parece-me demasiado ambicioso e o que aqui se ouve algo inconclusivo, apesar do indesmentível interesse das sete “invenções” deste disco, todas elas muito longe, além do mais, de qualquer fórmula musical historicamente definida como “sagrada” que não a anunciada polifonia, cuja, como já se disse, foi trazida para o mundo da imanência. De resto, sabe-se como o jazz sempre foi apontado como uma música pagã, apesar das conversões realizadas por Albert Ayler ou S. John Coltrane. Música impregnada de religiosidade poderá ela ser, sem dúvida, mas de uma forma abstracta e que não é muito clara para os ouvintes. A verdade é que já ouvi e vi obras artísticas de ateus com mais espiritualidade do que este trabalho. O “remix” de Shannon Fields com que fecha o CD pouco ajuda para uma perpepção mais justa desse misticismo que se diz ter sido invocado: a mundanidade sempre foi o grande inimigo da devoção e é disso que se trata, de uma piscadela de olho para as audiências “hip”. De facto, não é possível levar a sério certas “profundidades”...

Rui Eduardo Paes

Rui Paes

On Apostolic Polyphony, the fire that burns within Charles Waters smolders and ignites a “three-part invention” with molten, searing lines as he yowls, screams and yelps with an imagination that does not let fervor eclipse focus, all to the eternal glory of the alto saxophone. The calm after the storm is set awash in a message from Matthew Shipp. His piano is redolent of beauty, sparkling from out of his quicksilver yet gentle runs, with ruminations full of harmonic insight. The end is heralded by the rumbling of the drums that beckon the piano, which once more casts a benign sound, calmly reposing against the wailing convolutions of the clarinet in a worthy “part-four invention.” Blessed be the converted.

All About Jazz

Jerry D'Souza

Apostolic Polyphony, a collaboration between drummer Andrew Barker, pianist Matthew Shipp, and clarinetist / saxist Charles Waters, is just the type of free jazz that makes improv fans go wild. Every track on this energetic record serves only to reaffirm how talented this bunch is.

The disc opens with "Part-one Invention", an eleven and a half minute introduction to the ensemble's sound. Right from the start they come off as very enthusiastic players. Barker's unrelenting percussion provides the perfect rhythmic balance to Shipp's surprisingly tuneful piano playing and Waters' passionate playing. Another highlight is definitely "Three-part Invention," a notably moody piece featuring some terrific saxophone playing; Waters uses complex slurs complemented by longer sustained notes to build an almost cinematic atmosphere. His playing becomes more abrupt and sudden to bring on the track's climax. The background accompaniment by the piano and drums flows well with the sax. The track's final minute comprises one of the most exuberant free improv moments in recent history. Shannon Fields' electronic remix of "Part-four Invention" is also included here; it's a remarkable experimental track that combines the band's enthusiastic instrumentation with messed up computer music.

Free jazz and improv fans would be well advised to seek out Apostolic Polyphony. The eight performances on this disc see Barker, Shipp, and Waters performing at their best. The results are mind-blowing.

Indieville

Matt Shimmer

Pretty basic trio affair, but their music goes far beyond basic... if you're looking for a "label", something to make th' music "fit" into a neat little category you can relate to - you're probably not going to be the kind of listener who enjoys this music anyway. Clear-cut & straight-ahead free jazz that doesn't start & stop (right) where you think it's s'posed to! This is (actually) our first listen to Shipp's keyboards... great chops, but somethin' more than that, as well... once he starts playin', he can't stop... which made for some nice extended listens on th' way to th' salt mines. His playing style is definitive, with strong touch & the ability to keep movement going (at all/any cost(s)). Barker's drums work smoothly to support this whole idea of motion that whirls & whirls, & Waters' reeds express a sense of abandon not often heard (these days). A great free jazz trio that gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from these ears!

Improvijazzation Nation,
Issue #63

Dick Metcalf

On the border between a pretty "linear" free jazz and a hommage to John Coltrane's most spiritual moments stands this beautiful Drimala release, thanks to the perfect amalgam of three major instrumental masters.

Matthew Shipp is one of the best pianists in the world today; his phrasing is absolutely compelling and in my opinion constitutes the real basic ground from which all the music springs here, a silent coordinator and a sober virtuoso at the same time.

Charles Waters plays with fire and soul, his sense of melody extremely developed through a series of ideas going from shamanic ostinatos to liberal blowing - but never exceeding a careful awareness of the whole musical system.

Excellent Andrew Barker, previously participant in several projects with John Zorn and Thurston Moore among the many, shows a perfect cross between a rock-solid foundation and the display of the hundreds of colors a drummer can effectively use.

A remix by DJ Shannon Fields, adding a more minimal/experimental touch, puts the final word to this very good recording, at the same time reinforcing the already high rank of this American improvised music label.

Touching Extremes

Massimo Ricci

Each solo, pairing, or collective development brings with it mood swings, but the performance taken as a whole flows as a series of united processes, including the final cut with electronics merged into the mix. The musicians expound in their own unique language, but the communication is immediate and the message conceptually understood and cognitively processed by each of them. Barker, Shipp, and Waters generate demanding music with a welcome and satisfying degree of originality.

All About Jazz

Frank Rubolino

This intense and engaging trio was recorded live at Tonic in April of 2001 during Sparkle Project series that the fabulous Gold Sparkle Band have produced during their monthly concert series which has included different guests at each set. The Gold Sparkle co-leaders are Charles Waters who plays clarinet and alto sax and Andrew Barker who plays drums. Both of these players are also members of William Parker's Little Huey CM Orchestra and both keep pretty busy in a variety of other projects. Longtime downtown piano legend Matt Shipp also keeps extreme busy with his numerous bands, as well as collaborating with David S. Ware, William Parker, Spring Hill Jack and running the Blues Series on Thirsty Ear. Matt's last few Blue series releases have seen him successfully working with hip-hop, funk and techno influences.

This collaborative trio brings all three back the freer terrain, after the more focused, semi-composed efforts of their other bands. Each piece on this release is entitled "invention" with a part number. Variations on a theme which continually spin and swirl and connect in different ways, often swimming through turbulent currents, yet occasionally slow down and open up to more tentative moments. The piano and drums often shadow each other as the clarinet or alto sax bend notes, fly, erupt or peek through the haze. Each member of the trio take turns to steer the rapids, all three listen well and take their time to push the direction or add their spice to the stew. All three get a solo interlude which show their personnel prowess and still connect with the ongoing story. They all are reach deep into the well to and spew out them powerful out barbed explosives as well. The liner notes include wise words from William Parker, Olivier Messiaen and Divini Cultus, which add the mystery and magic to mix. The final "Invention" is a remix where Shannon Fields adds some strange electronic effects to the trio's already twisted sound and an aura of ghost-like spirits floats in on a haze. This mysterious, somber closing bendiction brings things back down to a more restrained conclusion.

Dowtown Music Gallery

Drimala Records has reached the length of a strong furlong to a finishing line with its release, APOSTOLIC POLYPHONY, performed by Andrew Barker, drums, Matthew Shipp, piano, and Charles Waters, B-flat clarinet and alto saxophone.

The conceptual density of the recording is awe-inspiring. It provides an emotional sensibility to chew on, to seize with exuberance. The apostles in the tradition of the Bible were sanctioned by Christ to carry His word. In a corresponding metaphor, this beautifully molded trio carries the word of all its predecessors in terms of its musical statement and, then, becomes the bearer of the word as is exemplified by the coda, which is the last track.

The tracks on the CD are named in seemingly non-sensical permutations of the number three to list “inventions” on the recording. The term ‘invention’ stems from J.S. Bach, who used it to describe the keyboard pieces he wrote to teach his children. The structure of Bach’s short works are single lines, each played where the hands operate individually. The genius of the works is that the independent lines develop into one melody.

These three instrumentalists improvise independently and co-dependently as is the skin and bones of the performance art. The lines move in and out of each other as would passers-by on the street ofttimes recognize each other and stop to intersect, move away from each other in opposite directions, move close to each other, slide by each other, become distant from one another, or one on top of another, back to back, front to front. The sound is contrapuntal, only slightly melodic at any one point. The music is tragic, wrenching, peaceful, unanalyzable.

Barker, the drummer, breaks a torrential first two inventions where the bass drum constantly reminds the listener of a tumultuous stream, with an abstractly rhythmic third cut. The mallet struck toms predominate, evolving into a set of brushed edges, a bowed cymbal accenting the beginning and the end. This drum cut provides a segue between Waters’ clarinet’s agonizing cries to the introduction of the alto’s more middle-range sound, which in turn gives entrance to the piano’s strongly hammered note progressions. The alto hovers in a steady orbit. The drums later joined by the piano paint a solid base on which the alto can land and from which it can take off. The clarinet comes back in to close the series of improvisations with much the same rapidity as it had played in the beginning.

Shipp opens the recording fading in with muscularly pointed repeated phrasings. Thereafter, the quality of his playing never wanes. His rhythmic mode rises and falls in runs up and down the keyboard; the unmistakably invaluable chord walls chain the listener to the seriousness of the music. Any solo tangent reveals Shipp’s unremitting relentless fervor for the keys. They are the extension of his particular mind-set, one that is extraordinarily imbued with culture and the world and desirous of altering the perception of the same through music.

The "New Testament" paradigm for a world view completes this recording. The mode is a remix of acoustics from the drums and the clarinet (and how about a set of lilting, melancholic, sounds-like, harmonica phrases), with electronic scrapes & reverberations and piano ostinatos. This is the music that follows what came before it in the largest sense. This is the music that incorporates the use of tools not available when Bach wrote. This is the point where all musics within this recording’s defined set of limits are shaped into a 21st century invention of how melodic lines can merge as one. One adamant, sacred, spiritual, art-is-life determination.

jazzreview.com

Lyn Horton

This date is a one-time musical meeting between Gold Sparkle Band's Charles Waters (reeds) and Andrew Barker (drums) and the ubiquitous Matthew Shipp (piano).  While the pianist is further along in his catalogue, Waters and Barker give him enough to chew on, playing fine counterpoint to Shipp's thundering blocks of chords and angular runs.  Barker's typically muscular style propels as Waters builds melodic ideas and bounces them off his mates.  This is a nice showing by all.

New Music Report
March 10, 2003

Tad Hendrickson

Atlanta has never been known as a hotbed of creative music. Country blues may have been played there years ago -- by Blind Willie McTell and Peg Leg Howell -- and written down -- by W.C. Handy at about the same time, while popsters like Destiny Child thrive there today. But deep-dish improv has never really been welcomed by the town.

It's no wonder then that its best-known jazzers like pianist Duke Pearson and alto saxophonist Marion Brown made their reputation elsewhere. Right now, this archetype seems to be playing itself out again with the members of the Gold Sparkle Band (GSB).

An Atlanta mainstay since 1994, two of GSB's members -- alto saxophonist/clarinetist Charles Waters and drummer Andrew Barker -- have already made the trek to Brooklyn, N.Y. Having established contacts with like-minded players ranging from John Zorn to William Parker, neither is likely to return. Trumpeter Roger Ruzow -- arguably the group's most singular player -- remains in the south, but CDs like these show how GSB variations are adapting to the big city.

Recorded during 2001, at the centre of the Apple's downtown scene, the disc pinpoint the players' evolution.  Apostolic Polyphony, which links Waters and Barker with pianist Matthew Shipp, is in an expansionist mode.

Related by Waters to the concepts of composer Olivier Messiaen, the continuous improvisation seems to touch on the interface between notation and improvisation and jazz and classical music, a POMO concern more endemic to New York's five boroughs than Atlanta's Five Points. It also ends with a fashionably noisy, beat-laden, electronic and static-oriented, echoy remix of one of the trio's tracks by New York deejay Shannon Fields.

Geographically, Waters and Baker hook up with Delaware's Shipp on Apostolic Polyphony, which appears to be a single performance with CD tracks created at the beginning of different solos.  Apostolic's leitmotif is pacing, although there are times when the pace gets a little draggy. Traditionalists could identify the instrumentation as that of the Benny Goodman Trio, and in fact, as on the other disc, Waters makes his most effective statements on clarinet.

"One-Three Invention" finds him playing with extended, vibrato-laden trills that slide from airy Jimmy Giuffre-like explorations to near-Dixieland chirps. Shipp occupies himself with tremolo-involved fantasias and it almost appears as if Barker is hand drumming. Obviously, this shows that despite the Goodman Trio comparison, Baker is no Gene Krupa. When he rouses himself from constrained brushwork to attention getting rolls, roughs and paradiddles though, the closest parallel is to Coleman Quartet percussionists like Higgins and Ed Blackwell, not the gum-chewing swing era drummer boy.

Neither would Shipp ever be confused with Teddy Wilson. On the first and penultimate tracks where he has freest range, the polite, self-editing of the Goodman collaborator doesn't come into play. On "Part-One Invention," with Waters, trilling away in the coloratura range and Baker whacking his heads with passion, Shipp moves from bebop dynamics to Dave Burrell-like free jazz clusters. Lyrical octaves flow from both hands until he begins pounding out arpeggios, shadowing the reedist's whinnying Klezmer-Balkan inflections, with notes darting from either side of the keyboard.

Then on "Three-Two Invention," mostly a drum-piano duet, Shipp appears to create a modified Tango rhythm, before involving himself in extended, circular, high-intensity rubato passages. Imagine Messiaen meeting "Honky Tonk Train." As the pianisms begin to circle into themselves, Baker counters with rolling tap-dance like movements.

Because of these careful keyboard considerations, the few vibrating growls Waters brings to the proceedings don't prod the more than 61-minute piece into excitement. But this disc does possess the organization.

On their own and as a group, GSB members are evolving up north. So this disc is worth investigating as an indication as their progress.

Jazz Weekly

Ken Waxman

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