Dots and Dashes cs881

Returning again to Creative Sources, and another reprise, Dots and Dashes (recorded in Berlin, also in October) finds Greek clarinetist Floros Floridis in another quartet with Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues, now joined by Michael Vorfeld on percussion — following Xafnikes synantiseis (recorded in 2024 & referenced here that April), a quartet instead with Ulf Mengersen on bass (i.e. more per Ernesto's Lisbon String Trio formations...). As had Crossing the Floor (recorded four days earlier), Dots and Dashes then presents a more sophisticated interaction, i.e. building on ideas from the previous date, likewise relatively sparse & simmering music. But in replacing a more legato bass with often quiet & pointillistic percussion, Dots and Dashes also opts for a relatively more open texture, and correspondingly, senses of time. It can thus recall the quintet album La rambarde des songes... (with synthesizer, pace "crackle box" here — i.e. still not quite acoustic, per the previous entry as well...) from earlier this year, the voice there serving as a distinct (yet quiet) focus, versus more around clarinet & then bass clarinet for this quartet — indeed Floridis usually seeming centered (including by higher pitches from e.g. viola), his extended continuity in shaded spectral lines often seeming accented or intertwined by others.... Dots and Dashes is then another album that rewards concentrated listening with subtle textures & twisting continuities, latent evocations suggesting perhaps distant or otherwise difficult methods of communication... almost a study in expression per se (i.e. meta-expression) on first impression. Dots and Dashes also continues relations that seem to derive more from Guilherme Rodrigues than from Ernesto (although the latter does seem very at home here...), Floridis himself first appearing in this space with electro-acoustic quartet album Fields (reviewed here March 2024), and Vorfeld most recently with trio Flight Rvw2349 (reviewed September 2023). So senses of space & distance & subtle voicings can dominate impressions of Dots and Dashes, sinewy & shading continuities (per e.g. timeless floating of La rambarde des songes...), extended senses of personal expression (i.e. narrative-like...), occasionally more assertive. Subtle (e.g. chiming or tinkling, bent) metal also opens the second & third tracks, Vorfeld only occasionally coming to the fore (including e.g. briefly with hand drums accompanying a jungle-esque clarinet...), senses of pointillism propagated instead (already) through the ensemble (& even to the clarinet, in pops), senses of code.... Sometimes Dots and Dashes can be more lively, but also (& always) leaves me listening to the environment (& even a little confused about some common sounds...), thus suggesting senses of transformation, transformation through distended lines & continuities... perhaps constituting a kind of post-Cage meta-expressionism (i.e. pace bodily continuity beneath personality or emotion per se). Or one could simply call it a sophisticated, contemporary take on the post-jazz clarinet trio (i.e. with viola & cello combined for bass...), featuring masterful yet understated execution from Floridis et al. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts