nasty & sweet
NoBusiness Records
Thomas Borgmann / Wilber Morris / Reggie Nicholson album "Nasty & Sweet" on double LP.
released January 2013
live at Tampere & St. Ingbert
Mastered by Arunas Zujus at MAMAstudios
Design by Oskaras Anosovas
Produced by Danas Mikailionis
Co-producer - Valerij Anosov
Tom Hull's (village voice) strong vote gave a A- [advanced]
* * * * *
From the first few notes, it's apparent that something special is happening on Nasty & Sweet.
Perhaps it's the way bassist Wilber Morris and drummer Reggie Nicholson sound so assured in their placement of the merest splashes of color.
Completely unafraid to take their time, creating a powerful tension which isn't released even when German reedman Thomas Borgmann joins with his breathily majestic tenor saxophone smears.
There is a story here. (...)
~ John Sharpe © allaboutjazz.com
(...) The chemistry of this unit is unbelievable, the strenghth of their voice overwhelming, the excitement of creation palpable.
(...) Rarely a title expresses that well the music but between the gritty and uninhibited passion and spiritual pensieveness the music is exactly that : nasty and sweet.
A monumental performance from a brilliant trio - I daresay this one should be on any jazz fans must have list this year.
~ @ Jazz Alchemist
(...) En 1999 (...) Borgmann, Morris et Nicholson étaient du Tempere Jazz Festival. La mise en place prend son temps, celui nécessaire à la déposition d’une texture qui démontre déjà la cohérence de la formation.
Selon qu’il intervient au ténor ou au soprano, Borgmann instille ensuite – Sweet puis Nasty, alors – une improvisation aux reliefs abrupts ou verse dans un free autrement précipité.
Morris modifiant avec subtilité les couleurs du décorum et Nicholson battant la mesure en hachant toutes secondes, voilà que les quatre faces ont passé avec force et rapidité. En supplément, trouver deux autres pièces improvisées le 25 avril 1998 : Wilber’s Mood et autre Nasty & Sweet.
L’idée est la même, qui persiste et signe : il est temps de faire plus ample connaissance avec l’art de Thomas Borgmann.
~ Guillaume Belhomme © Le son du grisli
(...) it features a really masterful performance that's filled with slow-building energy and really rich feeling – a sound that almost takes us back to the relaxed creative vibe of the New York loft jazz generation!
Borgman blows with lots of elliptical energy – and the drums and bass really help to break him out of the box – creating their own shifting souls that enliven the performance greatly.
~ dustygroove
* * * * ½
By now, the movements in a work like Nasty & Sweet should have commonly used names.
While unmediated dynamics still seems to deny This Music consideration by “real” scholars and critics of “real” music, the structural organization throughout Nasty & Sweet is a familiar one that spans all music.
Nasty & Sweet Part I starts as so many pieces of music involving 3 musicians have and will, as there are only so many ways for a trio to go from silence to sound in any music.
It is a sprawling alap setting the level of musicianship for the rest of the recording.(...)
~ Stan Zappa @ freejazz blog reviews
(...) The recording is quite nice sounding and you get plenty of music.
I am sorry I didn't get a chance to hear this trio in person, but the next best thing is an expansive recording such as this, freebopping its way into your inner musical mind.
It's a big pleasant surprise that will renew your faith that good music is all around
~ Grego Applegate Edwards © Gapplegate Music Review
(...) the BMC and BMN trios were favorites of the European festival circuit and, had not Morris died in 2002, BMN would probably still be an active group.
Borgmann continues to work in a fine trio called Boom Box with drummer Willi Kellers and bassist Akira Ando (their disc Jazz on Jazzwerkstatt should be sought out), but it’s always a pleasure to hear new music from the saxophonist's archives.
Nasty & Sweet collects two previously-unreleased BMN performances from Tampere, Finland and St. Ingbert, Germany in 1999 and 1998, respectively, with one take of the title piece taking up both sides of the first volume in this two-LP set.
Morris’ bass sounds fantastic, a detailed and rumbling presence, deft pizzicato shot through with a surly motor and often a focal point of the music (could it be otherwise?).
Nicholson is equally forceful in his approach, blending Max Roach with an almost rockish obsessiveness on the soprano-fronted final movement (in which the group is reminiscent of the Suman/Phillips/Martin trio).
The following piece, “We Went Thataway,” is a rousing boppish tune subjugated to Nicholson’s exhaustingly accurate ride cymbal work, and points to an adage that “being free” in this music allows everything, including being free to work within the tradition.
“Wilbur’s Mood” is positively dervish-like, Borgmann’s sopranino skating over a rhythmic whorl towards a lilting, spiritual close (the title track may actually be the piece that lingers most on Morris' sound).
While Borgmann has mentioned that the trios’ work was cut too short by the untimely deaths of Wilber Morris and Denis Charles – and that is true – the unity and empathy developed in this music lives on in the saxophonist's subsequent performances and recordings.
Nasty & Sweet is one hell of a place to get acquainted with these musicians and if one is already a devotee, its essentialness should be patently obvious.
~ clifford allen @ Ni Kantu
