The Swimmer in Bloomington, MN

What a beautiful encounter! In the left corner, keyboardist
Frances Knight
, percussionist
Vince Clarke
, and bassist
Hugh Hopper
, a trio of musicians accustomed to each other. In the right corner, Hastings vocalist
Jan Ponsford
.
The Swimmer
was recorded on October 15, 1998 at
Delta Studios
in two one-hour sessions, later edited to 63 minutes. Everything was improvised on the spot.
Ponsford
's vocalizing is reminiscent of what
Theo Bleckmann
did with
the Ben Monder Trio
(see
No Boat
on
Songlines Records
): soft vocals with lots of echo soaring over the music, fitting the changes in the improv, hugging it (like on
"Uszibarasc"
). Her singing is very melodic and comes from the heart. She can go from ballad mode to scat mode in no time, always finding the best way to serve the moods worked out by
Knight
,
Hopper
, and
Clarke
. And what moods! Jazz grooves, Brazilian feels, and some things impossible to describe. But
remains very easy to listen to. There is no "noise work" here, no sound pollution; everything stays rather tonal and jazz inflicted, but at the same time totally free.
's light percussive work usually gives a flooring under
's cascading piano or organ grooves while
works out some incredible basslines. And that wonderful voice. On the downside, some fade-outs come to quickly, depriving the listener from what happened after (this happens on
"Vinnie Goes to Trinni"
where, after two-and-a-half minutes of build-up, the music fades just as it gets very interesting). But apart from a few questionable choices,
makes a great record of lighter improvised music, the kind of record you won't be scared of putting in the CD player when you have friends over for dinner. ~ Francois Couture