The American Arcado String Trio – violinist Mark Feldman, cellist Hank Roberts (later replaced by dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger) and double bass player Mark Dresser, has worked for a short period of five years, more than 25 years ago and recorded five albums (their last album, «Double Trio – Green Dolphy Suite» with Trio de Clarinettes, was recorded in September 1994 and released by Enja in 1995,). But its profound creativity, the breadth of its musical horizons, the elegant delivery and the excellent, improvisation skills of Feldman, Roberts, and Dresser, individually and as a trio, left a lasting impression on prolific tenor sax player-improviser Ivo Perelman, who initiated a reunion of the trio with him at Parkwest studios in Brooklyn in April 2018.
Perelman, who studied the cello before taking the saxophone, collaborated and recorded before with chamber ensemble like the C.T. String Quartet, Sirius Quartet, and recorded before with Dresser («Suite for Helen F.», Boxholder, 2003), Feldman («Strings 1», Leo, 2018), Roberts («Strings 2», Leo, 2018). The meeting of Perelman and the Arcado String Trio focused on a free-associative free-improvisation, contrary to the Trio established aesthetics that relied on intricate, written compositions. Perelman and the Trio form instantly an emphatic and intimate dialog that highlights the lyrical side of Perelman, who blends organically within the contemporary chamber atmosphere of the Trio, as well as the brilliant technical mastery of Feldman, Roberts, and Feldman and their highly nuanced interplay.
The music of this ad-hoc quartet flows naturally, developed in its own accord while all the four musicians negotiate their ideas in a totally democratic manner, already on the first, extended «Resonance 1». This kind of emphatic, reserved, and patient interplay characterizes also the following «Resonance 2» but Perelman and the Trio already experimenting with tougher dynamics and on «Resonance 3» shift into a draker and more tensed mode propelled by Dresser’s restless bass playing. The contained energy of the quartet is finally released on the last, «Resonance 4», where the plucking and pizzicato playing of the strings suggests a playful pulse and triggers a beautiful, emotional duet of Perelman and Feldman.
Perleman adds that many times during this recording he felt that he was playing the cello, and maybe he was. He certainly proved that his sax fits perfectly within far-reaching string ensembles as the Arcado String Trio.
Eyal Hareuveni
Ivo Perelman (ts), Mark Feldman (vio), William H Roberts (c), Mark Dresser (b)
