Gerry Hemingway - Down to the Wire (hat ART, 1991)

Gerry Hemingway, drums & percussion
Michael Moore, alto sax & clarinets
Wolter Wierbos, trombone
Mark Dresser, bass

Recorded December 8* & 10, 1991
Kleines Zall of the Vredenburg, Utrecht, NL 

and *Kito Bremen, DE
Engineer: Dick Lucas

Having established a small collection of American jazz records from my youth (early 1960s), it was a surprise to discover later how international the music had become. As a result, about half of my favorites of the 1980s and 1990s were recorded outside of the U.S. 

As I explored artists and labels centered in Europe, I discovered American drummer Gerry Hemingway. Although born in New Haven, Connecticut, he had become an internationalist through collaborations with German and Dutch artists and by recordings on Swiss, German and Portuguese record labels.

Whether working in a quartet, as on Down to the Wire, or a quintet, as on Demon Chaser, Hemingway displays unique compositional and performance skills. His deceptively loose charts are actually complex, demanding players to play both scripted parts and free improvisations. I list both Down to the Wire and Demon Chaser in this blog.

Although Hemingway's basic group in the late 80s and 90s was a quintet, Down to the Wire was recorded with a quartet because cellist Ernst Reijseger was sidelined with a bad back. The band takes advantage of the more open format to produce a classic recording of the decade. And to think that Hemingway almost cancelled the recording date because of Reijseger's unavailability. 

No two tracks on Down to the Wire follow the same pattern. On the opening "If You Like," Michael Moore begins on alto and is joined by Wolter Wierbos' trombone in a staccato duet over Hemingway's sticks. Wierbos employs a variety of growls and smears in his solo before the jaunty theme is revisited. 

"Space 2" begins with a slowly swaggering trombone that leads into Mark Dresser's arco bass solo. The pace quickens as Moore (on bass clarinet) and Wierbos freely improvise over Hemingway's frantic drumming before the melody resumes, then dissolves into intricate harmonies between the horns. 

Track 4, "Waltz Everywhere," is a calm piece with gentle interplay between clarinet and trombone, soon joined by Dresser's solemn meditations on the bass. The calm is followed by the bright "N.T.," led by Moore on clarinet. 

The album closes with Moore's composition, "Debby Warden 2," recorded two days earlier in Germany. The moods shift from serene to bluesey, to practically motionless, to swagger, then stops. This is organic music of a high order - fascinating to hear, approachable, and entertaining. 

Although Hemingway's quartet format was revisited at least three more times, the quintet proved to be his more durable unit with seven recordings spaced over the next 20 years. Recordings involve multiple personnel changes but are all worth investigating. I am especially fond of the two most recent quintet albums: Double Blues Crossing and Riptide.

Quartets:

Johnny's Corner Song (Auricle, 1998)

Devil's Paradise (Clean Feed, 2003)

The Whimbler (Clean Feed, 2005)

Quintets:

Outerbridge Crossing (Sound Aspects, 1987)

Special Detail (hat ART, 1991)

Slamadam (Random Acoustics, 1995)

The Marmalade King (hat ART, 1995)

Perfect World (Random Acoustics, 1996)

Waltzes, Two-Steps & Other Matters of the Heart (GM, 1996)

Double Blues Crossing (Between the Lines, 2005)

Riptide (Clean Feed, 2011)