John Clark - Faces (ECM, 1981)

 This post is by Dan

John Clark (frhn); David Friedman (vib); David Darling (vc); John Christensen (d)

Recorded April 1980

There have been relatively few French horn players in jazz. After the more familiar names – Julius Watkins, Don Elliott, James Buffington, John Graas, Tom Varner, Arkady Shilkoper – it’s hard to think of French horn soloists. Usually, any brass instrument pitched lower than a trombone is resigned to large section work and has little chance of being featured. But the exceptions to this rule are worth investigating.

John Clark has only five albums under his leadership listed on Discogs, but Faces is a gem. It combines three instruments often relegated to providing textures: marimba, cello, and French horn alongside drummer John Christensen. The first three pieces are composed by Clark; the remaining three are attributed to all four group members, suggesting they are collectively improvised.

Given the ECM label's reputation, one might expect a slow-moving sequence of ambient sounds over the course of the album. Indeed, that’s how the album begins, with the 15:20 minute “The Abha Kingdom.” The music on this first track delights with sonic details ranging from low drones to high plucked cello strings. It remains a mystery to me how these sounds were produced by engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug in Oslo’s Talent studio. There are apparently no synthesizers or overdubbing, just beautiful interplay of timbres mostly in the low range. Perhaps David Friedman is playing a bass marimba? Whatever the explanation, it’s quite a sonic marvel.

Tempos and textures vary on the rest of the tunes. Christensen takes on a more prominent role, and Friedman plays more vibes instead of the woody marimba. "Faces in the Fire" is constructed around a repeated vamp on a single chord. The players take turns sustaining the vamp while alternating as lead players. “Faces in the Sky” is an absolutely gorgeous performance and a remarkable display of contained group improvisation. 

Overall, Faces is a delightfully varied program of original works by Clark and company. Highly recommended!