Before diving into the news of this album, some scene-setting seems appropriate. A glance through the bio for either Bill MacKay or Katinka Kleijn will confirm that neither can be pigeon-holed, they both defy the traditional definition of a guitarist/cellist. While MacKay may be more familiar to our readers and listeners, his output as a guitarist, composer, writer and improviser is vast and exploratory – “from the folk of Appalachia, avant-rock, and blues to jazz, raga-esque excursions, and western modes”, this is apparent from his most recent album on Drag City Fountain Fire compared to the likes of SpiderBeetleBee, a collaboration with Ryley Walker.
Kleijn, much like MacKay, can transition across a whole range of styles “classical, experimental, contemporary, improvisatory, folk and progressive rock, as well as across the traditional fields of solo, chamber and orchestral performance.” Amongst her outputs, she is a cellist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). Like MacKay who moved to Chicago in ’98, she also performs on the Chicago free jazz scene.
After watching them perform together at the Chicago Humanities Festival, for which they were the final event, MacKay and Kleijn demonstrated to all present that they may well indeed be telepathically fused as they worked through the first part of a set that was largely free-improvised. The latter part of their performance was less so, as they performed two of MacKay’s set compositions “Pretty Weeds Revisited” and the waltz-like “Black Leaves” which can also be heard on his 2014 December Concert album with Matt Lux but here it has a totally different feel. In between, they attempted to shed some light on their process which is as good a starting point as any to lay the foundation for this new album called STIR.
Kleijn admitted to the audience that there was no other person she plays with who she felt enabled her to “put it all in there”. This was totally believable to those that had just witnessed their improvisations in full flow. MacKay shared those feelings putting it down to an intuitive feeling they both have, like a language they had developed from performing together over the past 5 or 6 years where they’ve played from large concert halls to living rooms. Their process went something like – get together, play, talk about it and rehearse. They may or may not then develop a plan but even when they do, they may not always stick to it. The act of having a plan allows for experimentation (the creation of a line to cross). Kleijn likened the process to ‘diving into a deep pool without knowing what’s happening’ (in a positive way – not drowning) and I’m guessing that the intuitive language they both talk about allows them the confidence and freedom to explore in a really unique way which they both clearly find very rewarding.
STIR, which is set for release via Drag City on October 11th is centred on a series of MacKay’s compositions, partially inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf. It’s a book that Hesse asserted many had misunderstood and in a 1960’s edition, he wrote in the preface that Steppenwolf was “more often and more violently misunderstood” than any of his other books. Hesse felt that his readers focused only on the suffering and despair that are depicted in Harry Haller’s life, thereby missing the possibility of transcendence and healing (wiki). With the way that these two perform maybe these waters will become clearer.
The duo have just shared a video for the album opener, Hermine. The video is by Timothy Breen.
They will be performing together on September 28th at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Chicago, IL.
Photo Credit: Richard E. Adame (courtesy of Drag City)