Edward Vesala - Nan Madol (1974)

If jazz was ever meant to be a religion, its prayers might sound something like Nan Madol. The title means “spaces between,” and no description of this music could be more apt. The album is an eclectic mandala of drones, eruptions of ecstatic liberation, and snatches of melody from both near and far. Influences range from Japanese folk melodies to Alpine herding calls, and all of them strung by a powerful understatement of continuity.

We open our eyes to find ourselves in a field at night in which a nearby forest looms with untold life. Soprano sax verses mingle with the shawm-like nagaswaram, dripping with the luscious slowness of honey from a broken hive as abstract solos bounce over a corroded surface of ever-so-slightly detuned harps. We proceed from meditation to incantation, calling upon the sounds of spirits rather than the spirits of sound. Melodies drag, are picked up, only to drag again: the final paroxysms of a dying organism laid bare for our imaginations. Motifs flit in and out of earshot like radio transmissions struggling to hang on. The instruments weep as if the entire album were nothing but a cathartic ritual. On the surface, the musicians seem unaware of each other, all the while reveling in their secret synergy far beyond the threshold of audibility. This is music on its own plane and we must approach it as we are. There is no middle ground, no meeting point to be had.

This may not be “fun” album to listen to, and certainly not an easy one to describe, but it is rewarding in more metaphysical ways. Far from a jazz album to tap one’s foot to, it is instead a free-form surrender to the possibilities of automatic music. Its mood is inward while its exposition is extroverted and full of exquisite contradictions. If nothing else, the stunning “Areous Vlor Ta” will leave you breathless and vulnerable to the grand Return that brings the listener full circle to where it all began.

Review by Tyran Grillo, ECMReviews.com

This 1974 recording by Edward Vesala is now available again as MP3, but it's a real shame that ECM hasn't re-released it on disc. This is one of the most remarkable free jazz recordings I've ever heard, and the sound quality on the now out of print CD is superb.

The Finnish jazz drummer Vesala appears with a fairly large and varied ensemble: Elisabeth Leistola (harp), Kaj Backlund (trumpet), Juhani Aaltonen (saxophone), Seppo Paakkunainen (saxophone), Pentti Lahti (saxophone), Charlie Mariano (saxophone), Juhani Poutanen (violin), Sakari Kukko (flute), Mircea Stan (trombone) and Teppo Hauta-aho (double bass). Not all musicians appear on each track, so there is often an intimate feeling in spite of the number of players.

The opening track "Nan Madol" sets the tone for the whole album. It inherits something of 1960s free jazz from John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, but instead of the wild, fiery chaos of those pioneers, Vesala and company take the tempo way down. The result is mystical, as if the music has become Eastern ritual. "Love for Living" is a short duet for harp and saxophone. Leistola's harp is by turns savage or sweet, and encourages me to check out more harp jazz efforts. "The Way Of…" starts as fairly traditional ballad, wanders through some moments of pure musical expressionism, and ends in that solemn tone that makes the album so refreshing. "Areous Vlor Ta" segues between free jazz moments and fairly traditional postbop. "The Wind" is centered around Sakari Kukko's flute, while other instruments play birdsong-like melodies around it.

This is probably a good, gentle introduction to free jazz for those who can't handle 1965-66 Coltrane yet. But beyond that, it's a very memorable recording that any jazz fan should seek out.

Review by Christopher Culver