Gustavo Cortiñas

The Crisis Knows No Borders

Desafio Candente

Drummer and composer Gustavo Cortiñas addresses the many wide reaching implications and consequences of global warming on The Crisis Knows No Borders.  Instead of working with his usual quintet, he assembled another cadre of outstanding musicians to form a quartet. They tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon, guitarist Dave Miller, and violinist Mark Feldman. Cortiñas has obviously given this subject much thought and in the album discusses how climate change leads to armed conflict, poverty, hunger, and forced migration.

Opener is “The Basic Economic Farsity”  where the composer explains that scarcity is the basic economic principle and the piece reflects on how prioritizing the luxurious wants of a few over the the essential needs of many causes problems. Feldman begins but as Irabagon and MIller enter they build tension meant to show the conflicts between groups such as rural and urban, developed and developing, nature and technology, all resulting in harm. This is shown musically by how the different instruments are at odds with one another, mostly a dissonant soundscape with the drummer beating furiously. “The Growth Imperative” explains that today’s economic models are built on the concept of perpetual growth which is unsustainable. His piece is meant to show that the model looks for a place to settle but instead disrupts everything, resulting in free improvisation without resolution. When you listen to the cyclical motifs of just Feldman’s violin, it’s as if the orbiting is endless and Ultimately frustrating. “Oil and Water Don’t Mix” is a treatise on our dependence on fossil fuels and depletion of natural resources such as water. Musically it’s the contrast between dry and wet sounds. Never having heard that description, the assumption is that the gutiar and violin are wet while the drums and saxophone are dry. This is a highly textured piece with plenty of rubato sequences.

The quartet paints an eerie, foreboding soundscape that builds tension gradually in “Skepticism,” meant to show how many dispute science and the truth of climate change. When these thoughts gather momentum through news (and fake news) as well as social media, it is often difficult for many, especially the uninformed, to discern the difference between truth and lies. By the middle of the piece and in another section two-thirds in, the ensemble is locked in, motoring hard, only to dissipate into the blurry nature of the opening. This conveys confusion and doubt, commensurate with the title. “Wishcyle” is basically about hypocrisy. We recycle to alleviate our guilt about doing harm to the environment, yet industry continues environmentally harmful practices in pursuit of profit. In other words, recycling is overblown. Both Feldman and Iragabon take the lead here, as the piece ebbs and flows. The drummer becomes mostly a percussionist and Feldman alternates arco and pizzicato runs. This segues seamlessly into “Sea Levels Rising” which begins calmer and more melodic than the preceding, sounding mostly classical. This melody collides with a turbulent bridge, symbolizing the inevitable forthcoming disasters. Miller solos, and is more prominent than he is on the other pieces. Cortiñas quotes Bo Burnham – “the world is at your fingertips, the ocean at your door.”

The title track begins with the drummer’s kinetic activity. The melodic instruments join in a rubato folkloric melody that surfs over shifting rhythms, meant to connote interdependence, and a loud call for collective action. Unlike the other pieces, there are no subdued moments in this one. The abrupt ending says it all. The declarative, strident and dissonant tones continue into “Your Right Under the Sun,” meant to symbolize overpopulation without sustainable plans to ensure all can work and thrive as technology and an oligarchy mentality grows.  The crescendo here is among the most powerful of any sequence in the program. “The man of Flesh and Bone” is a re-imagined song inspired by the musings of Miguel de Uamuno on mortality. The music is light, symbolizing the fragility of our existence and the oft neglected need of embracing one another versus reducing everything to nameless statistics. Again, Miller takes a prominent role along with Feldman. The closer is a drum solo, a meditation on these trying times.

One has to question whether projects of this nature will continue under this current administration which is cutting funding to the arts and education. In this case the project was partially funded partly by donors to the Boulder County Arts Alliance, the Illinois Arts Council, and Thomas Ferella and BlueStern Jazz.  It would appear that none of them are federal, thankfully.

These issues are fodder for deep reflection, empathy, and ultimately unity amid the crisis, which apparently isn’t resonating with America’s leadership nor that of other countries. Unfortunately a jazz record isn’t going to change that but a dive into the thinking here is enlightening nonetheless. Cortiñas does a terrific job of stating his case in the liners, and, of course, musically.

– Jim Hynes

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