Savina Yannatou / Barry Guy / Ramon Lopez / Floros Floridis: Kouarteto

Four seasoned improvisers unite to telling effect on Kouartéto. Their pedigrees go back a long way. Greek vocalist Savina Yannatou, English bassist Barry Guy and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez have been colleagues in Guy's Blue Shroud Band for the past 14 years, though Attikos (Maya, 2010) documenting bassist and singer in tandem at Amsterdam's esteemed Bimhuis predates that. Clarinetist Floros Floridis' association with the singer stretches back further still, not surprising as he has been at the forefront of the Greek free music scene for over four decades.

Although the four share an egalitarian outlook, the distinctive voice of Yannatou, whose name takes first place on the sleeve, proves the dominant feature. She appears on all but two of the 13 cuts, mixing silken songlike tones with a coarser guttural staccato, variously seeming to be conversing, raging, wheedling and serenading in an alien language. She feeds into exchanges that are often volatile in temperament, and dynamic in pacing, volume and a willingness to make abrupt detours. While bass and drums govern uncertain momentum, everyone shifts shape according to the prevailing weather.

Although the majority of the concise pieces showcase the whole combo, as the title implies, they ring the changes to offer different perspectives by also including four duos and three trios. On "Ydra 4," the responsive pairing of Guy and Floridis trades in squawky bass clarinet and dry flinty pizzicato, which ultimately turns reflective. On "Ydra 8," matching the reedman with Yannatou, the outcome veers towards the conspiratorial, as if secrets are swapped and scandalous tales told.

Further enriching the stew, on three occasions Yannatou draws on folk tunes. She spreads a Greek lullaby over pattering percussion and bass which alternates between plump glissandos and prickly twangs on "Ydra 6." A lovely intermingling of wavering arco and angelic voice resides at the heart of "Ydra 11," a soaring Greek-Hebrew lament, that is one of the high points of the album, while Floridis' clarinet curls tenderly around the syllables of the Albanian melody on the final "Ydra 13."

By encompassing both the honeyed glide and the astringent stutter, the quartet creates an alchemical amalgam that deepens the flavor of both.

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