The music of multi-instrumentalist and composer Patrick Shiroishi is uncompromising yet consistently invigorating; his wildly expansive discography documents a process of constant evolution. In short, he’s among the most vital players currently on the scene. Shiroishi’s new record Forgetting is Violent is rooted in jazz but bursts forth and flows outward beyond category as he continues to focus on the scourge of racism both historically and in how it plagues us still. A record of piercing intensity and gripping beauty, it’s out now on vinyl and digital through American Dreams Records.
Patrick Shiroishi plays a variety of instruments, but he’s also said that the alto saxophone is his chosen horn. In the release notes for Forgetting is Violent, in commenting on forging one’s own artistic path, Shiroishi mentions Paul Desmond and Ornette Coleman, both alto sax players, in making the point that it’s futile to strive for a sweeter sound than Desmond or to get melodically or harmonically crazier than Coleman.
The alto connection reinforces that Shiroishi’s springboard is still jazz as he’s part of a relentlessly, restlessly new music that’s spirit of experimentation is defined by discipline and astute decision making. This new music thrives on collaboration but can also be expressed by a single person with an instrument and a voice. In building this new music, Shiroishi isn’t leaving jazz behind but is increasing its reach and strengthening its relevance.
Of course Shiroishi isn’t leaving jazz behind. As said above, Forgetting is Violent is an interrogation of and rumination upon racism, a malady inherent to the history of the USA and to jazz music, as well. Without racism, the shape of American music would be startlingly different. It’s a harsh reality that without racism, jazz wouldn’t exist. However, Shiroishi eludes being confined by borders, his historical focus appropriately broad and conceptually fluid as it relates to his experience as a Japanese-American.
In the approximate first half of the record, Shiroishi welcomes Aaron Turner of SUMAC and ISIS, Faith Coloccia of Mamiffer, Gemma Thompson of Savages, and otay::onii of Elizibeth Color Wheel for contributions that lend weight and abrasive texture while avoiding any clichés of plugged-in heaviness. The dialogue is organic, not stiff and forced.
Across the record, Shiroishi’s saxophone improvisations range from fiery and searching to beautiful and contemplative, although there are stretches where the horn isn’t the primary instrument or is set aside to instead foreground guitar, particularly Turner and Thompson in the early crescendo “Mountains that take wing,” or Mat Ball of BIG|BRAVE during the album’s final piece “Trying to get to heaven before they close the door.”
In “…what does anyone want but to feel a little more free?” Shiroishi integrates field recordings and Coloccia’s electronics and singing with a spoken text on racism from his aunt, an antiracist advocate. otay::onii’s vocals are powerful and resonant in the strikingly atmospheric “There is no moment in my life in which this is not happening.”
But it’s the suite that comprises Forgetting is Violent’s second side, with Shiroishi largely going it alone, that seals the album as a masterpiece. Quiet, cyclical, mediative and mournful are all descriptors that spring to mind. Also, calm. The saxophone in “One last walk with the wind of my past” is arresting in its beauty, his singing in “Prayer for a trembling body” equally so.
To call Forgetting is Violent a bold artistic undertaking is to give the wrong impression, for Shiroishi isn’t trying to impress but rather give testament through art. It’s right there in the title. When we remember and acknowledge, racism withers as its exposed and healing can flourish.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
