Yochk'o Seffer - Ima

Ima was a second album from Yochk'o Seffer and his Neffesh Music project. Compared to the previous album, Ima has a darker and more sinister vibe. The arrangements, composition and layering of sounds is more complex than on Delire, the result is a difficult but a richly rewarding listen, a bizarre avant-fusion manifestation.

The title track continues where the final composition on the last album (titled as the first part of "Ima") left off: sinister low drone in E pulsating throughout the 20 minute piece with shifting layers and textures drifting in and out of the mix. Yochk'o uses vocalizing, harmonies, saxophone solos, other self-made reed instruments that rattle and drone in the background and even synthesizers to create an unsettling and surrealist ambiance. Yochk'o plays almost everything in here, save for drums and bass (by Dominique Bertram and Manu Katche respectively) that appear 15 minutes in for some low-key interplay. 20 minutes of almost pure ambient music that sounds more involving than most other efforts in that vein.

The second side is more jazz and fusion oriented, but there's still a lot going on. Mauricia Platon from early Zao days sits in on vocals for the two compositions on side two. "Ofek" opens with mysterious rubato melody rendered on vocal and tenor sax underpinned by strings, bass and clavinet. Clavinet, bass and drums play edgy, herky-jerky rhythms, with meandering xylophone providing further tension. The piece straddles a fine line between composed and improvised material, featuring stellar string performance from Quatour Margand.

"Noce Chimique" is what I'd describe as "extremist jazz-fusion". It features tricky time signatures, nimble yet dissonant basslines and edgy soprano saxophone lines and as such, it might seem as a self-indulgent wank-fest. But further listens reveal a multi-layered beast. Various keyboards provide ominous texture, Platon's voice sounds eerie as hell, at 2:30 Seffer goes into a furious free-jazz piano solo that almost compares to Cecyl Taylor. Five minutes in violin solo comes in, followed by rigid strings. Seven minutes in the piece shifts into a fast paced 7/8 groove, with a choral backing from Platon (and possibly Seffer) to the sax solo, followed by a bass solo during a similar groove where harmonic backdrop is provided by overdubbed soprano and sopranino saxes. A very folky Hungarian melody on vocal and soprano sax follows the improvisation, until the sax drops out leaving piano, bass, drums and vocal. Eventually Platon recites the composition's title and the piece ends with synthesizer effects. Thus closes yet another interesting and unique record from Yochk'o Seffer, which might be his most avant-garde work. A surreal and sinister spin on Zeuhl.

Yochk'o Seffer - Delire

Although Delire was not Hungarian-born Parisian multi-instrumentalist Yochk'o Seffer's first solo album, it was nonetheless the first from his project Neffesh Music (music of the soul), consisting of him as the composer and the instrumentalist along with a revolving cast of other musicians. On this album he's backed by fellow Zao cohort Jean-My Truong on drums as well as a string quartet led by Michele Margand, who also were members of Zao at the time when this album was recorded (March 1976). All other instruments are played by Yochk'o.

What sets this album apart from his previous work with Zao, as well as his future Neffesh Music projects, was the lack of electric bassist. Therefore, this album includes less fusion/jazz-rock tinge, the dominant presence of acoustic piano and strings along with saxophones clearly hints at an avant-garde chamber rock sound reminiscent of Univers Zero, Henry Cow or possibly even late sixties Frank Zappa. Even within Seffer's varied discography this album is sonically unique, but unfortunately it's overlooked in favor of his other recordings, including Ghilgoul. Nowadays one can hope to buy this record via Ebay and this can incur more-than-average expenses for one vinyl copy. It's that rare!

"Heart" opens with a staccato piano-drums-sax riff, followed by ominous and rigid strings, the atmosphere is very tense and almost Stravinsky like. The main melodic theme is established after a minute with tenor sax carrying the melody, including a bassline that sounds like rendered on fuzz-bass, but is more likely a distorted bass synth that sounds heavy and sinister nonetheless. The same theme is then repeated on strings and Seffer's unique falsetto vocalize. Halfway in the piece switches to a funky drum break backing a tenor sax solo, with interjections from synth and piano.

"Jonetsu For Judith" ("jonetsu" is Japanese for "passion") starts with lush string arrangements and beautiful chord progression, as the prominent tenor sax solos over the chords with passionate agitation. Layers like piano, synthesizer and even overdubbed harmony vocals are added. The piece moves through some tense and dissonant chords that are contrasted by freeform tenor sax. The piece concludes with a moderately fast tempo carried by strings aided with synth bass and some percussion and Seffer's tenor sax gets more intense until the piece stops.

"Orkana" begins with a rubato synthesizer solo backed by sparse piano. First hint at the main melodic themes comes with overdubbed saxophones (sopranino, soprano and tenor). Drums and piano then come in and the same theme gets a beat-heavy basis, with Seffer adding vocalize to the mix as well. This is clearly the most Henry Cowish track on the entire album, as the interplay between drums and piano is pure kinetic chamber rock bliss, with overdubbed saxophones having the lushness comparable to a wind quartet, composed themes contrast with short solos on synthesizer, tenor and sopranino saxophones and Seffer showcasing more of his unique high voice. Halfway the piece switches to a relentless synth solo over a fast drum beat that goes on for a while until the piece concludes with the instrumentation of drums, piano and soprano sax.

"Streledzia" is a short, lush piece for electric piano, vocalize, strings and includes more freeform tenor sax outing. As a modern classical piece it sounds unique with its lush, empathic chord clusters, instrumentation and Coltrane-influenced tenor sax.

While other tracks confirm that Yochk'o Seffer is capable of composing warm, empathic and highly personal forms of avant-garde music combining modern classicism, free jazz and progressive influences, on the title track he pulls all the stops and creates a fusion of atonal classicism and unstructured free-jazz that at times sounds ominous, at times rigid and at other times shows that Seffer as a pianist had a bit of a Cecil Taylor influence. Not a palatable listening, unless you love later period Coltrane and/or Zappa's least accessible classical writing.

"Ima (1ere partie)" is a prelude to his next solo album, combining the low buzzing droning noises of his self-invented sonic sculptures, out-of-control bass clarinets rattling at the background, and haunting melodies carried by Seffer's vocalize, first doubled on a Moog synth and then on tenor sax. This is a mourning piece of proto-ambient music and as a precursor to the 2o minute title track of Ima, it shows that Yochk'o Seffer could also make electronic avant-garde music very well.

Delire is a rare and forgotten record that is unjustly overlooked. Nonetheless, it shows Yochk'o Seffer's boundless creativity as a composer, instrumentalist and improviser. This work transcends the usual trappings of jazz-fusion or progressive rock.

Yochk'o Seffer - Ghilgoul

Ghilgoul is an outstanding effort from reed-man Yochk'o Seffer (known from Zeuhl ensembles like Magma and Zao) who was in his Neffesh Music period, combining complex jazz-fusion stylings with string quartet orchestrations and his own sharp sax skills along with quite adept piano playing. Influences range from John Coltrane to Bela Bartók and Hungarian folk music. "Dag" is a highlight: one of his most accessible and memorable melodies written, a folky jaunt allied with rhythms and textures that suggest avant-prog or Rock In Opposition, along with solid jazz soloing from Seffer on soprano. "Sifra" starts with classical chamber music and transitions into a busy ensemble work with nimble rhythm section work from Dominique Bertram (bass) and Francois Laizeau (drums). Bertram wrote "Dailn" and that is the most overtly Fusion-influenced pieces, while "Larma" features Seffer's trademark falsetto vocalize, harking back to mid-period Zao. The title track is an avant-garde piece in the vein of "Ima", but less droning, combining Seffer's ghostly Ligeti-inspired overdubbed vocal harmonies, sax improvisations, keyboards and strings. The album's reissues have three bonus tracks recorded in 1980 with a different lineup, they feature Seffer extensively on piano and there's an alternate version of "Sifra", skipping the classical intro and jumping headfirst into ensemble section. Recommended for fans of RIO/Zeuhl.

Yochk'o Seffer - Adama

On Adama Yochk'o Seffer played all the instruments himself. On most of the tunes he plays all seven saxophones as designed by Adolphe Sax: sopranino to contrabass saxophones. This was recorded approximately in the mid-1980s and the record actually led to the creation of a saxophone septet to play these pieces in the live setting.

Adama is a worthwhile record, because it offers a chance to hear an otherwise soprano- and tenor-centric saxophonist Seffer to whip it out on the lower-toned saxophones. The title track showcases Seffer's mastery and finely honed improvisation on the bass saxophone. It's not a pure saxophone track as tranquil piano appears in the mix half-way in (followed by additional chords via seven soprano sax overdubs). "La danse des ferrailleurs" is, as the title indicates, a dance number written for low saxes. By contrast, "Lumiere Primitive" has lower saxes relegated to servile status compared to sopranino sax and these eventually drop out leaving the high-pitched sax unaccompanied. On "Polyglotte" the combined textures of all seven saxes sound oddly beautiful and so rich in their orchestral qualities, comparable to the sonic lushness of a string quartet. Dense composed harmonies alternate with unaccompanied baritone, soprano and tenor (in that order) solos.

There is one exception to the pure saxophone (with occasional piano) music of other tracks: "Trablair n°1" where Yochk'o goes for a dissonant avant-garde experiment where he plays six of his sonic sculptures (basically, self-invented, home-made reed instruments), while adding solo sopranino sax and his own voice to the mix. Musically the sound is akin to avant-garde sonic collage, even though it's hard to tell if Yochk'o merely multitracked his self-invented instruments or also went for some auxiliary tape editing. An earlier free-jazz band version was recorded on Perception's Mestari in 1973. A later reissue of this album is called "Adama Ima", with a 22 minute "Ima" added, which is yet again an avant-garde experiment consisting of sonic sculpture drones, sax and vocal harmonies, but more meditative. It was recorded at an entirely different time period, it actually combines the title tracks of Ima from 1977 and Ghilgoul from 1978.

Musically the album's overall style is generally some kind of a fusion of modern classical and avant-garde jazz combining elaborate multi-tracked harmonies and rhythms with free flowing solo improvisations. If Bartók would have composed Third Stream music for a saxophone ensemble, would this have been the result? While not as accessible as his more jazz rock oriented work with Zao and Neffesh Music, this record nonetheless confirms that Yochk'o Seffer is an instrumentalist and a composer with unique singular vision and a drive to do something different every time.