DENMAN MARONEY QUINTET, Umwelt

Over the course of his multi-decade recording career, Denman Maroney has mastered expanded the sonic possibilities of his chosen instrument with his invention of his “hyperpiano” technique, a method of playing both from the keyboard and from inside the cabinet simultaneously. Aiming to produce sounds beyond normal keyboard playing, he creates otherworldly orchestral-style textures, drones and percussive effects by sliding, bowing, stopping, plucking or hitting the strings with everything from bowls, steel cylinders and metal bars to rubber blocks. Since releasing his debut album Hyperpiano in 1998, this revolutionary style has allowed him to bend notes with a rare precision, as if he were playing an Indian classical instrument.  

With all that stirring history, it may strike some listeners as curious that on Umwelt, his third album since moving from NYC to France in 2020 and third project leading the Denman Maroney Quintet, he only employs “hyperpiano” on the quirkily titled opening track “Andale/Simplexity.” Maroney jams with deftness and agility, rolling through the shapeshifting melodic, rhythmic and harmonic changes in high style with his ensemble of Guillaume Orti (soprano and alto sax), Robin Fincker (tenor sax), Scott Walton (bass) and Samuel Silvant (drums). It’s a boppish fever dream marked both by the pianist’s agility and the emotional intensity of his saxophonists’ burning solos.

Every piece on the album offers a dynamic showcase for Maroney’s trademark temporal harmony style, which in a nutshell is a compositional and improvisational system based on the undertone series that allows a musician or ensemble to perform in multiple, non-integer related tempos simultaneously. This mathematical foundation creates what he calls “pulse fields,” which can be expressed in various musical dimensions. Tapping into these realms, the pianist/composer weaves his multi-faceted narrative with drive and adventurous excitement, from the lyrical, charmingly infectious “Iteratio” through the plucky, quirky, hypnotically horn-punched “Rolling Evermore” (inspired by a line in the William Wordsworth poem Ode) and including such fascinating, intricate expressions as the whimsical, high spirited dance “Sea Set Wheat” and the sparse, ethereal free jazz ballad “Long Odds,” both originally written for Maroney’s trio with Ratzo Harris and Bob Meyer.

The tracks on the album feature two compositional approaches, with gems like “Iteratio,” “Long Odds” and “Isotrope” were through composed while the other pieces feature improvisation. Originally written for Diane Moser’s Composers Big Band, “Isotrope”’s darkly haunting, slightly atonal chamber music-like start gives way to a peppy celebratory vibe) – were through composed while the other pieces include improvisation. Another notable track, “Two Up, One Down” offers a lighthearted, buoyant and offbeat seduction on the inspirational wings of the 3+4+5 vamp on John Coltrane Quarter’s iconic version of “My Favorite Things.”

Tying all these incredibly disparate compositions together is Maroney’s titular concept of Umwelt (German for “environment” or “surroundings”), a biological and philosophical concept referring to the unique, subjective perceptual world an organism experiences based on its specific sensory and cognitive capabilities. In many ways, it’s symbolic of the singular music the Denman Maroney Quintet creates, framing music not solely as an objective sound phenomenon, but as a subjective and impactful sonic environment created through the interaction between the listener and external sounds.