Chicago Jazz Examiner Review
JASON STEIN SOLO In Exchange for a Process
Leo Records 2009

Chicago reedist Jason Stein plays bass clarinet, which isn’t so unusual: a number of jazzmen employ the instrument, either as a saxophone alternative (like Chris Potter, of Dave Holland’s bands) or as a deeper darker version of the clarinet itself (for example, Chicago musicians Douglas Ewart and Ken Vandermark).  

But Jason Stein plays only the bass clarinet.  He doesn’t use it for a change of scenery – it’s his entire instrumental arsenal.  And that is very unusual, to say the least.  In fact, I can name only three or four others who fit that description, and even that takes a little research.  

The best known bass clarinet player in jazz remains the visionary improviser Eric Dolphy: the first to use it in a modern setting, he created a cogent and effective style on the instrument in the 1950s and 60s.  Initially, Dolphy used the bass clarinet as an extension of his primary horn, the alto sax, then gradually chiseled a separate and distinctive musical personality for it (most clearly heard in his unaccompanied fantasia on the song “God Bless The Child.”) 

On In Exchange for a Process, Stein essentially deconstructs the bass clarinet, from its blatty lowest notes to its squawky altissimo range, but still provides plenty of the stuff in between – the instrument’s husky, wooded timbre, which is one of the purest sounds in music.  In his booklet essay, Chicago writer Art Lange describes these as “spontaneous etudes” – instrumental studies – and that fits perfectly.  These pieces explore the extended techniques Stein has mastered, as he lays out pretty much everything that he (or almost anyone else) can do on the instrument.  It’s basic research, and often mesmerizing, though certainly not a bedtime story for casual listeners.

Stein puts all those techniques to somewhat more conventional use on the trio disc, Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed).  Although he still leaves room for unaccompanied passages within the tracks on this disc, he focuses more on melodic line and rhythmic flow within the group context.  Many of the same devices heard in his “etudes” assume a completely different profile when framed by this minimal but efficient rhythm section.  The products of their interaction are both translucent and challenging, and neatly justify Stein’s niche – as both an instrumentalist and an improviser – in Chicago’s increasingly crowded new-music scene.

-Neil Tesser, Chicago Jazz Examiner December 2009