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Bailey / Tacuma / Weston: Mirakle
ByOn the surface their meeting mirrors the action of a boxing match with Bailey on one side of the ring, and Tacuma and Weston on the other struggling to maintain a groove despite the hail of sonic jabs and punches that spray forth from the guitarist’s serrated strings. Just as s soon as the Philly contingent manages to wrest free an solid fatback funk riff, Bailey moves in again and shreds it with a razor-wire web of guitar static. After the initial shock of hearing these three scuffle subsides deeper listening reveals that their interplay isn’t some free-for-all after all, but a highly charged swirling pool of spontaneously harnessed energy. Each man is actively and attentively responding to his partners and rather than being two immovable objects that collide in a cataclysmic impact the factions instead strike a supportive alliance. Bailey’s guitar rockets forward while Tacuma and Weston carve out a malleable underpinning to fuel his velocity.
In the first piece alone the trio cycles through an astounding series of improvisational exchanges. Tacuma and Weston have a limitless supply of undulating beats at their disposal and toss out one after another for Bailey to pulverize with devilish enthusiasm. Across the remaining tracks the three rip apart the boundaries of funk at the seams and create a document guaranteed to elicit in equal parts perplexed wonder and riotous admiration. It’s an exhausting ride, but one that yields incredible exhilaration, and the most startling thing of all is that it’s all completely improvised! To borrow a catch phrase from the ESP label that seems strangely appropriate here: “You Never Heard Such Sounds In Your Life.”
Tracks:Moment/ What It Is/ This Time/ Nebeula/ Present/ S’Now.
Players:Derek Bailey- electric guitar; Jamaaladeen Tacuma- electric bass; Calvin Weston- drums.
Recorded: November 29, 1999 at Orange Music.
Tzadik on the web: http://www.tzadik.com
Personnel
Derek Bailey
guitarAlbum information
Title: Mirakle | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Tzadik
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