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Art Music Ensemble: Look Both Ways
BySherr opens this disc with Berio's Sequenza for Flute, composed in 1958. He plays in that necessary and angular manner demanded by the piece. Sherr then boldly couples his Postmodern vision with that of Berio on his "Debussy" pieces, the first a wonderfully strange conversation between the vibraphone and violin, the second, a Jimmy Guiffre-sound piece from Guiffre's Free Fall days.
"Sax Lines" is a straight-ahead jazz piece, with some of the most precise cymbal work I have heard recently. Sherr's saxophone is tart but warm and his ideas thoughtful. His treatments of the Sequenzas for Oboe and Clarinet are as revealing as the one for flute. Sherr and the band elaborate on the former very effectively, producing a stunning soundscape. The disc closes with "In the Pocketa Pocketa", a blues with some very fancy muted trumpet playing by Brian Swartz.Overall, this is a very texture-driven recording with many hidden corners and treasures. Recommended for the Postmodern or the not so Postmodern among us.
Track Listing
Sequenza I for Flute; Debussy Deb-You-Do Pt. 1; Debussy Deb-You-Do Pt. 2; Sax Lines and Audio Tape; Sequenza VII for Oboe, Sequenza VII/Palimpsest; Sequenza IXa for Clarinet; In The Pocketa Pocketa(Total Time: 67:10)
Personnel
David Sherr: Reeds, Flute; Shelley Berg: Piano; Cynthia Fogg: Violin; Scott Higgins: Percussion; Joe LaBarbera: Drums; Harvey Newmark: Bass; Brian Swartz: Trumpet, Flugelhorn; Amy Wilkins: Harp.
Album information
Title: Look Both Ways | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Innova Recordings
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