Duck Baker: Breakdown Lane: Free Solos & Duos 1976​-​1998

This release is a great introduction to the music of Duck Baker and, maybe more importantly, a reminder of why the musician's sound is so vital. Baker, a finger-style acoustic guitarist, is a folk music omnivore. Besides Scottish and Irish fiddle music, he is at home with bebop, blues, free jazz and free improvisation. Let that last sentence sink in for a minute. Baker's folk can absorb, digest and effortlessly function in all genres. He released the stunningly beautiful covers of Herbie Nichols Spinning Song (Avant, 1996) and the LP Duck Baker Plays Monk (Triple Point Records, 2018), which has been released on CD. Baker's previous release for ESP-Disk, Confabulations (2012) found him in duos and trios with the likes of Mark Dresser, Roswell Rudd, Steve Beresford, John Butcher, Alex Ward, Michael Moore and Derek Bailey.

Breakdown Lane is a collection of unreleased music from 1976 through 1998. Of the sixteen tracks, 14 are solo plus two duos with his brother-from-another-mother Eugene Chadbourne. He performs on a flamenco guitar on all tracks except for "Straight, No Chaser," where he chose a steel-string acoustic guitar. The Thelonious Monk blues is performed with an effervescence that balances melody with Baker's always-accelerating mind. His performances can range from a meditative take on Ornette Coleman's "Peace" to the animated "No Family Planning," which sounds like the two figures, an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, having a heated conversation. His tapping guitar body opens "Klee" before exercising some free improvisation demon technique. His duos with Chadbourne include the title track and Billy Strayhorn's "Take The 'A' Train." The pair have performed and recorded together many times, and as their custom, the music is playful and mischievous. Listeners are encouraged to smile throughout.