Keir Neuringer/Rafal Mazur: Diachronic Paths

The aptly named release Diachronic Paths by the free improvising duo of Keir Neuringer and Rafal Mazur continues the transformation discourses of their evolving musical language. One that is based on their dialogue of discovery.

Keir Neuringer, a Philadelphia-based saxophonist lived in Kraków and The Hague for a time and established a strong relationship with the Polish bassist Rafal Mazur. This recording from 2013, follows The Kraków Letters (For Tune , 2014), Unison Lines (Not Two, 2010), and Élan Vital (Insubordinations, 2008).

Each piece presented here is an enervating exercise in both performance and ingestion. Both players hold nothing in reserve. Not in a Machine Gun Peter Brotzmann blowing sense, as much as an inexhaustible supply of ideas.

Both artists bring their solo performance talents to this recording; Neuringer, with a bag full of extended technique and circular breathing, and Mazur expanding his acoustic bass. The result often sounds electric. The pulse of Jaco Pastorius comes to mind here. The disc opens with an almost chamber like performance. Both players methodically pace their "Initial Path" with a temperance that makes for a successful union. Same can be said for the last piece, "Final Path," but here the sound is scruffy, more aggressive and ragged, with Mazur bowing and Neuringer blowing upper registers. The elastic of the music threatens to snap. In between, the sounds range from the thunderous bass explorations and circular breathing landscapes to virtuosic frenetic fingers and magical blown passages. An arduous, but ultimately rewarding experience.