Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jim Black / AlasNoAxis: Dogs of Great Indifference
Jim Black / AlasNoAxis: Dogs of Great Indifference
Over the course of four releases, Black has developed and refined the group's sound: rock energy and distorted guitars combined with the improvisatory exploration, complex progressions and challenging rhythmic foundations of jazz and creative music.
While remaining true to the core sound, Black approached this recording differently to give the disc its own identity. The group's previous effort, Habyor (Winter & Winter, 2004), was song-oriented with overdubbed keyboard, accordion and electronic treatments and counterparts that enhanced the tunes with very little improvisation. For Dogs, Black brought tunes in a raw state, taking a live approach to the session that allowed the musicians spontaneously to voice and arrange their parts without studio embellishment. That exemplifies the confidence and trust Black shares with his simpatico band of improvisers: saxophonist Chris Speed, guitarist Hilmar Jensson and bassist Skuli Sverrisson.
The patience of the music, which allowed the instrumentalists to take time to explore the open frameworks of Black's compositions, was as evident during the Tonic performance as it is on the recording. The title track's loping, off-beat feel emerged from a prologue of swirling atmospherics, before Speed's lyricism rode the groove's momentum, articulating the song's intent. Jensson's combination of distortion and delay created ambience for the spacious "Harmstrong ; Speed provided the subtle theme, allowing it to wander and stretch differently than the recorded version.
That's not to say that the concert, or disc, was all nuance. "Star Rubbed exploded from the start, with Jensson hammering in unison with the cracking snare drum and insistent bass line, contrasted by Speed's longer phrases. On the CD, the threads converge on "Desemrascar, and a rollicking unison of drums and strings sets up Jensson's angular run. The section dissolves, never to return, and the musicians spin a soundscape that ends in an entirely different place.
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Track Listing
Oddfelt; Dogs of Great Indifference; Tars and Varnish; Spins So Free; Star Rubbed; Harmstrong; Everybody Says the Same; You Know Just Because; Desemrascar; Harmsoft; I Am Seven.
Personnel
Jim Black
drumsJim Black: drums; Chris Speed: tenor sax; Hilmar Jensson: guitars; Sk
Album information
Title: Dogs Of Great Indifference | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Winter & Winter
About Jim Black
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