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Bill Cole: Duets & Solos, Volume 1
ByWhile the compositions and playing remain passionate and personal and there are many moments of brilliance on the sophomore effort, Cole’s expectations on his audience are even higher and overall the music is even more demanding than it’s predecessor. Devoid of the broad palette of textures and colors afforded by large ensemble Cole is forced to work much more within the parameters of his own instruments, many of which were not designed for a wide dynamic range of expressive capabilities. As a result, their limitations as extended improvisatory vehicles are brought into bolder relief. Even with Cole’s broad array of extended techniques (multiphonics, vocalizations, etc.) the opening piece for flute suffers in this respect and threatens to slip into redundancy toward its close. Conversely the second piece stands as one of them most engaging pieces of music I’ve heard in recent memory. Cooper-Moore is a genius- an instrument-maker and improviser who is completely comfortable in seemingly any setting. On homemade hoe-handled harp he plucks out a gossamer latticework of Eastern-tinged angelic patterns that simulate the sky to Cole’s droning didgeridoo earth. Shenai and diddley-bow are matched on “W.S.C. & G.Y.A. Blues” trafficking in a weird strain of Middle-Eastern funk. Cooper-Moore’s diddley-bow, an amplified one-string instrument, lays down a viscous vamp and Cole soars above. Again the temporal dimensions of the piece surpass the variations achievable by the instruments. In addition Cooper-Moore’s ‘bow’ sacrifices some clarity through muddy amplification.
Cole and Smith convene on the next two tracks, first meshing circular blown Tibetan trumpet with gongs before moving into a conversation between sona, shenai and trap drums. More meditative than overtly musical these pieces also require that listeners subsume expectations and simply attend to the sounds on their own terms. Of the two Smith’s dynamic drumming on the second piece makes it slightly more accessible, but both pieces repay attentive listening in the textures and communication they unveil. Cole’s solemn piri and Parker’s pitched string bowing mix sharply on the next composition creating another atmosphere of Eastern-inflected sonorities that rises into a flurried patchwork of tone colors. Closing with a solo shenai invocation in honor of former friend and colleague Clifford Thornton Cole leaves the way wide open for Volume 2.
Personnel
Bill Cole
saxophoneBill Cole- flute, digeridoo, shenai, Tibetan trumpet, sona, piri; Cooper-Moore- horizontal hoe-handle harp, diddley bow; Warren Smith- gongs, trap drums; William Parker- bass. Recorded: November 20, 1999, Greenfield, MA.
Album information
Title: Duets & Solos, Volume 1 | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Boxholder Records
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