Collin Sherman: Life Eats Life

Collin Sherman, a multiple reedman, has a day job in Manhattan. But on nights and weekends, he sheds the work clothes and switches into his idiosyncratic original voice in the creation of music. Life Eats Life is a solo effort. He plays and records all the instruments in his living room for his albums. Then he overdubs it all together—an audio cut-and-paste affair. He is responsible for the crafting of the spooky, 1940-ish Noir and the exotic saxophone-over-drones outing String Planes, both on Ex-tol Records, both from 2024.

His music cannot be categorized, but since it features large elements of improvisation, jazz is as good a category (if one is necessary) as you will find. His sound embodies mystery, featuring exotic backdrops, reed improvisations, electronic techniques, and the electric cello—an instrument not often encountered in the jazz world. His art is consistently mesmerizing; he is a guy who shakes hands with and wraps an arm around off-center beauty.

The reedman's Life Eats Life features Sherman on a variety of reed instruments: alto sax, clarinet, oboe, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, taragato, synthesizers, Midi Strings, Midi tubular bells, drum programming, electric cello, etc., etc, etc.

The layering of sounds is deftly done. The opener, "Kepler-10b" has a Hindustani flavor, with Sherman's reeds floating over bass grooves and insistent insectile drones. Visions of narrow, winding alleys populated by veiled women in colorful, flowing vestments drift into existence..

Sherman composed the album's centerpiece, "Requiem," soon after the 2024 Presidential election. It features taragato, a Hungarian horn similar to, in timbre and range, a soprano saxophone. It is fittingly mournful. This is the artist stepping into the political realm, where perhaps more artists should tread.

Sherman writes of his concerns that influenced the tune:

Requiem for the U.S.
Requiem for Democracy.
Requiem for Western Liberalism.

We chose fear.
We chose hate.
We chose ignorance..

The truth, succinctly expressed. This is what artists should do, what we all should do. The combination of evil and avarice is a hard force to beat when tangled up with ignorance and stupidity. But a guy in his apartment can make a difference against the craven and soulless fools who are running 2025's governmental show. John Coltrane's 1963 composition "Alabama," in response to the racist bombing that took the lives of four African-American girls, stands as an example of artistic pushback against hatred. "Requiem" stands also against evil.

"Action Unrest," the 11-plus-minute closer, seems to channel outrage. Sherman, on alto sax here, is fervent. The synths are increasingly disturbed and abrasive. Sherman blows into intervals that take the paint off the walls and melt the lubrication in the door hinges. (let us hope his landlord understands), But he always returns to the underlying focus, the cohesion of Life Eats Life's unsettled vision.

A remarkable and thought-providing album.

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