Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » John O'Gallagher's Axiom: Line Of Sight

200

John O'Gallagher's Axiom: Line Of Sight

By

View read count
John O'Gallagher's Axiom: Line Of Sight
John O'Gallagher's latest album sounds focused on a narrow band of sound, in that the compositions are all built around an interval of a fourth, with a series of syncopations appearing in each line. These similar-sounding building blocks are then taken apart, reassembled, and subjected to an astonishing variety of treatments, so that through differences in tempo, time signature, and rhythmic emphasis, Line Of Sight takes on an impressive variety.

With Tony Malaby, O'Gallagher has found an ideal partner. O'Gallagher plays alto with a dry lyricism and he isn't afraid to let his lines breathe. Malaby plays tenor with a huge, sometimes brusque sound. He loves to dig in and swing, and he's not afraid to jump into upper register harmonics. On "Cubist," where his sound is momentarily indistinguishable from O'Gallagher's, Malaby's use of the high end makes for a stunning entrance. Elsewhere, Malaby performs an aggressive dance on "Unmode," with which O'Gallagher's thoughtful horn contrasts effectively. "Revolving Doors" features the horn men improvising collectively at a fast tempo, sometimes on paired soprano saxophones. O'Gallagher swings hard on this one.

Sometimes the saxophonists use sequential phrases, and sometimes the music takes on a mournful cast. At these moments the music sounds a bit like Ornette Coleman's quartet with Dewey Redman circa 1970, although I don't know if this was O'Gallagher's intention. The rhythm section on Line Of Sight is consistently responsive. There is much to hear on this album, as both O'Gallagher and Malaby continue to grow—and impress.

Track Listing

Cubist, Unmode, Leona, Effluence, Revolving Doors, DNA, Cascade, Rare Views.

Personnel

John O'Gallagher
saxophone, alto

John O'Gallagher, alto, soprano saxophones; Tony Malaby, tenor, soprano saxophones; John Hebert, bass; Jeff Williams, drums.

Album information

Title: Line Of Sight | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Fresh Sound New Talent

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.