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Pascal Marzan
Pascal Marzan Alex Ward: (VU)
by John Eyles
Although (VU) is the first album on which guitarist Pascal Marzan and clarinetist & guitarist Alex Ward have collaborated as a duo, it comes as no surprise as (until Covid-19) each of them was a well-established repeat visitor to the late, great John Russell's monthly Mopomoso improvised music sessions at London's Vortex. (The YouTube clip below shows Marzan and Ward performing there together, in 2015, in a trio with cellist Alice Eldridge). In 2017, they were both among the musicians ...
read moreIvo Perleman: Dust of Light/Ears Drawing Sounds
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman is an accomplished improviser whose intrepid experimentations have resulted in one of the most provocative modern music. Despite being prolific, additions to Perelman's discography are always refreshingly innovative partially because of like-minded and equally brilliant collaborators. Joining him on the superb Dust of Light/Ears Drawing Sounds, is the French guitar virtuoso Pascal Marzan. There is a spirituality that permeates the album, which is peppered with bursts of impressionistic colors. It opens with Hot Dust-Obscured Galaxies" ...
read morePascal Marzan /John Russell: Translations
by John Eyles
"By the way, if you don't like guitars you won't like this CD!" So says guitarist John Russell, in his sleeve note to Translations, laying out the truth in typically plain, simple terms. Russell is part of the generation of improvisers who came together in London in the '70s and have been mainstays of the capital's improv scene ever since. If that makes it sound parochial, thanks to Russell the reality has been very different. Through his monthly Mopomoso series ...
read morePascal Marzan & Roger Smith: Two Spanish Guitars
by John Eyles
Everything about this release has a disarming sense of honesty about it. From the no-nonsense statement of its title, an echo of Roger Smith's earlier solo album on Emanem, Spanish Guitar (2002), to the separation of the two guitars that allows us to hear who is doing what, to the clean clarity of the recording, it is refreshingly straightforward. Never let it be said that musicians' use of electronics is less than honest, but it can make the music difficult ...
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