Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sam Gendel: Pass If Music
Sam Gendel: Pass If Music
By"Trudge" employs a drone with rhythmic key-clicks and breath sounds, the saxophone sounding like a percussion instrument. "Hyena" uses constant, disorienting pitch bending, while "REV" consists almost entirely of a short rhythmic loop. "Final Chapter" is a mesmerizing combination of several of these techniques, with two loops (clicking and harmonized chorus) over a drone coupled with a questing melody. Closer "ZeroZero" lulls the listener with its dense, slowly shifting drone before its abrupt end. One imagines it could have gone on forever.
There have been other instances of saxophonists working with electronicsgoing at least as far back as keyboardist/composer Terry Riley's influential album A Rainbow in Curved Air (CBS Records, 1969), which featured his soprano saxophone played through a tape delay system. But Gendel has found a truly individual voice. This music was inspired by the motion picture The Labyrinth & The Long Road, directed by Daniel Oh. At just under a half hour it paints a vivid interior soundscape. Recommended to ambient music fans.
Track Listing
Anemone Swerve; East LA Haze Dream; Coffee Mainframe; Trudge; Drowning Interlude; Hyena; Rev; Final Chamber; ZeroZero.
Personnel
Sam Gendel
saxophoneSam Gendel: alto saxophone & electronics.
Album information
Title: Pass If Music | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Leaving Records
Tags
Comments
PREVIOUS / NEXT
Support All About Jazz
