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Tom Collier: Impulsive Illuminations
ByThis is pure sound, the creation of atmospheres that can eliminate the listener's normal inclination to identify the inputs of the individual instruments. The piano/vibes pairing blends into a beautiful, luminous blur, and Bill Frisell's guitaron the fifteen minute title tune/openerglows in from another universe. Calling the sound "otherworldly" would be an understatement. It's the creation of a soundscape that slows time to a flow through a wavering liquid atmosphere via improvisational wizardry.
Drummer Ted Poor fills the third angle of the trio on "Odious Mode." The tune has more drive, with the snap of Poor's snare drum counterpointing the sustain of the vibes, combined with increase in tempo that injects turbulence to the fluid mood.
"Out of the Cistern" pulls things into even stranger territory. Taking as inspiration a Stuart Dempster recording (Dempster sits in on trombone and didjeridu on this tune) with Pauline Oliveros "that took place in an underground cistern with a 45 second reverberation time at Fort Warden State Park in Washington." Collier has recreated this reverb "by adding a sampled algorithm [that gradually] mathematically disappears so that there is zero reverberation by the end of the piece," according to the Collier-penned liner notes. Whether the process is understood or not, it makes for a ghostly fourteen minute tone poem of sound .
Clarinetist William O. "Bill" Smith joins Collier and Karpan on "Ligneous Oscillations," an abstract and eerie reverie; and trumpeter Cuong Vu contributes to this singular set with "Discontinuous Impunity," a gorgeous seventeen minute smear of avant-garde, in-the-moment composition that closes, perfectly, this singular, masterfully-crafted, in-the-moment set of sounds.
Track Listing
Impulsive Illuminations; Odious Mode; Out Of The Cistern; Ligneous Oscillations; Discontinuous Impunity.
Personnel
Tom Collier
vibraphoneBill Frisell
guitar, electricBill Smith
tromboneCuong Vu
trumpetStuart Dempster
tromboneTed Poor
drumsRichard Karpen
pianoTom Collier: vibraphone, marimba; Richard Karpen: piano; Bill Frisell: guitar (1); Stuart Dempster: trombone, didjeridu (3); William O. "Bill" Smith: clarinet (4); Cuong Vu: trumpet (5); Ted Poor: drums (2).
Album information
Title: Impulsive Illuminations | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Origin Records
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