Ivo Perelman / Nate Wooley: Polarity 2

Polarity 2, the follow up to the first Polarity (Burning Ambulance, 2021) by saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley, is the antithesis of its title. Never could it be said the musicians display opposite or contradictory tendencies with this recording. The best you can say is that the two musicians are the opposite sides of the same coin. To say the currency, they trade in is extended technique on their instruments does not do justice to just how revolutionary the sounds Perelman and Wooley make.

Ivo Perelman, born in Brazil, first studied guitar and came to America only to give up on classical music for traditional jazz and eventually shed composed music for free improvisation. Likewise, Wooley has reinvented the function of the trumpet. He has explored sounds and made sonic discoveries never imagined for his instrument. Like Matthew Shipp, Perelman's longtime collaborator, Wooley makes a perfect partner for the saxophonist.

Unlike most saxophone and trumpet encounters, the sound is a collaboration instead of competition. The music here is instantly composed, and 'music' might not be the best descriptor. This is dialogue. It is also dance, a congenial chess match, or a quilt sewn by two sets of hands. The brief track "One" maintains a certain politeness with both musicians harmonizing their gentile sounds, tracing a path into ever higher octaves. "Three" opens hesitantly enough with Perelman exercising a gymnastic routine of sound on his tenor, from fluttering bottom end to altissimo top end that invites Wooley to weave a snaking pattern, utilizing a romantic muted trumpet around Perelman's solo. This inspires the saxophonist with the temper of Lester Young before accelerating past Albert Ayler into his personal sound palette. Indeed, Wooley is the inspiration for this outing. The seemingly innumerable possible sounds he is able to generate— from growls, trills, cries, and breathy intonations—make for countless discoveries here. His trumpet's vocalizations even inspire Perelman to set his horn aside on "Four" to utter a talking scat before racing with the trumpeter until both musicians slow to catch their breaths. By "Seven" the pair have yet to repeat themselves, making this a mini masterpiece of sound.

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