Anthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet: Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022

Anthony Braxton's music can often be compared to that reoccurring dream many people have where they have an upcoming university exam. Still, they neither attended the classes nor studied for the test. The reason may be that his graphic notations along with his scores can be formidable and downright indecipherable. Listeners recognize the great man is operating on a higher plane, one which can often be quite daunting. If anyone identifies with the above description, his Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022 may be the cure for what sonically ails them.

This music asks listeners to not listen, at least not intellectually, but to absorb it through a process of osmosis. His Lorraine concept is the aerial component of his Tri- Centric life's work. Where Braxton's Echo Echo Mirror House Music and Ghost Trance Music were terra firma, Lorraine is all about the aether, i.e. wind, breath, and clouds. His concept works naturally with the breath(s) of a saxophone quartet. Braxton's prior Lorraine release 10 Comp (Lorraine) 2022 (Braxton House, 2023) utilized two different line-ups, one was a trio with accordionist Adam Matlock and Susana Santos Silva's trumpet, the other a quartet with James Fei on saxophone, Zach Rowden bass, and CarlTesta bass.

The four discs included in this box are taken from concerts recorded in Vilnius, Bologna, Antwerp, and Rome. The saxophonists included Braxton, plus Fei, Chris Jonas, and Ingrid Laubrock with André Vida substituting for Laubrock at the Vilnuis performance. The array of horns ranges from the sopranino to the alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone.

The idea of a gradual or unconscious assimilation of Braxton's concepts with these saxophone quartets fits nicely with his ideas of wind currents and atmosphere. From his scores, both notation and graphic, the music floats as does the listening experience, which produces a kind of levitation. Besides playing alto, soprano, and sopranino saxophones, Braxton also adds electronics to these performances. His interactive system, a SuperCollider platform, is used in real-time, which makes his quartet a virtual quintet. The electronics, though, are never a distraction; in actuality they add to the quartet's ability to defy gravity.

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