Solo Flights: Glenn Dickson and Joe Fielder

These are solo recordings by two musicians who can create dense forests of sound with only one instrument. one with the help of electronics and the other just using his lips, breath and tongue.

Glenn Dickson
Wider Than The Sky
Self-Produced
2022

Glenn Dickson is a klezmer clarinetist who has been experimenting with electronic effects since the early 2000s. He produced all the sounds on this album in real time using loops and delays to enhance his live playing. He creates a lot of haunting sounds in this manner such as a wall of repeating lines on "Closer to the Fire" that sounds like a lyrical pipe organ. On "Pursuing Winds" he assembles a cloud of low, murmuring noises that turns into a flock of crying birds, and on "Brave Shines The Sun" the harmonized backing chorus wheezes like an accordion under his plaintive solo playing. The most compelling track is "Memories Lost" where Dickson's lead clarinet goes on an extended weeping soliloquy, snaking over a glowing ambient hum.

Joe Fielder
The Howland Sessions
Multiphonics Music
2022

Trombonist Joe Fielder is a master of multiphonics, the ability to sing or play multiple lines through a musical instrument at one time. The pioneer of this on trombone was the German player Albert Mangelsdorff who gave his first solo concert in 1972. Fielder has marked the 50th anniversary of that event by doing his first solo trombone recording.

His playing throughout this session is extroverted as he energetically spits, roars and sings chords and melodies through his trombone. He growls pumping up-tempo blues on "The Jack Rabbit," hums and sings buzzing lines on "Otter Cam" and twists and stutters through "Empire Trail's" swaying groove with a confident swagger. Fielder uses a mute on "Stinger" to come up with an even harsher sound, adding a buzzsaw edge to his bluesy humming. He shows off his range on "Sisyphean," going from slow, low-pitched roars to rising whinnies and growling song fragments. On the closing "'72" his bluesy vocalizations dissolve into up-tempo riffing, single-line tangents and fiery up-tempo blasts. The whole album is a wild stream-of-consciousness trombone ramble that Joe Fielder pulls off with humor and style.

Tracks and Personnel

Wider Than The Sky

Tracks: Introit; Closer to the Fire; Gentle Touch; Memories Lost; Pursuing Winds; Brave Shines the Sun; Wider Than The Sky.

Personnel: Glenn Dickson: clarinet and live loops.

The Howland Sessions

Tracks: The Jack Rabbit; Otter Cam; Fiedlowitz Manor; The Long No; Stinger; Empire Trail; Sisyphean; '72.

Personnel: Joe Fielder: trombone.