Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Lol Coxhill: Spectral Soprano

153

Lol Coxhill: Spectral Soprano

By

View read count
Lol Coxhill: Spectral Soprano
Free improvisers often receive criticism because they don't (or choose not to) play within other contexts. Lol Coxhill sets the record straight on Spectral Soprano, a collection of pieces that span a very broad range of styles from '54 through the late '90s. Coxhill has had his fingers in everyone's pie at one time or another, and this 2-disc set testifies to his abundant curiosity. The thick sheaf of liner notes and photos provides a loose roadmap to the high (and odd) points in Coxhill's varied musical career.

Rather than ordering the pieces in chronological order, the producers decided to render a tossed salad out of the affair. Opening with a lyrical ('54) rendition of "Autumn in New York," the first disc moves right into rock and roll. Subsequent installments cover the gamut from straight-ahead jazz through soul-inflected solo improvisation, electronic music, goofy vocal games, and wild experiments with tone and structure. One thing is for sure: Lol Coxhill does not take himself too seriously. (Just look at the photo on the inside of the liner notes, where he's pictured in leisurely repose with one hand clasping a beverage and the other firmly grasping his crotch.) But rather than offering a self-indulgent display of styles, however, Spectral Soprano reveals quite a bit about the man and his music.

Something about this record reminds me of Fringe Benefits, a similar 2-disc retrospective assembled by Jon Rose, the restless free improv violinist. Rose performed violin improvisations knee deep in the surf—Coxhill delivers an otherworldy swimming pool performance recorded by a condom-encased mic. Rose tossed in a snippet of his day job in a country and western band—Coxhill a pair of lo-fi recordings with Tony Knight's Chessmen, a very run-of-the-mill '60s rock band. The point of the former: neither player is afraid of taking risks to explore the outer boundaries of sound. The point of the latter: every working musician has to earn a dollar (or a pound, as the case may be).

Some of the most illuminating tracks on Spectral Soprano lie somewhere in the middle:

  • A duo performance with Veryan Weston of "Embraceable You" (leading into "Quasimodo") projects an infectiously bouncy lightness.
  • "Vermillion Sands," a collaboration with electronic music pioneer Paul Schütze, suggests melancholy and regret.
  • "Two Out of Three" contrasts Coxhill's bird-like soprano tone with pedal points by bassist Dave Green.
  • On "Tourism in Crisis," the saxophonist plugs into an echo unit and dances through the air alongside Steve Miller on keyboards.
  • On "Victory Walk," Coxhill joins two other horns and a bass through an arranged melody, loose sauntering improv, and a free-sounding ending.
  • The closer, "Introduction to the Orchestra," features the saxophonist's first performance with the London Improvisers Orchestra (25-strong!), a delicately interwoven group improvisation. (He subsequently went on to join the group.)

If you've had a chance to hear Lol Coxhill play in open improv settings, you'll know he has enormous talent. But Spectral Soprano is an ear opener. His versatility and range are surprising—and best of all, he has a very well-developed sense of fun. For the curious, Spectral Soprano presents a welcome cornucopia of sounds. These two hours end way too soon.

Track Listing

Disc One: Autumn in New York; Bad Boy; Strictly Legal; Vermillion Sands; Not the North; Three Go To Letchworth; Embraceable You/Quasimodo; Union Dues; Turned Out Nice Again; Happy Birthday Bob Cobbing; I Thought About You; Aquaslide; Experiments With Temperature; Two Out of Three; Messin' With The Man. Disc Two: A Brief Introduction to Sax; Magic Buffalo; Uptown Top Ranking; Perdido; Out of Nowhere; Brits Abroad; Tourism in Crisis; Verstehen Und Sprechen; Murder in the Air; Sweet Hawaiian Kisses; Victory Walk; C.A.K.; Resonance; Introduction to the Orchestra.

Personnel

Lol Coxhill
saxophone, soprano

Lol Coxhill: saxophones, piano, voice, etc; and others too numerous to name.

Album information

Title: Spectral Soprano | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Emanem

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.