Stephen Gauci / Francisco Mela / William Parker / Matthew Shipp: Live at Scholes Street Studio

Tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci provokes blistering unfettered performances from the starry cast on another installment of Live At Scholes Street Studio. Gauci embodies a fierce DIY ethos which manifests in producing multiple concert series in NYC as well as releasing consequent material on his own label and posting video documentation on his website. On this occasion, he is joined by three storied veterans of the avant-jazz scene in pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker and drummer Francisco Mela who bring their A-game to this impromptu encounter.

They keep their collective foot to the floor for almost the duration of the 33-minute opener. Gauci incises his lurching bellows through a dense heaving brew, more often than not in a characteristic squealing upper register heavily doused in split tones. Like Gauci, Shipp cultivates a distinctive voice, one recognizable almost instantly, and apparent here from his signature meld of hammered notes, repeated motifs and explosive bottom-end clusters.

When the saxophonist pauses, the remaining trio flexes, with Shipp spinning out sparkling, gilt-edged lines to near-syncopated accompaniment from the all-action team of Mela's drums and Parker's rock-solid bass. But if the pressure never seems to drop too far, Gauci proves constantly ready to re-enter the fray.

By way of contrast, the much shorter "#2" presents as a sort of discontinuous skew-whiff ballad. Parker alternates between expressive arco sawing and propulsive pizzicato in tandem with Gauci's keening stanzas, while Mela contributes assorted metallic cymbal scrapes to create an absorbing atmospheric backdrop.

Gauci has issued a stream of recordings, pairing himself with a mixture of big names and lesser-known talents, but with its passion, commitment and fearlessness, this quartet offering stands as one of the finest.

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