Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Colin Fisher / Mike Gennaro: Tactile Stories
Colin Fisher / Mike Gennaro: Tactile Stories
ByDrummer Mike Gennaro was introduced to listeners with Port Huron Picnic (Spool, 2000) a session with Mats Gustafsson and Kurt Newman. He has since recorded with clarinetist Alex Ward and performed with saxophonist John Butcher. Fisher and Gennaro have collaborated for more than 20 years and Tactile Stories follows their previous release Sine Qua Non (Arachnidiscs, 2014).
The key to free jazz is the requirement that it be spontaneous and yet maintain a balanced flow. "Ex Nihilo" does just that. Fisher's alto saxophone begins spitting out clucking and overblown notes against a backdrop of Gennaro's barrage of beats. For reference sake, think of Chris Pitsiokos and Weasel Walter or Paal Nilssen-Love. Even as they shift from their energy jazz approach into quieter passages, this duo maintains a compatible and balanced sound throughout. As the opening track develops, the drums pause and Fisher switches to his soprano saxophone for a mini tribute to Evan Parker's circular methodology. Gennaro's drumming is quite elastic, as he employs a paradoxical abundance of notes that mostly sound sparse. His approach is a kind of scattered restraint. The duo's cryptic blues "Ekstasis" is followed by a cascading ride that is "Esse." Even though this is an improvised free jazz recording,
Fisher and Gennaro are of one tenacious mind. Proof positive is the final track "Epinoia" which finds Fisher switching to guitar. The music gets a bit more introspective, yet maintains that copacetic relationship between the two. Impressive stuff here.
Track Listing
Ex Nihilo; Ekstasis; Esse; Epinoia.
Personnel
Colin Fisher
guitarMike Gennaro
drumsAlbum information
Title: Tactile Stories | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Cacophonous Revival Recordings
< Previous
Day of the Dead Show - A Sonic Alter
Comments
Tags
Colin Fisher / Mike Gennaro
Album Review
Mark Corroto
Tactile Stories
Cacophonous Revival Recordings
Colin Fisher
Mike Gennaro
anthony braxton
Rhys Chatham
Joe McPhee
Nick Millevoi
Daniel Carter
Brandon Lopez
Marc Edwards
Mats Gustafsson
Kurt Newman
Alex Ward
John Butcher
Chris Pitsiokos
evan parker
Paal Nilssen-Love
Weasel Walter