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Hartmut Geerken / John Tchicai / Famoudou Don Moye: Cassava Balls
by Robert Spencer
Hartmut Geerken, John Tchicai, and Famoudou Don Moye are all masters of improvisation and of deeply-felt music that smolders with passionate zeal. This disc was recorded live at the “Praxis '85" festival in Athens, Greece on May 8, 1985, a night when, by the sound of things, each man was in thorough musical command. They begin ...
The Ivo Perelman Quartet: Sieiro
by Robert Spencer
Ivo Perelman once again displays his striking ability to make a tenor saxophone sound like a string instrument. There are moments on this disc when a single note issues from the upper register and for a moment it's not clear: is it Perelman? Or Tomas Ulrich's cello? Or even the astounding Dominic Duval on bass? But ...
Tibor Szemzo: Snapshot from the Island
by Robert Spencer
Tibor Szemzo is a minimalist who specializes here in “Snapshot from the Island" in the small sounds of serenity and peace. The music seems to be credited to flute and synthesizer, but it often sounds almost vocal, in an ethereal, ancient, Gregorian Chant fashion. There is a good deal of sustaining of notes, reverb, echo, gradual ...
Dave Bryant: The Eternal Hang
by Robert Spencer
George Garzone? George Garzone ? Ladies and gentleman, I have reviewed a good number of discs featuring this ubiquitous reedman lately, and virtually every one of them contained impeccably-played hard bop. Letter perfect, engaging, expertly done. When this disc arrived featuring Garzone with Ornetteian keyboardist Dave Bryant, I thought it might herald a slight departure, as ...
John Russell / Maarten Altena / Terry Day: The Fairly Young Bean
by Robert Spencer
This string/percussion trio explores textures on these twenty-six brief tracks. Some are briefer than others: “See for Yourself" is the longest at 9:28, and “Emphasis" is almost nine minutes. But eleven tracks are under two minutes long. Eschewing melodic and rhythmic continuity, John Russell (guitar), Maarten Altena (cello, bass), and Terry Day (percussion), build up small ...
Kent Carter / Albrecht Maurer: The Juillaguet Collection
by Robert Spencer
Free improvisations that are stunning in their richness and melodic tonalities. Bassist Kent Carter, a veteran of Steve Lacy's Seventies groups, and violinist Albrecht Maurer obviously know each other very well. The music they make together is full of “conventional" harmonies as much as it is of dissonance, so that these pieces sound classically designed and ...
Tibor Szemzo: The Other Shore
by Robert Spencer
This astounding disc is difficult to classify. It contains one piece of Buddhist chant, backed by a medium-sized string and percussion ensemble (plus leader Tibor Szemzo's bass flute). This chant has an otherworldly beauty, ably underscored (i.e., not interfered with) by the instrumentalists. At rhythmic points the musicians come to the fore (as the chant continues), ...
Gilbert Isbin & Geert Verbeke: Twins
by Robert Spencer
A most unusual and inviting disc: Gilbert Isbin plays guitar (classical and prepared), and Geert Verbeke plays a variety of percussion instruments. Together they make meditative, refreshing, and inviting music that often tends toward East Asian models both in sound quality and in sonic depth. There's a great variety to the sound. On “Secrets," for example, ...
Misha Mengelberg: Two Days in Chicago
by Robert Spencer
Like Jubilee Varia (hatOLOGY 528), this 2CD-set illustrates the dangerous, death-defying, life-enhancing pianistic and compositional talents of Misha Mengelberg, the world's challenging Dutch leader of these ever-memorable Two Days in Chicago. Also like Jubilee Varia, this disc features some of the foremost improvisers on the scene today, all stoked to new heights by the combustible talents ...
various artists: Prestige 50th Anniversary Special Commemorative Editions
by Robert Spencer
Fantasy Records is holding a Prestige Records 50th Anniversary celebration, and we are the beneficiaries in these ten Special Commemorative Editions of Prestige classic recordings. They share the virtues of the Prestige label itself: without an overkill of effusive retrospective essays and hypercool packaging, they put the emphasis on the music itself - which is where ...
