Colin Webster/Mark Holub: Viscera

To be able to say you have heard something unique is rare these days. Of course, every musician's recordings are unique but occasionally there arrives an album which is truly 'stand alone' and Viscera (New Atlantic),the third album by saxophonist Colin Webster and drummer Mark Holub is one such album. The album consists of track after track of incisive, aggressive, full-on free jazz played at a rate and with such alacrity it defies any attempt at categorization. This is no background CD. But gutsy, gritting, gripping free jazz with a unique identity. Webster and Holub have played together before and in 2011 the duo released Koi Bombs (Gaffer Records) with keyboardist Toby McLaren. In 2012 The Claw was released on Webster's imprint label Raw Tonk. Holub is known as leader of the esteemed avant-jazz quintet Led Bib and Webster has collaborated with many key musicians including Archie Shepp, Steve Noble and Alex Ward among others. Viscera was recorded in a single day with no discussion prior to takes, holding true to the duo's "just start" ethos, the exception being "Chant," the final track, which is a tribute to the American composer and instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell. The opening track "Big Paws on A Puppy" demonstrates the intrinsic understanding which exists between these two free playing musicians. Sax riffs abound, picked up and thrown back by the drums so a conversation develops through the piece. Webster's playing is redolent of many greats like Evan Parker and he gives the sax a voice with deep and sonorous timbre. Webster says that when he recorded the album he had in mind early Parker but he also has a uniqueness to his playing which prevents precise comparisons. Holub's drums are genius and his timing spot on.

The album is packed with individual and quirky pieces from the staccato start to "Splinters" which contains a mesmeric drum and sax intercourse section in the middle and the playful "Conkan" which is a lasting discussion between sax and drums. In "Viscera of Chest and Abdomen" the sax leads before the drums become the lead instrument, with the sax tagging along to Holub's manic improvisation."Quera Capa" is a sheer delight. This is an album about which it is tempting to introduce worn phrases like seminal, and groundbreaking but it is both and more. Holub and Webster demonstrate a prowess in their art which can only be brought about by intuitive knowledge of each other's playing. Every track has variety, every phrase has essence and meaning, the music is aggressive, spontaneous and joyful. Changing tempos take the music down and then speed it up to mind-blowing degrees before depositing the senses back at ground level. Put simply, this is simply a great album by gifted and intuitive players.