I’ve come to the conclusion that free jazz is a lot like Nascar races. It’s exciting to see live for the energy and danger, but just listening to the sounds takes away too much. Here, you have a perfect example, with the dexterous team of Maxwell Gualtieri/g, Susan Allen/harp, Richard Valitutto/p, Ryan Parrish/woodwinds and Anjilla Piazza/perc. You’ve got 4 compositions, three between 5-9 minutes and one clocking in at 22. The tunes have no names, on Super Bowl Roman Numerals, so I has 7 minutes of guitar scratches, percussive musings and eerie tenor blowings, III is just under 9 minutes of electronic noodlings that sound like something from the movie Forbidden Planet, IV starts out sounding like the Rinse Cycle from your washing machine setting before delving into Sci Fi scratches, and II is 21:58 of flute cheerings, percussive flutters, harp and electronic effects, a cacophony of violin and harps and finally something that sounds like a group of chipmunks gathering their nuts for the winter. Very geographical-had to be there.
pfMentum Records