Looking for something besides standards in the standard fare of horns and a rhythm section? Here are a couple releases that will make your malleus, incus and stapes work in a different way.
The Free Nelson trio of Rebecca Sneddon/as, Colin Stewart/eb and Paul Archibald/dr-perc do a mix of modern jazz meets head banging heavy metal on seven tracks that have hard hitting drumming and pounding underneath their jazz sensibilities. Taking one point off for a foul-languaged title of one song, the band gets the speakers throbbing on “Into the Sky” and the Paranoid-inspired “Black Sabbath.” Sneddon’s alto sears on “Where My Soul Can Be Free” and the “Saxophone Gigantus” tips the cap to Sonny Rollins’ famed masterpiece.
Bassists Colin Edwin and Lorenzo Feliciate also delve into programming, keyboatds, guitars and Space Station as well as bring in some buddies on these eleven tracks that are reminiscent of vintage Tangerine Dream and Van Der Graaf Generator. Moody atmospheres abound, with Nils Petter Molvaer’s trumpet giving extra credence to “Transparent” and “Sparse” and David Jackson’s saxes bring extra textures to “i-dea.” Percussion and drums on “Shaken” and “Breathsketch” make for hills and valleys in this plane of lava, with enough improvisation within the programming to keep you intrigued by the sonics.
Rare Noise Records