Music stretching out to various ranges of coherence…
The ten member Potsa Lotsa XL band mixes three reeds, two horns, cello, vibes and a three member rhythm team to create songs and moods ranging from vintage B films to Carl Stallings extravaganzas. Puffy horns eventually “produce” a lazy swing on “Max Bialystock” with some blue 
bass lines giving a hip vibe with vibes on “Skeletons and Silhouettes”. Cool bop on “One For Laika” and hints of the MJQ with nimble piano, bass, drums and vibes square off on “Schirm” with a while white knuckler taking place on “Crossing Colors”. Th-Th-That’s all, folks!
Frank Paul Schubert plays alto sax and soprano sax, Dieter Manderscheid strums, picks and bows the double bass and Martin Blume taps and thrashes away on drums and percussion for two songs over 30 minutes each. The first, “Gale” includes fierce and searing sax work, fuzzy tones and loose cymbals flailing for and finally crashing after 34 minutes. The 30 minute “Leucothea” has Blume hitting and clanking around, scrambling and punching Schubert’s saxes back and forth like a boxing match. A TKO, with the winner barely able to stand up afterwards.
Lino Blochlinger and Sebastian Strinning handle the saxes, Silvan Schmid plays trumpet, Beat Unternahrer slides the trombone, with the flexible rhythm team of pianist Christoph Baumann, bassist Neal Davis and drummer Dieter Ulrich directing traffic. While there are some fairly wild moments with reed sucking and mouthpiece experimentation as on the title piece, much thought is given to the clever arrangements, with Monkish piano work by Baumann here, or going Lisztian on “Kungusisches Arbeiterlied”. Rumbling drums go herky jerky with some jagged edges on “Bagwan Business” and a mix of bop and rock ride the highway on “King Arthur Meets Hanns Eisler In Hollywood”. Thoughtful titles, with almost as much thought put into the performances.
Pianist Mark Harvey brings forth a big band through some rich harmonies held together by emotive solos. The seven part “Faces Of Souls” suite includes melancholy piano on “Greta”, post bop flute and woodwinds on “Lament For The City” and dark harmonics on the title tune”. Brassy declarations take place on “Consecration” and noir’d harmonies dominate “Sisyphus”. A thoughtful journey that is coherent and cohesive in its penetration to the viscera.