Not that I’m a big fan of the licorice stick, but my desire was to have my oldest daughter named Claire Annette. Ba ching!
Some instruments are more felt than heard; Paul Austerlitz takes on the visceral contrabass clarinet which is more of a vibration than sound, as well as the happy hippos tones of the bass clarinet and warmer tenor, but makes all three work well on this album of post bop and exotica. He teams up with Benito Gonzalez/p, Santi DeBriano/b, Roal Hartigan/dr, Isaiah Richardson/cl and vocalist Rozna Zila for a global tour of reeds.
Traditional voices team with a boppy beat and bass clarinet on Caribbean themes such as “Legba Nan Baye-A” and the earthy “Prayer For the Primal Wind” which includes the contrabass sending in seismic messages. A mix of clarinets take place on an Eric Dolphy inspired “Rara Indivisble” and thick as the La Brea Tar Pits’d “Boot the Boot.” He gets into some modal and modern moods for the exciting “Padre” and the reeds get harrowing for “En-Art.” Most fun are the reed raptures sans rhythm on the sonata formed Afro Cuban “Bara Suwa Yo” and the sorghum sweet “Rara Remix.” This is music that can be judged by ears, heart and Richter Scale!