Usually, when you read phrases like “spontaneous compositions” on the liner notes of an album, your first association is usually, “cacophonic ramblings”. Well, in the hands of vets like drummer Maury Baker, guitarist Daniel Coffeng, Jim Goetsch on sax and electronics and bassist/electronics man Carl Royce, you get two separated discs of rich impressionistic art, easy to follow and even easier to appreciate.
The gents divide the 2 discs into “new jazz works” and “new electronic works” with the songs ranging from just under four minutes to a dash over fourteen. The New Jazz Works gives hints of the first couple Weather Report albums, Miles Davis in his In A Silent Way/Bitches Brew period and with a dash sprinkled of Pat Metheny. Baker, who’s made a name for himself with Frank Zappa, Ron Carter and Jimi Hendrix , is richly adept at keeping the pulses moving with floating cymbals, making currents like a spring stream under Goetsch’s soprano sax and the moody electronics on “Flatland” and the ethereal “Cycle”, which also features some clean and dark guitar brush strokes by Coffeng. Dark nimbus clouds with dashy of bluesy interplay between Royce and Coffeng on “Asymmetric”,as well as the splashy synthy soundscapes on “Medium Cool” give a modernizing of a “ Shhh/Peaceful” feeling. Cool darkness and richly textured shadows throughout.
The New Electronic Works is a bit more playful, with echoes of birds propelled by Coffeng in”Aviary”, some nifty weaving in and out of electronic gurgles by Coffeng on “Omen” and clever uses of voice and electronics on the “ Toledo”. Eerie film noir atmospheres akin to a Fritz Lang production are created when the gents plug in with some violin sounds melding with Goetsch’s soprano for a harrowing “Conversation’” with rich and clean modern bopping musings delivered by Coffeng on the mix of ambience and swing on “Gesture” and “Toledo (realization 2)”. Tasty textures of tones.