As someone who plays the sax and clarinet, I have been told many times by my teacher, “Are you a musician or an instrumentalist?” What is the difference? One is using their technique on an instrument, while the other is making music with it. There is a difference.
Pianist Matt Mitchell, who’s known for his work with Dave Douglas, joins together with Snakeoil drummer Ches Smith for a series of duets. Both guys have unbelievably impressive chops, skill and technical acumen. The barrier to entry is the difficulty in translating that into something that will be listened to more than one time. The thunderous “Veins” and jarring “Singe” display remarkable interplay, but other pieces such as the 10+ minute opus “Open Field” might work at a nightclub, but is difficult to hang in there in the privacy of your own car or ipod.
The co-op team of Jeff Platz/g-elec, Kit Demos/b-elec, Fabio Delvo-sax and John McLellan/dr delivers more of the same, with intricate and digitally adroit material such as “Bill Burroughs” and “Carribean” that impresses you on one level, but leaves you cold on another. Intellectually stimulating, but falling short viscerally, the music reminds you of a book that is well written, but needs to get to the plot with some protagonists and antagonists.
Pi Recordings
SkyCap Music