Milo Fine and a Pure Form of Freedom

Speaking the other day about genre purity versus hybrid amalgams and syntheses, I hope I did not imply that purity was somehow a negative thing. It would be a little ridiculous, for example, to criticize a bluegrass player because he did not incorporate Tuvan mouth singing into his performances, wouldn't it?

So when we turn to the CD of the day, Milo Fine's Motion Ejecta (Cadence Jazz), and we find a kind of free improv purity, I most certainly have no objections to it, nor should I. And what of this music? The disk contains two separate concerts recorded in England in 2003. On board for both occasions is leader Milo Fine on drums and clarinets, Mick Beck on tenor sax and bassoon, and Paul Hession on drums.

This is music that speaks eloquently the free improv language developed over the years in the USA and Europe. Beck's tenor sax-bassoon improvisations feature growls, stutters, and various cogent torrents of notes while Fine's clarinet squeals with high intensity and engages in ludic dialogs with Beck. Fine and Hession set percussive fires with freetime dynamism and generally help motor the improvisations to their respective destinations.

This music does not stray into offramps leading to, for example, references to other styles or periods of jazz. It stays with an uncompromising determination on the "out" highway. They have all learned the vocabulary well and speak it with eloquent fluency. Bravo for that! Check the Cadence website www.cadencebuilding.com for more details on this CD.