Friday, November 12, 2010

"Twines of Colesion:" Michael Attias and Associates Play Inspired Improvisations


Some music hits you from the moment you first hear it. Then it holds up under repeated scrutiny. That is my experience with the latest from alto saxophonist Michael Attias and his Twines of Colesion (Clean Feed 188).

This is a live recording in the best sense. When it comes to free jazz/improvisation, the live setting can bring out energies and inspirations that might otherwise not be engaged in a studio setting. That is very much so here.

It's a quintet that seems perfectly matched in its outlook and trajectory. Attias on alto mixes it up deftly with tenor-soprano Tony Malaby, and they both do some of their very best playing. Pianist Russ Lossing plays the ultra-modern piano in ensemble and solo with exactly the right concentration of heft and space. John Hebert, bass, and Satoshi Takeishi, drums, throttle any possibility of indifference on the listener's part by pasting, smearing and cracking through the barriers to any higher plane of collective rapport and substance.

The compositional frameworks are by Attias. They create precisely the right stylistic backdrop for serious space walking.

The results are near monumental. Huzzah to this one!

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