PERSPECTIVAL (www.samgillmusic.com) 8/10 Alto saxophonist Sam Gill may have just invented chronological schizophrenia. Gill’s conception for his Scattered quintet slices through time and space to combine the freedom and complexity of now with an almost urbane salon aesthetic that could be a century old. It’s rather like slightly unruly music…
Category: Album Reviews
WHIRLPOOL (Alister Spence Music) 8/10 One note, and then the options are limitless. When the music’s working, the improviser’s mind is ablaze with possibilities, making microsecond decisions about which of these to pursue, usually to sustain the thread of what is already being heard in the head – or sometimes…
AGAINST EMPIRE (MOD Reloaded/Redeye Worldwide) 8.5/10 Can music itself be wise, or just the people who create it? Can it perhaps impart wisdom? Certainly some profundity is layered into this album’s compositions, choice of players, improvising and production, so that, while being breathtakingly innovative, it also feels mysteriously ancient. Ever…