Where one becomes two that is the question and needs not to be answered as each improvisation relates to one another however they are connected.
From No Boundaries (Whirlwind) If you are unfamiliar with Andrew Bain he has toured recently with Irish trombonist Paul Dunlea. With Dunlea his style was more set in the 1950s and 60s mainstream-bop nexus because the music is predominantly rooted in the sound of JJ Johnson and has to swing.
Hearing the drummer in that context there is little point of comparison because the style here is anti-swing and instead multi-directional in a post Rashied-Ali sense. However, I was struck again by his very orthodox technique, orthodox in the sense of 'correct' way of playing, no short cuts taken. After all playing vibrations is a universal discipline and style is only cosmetic but getting it wrong is getting it wrong no matter what you call it.
Here that getting it right aptitude still applies. The tilt however is all free form and made futuristic because it is soaked in Alex Bonney's ever mysterious electronics. Peter Evans' trumpet playing has an ambient but severe veneer (perhaps a little in the Wadada Leo Smith vein) and when he interacts with altoist John O'Gallagher the results are very anarchic, the melee of push and pull moving towards an Anthony Braxton soundworld, a fluttering lambent seagull shriek to the reeds and brass when drums drop out. Get this on vinyl. A dystopian half an hour well more than well spent. SG
Released today.
Andrew Bain photo, top, Bandcamp.
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