HurdAudio Rotation: Edge, Separate and Funk

Jason Kao Hwang: Edge. 2006. Asian Improv Records: AIR0067.

Jason Kao Hwang: composer, violin
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn
Andrew Drury: percussion
Ken Filiano: bass

After a few spins this disc is beginning to make a deep impression. Jason Kao Hwang is an excellent improvising violinist and composer. The four compositions found on this disc showcase that fact along with Hwang's considerable creativity at spinning original materials. Then there's this quartet. These guys are tight. Hearing interwoven lines between Bynum's horn and Hwang's fiddle is positively inspired. With textures that wash between group and individual playing, lyrical melodic lines and loose grooves with an ear for the territory between multiple musical traditions. All with the aggressive edge that marks the New York caliber of jazz playing. And all these qualities sneak up on the ears as each subsequent impression grows larger than the last.

London Improvisers Orchestra/Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra: Separately & Together: Feedom of the City 2007. 2008. Emanem: 4219.

London Improvisers Orchestra:
Harry Beckett, Roland Ramanan, Ian Smith: trumpets
Robert Jarvis: trombone
Catherine Pluygers: oboe
Terry Day: bamboo pipes
John Rangecroft: clarinet
Chefa Alonso, Lol Coxhill, Adrian Northover: soprano saxophones
Caroline Kraabel: alto saxophone
Evan Parker: tenor saxophone
Alison Blunt, Susanna Ferrar, Sylvia Hallett, Philipp Wachsmann: violins
Ivor Kallin: violin, viola
Hannah Marshall, Marcio Mattos, Barbara Meyer: cellos
Dominic Lash, David Leahy: double basses
John Bisset, Dave Tucker: electric guitars
Veryan Weston: piano
Jackie Walduck: vibraphone
Javier Carmona: percussion

Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra
Aileen Campbell: voice
Matthew Cairns, Robert Henderson: trumpets
George Murray: trombone
Emma Roche, Matthew Studdert-Kennedy: flutes
John Burgess: bass clarinet
Raymond MacDonald: alto saxophone
Graeme Wilson: baritone saxophone
Peter Nicholson: cello
Una MacGlone, Armin Strum: double basses
George Burt: guitar
Neil Davidson: electric guitar
Chris Hladowski: bouzouki
Rick Bamford, Stuart Brown: percussion

A big, double-ensemble and double-CD packed with a feast of conduction and large scale free improvisation. It is good and it leaves even my ravenous appetite for this kind of thing sated. Even with both ensembles performing simultaneously, there's an awareness of texture that allows for range between individual soloists and the numerous excellent improvisers occupying this one stage. Beautiful documentation of what had to have been a thrilling live performance.

Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet: Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet. 2003. Ropeadope Music: 0-7567-93183-2-9.

Skerik: tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
Joe Doria: hammond organ
John Wicks: drums
Steve Moore: trombone, wurlitzer electric piano
Hans Teuber: alto saxophone, flute
Dave Carter: trumpet
Craig Flory: baritone saxophone

Take the history of jazz. Place in blender. Set to funk. And just try not to tap your foot or otherwise move to the creamy, thick and satisfying grooves that pour out from the Syncopated Taint Septet. Even as Skerik's signature squeals and honks pile on it's the compositions and arrangements credited to the members of this ensemble that makes up this sound. Hans Teuber's "Too Many Toys" in particular has a strong appeal. Music steeped in history that never feels burdened by it.