Customer Reviews

Sanctuary

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A very dense work owing something to Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz" double quartet. Listening through headphones lets you differentiate between the two groupings - otherwise they tend to blur together. The music is very freeform; sometimes it sounds like everyone is off doing their own thing before a theme develops. What's particularly interesting is the mixing of samplers with the traditional jazz instruments. The cacophony of eight players wailing away is familiar to anyone that listens to experimental jazz, but throwing some sampled drum patterns into the maelstrom and then having the other instruments fall into a groove with said patterns is something new - plus there aren't that many jazz recordings that use prepared pianos (to my knowledge). Listen to the soundbytes of "Three Beasts" or "Mad Dog" for examples of this combination of styles and sounds. Dougie Bowne plays very well; he gets more of a chance to stretch out in this kind of setting than he would in the Lounge Lizards or other groups. Those who only know Yuka Honda through her work with Cibo Matto will be very surprised by how she sounds in this ensemble. All of the musicians are in top form in a very unconventional recording.

Yuka Honda and Anthony Coleman: samplers; Hilliard Greene and Mark Dresser: basses; Dave Douglas and Cuong Vu: trumpets; Chris Speed: clarinet and tenor sax; Dougie Bowne: drums.

Though there are some very interesting parts of this recording, there are too many dead spots where nothing substantial seems to be happening. Douglas, always looking for new configuation for his expressions, can't be faulted for trying to recapture the spirit of Coltrane's Ascension in a 90's mode.