Saxophone string dialogue – Oliver Lake, featuring FLUX Quartet – RIGHT UP ON: It’s been a fair amount of time since I’ve received a jazz album that falls right in on the “avant-garde” turf… this one is a pre-release (it’s slated to be on the street in two weeks, but you can pre-order it now on the Bandcamp page – as soon as samples become available, I will return and link them in). Oliver’s sax joins the FLUX Quartet on three of the pieces, and one of the most intriguing I’ve heard in many years is the 9:22 “5 Sisters”… Oliver’s saxophone really is “talking” to the strings – but you won’t realize that unless you’ve carved out a full hour & 10 minutes to absorb this most intriguing musical conversation! The FLUX Quartet has Tom Chiu on violin; Conrad Harris on violin; Max Mandel doing viola and Felix Fan on cello, and they are all top-flite players – no slacking here!
Of course, if the only “jazz” you listen to is of the “smooth” variety, or some mindless pap served up for the masses, you will probably move on to the next jazz rack… Oliver’s music is detailed, intense and full of surprise… as you’ll hear on the title track, “Right Up On”, there are “movements within movements”, and you won’t “get” them if you are only looking for hip-shakers… the little twists and turns the piece take are splendid for listeners who live to hear aural adventure, though! My personal favorite of the seven songs offered up is “Sponge”… sweeping strings, with lots of “jangle-edge”, make this a dream come true for ears like mine (& a million others as well). I give Oliver and FLUX a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, especially for listeners who love music with detail and nuance; “EQ” (energy quotient) is 4.99. You can pre-order the album, and listen to the samples after the release date on the Passin’ Thru Bandcamp label page for this release. Rotcod Zzaj
#Saxophone #string #dialogue
