by Mark Saleski
Baritone sax (Evans) and piano recorded live at a church. The room gave just the right amount of natural reverb, which is a great thing because too much echo can muddy all of those wonderful details my ears parts expect from the bari sax: clacking valves, breathy passages. The improvisations range from simple call and response motifs — the opening “Junie” suite has Shah holding down an ostinato over which Evans places a theme that he proceeds to slowly take apart. During “On Tone Yet,” the duo hands ideas back and forth for more than 16 minutes with the tone morphing from a romantic hush to foreboding dissonance. I particularly loved the tension brought on by the angularity employed during “Mothers and Others.” Sorta Braxton-esque, sorta not. There was a lot of deep listening going on at this show, by both fans and performers.
Half Notes is a quick-take music feature on Something Else! Reviews, presented whenever the mood strikes us.
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B003B7IAPQ” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /]
- Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop, “When I Fall” (2024): Video premiere - March 15, 2024
- Disaster Pony,“Dead Neon & The Noon Sun” from ‘Disaster Pony’ (2024): Video premiere - February 27, 2024
- Christopher Hoffman, “Farewell Forever” from ‘Vision Is The Identity’ (2024): Streaming premiere - February 19, 2024
