Sometimes music is best made without much foresight. Back in 2014 during a residency in Paris, saxophonist Catherine Sikora learned that a colleague, drummer Ethan Winogrand, was coming to the place of the residency. A quick concert between Sikora and Winograd was arranged and the two were able to perform a forty-minute set of five improvisation pieces.
Things To Do In Paris is a 2014 souvenir from that impromptu date, finally released in October, 2020.
Drum-sax duets making music out of thin air might be challenging but nothing new to Sikora. She’s recorded a duet with another drummer (Brian Chase) and also participated in other pairings with guitarists and pianists, as well as larger ensembles. In fact, we first noticed her sax work on Ross Hammond’s 2014 opus Humanity Suite and she’s worked extensively with Eric Mingus. Oh, and she’s a member of the insane Eris 136199 trio with guitarists Han-earl Park and Nick Didkovsky.
Sikora’s own solo releases, like Jersey, Warrior and Sanctuary feature her alone with a tenor or soprano saxophone. So, Sikora seems more comfortable in solo saxophone and duo settings, showing that she isn’t afraid of walking the high wire of improvisation without a net.
For this encounter, Sikora plays tenor and “Jeu de Paume” is a good sampling of her own particular eloquence on that horn; using the rough edges of the tenor’s tone to make sharp punctuations and a liquid delivery to smoothly leap from point A to point B. Winogrand gets things going on “Wallaby Visit” deftly using the space and tempo variation to make his intro hold interest. Later in the piece, he and Sikora are prodigiously syncing the notes with the beats.
“Victor’s Arena” starts slow but as Winogrand gets revved up, so does Sikora. The slightly outside honks from Sikora during “Forest Walk” reminds me of tenor titan Joe Henderson. Lastly, Winogrand plays an esoteric rhythm for “Meet Me In The Courtyard” but Sikora quickly deciphers it and builds her narrative around it.
Not bad for a hastily-arranged performance. A lethal combination of instincts and chops are required to pull this off so well; Catherine Sikora and Ethan Winogrand have plenty of both.
Purchase a digital copy of Things To Do In Paris from Bandcamp.
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