We all know about the great World Saxophone Quartet with its quartet of sax savants Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, and David Murray, but have you ever heard a clarinet trio? That’s what Charles Waters put together for his latest project Anti Structure 1-6.
He enlisted Peter Hess and Ken Thomson for this endeavor and they all play Bb clarinets, the so-called ‘harmony clarinet’ which seems a logical choice since they’re, well, playing together in harmony.
Waters made his name as the front-line reedman in the long-running outside jazz quartet the Gold Sparkle Band but this side project doesn’t take on the mantle of Archie Shepp or Ornette Coleman like his main gig does. As the title suggests, it’s six pieces, all concise but elaborately charted, revealing Waters’ composing agility as the sweet, three-part harmony horns glide through one figure to another. Sometimes, as on “Anti-3,” the clarinets split apart into contrapuntal parts and alternately combine on the same note.
Charles Waters branches out and exploits the rich harmonic properties of the clarinet tripled-up with Anti Structure 1-6.
Anti Structure 1-6 is now out, and you can get it from Bandcamp.
*** Gold Sparkle Band CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
- Soft Machine – ‘Thirteen’ (2026) - March 4, 2026
- Devin Gray – ‘Hz Of Gold‘ (2026) - March 2, 2026
- Triple Blind – ‘Cold Walk’ (2026) - February 27, 2026
