IVO PERELMAN QUARTET - Magic Dust
Mahakala Music CD MAHA-024
Ivo Perelman - tenor saxophone; William Parker – bass, shakuhachi; Christopher Parker – piano; Chad Anderson – drums
Recorded at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY, USA, Aug 4 2021
The shakuhachi is a Japanese, end-blown flute, normally made with 5 holes and tuned to the pentatonic minor scale. Originally from China and made from bamboo, it became associated with Japanese music and is often made from hardwoods or plastic. It was used by monks of the Fuke School of Zen Buddhism in the practice of suizen (blowing meditation).
Perelman has always been searching for new sounds and methods which would allow him to extend the limits of the tenor saxophone. This quartet presents us with an impressive performance, a highly skilled coup de maître; uncompromising, Free-jazz originality to blow away the cobwebs of COVID. There are such imbroglios between the musicians, so much shimmer and sparkle, like that of illusionists, that the 2-CD set seems to last for an entire afternoon – or evening, whatever.
This of course is not all Perelman – the other three members of the quartet all play their part, as you would expect from any group pulled together by this saxophonist. Each one is listening as well as playing and their barter, their reciprocity is penetrating. I was amazed at their complexities. I was especially pleased to hear William Parker with Perelman again. They do echo each other so magnificently, as do pianist Matthew Shipp and Perelman and Parker and Shipp together.
Should you be a devotee of Free-jazz or Free-improv then this is an album that you should have, no question. It is unadulterated originality.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Mahakala Music CD MAHA-024
Ivo Perelman - tenor saxophone; William Parker – bass, shakuhachi; Christopher Parker – piano; Chad Anderson – drums
Recorded at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY, USA, Aug 4 2021
The shakuhachi is a Japanese, end-blown flute, normally made with 5 holes and tuned to the pentatonic minor scale. Originally from China and made from bamboo, it became associated with Japanese music and is often made from hardwoods or plastic. It was used by monks of the Fuke School of Zen Buddhism in the practice of suizen (blowing meditation).
Perelman has always been searching for new sounds and methods which would allow him to extend the limits of the tenor saxophone. This quartet presents us with an impressive performance, a highly skilled coup de maître; uncompromising, Free-jazz originality to blow away the cobwebs of COVID. There are such imbroglios between the musicians, so much shimmer and sparkle, like that of illusionists, that the 2-CD set seems to last for an entire afternoon – or evening, whatever.
This of course is not all Perelman – the other three members of the quartet all play their part, as you would expect from any group pulled together by this saxophonist. Each one is listening as well as playing and their barter, their reciprocity is penetrating. I was amazed at their complexities. I was especially pleased to hear William Parker with Perelman again. They do echo each other so magnificently, as do pianist Matthew Shipp and Perelman and Parker and Shipp together.
Should you be a devotee of Free-jazz or Free-improv then this is an album that you should have, no question. It is unadulterated originality.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
