RON CAINES / MARTIN ARCHER AXIS - Les Oiseaux De Matisse
Discus 72CD
Ron Caines: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Martin Archer: saxophones, clarinets, electronics; Laura Cole: grand piano, electric piano; Gus Garside: double bass; Johnny Hunter: drums; Herve Perez: live sound processing, shakuhachi; Graham Clark: violin, electric guitar
Recorded May-July 2018 by David Watts at Chairworks and by Martin Archer at Discus Studio
Ron Caines was co-founder of Bristol ‘prog rock’ band East of Eden who closed the ‘60s with two albums (‘Mercator Projected’ and ‘Snafu’ – reforming in the mid-90’s for a trio album ‘Kalipse’). Knowing this was a band that include sax, violin, flute, trumpet in its line-up tells you that they were as much about exploring jazz idioms and rock and some sort of acid-folk. For Caines, as he says in the liner notes, East of Eden “were eclectic, inclusive, experimental. A willingness to be unacceptable, difficult, leading to experimental music deemed as elitist. A music of resistance for the contrarian.” He could, of course, have been writing about Martin Archer who, in his liner notes, talks of being spell-bound by these records – “These guys seem to be able to do anything they want and no-one is telling them they can’t”. If East of Eden inspired a young Archer, then it is fitting and quite heart-warming that Caines closes his liner notes by saying, “After years in Bristol, away from London, I subsequently moved to Brighton…This is where I met Martin and we played together. I thank him for this opportunity for my voice to be heard” - and what a great voice to have the pleasure of being reacquainted with. Caines continues his exploration of the alto and soprano saxophones, weaving vibrant solos and enigmatically weaving in and out of tunes. Writing duties here are split between Caines and Archer (with one improvisation and one piece that Caines co-wrote with Keith Tippett for a duet in 1983).
Archer continues his experiments with sound and, on this set, uses post-production to weld strands from different versions of a piece (such as Clark’s violin parts on ‘News from Nowhere’ or the two trio improvisations that form ‘Triangulation’), but the group also work with Perez’ live processing of sounds. These effects give the recording a spacey, dub-like quality with rumbling bass and sounds that seem to fly from all directions. This is music that continues to push at boundaries and, this contrarian, takes great delight in the ways in which each listen is rewarded with some new mix of sounds. But there is also precision in the way in which the music is mastered, and the ways in which all of the players listen so carefully to each other to produce some splendidly rich improvised pieces.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Discus 72CD
Ron Caines: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Martin Archer: saxophones, clarinets, electronics; Laura Cole: grand piano, electric piano; Gus Garside: double bass; Johnny Hunter: drums; Herve Perez: live sound processing, shakuhachi; Graham Clark: violin, electric guitar
Recorded May-July 2018 by David Watts at Chairworks and by Martin Archer at Discus Studio
Ron Caines was co-founder of Bristol ‘prog rock’ band East of Eden who closed the ‘60s with two albums (‘Mercator Projected’ and ‘Snafu’ – reforming in the mid-90’s for a trio album ‘Kalipse’). Knowing this was a band that include sax, violin, flute, trumpet in its line-up tells you that they were as much about exploring jazz idioms and rock and some sort of acid-folk. For Caines, as he says in the liner notes, East of Eden “were eclectic, inclusive, experimental. A willingness to be unacceptable, difficult, leading to experimental music deemed as elitist. A music of resistance for the contrarian.” He could, of course, have been writing about Martin Archer who, in his liner notes, talks of being spell-bound by these records – “These guys seem to be able to do anything they want and no-one is telling them they can’t”. If East of Eden inspired a young Archer, then it is fitting and quite heart-warming that Caines closes his liner notes by saying, “After years in Bristol, away from London, I subsequently moved to Brighton…This is where I met Martin and we played together. I thank him for this opportunity for my voice to be heard” - and what a great voice to have the pleasure of being reacquainted with. Caines continues his exploration of the alto and soprano saxophones, weaving vibrant solos and enigmatically weaving in and out of tunes. Writing duties here are split between Caines and Archer (with one improvisation and one piece that Caines co-wrote with Keith Tippett for a duet in 1983).
Archer continues his experiments with sound and, on this set, uses post-production to weld strands from different versions of a piece (such as Clark’s violin parts on ‘News from Nowhere’ or the two trio improvisations that form ‘Triangulation’), but the group also work with Perez’ live processing of sounds. These effects give the recording a spacey, dub-like quality with rumbling bass and sounds that seem to fly from all directions. This is music that continues to push at boundaries and, this contrarian, takes great delight in the ways in which each listen is rewarded with some new mix of sounds. But there is also precision in the way in which the music is mastered, and the ways in which all of the players listen so carefully to each other to produce some splendidly rich improvised pieces.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
