SCOTT THOMSON - Murray
Tour de Bras Records CD TDB90036CD
Available from Bandcamp
Scott Thomson, Trombone
Recorded 24th and 26th January 2019 at drummer and painter John Steward’s studio in Montreal, Canada
Both of the tracks on this CD are walkabouts, leisurely walks or wanderings for pleasure rather than with any particular task in mind, such as marking out the perimeter of the manor.
Solo trombone is not the only musical engrossment that Scott Thomson follows. He is also a composer, noticeably involved with writing songs for singer/dancer Susanna Hood. On a larger scale he co-founded the Association of Improvising Musicians, Toronto (AIM Toronto) back in 2004 and co-directed the AIM Toronto Orchestra, which was created to manage a venture with Anthony Braxton in 2007. Again, in 2016, he assembled the Montréal-Toronto Art Orchestra, to play the music of Roscoe Mitchell. Thomson is, though, a professional musician and this has meant more than behind-the-scenes organisation. His association with the talents of artists such as Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell and William Parker have been supplemented by those of bass clarinettist Lori Freedman, an icon in Canadian avant-garde music and free improvisation, and the skills of Dutch drummer Han Bennink, from the European free-music arena.
What we and Thomson will encounter on these two journeys is a diversity of quirks and stimulations, with ever-changing melodies, descants and reverberations, filtering discord and mood, to realise and release the enactment of a drama. It is also his running commentary on that drama.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Tour de Bras Records CD TDB90036CD
Available from Bandcamp
Scott Thomson, Trombone
Recorded 24th and 26th January 2019 at drummer and painter John Steward’s studio in Montreal, Canada
Both of the tracks on this CD are walkabouts, leisurely walks or wanderings for pleasure rather than with any particular task in mind, such as marking out the perimeter of the manor.
Solo trombone is not the only musical engrossment that Scott Thomson follows. He is also a composer, noticeably involved with writing songs for singer/dancer Susanna Hood. On a larger scale he co-founded the Association of Improvising Musicians, Toronto (AIM Toronto) back in 2004 and co-directed the AIM Toronto Orchestra, which was created to manage a venture with Anthony Braxton in 2007. Again, in 2016, he assembled the Montréal-Toronto Art Orchestra, to play the music of Roscoe Mitchell. Thomson is, though, a professional musician and this has meant more than behind-the-scenes organisation. His association with the talents of artists such as Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell and William Parker have been supplemented by those of bass clarinettist Lori Freedman, an icon in Canadian avant-garde music and free improvisation, and the skills of Dutch drummer Han Bennink, from the European free-music arena.
What we and Thomson will encounter on these two journeys is a diversity of quirks and stimulations, with ever-changing melodies, descants and reverberations, filtering discord and mood, to realise and release the enactment of a drama. It is also his running commentary on that drama.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
