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  Florian Stoffner / John Butcher / Chris Corsano 
  Braids
  (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd.) 


  
   review by Ken Waxman
  2024-02-22
Florian Stoffner / John Butcher / Chris Corsano: Braids (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd.)

Braids "braids" individual strands of creativity from three experienced free musicians into a flexible contrapuntal program. Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner, who works in electronic and acoustic settings; American drummer Chris Corsano, who has backed everyone from Bjork to Evan Parker; and UK saxophonist John Butcher who seems to have played with nearly every creative musician over the past 40 years; quickly connect after initial hesitancy.

United on seven instant composition, the three often meld into subtle lower case improvisations of string picks and strums, isolated percussion pats and clangs and pinched reed trills. Spaced with silent interludes, the trio members can also turn around and color the program with cymbal crashes, intermittent guitar twangs and concentrated overblowing from the saxophonist.

With Corsano adding half-clarinet squeaks and whistles at points, the trio elevates its playing from understated to nearly unrestrained on the second half of the session. Never out-of-control, tracks like "Charlatans Selling Miracles" and "Smaller Infinities" vibrate with harsh tongue striations, ascending drum thumps and buzzing guitar flanges. Somehow, especially with Butcher's playing, belligerent and bendable textures are expressed at the same time.

Connecting with the facility of deft technicians intertwining delicate fibres, Butcher, Stoffner and Corsano prove that individual improvisational language can be shared through facility and innovation for notable results.







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