Sonore (Gustafsson / Vandermark / Brotzmann)

Only The Devil Has No Dreams

Label: Jazzwerkstatt Country: Germany

"Sonore is a cooperative trio made up of, essentially, the saxophone section of German reedman Peter Brotzmann's Chicago Tentet: Brotzmann, Vandermark and Swede Mats Gustafsson. Only The Devil Has No Dreams is their second recorded meeting. Unlike Rova or the World Saxophone Quartet, Sonore relies on collective improvisation to generate structure, and as it is a collective venture, roles aren't defined as such-rather, choices are made and followed or abandoned, leading to a character that's not always easy to pin down. It's a natural flow of personalities into sonic areas, utterly non-hierarchical and keyed into the decade-long relationship these three reedmen have enjoyed, transcendent of their respective arsenals.

The opening improvisation, "Straight into the Light," hearkens back to the unruly front line of Machine Gun as it builds rhythm, and one might expect clanging percussive salvos to hit in the ensuing moments. However, rather than stay the juggernaut course, the trio spiral out into areas of long-toned delicacy, collective wheeling and spiky, slap-tongued brittleness. Hushed baritone and clarinet fall away as Brotzmann's tarogato stretches out unaccompanied before masses of panned skronk bring the tune to a close. Sonore are highly nuanced and, most importantly, never "just" a saxophone trio."-All About Jazz