Extreme improvisation from the West Coast, using dissonance, dynamics, harmonics, conversational interaction, extended techniques and energy, new viewpoints inspired by a mix of contemporary classical and jazz.
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Sample The Album:
Paul Hartsaw-soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Kristian Aspelin-guitar, broom
Damon Smith-doublebasses
Jerome Bryerton-percussion
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UPC: 820637052124
Label: Balance Point Acoustics
Catalog ID: bpa012
Squidco Product Code: 15372
Format: CD
Condition: VG
Released: 2007
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Tray
Tracks 1-7 recorded at 1510 8th St Studios, Oakland, CA on August 25th, 2006. Track 8 recorded at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, CA on August 24th, 2006. Recorded by Scott R. Looney.
This is a USED (previously owned) item
"This is documentation of a never ending story, and it's that the story seems endlessly intriguing which makes for compelling listening. All four musicians are deeply schooled in the rigors of free improvisation, and every note and tone they produce makes that plain. Variety is further aided by the fact that the quartet is broken down into duos and trios on a lot of the pieces, a fact which affords the listener some degree of insight into how the responsiveness of the individuals concerned is conditioned by setting. The notion of an ever flowing stream of music is a pertinent one, not least because, for example, it render the less than three minutes of "Garbage" as thoughts in the moment, captured for posterity. It also gives rise to the contention that improvised music can never be repeated, a point borne out perhaps by the radically different dynamics of the similarly brief "Copper," which immediately precedes it. Here Paul Hartsaw on tenor sax tacks closely to Evan Parker's model, though it's clear that his vocabulary is his own despite any timbral similarity.
"Broom With Red Bristles" starts from nothing, sounds encroaching upon the silence only tentatively. The slow build in dynamics is measured not only by the tendency of all four musicians not to impose themselves but also by what might be called the needs of the moment. The result is engagingly inconclusive, as if this was one of those occasions when resolution simply denied fashioning. Only feedback closes it out, the keening tone of it a crude hint at discontinuity when set against the arid soundscape in the opening moments of the following "Pamphlet Printed On Plastic Bag" where, over the course of almost fifteen minutes, the music seems like silence's hostage to fortune. Certainly infrequent outbursts of sound seem to suggest a certain railing against that status. "Stone," played by a trio of Hartsaw, guitarist Aspelin and percussionist Jerome Bryerton, is again measured but not tentative, as if the musicians are torn between responding and the demands of the musical moment. The outcome of any such dilemma manifests itself in acute responsiveness."-Nic Jones, All About Jazz
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Paul Hartsaw "Saxophonist Paul Hartsaw (1973) received his formal studies in music and critical theory at Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University studying saxophone with John Nichol and Trent Kynaston. While in college, Paul was the recipient of numerous solo, sectional and ensemble awards from jazz festivals at Notre Dame, Aquinas College, Detroit Montreux, the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) Conference, and Down Beat Magazine's Annual Student Music Awards as well as having the opportunity to perform with such notable musicians as Billy Hart, Mel Torme, Jon Faddis, John Pattitucci, Louis Bellson, Marvin Stamm, and John Fedchock. Paul also performed on the album Disposable Income with the Western Michigan University Jazz Orchestra which received a Grammy nomination. Since moving to Chicago in 2000, Paul has performed both in the U.S. and internationally collaborating with a who's who of the Chicago improvised music scene both as a sideman and leader. Over the last several years Paul has performed with Kristian Aspelin, Jim Baker, Josh Berman, Jeb Bishop, David Boykin, Nathaniel Braddock, Bill Brimfield, Kyle Bruckmann, Jerome Bryerton, Tim Daisy, Kevin Davis, Brahm Fetterman, Carol Genetti, Frank Gratkowski, Anton Hatwich, Keefe Jackson, Wibert De Joode, Tobias Kaemmerer, Scott Looney, Mike Reed, Dave Rempis, Frank Rosaly, Scott Rosenberg, Karl E.H. Siegfried, Damon Smith, Matt Ulery, Weasel Walter and William Winant among others." ^ Hide Bio for Paul Hartsaw • Show Bio for Damon Smith "Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon's explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson's Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra's Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Roscoe Mitchell, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and five great years in Houston, Texas working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, David Dove & Chris Cogburn, Damon will move to the Boston area in the fall of 2016. Damon has run Balance Point Acoustics record label since 2001, releasing music focusing on transatlantic collaborations between US and European musicians." ^ Hide Bio for Damon Smith • Show Bio for Jerome Bryerton "Jerome Bryerton's artistic expression evolved from years of playing drums in rock, jazz and experimental groups. Performing solo or collaboratively, he's toured and recorded internationally with many notable improvisers. Jerome is also part owner of a large industrial silk screening operation in Chicago. While some may perceive a factory to be the antithesis to the creative process, Jerome's imagination has been known to incorporate the errors of assembly line production into some of his art. Rejected test prints often made their way into many of his early canvases. Strictly working within the medium of oil on canvas and applied with plexiglass. Jerome's dense, moody abstractions and marbleized colors have been said to evoke controlled chaos, blurred memory and decay. His influences range from Masters such as Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Luc Tuymans and Cy Twombly. Self-taught and skilled in improvisation, Jerome believes that everything starts with curiosity: if you're curious about something and you're willing to learn more about it, everything happens by itself." ^ Hide Bio for Jerome Bryerton
9/27/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
9/27/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
9/27/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Vitrine 6:47
2. Sand 2:52
3. Copper 3:56
4. Garbage 2:36
5. Stone 8:17
6. Paper 3:20
7. Broom With Red Bristels 10:04
8. Pamphlet Printed On Plastic Bag 14:24
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