4 Corners

Alive In Lisbon [DVD]

Label: Clean Feed Country: Portugal

"Only to listen to a 4 Corners performance is not enough to experience all the emotional level of the music created by the quartet. You have to be there to understand not only how Ken Vandermark, Adam Lane, Magnus Broo and Paal Nilssen-Love interact, but also how they communicate with the audience in subliminar, telepathic ways. And if you can't be physically present in one of their concerts, the next thing is to view them on the screen. "Live in Lisbon" is the video recording of a gig played (March 2007) in the capital of the country where this project was born, Portugal.

The quality of the images (five cameras were used) and of the sound is astonishing, contributing to enhance the pleasure of the viewer/listener. The music was captured in all its strength: live. A mix of free jazz and hard bop with the driving energy of rock and funk, plus incredible solos (the bass with a distortion pedal, by the way) and the beautiful melodies composed by contrabassist Adam Lane and saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Vandermark. "Alfama (For George Braque)", "Spin With The EARth"; "Lucia", "Tomorrow Now (For Lester Bowie)" and "Sanctum" are the pieces chosen - you may have heard one or another in other contexts (for instance, Lane recorded "Spin..." before with Vinny Golia and Vijay Anderson), but they live an entirely new existence with this transnational superband. There's something of Ornette Coleman here, but also of Black Sabbath. Strange? You have to check it yourself, but one thing is for sure: this is the best jazz video in years..."-Clean Feed