A beautiful set of duo recordings of what Derek Bailey referred to as "non-idiomatic improvisation". We get four bits from two different concerts recorded seven years apart. I am a big fan of both, having first heard Coxhill in grade school when I stumbled across a copy of Miller Coxhill / Coxhill Miller in a local used record store, and being introduced to Turner through a copy of his confounding solo record The Blur Between.

Lol Coxhill sounds like no other saxophonist I can think of, his sound a mixture of humor and pathos, his tone a slightly sour one. It is immediately identifiable and completely comfortable. Turner employs his large collection of objects and drum kit in sympathetic ways, sometimes suggesting swing or pulse, but mostly throwing up little piles of percussive debris, clouds of agreement and encouragement for the horn to dance in and through. He conjures street noise and alarm bells, as well as conversation and far-off thunder. In places I am reminded of the track on the aforementioned Miller/Coxhill record wherein Lol plays solo against a background of whining, whirring motors. The sounds are often surprising and change fairly rapidly, an example of the momentist aesthetic in excelsis.

The whole comes wrapped in yet another beautiful Emanem package; triple-fold with nice black and white photos and Turner's done-while-not-looking drawings. Should there be any doubt, with players of this caliber around, this form of improvisation will be around for a long time.