A set of David Leon's compositions for a trio of his horns and flutes, gayagum and voice by DoYeon Kim, and percussionist Lesley Mok. The first thing that struck me about these pieces was just how locked into the melodies the three players are, sounding very often as one voice. This is no mean feat, due to the complexity of some of these heads, which remind me a lot of Anthony Braxton's compositions.
The liner notes talk of Leon's interest in various aspects of Cuban music, and also in microtonality, and some of these tunes sound a bit like exploded notions of past musics reassembled, without the haze of academia that sometimes overwhelms similar endeavors. Occasional whiffs of Korean traditional music are folded in, a field that is ripe for further exploration. All three players are adept and nimble, and the recording is spotless, some of the best sounding stuff I've heard in a long time.
It's not all heavy and serious though, there's a certain amount of whimsy involved, especially during the improvising sections. In "Nothing Urgent, Just Unfortunate" Leon gets a chance to play solo and give voice to an awful lot of the language of 21st century saxophone technique; chirping, squawking, chuckling and all the other -ings, before the rhythm pops back in and he channels John Lurie. A few of the pieces are quite sparse, having an almost Wandelweisser aura. This is a music that tries and succeeds in melding different folk traditions and combining different aspects of them to create something new. I am also reminded of Codona and even in places, Oregon. This is not a bad thing in my book. My favorite parts herein are when the gayagum and percussion lock together and charge ahead. It's a beautiful sound.
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