Soprano saxophonist Lol Coxhill and trombonist Paul Rutherford played in a variety of settings at the 2002 edition of Chicago’s Empty Bottle Festival; Emanem has already released some of this material on Rutherford’s Chicago 2002 and Coxhill’s Out to Launch. The day after that festival, they and bassist Torsten Müller headed over to Milwaukee, Wisc., to play a gig at Woodland Pattern Book Center. The first, hour-long set was devoted to three extended solo performances by each of the musicians; the second, much shorter set consisted of two duets and a final trio performance. The time limitations of a single CD necessitated some editing, which is - as always - scrupulously acknowledged by Emanem’s Martin Davidson. The most significant change has been the omission of the first part of “Sax & Bone,” but it also sounds to me like there’s the odd nip and tuck in “Woodland Bone Patterns,” the 22-minute Rutherford improvisation that opens the disc.
Rutherford’s soliloquy proceeds at a virtually even pace (though every so often he pauses to squeeze or deflate a note) and at a volume level close to the speaking voice. It’s a performance that shows little concern for erecting grand architectural structures; instead, it develops according to the meandering, point-to-point movement of conversation, except that here - unlike in most conversations - every phrase is made to count. Coxhill takes his solo piece at a similarly unhurried pace, though his characteristic reeling delivery makes this an altogether more visceral, sardonic and abrasive performance. It begins with twittering birdsong, but Coxhill’s habitual indecorousness quickly asserts itself: he clucks and jeers over the piece’s 15 minutes like a barnyard fowl in a huff. Müller, a new name to me, turns in a quirky solo performance: he seems to spend the 14 minutes of the piece giving his bass an increasingly elaborate massage. The piece stands up just fine beside the work of the two veterans.
I won’t dissect the two (really, one-and-a-half) duets or the final trio piece in detail. Cooler and lighter in texture than the solo pieces, more quick-moving and various, these are more immediately enjoyable and accessible performances. “All Three,” the disc’s graceful coda, is quite possibly its best track. It’s a pity that there isn’t more ensemble work on the disc, but what’s here is well worth hearing.
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