The North Carolina improvising collective Polyorchard is heard in this exceptional studio album, configured as a quintet with Michael Thomas Jackson on clarinet, David Menestres on double bass, Crowmeat Bob Pence on bass clarinet, Charles Phaneuf on clarinet, and Dan Ruccia on viola, for the 6 lettered "Sommian" suite of collective and far-ranging experimental improv.
"Polyorchard is a collection of musicians with a strong desire not only to explore improvised and free music themselves but also - and this is important- to encourage others. Their aim is to explore different musical areas. They may form small ensembles or large collectives and since its inception in late 2012, the ensemble has performed spontaneous compositions, works by members of the group, and works by a variety of composers including Alan Courtis, Terry Riley, Alvin Curran, Eva-Maria Houben, Jacques Demierre, Magnus Granberg, Jackson Mac Low, John Zorn, and many more. Polyorchard has collaborated with a diverse array of artists including Japanese noise legend Merzbow and ensemBle baBel from Switzerland. Polyorchard has also implemented a program to commission new works specifically for improvising ensembles and has so far premiered works by Thomas Dempster, Andrew Weathers, D. Edward Davis, Will Redman, with more new pieces to come in the next few years. Polyorchard has performed on bills alongside Tashi Dorji, Dougie Bowne, Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, and many more."
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The second CD Sommian - also out now- see a change of line up and a quintet. This time it is Michael Thomas Jackson on clarinet, David Menestres - double bass, Crowmeat Bob Pence - bass clarinet, Charles Phaneuf on clarinet and Dan Ruccia on viola. Track one opens with intent, the bass string bending the line up for the sax and viola singing out over the top, the sound is deep, heavy, thrusting and evocative. The bass clarinet voice is heard under many sections and is the mighty shoulders upon which much of the sound rests across the track. The contrasts with the clarinet and viola lines adds to the wonder of the track as it develops. Track 2 is spacey, stutt notes adding atmosphere and short, sharp points of reference, which the bass clarinet picks and develops the middle tone into a riff of its own, over which the bass enters and bows and bends its way into a cavernous depth of sound. This is a track enjoyable because of the interactions going on, which are busy, vital and emphatic, each instrument seeming to want more of a say - and the sound voids are amazing. Track 3 is interaction extreme, complete with bells and whistles which builds, builds again and develops the sounds, each musician picking up those laid before them and combining the key notes to create diversions, intricacies and changes - outstanding. Track 5 is a gentler affair, the percussive, spacey nature contrasting with the blast of before, but wait, this grows, it develops, it builds, it follows a rhythm from the second third, the rhythm firmly set by bass and around this everything builds and the sound wall is created - until it ebbs again, the dynamism here is extraordinary. Track 6 is different again yet still with that group entity which pervades this CD - the musicians listen, they interact, they entwine and unravel again and again.
The CDs show how musicians who listen and want to explore can develop huge sounds - or small, delicate intricacies depending on what takes the moment. Both CDs have a dialect of their own but they are linked by that universal language - the desire to explore, challenge and make good free flowing music with spontaneity and intrigue. There is a sense of a tunnel into which the sounds are poured and what emerges the other end could be anything - or everything."-Sammy Stein