Malaysian tenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen joins the working trio of Sabu Toyozumi, Simon Tan, and Rick Countryman for a lively set of performances, Sabu and Countryman having met Yandsen in Kuala Lumpur several times the previous year for unrelated projects, bringing confident familiarity to their improvisations, captured here as a trio and quartet from a 3-night engagement in Manila.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2020 Country: UK Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel Recorded live in the Philippine, on March 2nd, 2020, by Alvin Cornista.
"Malaysian tenor man, Yong Yandsen, joins to extend the oft recorded trio of Sabu Toyozumi, Simon Tan, and Rick Countryman, to a lively two sax quartet. Both Sabu and Countryman had met Yandsen in Kuala Lumpur several times the previous year, but separately during other projects. The music captured here is from their third night performing together in Manila, and the second night as a quartet with acoustic bassist Simon Tan.
"Tall, the Tree Speaks" starts with the familiar sound of the sax-bass-drum trio of Sabu Toyozumi, Simon Tan, and Rick Countryman, but is quickly extended by Yong Yandsen to a highly interactive two sax quartet with creative layering of voices that would be the personality of 4 of the 5 tracks. The track "Dialogue between Strings", a duet with Sabu on erhu and Simon on bass, provides the contrasting format."-Rick Countryman