The Squid's Ear Magazine


Magee, Massimo: Toneflower [VINYL] (577 Records)

A solo sax album of patterns and intersections from London writer, artist & musician Massimo Magee, influenced by a wealth of sources from Braxton to Stockhausen, each of the five parts of Toneflower affected through mic placement as Magee builds to wild expressiveness, transforming round tones into stratospheric pitches, using circular breathing for extended expressiveness; stunning!
 

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Personnel:



Massimo Magee-alto saxophone, cymbal


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UPC: 736952026989

Label: 577 Records
Catalog ID: LP-577R-5889
Squidco Product Code: 31724

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded in London, UK, on April 24th, 2021, by the artist.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"As an artist and a thinker, Massimo Magee has been consistently drawn towards patterns: traditions, lines of influence, schools and the unexpected intersections of each. This album, Toneflower, presents a solo programme, meditating on many of those concepts. As an entirely improvised set of pieces, it is also inspired by Anthony Braxton's solo alto tradition and the larger solo saxophone canon. Similarly, it draws from Magee's prior percussive experimentations with Tim Green and Karlheinz Stockhausen's use of contact microphones. In Magee's words, it offers rich parallels with many other saxophone schools, "the ceaseless streams of broken air column wizardry of Evan Parker, the angular atonalism of Tim Berne, the earnest beauty of a Pharoah Sanders melody, the breakneck urgency of Kaoru Abe, the sinuous and unpredictable ebullient elegance of Eric Dolphy, the eerie whistling of Tamio Shiraishi, the satisfyingly round-toned repetition of Steve Lacy, the heavy low-end honking of John Coltrane in a certain mood. The listener might even hear a dash of the motivic minimalism of Terry Riley."

Throughout the album's 5 tracks, Magee pays close attention to the siloed divisions of each school, as part of a larger interrogation of a music industry that privileges singular musicians, cultivating musical traditions and loyal fanbases. Following diverse and distinct musical lineages, Magee curates an informed, thoughtful constellation of influences and traditions, captured through his particular lens of reinvention. Massimo Magee is an established part of the 577 Records catalog; this release joins Cyclone Trio's The Clear Revolution (2021), his project with Tony Irving, Vitriol and the Third Oraculum (2020), and his collaboration with one of his teachers, Eddie Prévost, Easter Monday Music (2022). This project, Toneflower, will be available in LP, CD, and Digital formats in August 2022. "-577 Records


Artist Biographies

"Massimo Magee is a writer, artist and musician based in London. His work is wide-ranging, including fiction, text art, sound and image digital art pieces, experimental music (improvised, composed and everything in between), free jazz, radically extended saxophony, electronics, data manipulation and much more. He has performed internationally and had recordings released in the USA, UK, France, Poland and Australia with musicians such as Eddie Prévost, Hankil Ryu, Sangtae Jin, Keith Rowe, David W Stockard, Tony Irving (Ascension), Christian Munthe, Lee Noyes, Matt Earle, Adam Sussmann, Elliott Dalgleish, Michael Pisaro, Jim Denley, Dale Gorfinkel, Barre Phillips and many more on labels such as Homophoni, Copy For Your Records, Kendra Steiner Editions, Ilse, Ideal State, Audiotong, Factor Vac and others. Ensembles have included Cyclone Trio, Apocalypse Jazz Unit, the Magee/Green/Fowler-Roy Trio, MTJAM and many ad hoc groups. His Manifesto (New Unities) has recently been published."

-Cafe Oto (https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/massimo-magee-ken-ikeda-joshua-weitzel/)
10/2/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Toneflower (Part I) 12:44

2. Toneflower (Part II) 4:07

3. Toneflower (Part III) 2:59

4. Toneflower (Part IV) 13:00

5. Toneflower (Part V) 3:31

Related Categories of Interest:



Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers
Record Store Day 2023

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