"Tubist and composer Ben Stapp, who has scored, workshopped, and recorded an opera (Myrrha's Red Book), led his own small groups, and recorded with, among others, brass multi-instrumentalist Stephen Haynes, guitarist/bassist Joe Morris, trombonist Steve Swell, and bassist William Parker, deals with scale and world-building expertly on Uzmic Ro'Samg, his first disc of unaccompanied tuba and sousaphone music.

There's a tension between material and extra-material narrative; even if the recording offers ten examples of what the tuba's language can encompass--and they are rather extreme examples, given Stapp's creativity and physical dexterity--Uzmic Ro'Samg is more than a demonstration of instrumental possibilities.

Each of the cuts here refers to certain figures in his science fiction opus, which is a meditation on consciousness and traveling between the known and the unknown through extraterrestrial entities ("Keepers" are these entities). The opening "Klonopod" has the tubaist pushing his instrument into areas of technical uncertainty, a reed balanced precariously in the mouthpiece and allowing the tuba to, through squeaks and teetering imprecision (or maybe planetary wobble), occupy tonal colors akin to a subcontrabass clarinet. One of the space travel devices in the novel, "Sciastica Neon" is a rhythmic tour de force, achieved partly through circular breathing and multiphonics, a mass that once it gets off the ground is utterly flying.

The piece "Freya" represents transformation from human form to that of a Keeper and though Stapp says it is an example of "what [he] can do with the tuba," through high-pitched buzz, electroacoustic feedback, chattering vocal-adjacent wails, granular static fields and thick chuffs are a knotty environment of their own and stretch over nearly nine minutes. In the tubaist's vision, "there is a ritual where a human can turn into one of these Keepers so [Freya is] dealing with that transformation herself and her known world becomes unknown," and puts a wide canvas of sound to the feeling of intense, individual struggle. Shorter pieces like "Errathemuel" and the closing "Egdon" have boppish elements and though being highly capable in the tradition isn't a requirement for this music to be valid or compelling, Stapp certainly puts those bona fides on display.

Uzmic Ro'Samg is far more than a solo tuba record, although in the small company of improvised solo tuba recordings, it certainly stands out. It's rare for a first unaccompanied disc to offer such broad, world-building vision and a degree of personal meaning that is both eccentric and deeply worked through. Whether one chooses to enjoy this music for its sheer diversity of tonal colors, sonic shapes and athleticism or the otherworldly possibilities that live within a relationship to narrative (or all of the above), a fascinating journey awaits."-Clifford Allen