Clean Feed

You cannot pigeonhole it -- which is a good thing, mostly because you don't know what to expect next. Carlos Barretto writes and arranges with a measured ear, one that enjoys exploring the nuances and crevices just off the beaten path.

This is Anthony Braxton doing what he does best — playing and improvising on his own idiosyncratic small-group compositions, this time in duet with bassist Joe Fonda.

"Less is More" brings this decade lengthed collective trio into its finest document to date shining with its uncanny ability to interact with extraordinary subtlety and delicacy yet scrupulously controlled power. As the trio has developed it's sound and conception, a compelling evolution has developed from the diverse compositional sensibilities of all three members.

“Udentity” by the Denman Maroney Quintet has the “hyperpiano” as main focus. The title is a word coined by Harry Partch meaning undertone identity. In the tradition of Henry Cowell, John Cage and George Crumb, Maroney offers here a new and very convincing opus of his always imaginative attempts, in a jazz context, to extend the possibilities of the instrument invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori.

With a past in hardcore/metal bands, mostly playing the bass guitar, soon Kjetil Moster changed to the tenor saxophone and became interested in crossing jazz and rock with a strong improvisational approach. Specially interested in the ecstatic music of John Coltrane, his personal signature consists in a renovation of the Coltranean stylings.

The day after a rare and triumphant presentation in New York (with Henry Grimes and Andrew Cyrille, at the 2008 edition of the Vision Festival), British saxophonist Paul Dunmall recorded this album with Tony Malaby, Mark Helias and Kevin Norton. It was hot, very hot, in that day (the 15) of June, and the music here recorded has the same high temperature.