FMP CD 11

Alexander von Schlippenbach

JUNE 30th, '88

As with only a few improvisers from the FREE JAZZ fraternity, Parker and Honsinger - even though of entirely different character and attitude - represent a certain type of player, described by Bailey as the "pro-instrument orientated" player, which only this type of music has produced. Both have got their own sound and a unique, clearly formulated language, and above all, an inspired gift for their instrument - inspired in the sense of being blessed with certain natural abilities - as if they had been "just made for the job".

Taking all this into consideration, this trio, as one of the groups presented during. The big Berlin Workshop, was maybe the most demanding and also the most difficult of the formations. The 'chamber music' like sound laid bare the textures with microscopic accuracy thus allowing the audience to witness the dramatic amalgamation of those so-called creative impulses and their reciprocal cancellation in a refined and extremely differentiated manner.

In the long introductory duet from the tenor sax and cello, accompanied by plenty of singing, it feels at first more like the 'comings and goings' in a bird coop instead of 'together' and the so called 'Cries of the Master' die away unheard in the dessert or are taken up by the saxophone and regurgitated.

When Taylor finally joins in with the first staccato bass notes, the piano immediately takes over the leading role. And already from here on it becomes apparent how much easier it is for both Parker and Honsinger to play in duo with Taylor, than as trio. And so it's about these duets between Parker/Taylor and Honsinger/Taylor that make this recording worthwhile. The trio seems to work best in those passages where actual three-dimensional activity is taking place, where the different layers that are being worked with, remain, over longer periods, quite separated. The latter, being, in improvised music, an especially difficult task, and rarely accomplished, so that for the listener, multiple voicings in a complicated form can be made comprehensible. Or moments where the pitches and accent interference patterns melt into one, and you can feel that magical "swing". In the trio sections, firstly, its only in the isolated, and pointillistic structures where it comes together. These structures become more complex and differentiated, and towards the end the density of the ensemble playing steadily increases. As epilogue, Taylor brings forth one of his indecipherable vocal offerings which is, at this stage, underpinned by some accurate and precise counterpoint from the other two players.

Spontaneous improvised music (in this case Free Jazz) is only valid when it carries itself, where comprehensible structures are created and where a certain period of time is allowed to elapse, before further development takes place. This trio recording brings into focus the dramatic process of creating music of such quality, with all its highs and lows, the straying from the path, and the finding of the way back to terra firma.

For Musicians only!

Translation: Paul Lytton

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