Mette Rasmussen is a Danish alto saxophonist who has worked in diverse and distinguished contexts, including Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra and the all-star multinational quartet Hearth. Here she joins Connecticut-based saxophonist Paul Flaherty, a free-jazz warrior whose wily name for his genre, “the hated music,” effectively deflects knee-jerk criticism. Bassist Zach Rowden and drummer Chris Corsano provide apt support in a program as notable for its moments of lyricism as for its explosions.
Flaherty plays alto saxophone for the most part, at times blurring identities in waves of focused empathy. Even Rowden’s gritty arco passages dovetail with the saxophones. The twenty-minute The Hesitant Nature of Doubt (Shadow Chase) presses toward an ecstatic apocalypse with both saxophones in full cry, but that visionary element is framed almost ceremonially, suggesting the gospel-tinged roots of Albert Ayler. It ends with a keening, song-like cry that sounds uncannily like a woman’s voice. It’s Flaherty playing just his mouthpiece.
What to Expect When Faking Your Own Death is a shifting sonic vision: Rasmussen’s unaccompanied exposition intensifies from barnyard pecking to short, contorted phrases until the band enters for a spontaneous thematic exposition vigorously propelled by Corsano. Flaherty’s solo has a muffled lyric delicacy that draws out Rasmussen’s “objects” (harmonica and bird calls), leading to a gentle conclusion with Rasmussen singing through her horn and Flaherty turning again to his mouthpiece. The final Industrial Sabotage Friday is a brief, intense fanfare constructed on a rough-hewn dance figure, echoed across registers as Flaherty turns to his customary tenor saxophone.
This is vital, invigorating work. Mette Rasmussen is a Danish alto saxophonist who has worked in diverse and distinguished contexts, including Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra and the all-star multinational quartet Hearth. Here she joins Connecticut-based saxophonist Paul Flaherty, a free-jazz warrior whose wily name for his genre, “the hated music,” effectively deflects knee-jerk criticism. Bassist Zach Rowden and drummer Chris Corsano provide apt support in a program as notable for its moments of lyricism as for its explosions.
Flaherty plays alto saxophone for the most part, at times blurring identities in waves of focused empathy. Even Rowden’s gritty arco passages dovetail with the saxophones. The twenty-minute The Hesitant Nature of Doubt (Shadow Chase) presses toward an ecstatic apocalypse with both saxophones in full cry, but that visionary element is framed almost ceremonially, suggesting the gospel-tinged roots of Albert Ayler. It ends with a keening, song-like cry that sounds uncannily like a woman’s voice. It’s Flaherty playing just his mouthpiece.
What to Expect When Faking Your Own Death is a shifting sonic vision: Rasmussen’s unaccompanied exposition intensifies from barnyard pecking to short, contorted phrases until the band enters for a spontaneous thematic exposition vigorously propelled by Corsano. Flaherty’s solo has a muffled lyric delicacy that draws out Rasmussen’s “objects” (harmonica and bird calls), leading to a gentle conclusion with Rasmussen singing through her horn and Flaherty turning again to his mouthpiece. The final Industrial Sabotage Friday is a brief, intense fanfare constructed on a rough-hewn dance figure, echoed across registers as Flaherty turns to his customary tenor saxophone.
This is vital, invigorating work.
