Larry Ochs | Miya Masaoka | Peggy Lee | Spiller Alley | RogueArt Jazz

rogueart jazz

Larry Ochs: tenor and sopranino saxophones | Miya Masaoka: koto | Peggy Lee: cello

Recorded on Avril 2006 by Alberto Spezzamonte (Venice, Teatro Fondamente Nuovo, Italy), Wolfgang Obrecht (Munich, Offene Ohren e.V., Germany), Charly Wienand (St Johan, Alte Gerberei, Austria). Liner notes: Alvin Curran. Photograph: Francesca Pfeffer. Producer: Larry Ochs

Tracklist: 1. Nobody knows (7.51) 2. neoNawi (9.07) 3. micro-mirror (9.51) 4. Spiller Alley (18.17) 5. last light (4.49)

This music of exquisite sensibilities

profound listening and genuinely laid-back cloth at first throws you; nobody is trying to do anything, just play as together as possible. Nobody gets in anybody’s face, including the listener. Nobody solos more than the depth they listen at; nobody never wanted not to be there…. Anyway if this ingenious blend of scents from Masaoka’s ancient koto, Lee’s middle-European cello and Ochs’ out of hock saxes is any indication, “musica da camera” – that old elite art of chamber music – is going to be around for some time yet. — Alvin Curran, excerpt from the liner notes

Larry Ochs | Miya Masaoka | Peggy Lee | Spiller Alley | rogueart jazz

Peggy Lee, Larry Ochs, Miya Massaoka (from left to right) | Photo by Francesca Pfeffer

Regular readers may know that I am quite a fan of saxophonist Larry Ochs

not only because of his mastership on the instrument, but also because of his creativity in coming up with new musical forms, while still keeping his wonderful emotional delivery. An earlier incarnation of this trio released “Fly, Fly, Fly”, with Joan Jeanrenaud on cello, now replaced by Peggy Lee, and with Miya Masaoka on the Japanese koto. The music has again this unique quality of being at the same time vulnerable, fragile almost and very solid in its emotional depth and daring in its adventurousness. This is music that you haven’t heard before and it is basically beyond comparison. It is light, intricate like the best of lace, subtle, precise, genre-blending yet also genre-defying. It is light, sparkling and tasteful like the best of champagnes. Don’t expect melody or fixed forms, the basis is almost zen-like, like bubbles of sound welling up out of nothing, unobtrusive and full of wonder. The three instruments play with the softest of touches to create a whole out of these tiny bits of sound, and these sounds themselves are often extricated from instruments in a way that’s rarely been done before. At first hearing it may be a little tough to get into it, yet the more you listen to it, the more access you get to this strange musical universe, the more compelling it becomes. Highly recommended! — Stef

 

CD version (incl. shipment cost world-wide)

$ 17.00
Out of Stock

Leave a Review

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.