Musicians: Pauline Oliveros: accordion; George Marsh, Jennifer Wilsey: percussion; David Wessel: electronics.
Rec. live March 2002, Berkeley, CA.
Review: There is an “ego-less” approach to collective improvisation, one where the musicians really listen, there’s none of the sparring/dueling now-it’s-MY-turn-in-the-spotlight wank and we’re spared the now-tiresome free-for-all skronk-storm. This quartet, whose members come from jazz, classical and electronic background and are the kind of players who frequently blur the lines between them [P. Oliveros is a pioneer in avant-classical/electronic music and G. Marsh has played with Jerry Hahn, Mel Graves and John Abercrombie], present three extended pieces of warmly droning, compassionately clattering, seemingly endless tapestries of soft, rolling sounds by accordion, cymbals, drums, gongs, bells, chimes and sampled sounds. The overall mood is contemplative, but avoids New Age drippiness – it’s drone-y and dreamy yet retains a bit of grit to keep things interesting. Timeless Pulse sometimes recalls the sound-scapes of Gunter Muller, Butch Morris, David Shea and AMM, and is thus recommended to fans of them and harmonious (yes, that’s right, with harmony) free-improv.
JazzReview.com
