Constant Weave

Guitarist Burt and saxophonist MacDonald dabble in the type of improvisation that many “specialists” with a leaking nose will consider surpassed and not consequential enough as opposed to the hieratic gravity of a “performer” listening with firm concentration to buses and police alarms coming from the nearby boulevard, presumably interspersed with various types of toneless fart. But guess what, this stuff is good – very good – and so well recorded that the mere act of enjoying the unfinished frolicsomeness of some of these fragments is sufficient for this scribe. Specifically, Burt is the kind of player that alternates his interest in upper partials found just everywhere on the neck, electric rashness and classic preparations (alright, those bouncing objects between the strings are a commonplace by now, however in this case there’s a clearly perceivable honesty that saves the day). Clean-toned vibrato à la Frith and arrhythmic accompaniment of nonexistent themes complete the expressive gamut of this perspicacious artist. MacDonald is perhaps showing a bigger tendency to jazz-oriented phrasing, as heard – for instance – in the first half of “2nd Thoughts”. Yet when the time comes, he changes the approach abruptly and substantially, able to individuate the exact points in which bedlam and presence of mind fuse, allowing the music to reach levels of unexpected intensity enriched by beautifully resonant halos and deliberate melodic reflections (“A Panel Of Experts”). As Pink Floyd used to say, a nice pair.