Safehouse 'On the Edge' 29th November 06
Wild card quartet # 9
Evan- guitar
Rick - alto Sax
Mark – Accordion
The accordion sighs deeply, the passage of wind through the reeds reminding us all that we are mortal. The saxophone moved melodically over the minute counting accordion, pleading at times for a change in mood, but really enjoying the harmonies and open space laid out. Dancing over these two moody sounds the guitar played bright, repeated phrases casting light in to the piece and lighting the corners the others tried to hide in. The accordion was the anchor and as the piece shifted the sax broke free with twanging read and tongue slapping the mood shifted and the edges became sharp and angular, the guitar twisted around in between the sax and accordion rubbing the edges off the sharpness.
The second piece, again the accordion assumed the role of meter and the guitar the humming treble, but the sax adopted the lower register, less strident more reflective and they poured ink and created darkness.
CP Nov 06
21 grams
Stuart Revill – Guitar
Tim Wood – Tenor Sax/ Bells
Chris Parfitt – Soprano sax/ primitive magnetica
21 grams starts with a cave like murky cassette tape effected into train-like cadences, enhanced by the twin whistles of what will turn out to be the tenor player. A gently plucked and hammered semi acoustic guitar slowly loops up out of the mist to Highlife brightness, before the soprano saxophone floats in to be joined by the tenor. Bells are shaken and dropped to the floor. The three wind around each other for a while, before the Soprano player returns to tend the cassette. The noise from the tape flattens and slows, the tenor player takes a break and the guitarist lets another loop gently build, before the soprano starts to drone with the tenor bouncing at tangents. The guitarist has built a pointillist rhythm that he standing now sends ripples of notes from, and the two saxophones pick up a riff and ride it for a while channeling the ghosts of Ben Webster and Al Casey all breathily and lyrical. The tape winds down and the guitar playing gets more strident, bigger notes, the players all now tapping feet, playing rhythm. A new tape, someone speaking rwwwk rewound, someone speaking rwwwk rewound - you get the idea picking up the beat and slowly swallowing the other instruments to finish.
Geoff Reader Nov 06
Mark Wastell - electronics/ singing bowls/ harmonium
The On the Edge audience fell silent and the room was darkened. And they waited. The silence, or should I say the stillness in the room, became noticeable, (the sounds from the bar below leaked in muffled and pulsing). Mark was still. Then gradually sounds started to emanate from the table of equipment. Scratches clicks and pulses, the thump of a switch being thrown and then high frequency sounds almost out of range, almost hard to hear, almost inducing pain. At time I was not sure I was hearing it - rather feeling it. The piece was wide and elegant in its form the texture of sound dynamic and diverse, and always under control, fine and detailed control, nothing was out of place. The working of the singing bowls was measured, the manipulation of the sound waves produced by the simple wafting of the hand over them, produced gentle harmonics that shimmered only to be lost to the clicks and high frequency hard shapes that feasted on them. Then the harmonium, one note a simple drone, placed against the electronics, soft, earthy and sensual. The sustained note brought new tonal qualities and was a further juxtaposition to the harshness of the electronics. The end brought us back to stillness and the hum and pulse of the bar below. Excellent.
CP Nov 06