Jack and I first played in December 2006. He and his saxophones arrived in our New York apartment early one Saturday afternoon and very soon I found
myself involved in a super intense, almost unbearable set, which I recorded ("the first meeting piece"). Since then we played a few times in duet and in
different groupings in New York and Philadelphia. In October 2007 Jack came to
London. I had moved to UK about two months before and had rented a
small flat in Clapham South. Jack was in the early stage of his latest Europe
tour, while I was recovering after the long intercontinental move. My
electronic setup was recovering from the move too, so I decided to use small
acoustic objects instead (a bunch of brushes, music boxes, pencil shaper,
grains, leaves and a boiled egg). Barbara - Jack’s wife - who witnessed this
session, suggested that the music we played could serve as a soundtrack
for Jan Svankmajer animations. I am not sure about it, I like his original
soundtracks, but I think the music we played was funny. Somehow it resonated
in me with the famous Max Ernst collage, so I proposed to call these
recordings "The Chinese Nightingale".