Drawn Inward
Drawn Inwardcontinues Evan Parker's merging of acoustic improvisation with live electronic processing, extending the six-piece Electro-Acoustic Ensemble's previousToward the Margins. A seventh member, electronic composer Lawrence Casserley, has been added, further altering and combining the others' instruments and processors. The CD begins with a tribute toJohnny Hartman, and if the velvet-voiced jazz balladeer seems a surprising subject, it hints at a meditative lyricism that's often present on this album. It surfaces in different ways, from Parker's warm tenor on "Spouting Bowl" to Barry Guy's deeply resonant bowed bass on "Reanascreena." What may be most remarkable is the consistent balance achieved between the complex and the coherent. Parker's trio with Guy and percussionist Paul Lytton, the acoustic core of the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, is independently capable of the densest swarms of sound, but in this expanded forum, each player has developed another approach to musical space, paring back the skittering lines and responding to the new environment. For their part, the electronic musicians, including Casserley, Walter Prati, and Marco Vecchi, exercise remarkable creativity and discretion in unleashing their resources, subtly blurring the sources and their manipulations. "Serpent in Sky" matches the multiphonic waves of Parker's untreated soprano with the gradually multiplying string parts of Guy and violinist Philipp Wachsmann. The strings also contribute a luminous, orchestral quality to the haunting "Drawninward," while "Collect Calls," based on a portion of a live performance, teems with chirping, spontaneous life. Beyond the novelty and complexity of its processes, this music is as accessible as it is fresh. --Stuart Broomer