In the Evenings Out There
Pianist Paul Bley was touring Scandinavia with a quartet made up of longtime associateGary Peacockon bass and two brilliant British musicians, drummerTony OxleyandJohn Surmanon baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, when they made this Oslo recording in 1991. Rather than a conventionally organized quartet session, the CD consists of seven largely improvised solos, three duets, and two tracks--the collectively improvised "Interface" and Surman's "Article Four"--with the full quartet. Even more unusual is the frequent emphasis on bass frequencies and slow, even solemn, tempos. Only extraordinary musicians could keep such a format interesting, and these four do, exploring room resonance with almost ceremonial levels of concentration. On his duets with Bley and Peacock, Oxley presses drumming to its sonic limit, combining erratic flurries on high-pitched drums with scraped cymbals, while Peacock combines guitar-like fluency with rare, expressive depth on his two solo pieces. Bley contributes four fascinating, varied solos, and Surman shows rare mastery of his low-pitched reeds. It's a long and slow conversation, but it sheds light on profound topics. --Stuart Broomer