Gareth Davis & Elliott Sharp

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Mike on Wed 12 Oct, 2011.

You've probably got a pretty good idea of whether or not you'll like this already if you're reading this. Here we've got challenging free jazz chunterings from Davis on bass clarinet and Sharp on acoustic guitar, with nine tracks recorded in a single day last April in New York. It's a lumpy sonic soup indeed, with squeaks and whistles and honks out of the clarinet while the guitar creaks and clanks percussively as it's manhandled and detuned and scraped and twanged for an atonal texture collage. Emphasis here is often on the staccato, with short, sudden noises being the order of the day. It does have a feeling of interaction, like a complex argument between two clangers (or, if you're Phil, “like two clangers having sex”). This is definitely not for everybody. You'll either think this is unlistenable non-music or a totally charming and original jazz-noise melange.

To play these clips you need to either update your browser (Norman Records recommends Google Chrome) or update your Flash plugin.

A duet of acoustic guitar (played by Elliott Sharp) and bass clarinet (by Gareth Davis). The latter we know from his various collaborations with Rutger Zuydervelt, also known as Machinefabriek (and he who designed this CD) and Sharp is a long term mainstay of the New York improvised music scene. Recorded in a single day, april 5th 2010 at Sharp’s own studio, this is a meeting of two like minded musicians: open and gifted with the talent of fine improvisation. Two different instruments, one with a more short attack and the other able to produce short sounds as well as long sustaining ones, both played in such a way that we recognize what they are, obviously also because are trained listeners of improvised music, but its seems not their intention to far beyond what their instruments normally sound like. There is a great tension between both players resulting in some highly exciting music. Each piece has the right length, and it never seems overtly long or leap into weaker momen ts. A fine work.

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!