'The Making Of Quiet Things'
Catalogue SLAMCD 269
Artist: "The Number" Personnel: Gary Curson: alto sax Keith Tippett: piano John Edwards: bass Mark Sanders: drums.
Produced by Justin Paterson Engineered by Paul Borg Mixed by Justin Paterson and Paul Borg. Assistant Engineer Andy Johnson
Total Running Time: 58:01
Track listing, with duration, title & composer credits:
Track 1: 20:42: Collective 2: Curson/Edwards/Sanders/Tippett
Track 2: 05:53: Bass & Piano Duet: Edwards/Tippett
Track 3: 04:32: Collective 3: Curson/Edwards/Sanders/Tippett
Track 4: 03:57: Bass & Sax Duet: Curson/Edwards
Track 5: 17:14: Collective 1: Curson/Edwards/Sanders/Tippett
Track 6: 05:51: Piano Solo: Tippett
Recorded at Vestry Hall Studios, Ealing, London, 19 & 20 July 2005 Mixed at Vestry Hall 28 Sept 2005 and Borglands 1 & 8 May 2006.
"The Making Of Quiet Things" byThe Number,
SLAMCD 269
Album-title notwithstanding, this is magnificent, incandescent, full on free Improv with a strong melodic element, led by Gary Curson (alto-sax), with Keith Tippett (piano), John Edwards (bass) and Mark Sanders (drums). Two members of Dreamtime - Curson and Tippett - meet two-thirds of Evan Parker's regular group. Curson, born 1948, worked with Edwards before in Louis Moholo groups, and his playing has a visceral rawness and urgency - this is someone who should be better-known. Compared to the Dreamtime releases on the same label, fine though they are, this rhythm team produce a torrential effect, with tumultuous playing from Tippett. Two duets break up the ensembles with quieter playing, and the piano-bass segment features preparations and small instruments. Producer Justin Paterson is sampling the recording to create new compositions, so the musicians were isolated to get acoustic separation, listening over headphones without visual cues. This makes their achievement all the more remarkable.' Andy Hamilton, WIRE, March 2007
The Number The Making of Quiet Things SLAMCD 269
Anyone who was fortunate enough to hear Dreamtime at the Vortex in December will already have experienced the power and passion of Gary Curson's alto playing. On this quartet album (other participants: Keith Tippett on piano, John Edwards on bass, Mark Sanders on drums) Curson is given even freer rein than he is in Dreamtime; the Number specialise in freely improvised music, full on, fiercely interactive interplay utilising the entire dynamic and textural range of each instrument. Tippett, whether performing in the ensembles, duos or the concluding solo piece, moves with his customary ease between full-blooded percussive playing and the most filigree-delicate contributions, interspersed with rustlings and tinklings produced by objects placed on the piano's strings; Edwards (his playing skills now finely honed by all his experience with the likes of Evan Parker) plunges, twangs and blurts his way through the more raucously vigorous passages and squeaks and drones through the quieter moments; Sanders (his playing as ever finding a middle path between the clattering roar of Tony Levin and the wonderfully sympathetic, quietly rapt patter of Tony Marsh) is the subtly discreet yet powerful heartbeat of the band. It is Curson, however, who most often sets the tone: urgent bordering on downright frenetic, his alto wails, screams and keens, rendering the Number's music raw and adventurous, intensely emotional. Free jazz at its most viscerally affecting.
Chris Parker, The Vortex.
Alessandro Achilli "Musica Jazz" magazine, vol. LXIII, n. 2, February 2007.
THE NUMBER
«The Making Of Quiet Things».
Gary Curson (alto), Keith Tippett (p.), John Edwards (cb.), Mark Sanders (batt.). Ealing, 19 e 20-7-05. SLAM
SLAMCD 269, distr. propria (www.slamproductions.net/).
Il produttore Justin Paterson del London College of Music ha proposto a Curson (già coleader dei Dreamtime) un progetto in due fasi: prima la registrazione e il mixaggio di una seduta d’improvvisazione, e poi una serie di composizioni elettroniche ricavate da campionamenti di quello stesso materiale, elaborati da un software che sarà sviluppato per la bisogna.
«The Making Of Quiet Things» è appunto la prima tappa, con i quattro musicisti che, oltre a suonare insieme, si combinano variamente in duetti e trii, non soltanto in Bass & Piano Duet (con il silenzio come tra pianoforte «pulito» e preparato, sul quale ha ormai raggiunto il controllo dei più minuti dettagli. Sanders avrebbe meritato maggior spazio, anche se (anzi: proprio perché) il saper sempre quando cederlo è tra le sue non poche doti.
Music Boom March 2007
Jazz libero e quieto di Cosimo Parisi
I musicisti inglesi hanno da tempo costruito un proprio modo di interpretare l´improvvisazione ed il quartetto chiamatosi TheNumber è un ottimo esempio di quella che è la pratica musicale nel genere a Londra. Due dei protagonisti del disco provengono dal sestetto Dreamtime, band che cominciò a incidere negli anni `80 ed in cui era presente al contrabbasso Roberto Bellatalla: il pianista Keith Tippet ed il notevole sassofonista contralto Gary Curson. Gli altri due fanno spesso da ritmica a Evan Parker: il contrabbassista John Edwards ed il batterista Mark Sanders.
Tre brani sono con il quartetto al completto: dinamici, aggressivi, liberi da qualunque costrizione, con un sassofonista dalla voce tagliente che dà subito la carica, nella linea di altri connazionali come Trevor Watts o il compianto Elton Dean. L´improvvisazione scorre ariosa, libera di svilupparsi, con i due ritmi che sanno ascoltare, specie Mark Sanders, molto bravo nella pratica del sottrarre note anziché aggiungerle, e che qui ha modo di sottolineare con molta pertinenza delle esecuzioni collettive che esplorano terreni poco battuti dai jazzisti americani. KeithTippett è un pianista il cui valore è ormai riconosciuto ovunque: aparte la sua presenza nei brani in quartetto ha modo di esprimere il suo pianismo creativo nel duo insieme a John Edwards e nel finale "Piano Solo", situazioni in cui esplora tutte le dinamiche possibili che lo strumento può offrire. Un altro brano notevole è il duo sax alto/contrabbasso. Insomma, un disco che ha molte qualità.
Il produttore Justin Paterson ha con questo album realizzato la sua idea di un "ambient recording" con la reale performance in studio. A seguire ci sarà un secondo album costruito con samples a partire dallo stesso materiale registrato.
TRANSLATION
Free and quiet Jazz by Cosimo Parisi
Review of ‘The Making of Quiet Things’ by The Number (Slam Productions)
http://www.musicboom.it/mostra_recensioni.php?Unico=20070303021144
English musicians have been developing their own way of interpreting improvisation for a long time, and the clamorous quartet ‘The Number’ is an excellent example of the London style.
Two of the album's protagonists belong to the sextet Dreamtime, a band that started recording in the '80s and included the bassist Roberto Bellatalla, the pianist Keith Tippett and the remarkable alto saxophonist Cary Curson. The other two (members of The Number) were Evan Parker’s rhythm section: bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders.
Three tracks feature the complete quartet: dynamic, aggressive, without any constraints, with a sharp-voiced saxophonist who can be immediately ranked alongside compatriots such as Trevor Watts or the late Elton Dean. The improvisation runs along melodiously, cliché free, with a rhythm section that knows how to listen, especially Mark Sanders, (who is) very accomplished in the practice of subtracting notes as well as adding them. They have a very pertinent way of underlining collective execution, a territory that American jazz musicians have explored very little.
Keith Tippett is a pianist whose value is already widely known. In addition to his presence in the quartet tracks, (he also) finds a way of expressing his creative piano skills in the duet with John Edwards and in the finale 'Piano Solo'. In these situations he explores all the possible dynamics that the instrument can offer.
Another notable track is the alto sax/contrabass duet.
In all, (it is) an album of high quality.
Justin Paterson the producer has achieved his idea of (producing) an 'ambient recording' of the live performance in the studio with this album. There will be a second album to follow, constructed from samples taken from the same recorded material.
