Brice / Musson / Sanders : Immense Blue

(West Hill Records 004. Album review by Tony Dudley-Evans) 

Free jazz and improvised music, it used to be said, is best heard live, and therefore it serves little purpose to produce CDs of it.  This superb CD, Immense Blue, recorded live at The Vortex and out on Olie Brice‘s own West Hills label, proves that assertion to be entirely wrong.

The playing involves a characteristic approach of British free improvisation; it moves between passages of high energy improvisation and more thoughtful melodic interaction.  It always has a pulse, and there are passages where the music swings quite strongly.  There is also a significant amount of reflective interaction with very close listening and reaction between the three players.  Moreover, each player explores the range of their instrument; Rachel Musson‘s tone often moves into a fuller, more aggressive sound reminiscent of the playing of Dewey Redman, but always remains tonal. Brice mostly plays pizzicato bass, but begins Stretched Polyphone on bowed bass, and Mark Sanders, as ever, brings out a range of colours on the drums.   Most of the playing involves interaction between the three musicians, but there are a few short solo passages from Brice or Sanders, and also some duo passages between bass and drums or saxophone and bass

There are three tracks, the first Jump the hidden balcony the air (*)  quite long at 31.47 mins, the other two Stretched polyphone and Hollow circle and round edge scream shorter at 11.04 mins and 12.38 respectively.  The first track moves seamlessly between the more fiery and the more introspective passages . The second track is more abstract with an emphasis on the interaction between the three players, while the third track is more upbeat and  melodic.  It has a strong pulse led by Brice on the bass.

This is a very enjoyable album which needs to be listened to several times to fully appreciate its qualities.