As the Wind

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As the Wind
Live album by
Evan Parker
Released2016
RecordedSeptember 22, 2012
VenueSt Peters, Whitstable, England
GenreFree improvisation
LabelPsi
16.01
ProducerEvan Parker, Martin Davidson
Evan Parker chronology
Making Rooms
(2016) 		As the Wind
(2016) 		On Growth and Form
(2016)

As the Wind is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker on which he is joined by percussionists Toma Gouband, playing lithophones, and Mark Nauseef, playing metallophones. It was recorded on September 22, 2012, at St Peters in Whitstable, England, and was issued on CD in 2016 by Psi Records as the label's final release.[1][2][3][4]

Parker declared that the disc was "one of the best records I have ever made."[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz[5]
The Irish Times[6]
Jazzwise[7]

The editors of The Irish Times ranked the album as the year's best jazz release,[8] awarding it a full five stars.[6] Reviewer Cormac Larkin wrote: "The results are so fresh, and ear-craningly delicate that even those who don't think they enjoy this level of abstraction may be forced to re-evaluate."[6]

In a review for Jazzwise, Philip Clark stated: "this record doesn't contain a single note of jazz, but is a remarkably fine document... I get why Parker rates this record so highly – and hearing him building lines on soprano, rather than defaulting to too much circular breathing, is refreshing."[7]

The editors of All About Jazz also awarded the album a full five stars, and writer John Eyles commented: "The music supports Parker's judgment that it is one of his best... Lacking the pyrotechnics of some of his recordings, such as his solo circular-breathing marathons, As the Wind is a slow-burner that ends up being just as impressive in different ways."[5]

Derek Taylor of Dusted Magazine included the album in his year-end "best of" list,[9] and remarked: "The end collective effect often takes on the unexpected superficial semblance to traditional Japanese theater music in its meditative symmetry and controlled dissonances... this is certainly an achievement that stands out in singular and fascinating form."[10]

JazzWord's Ken Waxman described the music as "brimming with unexpected timbres and interactions... inventions of understatement." He noted: "Parker's distinctive saxophone cascades... not only set the session's mood, but as soon as idiophone smacks clip-clop out their messages, he's able to mimic them. With the selections unfolding in real time, very soon a rapprochement is made between the saxophonist's alp-horn-like swells and rhythmic reverberations which resemble the clatter of mah-jong tiles. Nauseef... makes bell-tree shakes and prayer bowl rubs fit the tunes without fissure, moving alongside Gouband's individualistic strategy of slapping stones on drum tops."[11]

Writer Raul Da Gama stated: "Texture is everything: there are no silences; only long slurs and echoes after which the music seems to be punctuated by a series of crescendos... there is always a sense of sculpted sound but the combination of instrumental timbres is often radiantly beautiful, suggesting bejewelled and absolutely aglow."[12]

Two of the writers at The New York City Jazz Record included the album in their list of recommended new releases,[13] and it was also included in the magazine's "Best of 2016" feature.[14]

Writing for the Downtown Music Gallery, Bruce Lee Gallanter called the album a "treasure chest of gems," and commented: "The results are extraordinary... The sound here is very organic, almost ritualistic in the way the stones are so cautiously played. The music is often minimal with no one member soloing or leading. Things take time to unfold and advance at their own pace. Is that a sax or rubbed stones or both or neither?!?"[15]

The Free Jazz Collective's Stuart Broomer included the album in his list of the year's notable recordings, describing it as "superb music... a soundworld at once abstract and intimate, with every sound spontaneously presenting itself with acute detail and a sense of inevitability."[16]

Track listing

  1. "As the Wind" – 13:36
  2. "Seeking the Bubble Reputation" – 6:59
  3. "Like a Wild-goose Flies" – 4:42
  4. "Make Noise Enough" – 11:53
  5. "Ambitious for a Motley Coat" – 10:38
  6. "As a Weasel Sucks Eggs" – 1:21
  7. "Come Warble, Come" – 1:21
  8. "Pipes and Whistles in His Sound" – 3:52
  9. "Sane Everything" – 6:41

Personnel

References

  1. ^ "Evan Parker / Mark Nauseff / Toma Gouband: As the Wind". AllMusic. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "Evan Parker - As the Wind". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  3. ^ "Psi 2015-6". Emanem Records. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  4. ^ "psi discography". JazzLists. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Eyles, John (January 12, 2017). "Evan Parker / Mark Nauseef / Toma Gouband: As The Wind". All About Jazz. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Larkin, Cormac (March 23, 2017). "Evan Parker - As the Wind album review: Echoes in a soundscape". The Irish Times. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Clark, Philip. "Evan Parker/Mark Nauseef/Toma Gouband: As The Wind". Jazzwise. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  8. ^ Bruton, Louise (December 2, 2017). "Ticket Awards 2017: The best music of the year". The Irish Times. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  9. ^ Taylor, Derek (December 22, 2016). "2016: Bottle Up & Go". Dusted. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  10. ^ Taylor, Derek (November 18, 2016). "Evan Parker – As the Wind (Psi)". Dusted. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  11. ^ Waxman, Ken (July 13, 2017). "Harmen Fraanje / Brice Soniano / Toma Gouband". JazzWord. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  12. ^ Da Gama, Raul (September 4, 2017). "Evan Parker/Mark Nauseef/Toma Gouband: as the wind". JazzdaGama. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  13. ^ Donohue-Greene, Laurence; Henkin, Andrey (January 2017). "Recommended New Releases". The New York City Jazz Record. p. 14.
  14. ^ "Best of 2016". The New York City Jazz Record. January 2017. p. 26.
  15. ^ Gallanter, Bruce Lee (November 4, 2016). "DMG Newsletter". Downtown Music Gallery. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  16. ^ Broomer, Stuart (December 25, 2017). "Top 10 Lists". The Free Jazz Collective. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
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