Search - Various Artists :: Saturn Cycle

A brilliant live set of stunningly original free-improv.

07/02/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Georg Graewe is simply a monster. He has been active on the freely-improvised creative music scene, and his compositions have also received note in many quarters. His playing answers the gauntlet Cecil Taylor's been throwing down for forty (!) years now; but this is no Cecil Taylor slave. His improvising can be likened to Schoenberg, in my opinion; and he's as likely to float through modal, bop, boogie, and funk/fusion jazz styles as he is tohammer out the dense clusters---but never, NEVER is there a sense of pastiche. Everything connects as though in a dream. This a gorgeous record w/ telepathic support from mad cellist Ernst Reijseger (of Clusone Trio fame) and percussionist Gerry Hemingway (formerly of the Anthony Braxton Quartet). I can't recommend this recording enough, based on the incomparable muscianship, constant challenge, and relentless fun. Dark, grooving, chaotic, joyous music, with equal respect paid to the pure love of sound and the strange freedom of structure (i.e. never what you expect)."