Artist: John Law

Date of Release:

Catalogue no: 942

Label: ASC CD85

Price: £13

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Track Listing

Appearances by

Jon LLoyd

Ten ambient pieces, some through-composed, for saxophone and piano. Delicate soundscapes with a contemporary classical, ECM feel, inspired partly by the work of minimalist composers such as Morton Feldman. A new departure for Law and Lloyd, radically different from their early free jazz work. This new duo project concentrates on atmosphere and poise.

John Law: piano, percussion
Jon Lloyd: soprano saxophone

Reviews

17/11/2006 John Fordham

A couple of weeks ago, the gifted British pianist John Law held the Vortex in awe, with a performance that emphasised subtle lyricism and probing swing while reworking the traditional materials of a jazz piano trio. This is a very different context for Law, in a duo with soprano saxophonist Jon Lloyd - a player/composer who has moved from free jazz toward a spacious music influenced by Morton Feldman, among others.

There are long developments of slow single-note repeats with slight harmonic shifts beneath, smokily curling soprano sax figures and conversational exchanges that sound like birdsong. Lloyd is much more expansive and fluid on Grey, and there's a prepared-piano sound and more hard-struck sax melody on Klein Blue. The later stages of Parallax, with its whirling, improvised soprano lines, is the closest thing to the pair's free-jazz antecedents. It's a specialised venture, but a distinctive one.