SLAMCD237 Neil Metcalfe & John Rangecroft – 2gether

29 untitled tracks of improvised music by flautist Neil Metcalfe and saxophonist John Rangecroft (on clarinet here), recorded in 1999. The tracks, which are entirely spontaneous and improvised, reveal influences as disparate as Charlie Parker, Igor Stravinsky and Elliot Carter.

Neil Metcalfe: flute
John Rangecroft: clarinet

“Both Neil Metcalfe and John Rangecroft are lesser-known survivors of the English free music scene, each having performed with John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, and each now part of the London Improvisers’ Orchestra…There is a beauty to much of it, where flute and clarinet lovingly intertwine to meld and even go separate ways. While the melting of genre lines is by now old hat, 2gether goes a step further than some other recordings, focusing on disciplined free improvisation that is just as secure in a classical music framework as in a jazz one. Subtlety and taste are critical, while grandstanding and emotional demagoguery are nowhere to be found. The results are often appealing.” – Steven Loewy, Cadence

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