SLAMCD401 Various Artists – The Saxophone Phenomenon

A fantastic compilation of British contemporary saxophonists released in 1992, with the CD selling out many years ago. The saxophonists featured include Lol Coxhill, Evan Parker, Elton Dean, George Haslam, Paul Dunmall, Chris Biscoe and Alan Wilkinson.

“Seven reedsmen with an appetite for adventure within the liberating context of improvised music. Lol Coxhill’s distinctive, sweetish soprano masterfully twists and turns, elongates and abbreviates, somehow remaining true to a romantic inclination, whereas ‘Gossip’ belies the charming and playful humour of the conversation between George Haslam’s fruity baritone and versatile vocalist Liz Hodgson…the solo soprano piece by Evan Parker, which employs multiphonics and circular breathing to produce a seamless self-dialogue of unusual beauty…Alan Wilkinson’s powerful baritone supplies the appropriate conclusion, fired up by Simon H Fell and Paul Hession. Free improv devotees will welcome it. Sceptics will find it surprisingly varied and accessible.” – Chris Blackford, Jazz the Magazine

“Especially valuable to be reminded of Lol Coxhill’s solo soprano, now far less often heard on record than in the 70s and 80s; the Dean-Rodgers-Sanders trio, a compelling argument for a “pure” free-jazz survival; and the astounding Wilkinson-Fell-Hession trio, which is surely surpassing even the Brotzmann/Van Hove/Bennink group for raw power and ideas. Evan Parker’s brief solo is as fine a piece of eloquence as he has given us lately and Haslam’s own two contributions trace George’s scholarly and assiduous kind of post-free playing to vivid effect. It’s also a tribute to some of the unsung music venues that still support this music: Holywell Music Room, The Red Rose Club, Jackson’s Lane, Leeds’s The Room and Evan Parker’s Kitchen.” – Mike Fish, The Wire

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