SLAMCD217 Jon Corbett & Steve Done – Another Fine Mess

Free jazz duo recording by trumpeter Jon Corbett and guitarist Steve Done from 1994.

Corbett has played with the likes of The London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Mike Westbrook etc. Done has worked with Lol Coxhill, Elton Dean, Barry Guy, Paul Rutherford and others.

Jon Corbett: trumpet, trombone
Steve Done: electric and acoustic guitars

“Both Corbett and Done are adept improvisers, wandering in and out of their own ideas and one another’s with balance and empathy. The trumpet (or occasional trombone) and guitar are well suited, with both musicians emphasising shifts in pitch and tone, and an array of muted, muffled, and bent sounds. Corbett brings more linear continuity to the style than most, a continuing suggestion of older musical orderings. Jazz traditions are further suggested by gestures, an occasional turn of phrase, a sound, or sudden confluence. ‘Millstones’, for instance, is played with a Harmon mute.” – Stuart Broomer, Cadence

“Something quintessentially ‘British’ about this release…It is in the intricacy of the predominantly acoustic sounds, the unflamboyant intimacy of their rapport, which falls so neatly inside the great tradition of small-group British improv. Sometimes you could mistake this for an early Incus release. And Steve Done (guitars) whose interest in improv deepened in the mid-80s, has more than an occasional Baileyesque turn of phrase, although his delicate note-bending hints at a blues orientation. LMC stalwart, Jon Corbett, who deserves a much higher international profile, responds with his own moody inflexions bringing glimmers of warmth and humour to these brisk dialogues; his trumpet and trombone attack is reined-in to complement the guitarist’s harmonic detail.” – Rubberneck

“Each work is like a charge of static electricity which snaps and crackles with electric energy. The players are involved in an extemporaneous dialogue not unlike a spirited conversation…outstanding examples of the art of present-day musical improvisation and deserving of repeated listening in order to appreciate all of the subtlety of detail.” – Chris Meloche, Scene Magazine

SLAM CATALOGUE