Artist: Six-In-One
Title: Subjects and Structures
Cat Number: SLAMCD2102
Label, Year Released: SLAM Productions, 2016
Format: CD & all digital platforms
Barcode: 5028386636229
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This recording celebrates the richness and complexity of improvisation. The group is made up of saxophonists Bruce Coates and Paul Dunmall, vibraphonist Corey Mwamba, percussionist Walt Shaw, bassist Seth Bennett and drummer Mark Sanders.
Six-In-One was comprised of six musicians chosen by artists Walt Shaw and Andrew Coates for their imaginative and executive skills and their expertise in the field of freely improvised music, to celebrate the final night of their exhibition of relief and constructed sculpture ‘Subjects and Structures’.
Recorded 15th August 2015, Artsmith LIVE Gallery, Derby.
Paul Dunmall: tenor saxophone
Bruce Coates: sopranino, soprano and alto saxophones
Corey Mwamba: vibraphone and recorder
Walt Shaw: percussion and electronics
Seth Bennett: bass
Mark Sanders: drums
“The two saxophonists prove exceptionally attentive and in tune to each other’s ideas, in some places shadowing one another in dazzling counterpoint, in others seeking sharper contrast. Dunmall maintains wonderful flexibility throughout, here stabbing wide-interval punctuation marks, there blowing fluidly. Like Ken Vandermark, he’s as adept at harnessing his instrument’s noisier potentialities as he is at exploiting its melodic tendencies. A true sign of veteran confidence, he’s as ready to take the spotlight as he is to let someone else.” – ★★★★ Eric McDowell, The Free Jazz Collective
“Dunmall is magisterial, Coates consistently intriguing and Mwamba brightly intelligent in his choices. The encore’s dedicated to my hero Antoni Tàpies under the title Nothing is Paltry – and that’s what you’d have to say about this music: playful, muscular, significant.” – Brian Morton, Jazz Journal
“Subjects, reveals total empathy between all six players, finding more than adequate spaces for their solos, yet equally stimulated in all the ‘connective tissues’ of their combined, communal passages. Structures is again a long piece. An unusual rhythm accompanies the two saxes which engage in a sort of duet which is really like two separate solos being played one against the other. There is no competition though; this is just the ethos of true improvisation. The whole album is shared in such a way, the synergy being magnificent. Such inventiveness, so fertile, intricate and lush, rejoices in the unrestricted ambience of the Free aesthetic.” – Ken Cheetham, Jazz Views
“Superbly recorded and balanced with a spirited interweaving of swirling saxes and vibes. Two of the members of the gallery, Shaw & Coates, have their collage-like artwork displayed on the front and insides of the CD cover. UK free/jazz or insect music? Perhaps some of both schools/styles. Closer to the spirited side of free/jazz with its organic unfolding building through blustery sections to more subdued areas. Saxist Bruce Coates is especially strong here, especially on soprano. Mr. Coates has only appeared on a four discs that I’ve reviewed in the past so it is great to hear him, Dunmall, Sanders land the rest of the sextet stretch out over a long period of time. Consistently engaging!” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Design by Bruce Coates using details from artworks by Walt Shaw and Andrew Coates