Dunmall/Hanslip/Gibbs/Ricard: Weeping Idols
Author: Daniel Spicer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Mark Hanslip (ts) |
Label: |
FMR |
Magazine Review Date: |
Dec/Jan/2013/2014 |
Catalogue Number: |
FMRCD356-0513 |
RecordDate: |
2012 |
Though he originally came up as part of London's Loop Collective in the mid-2000s, since around 2008, saxophonist Mark Hanslip has been purposefully striking out further and further into the left-field, forgoing the safety net of composition and plunging into the wide open spaces of free improvisation. It's gratifying, then, to find him in such good company: saxophonist Dunmall is one of UK improv's biggest hitters. Here, the two tenor men are joined by electric guitarists Gibbs (a frequent collaborator with Dunmall) and visiting American, Ricard. The resulting jams are loose, free flowing and fraternal rather than adversarial: individual voices – Hanslip's cheekily melodic, Dunmall's more grizzled – momentarily rise to the fore and then melt back into the collective endeavour. There's the sense that, between them, the four are consciously steering into uncharted territories – guided in no small part by the odd sonorities conjured by the guitarists: slithering flickers, robotic scuttling, muted jangles and even a mellifluous gamelan orchestra. Bantering yet serious, with an implicit utopianism, it's first class improv, for sure.

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