Biography
Free-jazz multi-sax improviser and composer Braxton and bop drum pioneer and former Charlie Parker partner Roach recorded 75 minutes of music together at the Willisau jazz festival in 1979. It's a superb tribute to the depth of Braxton's knowledge and his responsiveness, and Roach's work is a dazzling tapestry of abstract percussion effects and jolting free-swing.
Braxton is at times pensive and affectingly lyrical on long, arching sounds while Roach tinkles cymbals and disturbs reverberating gongs. But he is characteristically angular and stuttery when Roach unleashes arrhythmic hi-hat exclamations and chattery snare-patterns.
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Sometimes the music here is playful and musing, sometimes breezily swinging, at others raw and fierce. Plus there's even a little blues tucked away in there.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.