Real Time One

Personnel: Evan Parker (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Andrea Centazzo (percussion).
Liner Note Author: Andrea Centazzo.
Recording information: Rome, Italy (12/12/1977/12/13/1977).
Translator: Teresa Valaer.
Percussionist Andrea Centazzo had straddled the border between freely improvised jazz and contemporary classical performance and, by 1977 when this recording took place, had become interested in electronically generated sounds, so his corralling of Musica Elettronica Viva veteran Alvin Curran and saxophonic wizard Evan Parker for this session seems both natural and inspired. Centazzo himself employs an early percussion synthesizer, which, in tandem with Curran's synth (as well as piano and trumpet) and Parker's swirling horns, creates a very colorful palette from which to draw. Parker at this stage is just beginning to investigate the circular-breathing, dervish-like attacks he would specialize in for the next couple of decades (heard to great effect on "Ending"). More intriguingly, this session foreshadows his involvement with similar (albeit much more advanced) electronics in his late-'90s recordings with Lawrence Casserly and Joel Ryan. But whatever the historical interest, this disc contains some first-rate improv, ranging from the quiet and thoughtful to the Sturm und Drang more typically associated with the genre. Curran brings an unusual flavor (by free jazz standards) to the session and Centazzo's drum work is well-considered throughout. Originally issued on Ictus, the New Tone release contains an additional track recorded a day after the first performance. ~ Brian Olewnick