Shadowgraph, 5 (Sextet)

Personnel: George Lewis (alto & tenor trombones, sousaphone, Wagner tuba, sound tube, Moog synthesizer); Roscoe Mitchell (soprano, alto & baritone saxophones, flute, cassette recorder); Douglas Ewart (sopranino saxophone, clarinet & bass clarinet, bassoon, percussion); Leroy Jenkins (violin); Abdul Wadud (cello); Anthony Davis, Muhal Richard Abrams (piano).
Recorded at Generation Sound Studios, New York in 1977.
A CD re-issue of the 1978 disc. Contains: "Monads" for an ensemble (with Anthony Davis, piano; Douglas Ewart, bass clarinet; Leroy Jenkins, violin; G. Lewis, alto and tenor trombones; Roscoe Mitchell, soprano sax; Abdul Wadud, cello) ...fleeting melodic fragments amidst pointillistic (but not "abstract" !) textures, constantly re-defined and varied; "Triple Slow Mix," a trio for two pianos and sousaphone ...a steady and slowly varied bass passacaglia surrounded by either extremely fast pointillistic playing or banal almost-quotes as if from music "literature," like a blasé music student in his practice room just trying to make it through the day...every once in a while someone shouts "hey !" "Cycle" (with Lewis on Moog synthesizer)...humorous and touching solos of mid-range sounds, you smile and you don't know why; "Shadowgraph, 5 (Sextet)" for the previous large ensemble, also with Muhal Richard Abrams, piano, and G. Lewis also on sound-tube ...someone near us is explaining something but we don't quite get it ...perhaps it's something "foreign" ...a tapestry of gestures, quick shadows of the initial event. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny