Daniel Carter / Hill Greene / David Haney

Nonpareil improvisation from a trio of veteran players Live Constructions affirms that sparkling sonic adornments can be created modestly and with the mostly dulcet tones as well as briefly at slightly more than half-and-hour length. Recorded in a radio studio, the completely spontaneous session matches two of the bulwarks of New York’s so-called downtown scene, bassist Hillard Greene and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, with demonstrative composer/pianist David Haney, whose free-flowing inspirations are often confined to his home town of Portland, Oregon.

Haney, who during his career has partnered players as disparate as trombonist Julian Priester, bassist Buell Neidlinger and drummer Han Bennink, is perfectly in sync with Greene, whose associated have ranged from saxophonist Odeon Pope to trumpeter Roy Campbell, and Carter whose regular associates include bassist William Parker plus seemingly just about every other exploratory player who passes through the city.

An unparallel thinker on his many horns, Carter begins the four improvisations playing trumpet in such a muted Miles Davis-like fashion that “My Funny Valentine” seems next on the agenda. Instead by “Construction Number Two” in response to the bassist’s walking pumps and the pianist’s positioned comping, he’s turned to rhapsodic brass arabesques that almost in an eye-blink are succeeded by floating flutter tonguing on tenor saxophone that suggest Warne Marsh’s genre definition. Before the creations open up still further later on with brief solos emphasizing expressive keyboard jumps plus double bass string pulsations, the three not only crisscross each other’s distinctive textures, but also work up to a crescendo of layered reed vibratos, keyboard splashes and double bass propulsion. Suddenly revealing his avant-garde impulses with diaphragm vibrations and high-pitched reed squeals on the penultimate “Construction Number Four”, Crater later reconnects with the other’s melodic instincts to confirm the session’s narrative regularity by the finale.

Live Constructions won’t frighten mainstreamers who shy away from so-called advanced improvisation. Yet hiding beneath its mostly placid surface are actually unconventional constructions which those familiar with the unorthodox can easily diagnose.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Construction Number One 2. Construction Number Two 3. Construction Number Three 4. Construction Number Four 5. Construction Number Five

Personnel: Daniel Carter (trumpet and tenor saxophone); David Haney (piano) and

Hilliard Greene (bass)