Mark Hanslip & Andrew Cheetham

Sommer & MacDonald
Sounds, Songs Other Noises
Clean Feed CF 607 CD

The long and short of it when it comes to stripping down to the essentials, most duos go one way or the other. That means when naked musical improvisation is exposed players either choose to expand their interactions or limit them to bite-sized synergy. Whether it’s related to know-how or not, the veterans who create Sounds, Songs & Other Noises divide their communication into 16 tranches, while the mid-career improvisers on String and Grid concentrate their output on four extended tracks.

German percussionist Günter Baby Sommer has had during his 60-year career played with multiple European creative musicians, while slightly younger Scottish alto saxophonist Raymond MacDonald has also done the same both with the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and on his own. The Sounds, Songs & Other Noises duo demonstrates the advantages of musical conciseness. Making a virtue out of expansiveness on the other hand are Manchester UK-based tenor saxophonist Mark Hanslip, who has recorded with Paul Dunmall and drummer Andrew Cheetham, who has played with Alan Wilkinson.

Sommer demonstrates his maturity as early as “I’m On The Way To Become A Ballad”, the first track, when he meets the saxophonist’s long-lined flutters with subtle cymbal rattles and obtuse drum pitter patter while maintaining  a measured pace throughout. Constancy with pivots towards swing is another of his percussion temperaments, whether he’s encouraging or responding to McDonald’s sound ejaculations which can range from clarion trills to multiphonic doits and flutters. Still the drummer also responds to irregular reed vibrations, as on “Trickles And Pickles”, with bongo-like pops and rumbles. These are  expressed at the same time as he’s creating wood-scratching guiro-like textures to match reed expressions which move from irregular smears to dissecting each tone into a separate entity.

Percussion add-ons during various tracks range from steel-drum-like reverberations to those which sound as if the rhythm comes from plastic swizzle sticks. This is especially  apparent during the set’s “Five Miniatures”. However the concluding “Song” builds up a contrapuntal link between Sommer’s Jew’s harp twangs and McDonald’s reed overblowing that somehow dovetails into a representative almost smooth melody. Earlier, on “Fast And Friendly”,  the bent note drones produced by the saxophonist resemble a bagpipe’s output but rather than extending the Scottish inflections, Sommer brings his Saxon ingenuity into play and responds with shrill whistles, press rolls and rugged ruffs. The key to the interaction though is whether the sonic excursion is Arcadian or avant-garde, each member of the duo responds appropriately.

The same could be said for Hanslip and Cheetham. But instead of minimizing their sounds to bite-sized tidbits they offer the equivalent of multi-course musical banquets on each track. Throughout the invigorating spread contains hearty helpings of percussion syncopation paired with extended reed techniques. At the same time, no matter how much novelle cuisine-like textures they add to their meal, the comfort food of melodic overlay is always part of the service. This is especially obvious on “ cod necessity”, though cowbell clatter, drum rat-tat-tats otherwise back the saxophonist as he divides the theme into smaller and smaller bits. Moving from scoops and slap attacks to flattement and flutters Hanslip’s reed menu items could satisfy any gourmand. As a response to Cheetham’s cymbal chatters or wooden thumps, depending on the bill-of-fare, he even tosses in an amuse-gueule of whispering hisses or buzzing tonguing. The extended “recursive nest” which starts off the disc is a full repast in itself. Filled with tongue stops, mashed rhythms and flavored with elongated clarion flutters from the saxophonist and a desert of bass drum smacks, topped with tick-tocking clanks from the drummer it’s a filing musical brunch that should always be on the menu.

While the Scottish-German chow served up by Sommer and MacDonald is more in the form of tapas snacks rather than a full dinner it provides the same musical nourishment as Hanslip and Cheetham’s bill of fare.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Sounds: 1. I’m On The Way To Become A Ballad 2. Again And Again 3. Trickles And Pickles 4. Hiking Song 5. Precious Metal 6. Kitch Inn 7. Wooden Trail For Delicate Steps 8. Five Miniatures: No. 1 9. Five Miniatures: No. 2 10. Five Miniatures: No. 3 11. Five Miniatures: No. 4 12. Five Miniatures: No. 5 13. From Somewhere Else To Nowhere 14. Fast And Friendly 15. Take The Main Road 16. Song.

Personnel: Sounds: Raymond MacDonald (alto and soprano saxophones) and Günter Baby Sommer (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: String: 1. recursive nest 2. a little pine 3. cod necessity 4. voisines

Personnel: String: Mark Hanslip (tenor saxophone) and Andrew Cheetham (drums)