Michael Marcus

Duo, trio, quartet – veteran New York improviser Michael Marcus demonstrates his proficiency in all these configurations as he moves through his woodwind section collection of horns. Playing soprano and tenor saxophones, alto tarogato, G clarinet and bass flute, Marcus, who has been in bands with Ted Daniel, interacts with percussionist Jay Rosen on all tracks. Bassist Tarus Mateen who has worked with Stanley Cowell is onside for four tracks and Frank Lacey, who is usually a trombonist, but here plays French horn is featured on four.

It’s compelling to follow how Marcus tailors his horns’ timbres to Rosen’s shifting rhythms in their stripped-down duets. Snake charmer-like and hard reed bites flow from the clarinet to meet drum clips clops for instance; altissimo and multi-pitched soprano sax slurs face hit-hat beats elsewhere; and percussion clunks and ruffs join with tarogato twirls and trills to suggest a jolly march tune elsewhere.

Nonetheless tracks like “Eddy & Jones” and “Hillscapes” are the most compelling use of the saxophone-French horn structure since Charlie Rouse and Julius Watkins united as Les Jaz Modes in the 1950s. Beginning with a vocalized blend, the first tune slowly picks up speed. Lacy maintains a keening exposition as Marcus interspaces brighter doits, split tone and trills within it. The climax is theme repetition and a recap of the head. The reed player’s kaleidoscope of colors and techniques also figures on the elongated “Hillscapes”. Double bass string chiming and shuffles, ruffs and drum backbeat steady the unfolding narrative as Lacy’s serpentine slurs burble at the same time as Marcus undulates freylekh-like trills As horn arabesques harmonize concluding bass strums sum up the interlocking cooperation. Perhaps relating to the brass player’s long-time membership in the Mingus Big Band and the reed player’s apprenticeship in Blues bands, atmospheric scene-setting  and R&B-like breathy intensification also come into play elsewhere.

Succinctly though Marcus confirms in all instances that he can handle any sound situation playing any one of his five horns.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Light Pulse*+ 2. Xia Xia (Dancing Flowers Contend) 3. Banana Pudding 4. Abstractions In Lime Caverns*+ 5. Eddy & Jones* 6. Crossing The Rio! 7. Hueysville 8. Hillscapes*+ 9. Lioness Of The Trees+ 10. La Verdad de Nuestro Amor

Personnel: Frank Lacy (French horn)*; Michael Marcus (soprano and tenor saxophones, alto tarogato, G clarinet, bass flute, gong); Tarus Mateen (bass)+ and Jay Rosen (drums and percussion)