Sloth Racket

Spinningwork
Spinningwork
New Jazz and Improvised Music NEWJAiM12

Part of the newest group of British improvisers who strive to involve other UK areas as well as London in appreciation for the music are baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts and drummer Johnny Hunter. Members of many ad hoc groups, both since 2015 have been part of the Sloth Racket quintet. Having developed improv identities, they’re also mature enough to adapt to different playing circumstances. On Spinningwork, the two are partnered on six extended tracks by bassist Ollie Brice, with whom Roberts has also recorded as a duo and alto saxophonist Tom Ward, who leads the Madwort Saxophone Quartet. The latest Sloth Racket disc, Organising Space, substitutes Seth Bennett from Dundee on bass for Brice and Sam Andreae, who has work with the likes of Hannah Marshall for Ward on alto saxophone. Added on guitar is Hunter’s brother Anton, who also plays with Mick Beck.

Recorded in Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, Spinningwork divides its harmonies and rhythms between the lower-pitch instruments of baritone sax and bass and the higher pitched alto saxophone, with the drummer contributing to both areas with vibes-resembling clatters at some points and thickened backbeats at others. Interaction varies though. For instance a track such as “Invariance Behind the Flux” harmonies the two reeds and bowed bass with intermittent drum rumbles and climaxes as Roberts’ unbroken slurs and Ward’s squeaking peeps are pushed forward by Brice’s arco swipes. On the other hand “Chromatogram” depends on baritone sax smears preserving the bottom as Hunter subtly shakes out a soft-shoe-like rhythm and Ward doubles it into an exposition of moderated bounces. Brice later preserves the continuum as the alto saxophonist digs split tones from his body tube and projects spetrofluctuation, leaving Roberts to preserve the theme as she  downshift from altissimo timbres to tongue-slapped blats. The extended “Dust That Never Settles” is the most distinctive track where the quartet divides into two duos: bass and alto saxophone and baritone sax and drums. Brice’s rough bass strums are matched by Ward’s undulating scoops and doits while Hunter’s press rolls and paradiddles are balanced by Roberts’ strained multiphonics. Reaching a crescendo of rolling baritone sax flattement and alto saxophone aviary-like twittering a tough drum backbeat and a bowed bass ostinato preserve the tune’s andante flow. Able to rock as well, as being reflective, the quartet ends the concert with the Bluesy backbeat of “ Kind Regards”. Irregular reed split tones twist the evolving line, until it ends with a balanced pseudo march with repeated percussion smacks that also mirror the head.

A less formal affair than the concert disc, Sloth Racket’s space is organized among four mid-range tunes and a series of few seconds interludes of musical tuning and conversation. The program really starts with “Not this Time” where a lockstep horn expositions defines the theme. Clearly defined by sudden bursts of flanged guitar, Hunter’s fuzztones and knob-twisting create a provocative motif that attempts to disrupt the horizontal flow propelled by baritone saxophone drones, a walking double bass line and drum press rolls. With yakkity-sax-like bites and staccato split tones, Andreae further mixes up the staccato and presto narrative, although continuous bass-and-drums pressure preserve the necessary horizontal flow. More upfront than on the other session, Johnny Hunter’s paradiddle and press roll intro makes Organising Space’s title track stand out as singular. Apparently designed to showcase all five simultaneously producing vibrating tones, it’s nudged along by the alto saxophonist’s bugling cries, grainy honks from the baritone sax and Anton Hunter’s slurred fingering and amplified fuzztones. Dedicated to stop time, the piece is still unquestionably linear. Meanwhile the extended “Do it Tomorrow” also maintains a steady beat, but is freeform enough to give all five players individual space. Mixing Bennett’s speedy pizzicato thumps with strained guitar twangs, cymbal clanks and squealing and squeaking reed overblowing, the piece works up to a pseudo march tempo as each player attaches and detaches his textures from the exposition without upsetting the flow.

Overall Spinningwork is a fully realized piece of contemporary British free improv.  Organising Space is notable as well. But despite being a working group, there seems to be more broken circuits during its creations than exhibited by the festival band.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Spinningwork: 1. Jajko! 2. Dust That Never Settles 3. Moths Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds 4. Chromatogram 5. Invariance Behind the Flux 6. Kind Regards

Personnel: Spinningwork: Tom Ward (alto saxophone); Cath Roberts (baritone saxophone); Olie Brice (bass) and Johnny Hunter (drums)

Track Listing: Organising: 1. Not this Time 2. Thorny 3. Do it Tomorrow 4. Organising Space

Personnel: Organising: Sam Andreae (alto saxophone); Cath Roberts (baritone saxophone); Anton Hunter (guitar); Seth Bennett (bass) and Johnny Hunter (drums)