Sunday Sextet

Proof – if any is needed – that Slovenian improvisers bring the same commitment to freeform creativity as players in better-known scenes can be found on the three tracks of inspired sounds here. Some sextet members have experience playing with pacesetters like the country best-known creative musician, percussionist Zlatko Kaučič, though all are capable conceptualizers on their own. Distinctively organized, the electro-acoustic ensemble matches the whooshes and sighs from Jaka Berger’s synthesizer and live sampling with the acoustic currents of alto saxophonist/clarinetist Jure Borsic, violinist Marko Jenic, guitarist Andre Bost Ruda, bassist Jost Drasler and drummer Vid Drasler.

Intensity results from polyphonic movement as high-pitched and prestissimo buzzes from the strings and reeds are concentrated into an undulating exposition accented with clip-clop drumming and synthesizer jabs. Stretched to more than 35 minutes “Friday” is the literal centerpiece of the disc. Torqued fiddle spiccato and curving reed whistles and squeaks predominate as regularized drum machine-like patterns and woody bass strokes preserve linear pacing until simultaneous timbres from all ascend to a mini climax. Oscillated forward with Jenic’s abrasive string stress and doubled with Borsic’s burbled tongue stops, the exposition become more claustrophobic despite guitar fails and cymbal-top scratches. Eventually, as violin notes are bent to descend from bugling to Balkan lyricism, connection with Berger’s toggling voltage reflux and Bost Ruda’s finger-stylings fully reveals the horizontal logic that has existed all along beside the altissimo shrills, electronic vibrations and clenched string pressure.

Despite the CD’s reductive title, it’s actually a remembrance of intense and inventive sounds produced by the sextet over three nights in Bistrica Ob Sotli Slovenia.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Saturday 2. Friday 3. Sunday

Personnel: Jure Borsic (alto saxophone, clarinet); Marko Jenic (violin); Jaka Berger (live sampling, modular synthesizer) Andre Bost Ruda (guitar); Jost Drasler (bass) and Vid Drasler (drums)