Evan Parker: Boustrophedon ploughs through Big Chords
Evan Parker and the The Transatlantic Art Ensemble have just churned out “Boustrophedon” on their German label home of ECM. It is the companion release to “Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3”, a critically succesful excursion into the music of Ensemble-co-founder Roscoe Mitchell. “Boustrophedon” now highlights the work of Evan Parker and is said to be the most obvious representation of his ambitions to write a music in between improvisation, jazz and contemporary composition, between “Gil Evans and Luigi Nono”. ECM talks about a chambermusical setting and speaks of Evan Paker as a composer/conductor, but with the Transatlantic Art Ensemble at a member count of 14, the dimensions are orchestral rather than chamberal.
The tracklisting of “Boustrophedon” (its title meaning something like ‘an ox plowing’) includes an Ouverture, a Finale and six “Furrows” in between. Each of these pieces includes concrete and detailed scores for the players, specific performance instructions and areas of freedom. And then there is a clear harmonic concept behind the release, as Evan Parker points out: “I wanted to use some of the big chords that Slonimsky talks about: all these very big all-interval structures”, with the results sounding like “East European folk music with a pedal tone and a variety of scales based on that tone.”
The structure of “Boustrophedon”, recorded live in Munich, implies the juxtaposing of composed passages and some intense soloing, as well as various dialogues between different instruments from the line-up – which is doubled in many sections, including two drum sets, two violas, several saxophones and a double double bass section.
Homepage: ECM Records
The structure of “Boustrophedon”, recorded live in Munich, implies the juxtaposing of composed passages and some intense soloing, as well as various dialogues between different instruments from the line-up – which is doubled in many sections, including two drum sets, two violas, several saxophones and a double double bass section.
Homepage: ECM Records
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