Park,Han-earl/Sikora, Catherine/Didkovsky, Nick/Sinton, Josh – “Anomic Aphasia” – [Slam]

Naysayer   7/1/2015   CD, Jazz

Han-earl Park on guitar. Catherine Sikora on tenor and soprano saxophone. Nick Didkovsky on guitar. Josh Sinton on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet. Five pieces totaling 70 minutes. Each piece is a trio. Park and Sikora play on all five pieces. The work is titled “Anomic Aphasia” which is a disorder which cause problems recalling words or names. Okay. So this is actually Park’s project but actually two jazz improvisation projects. The opening and closing tracks are his trio Eris 136199. It’s all about guitars versus sax. Sax versus guitars. Sax and guitars together. They are challenging and phenomenal works with the musicians playing off of each others ideas. The guitars are each unique in approach and Sakora goes for it with her sax taking them on note for note. There is pause and space, much needed allowing the listener to appreciate it all. Cacophony to melody. The middle tracks are from an unnamed project which is the “interactive playbook Metis 9”. This may be some type of software designed to show improvisational tactics which the performers attempt. Or maybe not. It is unclear. What is clear is the stunning trio work. Now just one guitar (Park), sax and clarinet, the feeling is different but still crazy, intertwining each others notes, letting them stand, then facing off, blending, melding, challenging each other. A beautiful noise. Free jazz continuing to experiment.