Colin Webster Large Ensemble

One wouldn’t want to oversell the ecstatic and enthusiastic improvisations that make up First Meeting But this rugged and responsive rumpus is well situated in the free music continuum that goes back to Peter Brötzmann’s Machine Gun. In spite of the more than half century chasm, there’s no lessening of power or invention between Brötzmann’s octet and the eight players in UK alto saxophonist Colin Webster Large Ensemble. But there’s a recognition of contemporary music currents.

While Machine Gun featured three saxophonist, two bassists, two drummer and pianists from different countries, Webster’s band is all British except for Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries. Elevated textures come from Charlotte Keeffe’s trumpet and flugelhorn, while the often-muted crackles from Graham Dunning’s electronics add contemporary interpolations. The rest of the band consists of bassist John Edwards, drummer Andrew Lisle, tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson and baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts.

Unlike the pugnacious blast that begins Machine Gun however the 21st Century “Set One” starts with electronic wiggles, guitar frails and saxophone doits and bites. From that point on, tutti polyphony alternates with individual textural dexterity from the lowest to the highest pitches. As the track evolve it’s Keefee’s watery half-valve or blowsy triplet diversions which make the most impression, carving a space among growling smears from the reeds. Door-pounding drum raps and double bass ratchets preserve the bottom, while saxophone cries ascend to altissimo split tones, although squeezed portamento brass still surmounts the others’ output. Voltage wavering, thick drum accents and guitar slides signal the final section as triple-tongued reed vibrations segue into contrapuntal balance with brass bugling a linear finale.

“Set Two” opens more space for saxophone extended techniques, as Musson’s strained tenor sax blats, Roberts’ lowing bluster and Webster’s slinky slides intensify the already pressurized exposition. With the droning ostinato interrupted only briefly when reed timbres narrow to a higher-pitched vamps, tension relief is provided by Lisle’s pops and rebounds, metallic guitar twangs and heraldic rounded notes from the trumpeter. Slide-whistle-like whining reed tones extend the narrative further, until drum press rolls coordinate riffs and chirps into a descending unison climax.

Whether this First Meeting will have the lasting currency of large ensemble milestones like Ascension or Machine Gun is up to history to decide. Still the Webster octet has produced a notable debut, which makes one impatient to experience sequels.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Set One 2. Set Two

Personnel: Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet, flugelhorn); Colin Webster (alto saxophone); Rachel Musson (tenor saxophone); Cath Roberts (baritone saxophone); Dirk Serries (guitar); John Edwards (bass); Andrew Lisle (drums) and Graham Dunning (electronics)