Label: Intakt Records, 2021

Personnel - Alexander Hawkins: piano, composition; Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; Aaron Holloway-Nahum: conductor; Rachel Musson: flute, tenor saxophone; Percy Pursglove: trumpet; James Arben: flute, bass clarinet; Neil Charles: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums, percussion; Matthew Wright: electronics; Benedict Taylor: viola; Hannah Marshall: cello + The Riot Ensemble

To celebrate his 40th birthday, the pianist/composer Alexander Hawkins put together a flexible 16-piece ensemble, including the mighty free jazz saxophonist Evan Parker, to tackle an expansion of a piece commissioned by the American conductor Aaron Holloway-Nahum for the London-based Riot Ensemble. The six-movement opus Togetherness Music has the group negotiating adventurous charts with heart and devotion, forging a sound and language that mark not only the vision of Hawkins as a composer, but also the collective identity he envisioned for the project.

Evans is pivotal on the relentless “Indistinguishable From Magic”, where his enchanting soprano wizardry pushes the envelope of technique through breathing circularity. Then, a sustained harmonic point with subtle eeriness slowly transforms, surrounded by layers of strings and spectral aeriform figures that surface and melts away. The ideal counterbalance between free improvisation and oriented structure is remarkably achieved here.

“Sea No Shore” showcases the immense talents of drummer Mark Sanders and trumpeter Percy Pursglove, who speaks and chants with attractive intervals. Again, the modern classical idiom forms a liberal alliance with the free-flowing improv. “Ecstatic Baobabs”, on its part, is airy and unimpeded. This feel persists, even when convergences and crosses occur within a composed scenario that put on show Neil Charles’ bass lines in constant search for ground.

Evans and Hawkins work so well together and that’s not coincidental since they have collaborated in 2015 and 2016. In “Ensemble Equals Together”, nuanced and tensile piano details provide the perfect foil for the pervasive soprano agitation. The catchy strings perfuse the setting with orchestral exuberance and, moments later, the ensemble intensifies the energy, just to land minutes after in the relaxed swing tapestry of the following track, “Leaving the Classroom of a Beloved Teacher”. Allowing Hawkins to express his boldness throughout the keyboard, the latter piece strides with a marching posture, but with a progressive tendency for narrowing the steps and speeding its way up through the lane. By the end, we have piano, woodwinds and strings employing the same language and responding to one another’s calls.

Juggling self-possession and irreverence, “Optimism of the Will” concludes the record with a modernistic outfit that includes a gorgeous beat-driven flow and Matthew Wright’s electronic configurations. The finale, which comes after a pointed trumpet solo and a collective passage, bubbles with heavily weighted beauty, featuring articulate piano comping and the otherworldly undercurrents of Evans.

This is one of those rare examples where improvisation-oriented music is brilliantly thought-provoking from start to finish. There is no loss of direction and perspective.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Indistinguishable From Magic ► 03 - Ensemble Equals Together ► 06 - Optimism of the Will