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clutnuckle · 12-23-2010, 01:34 PM

Anthony Braxton - Saxophone Improvisations Series F

Usually, these days, a single listen usually tells me how soon again I need to hear this album. For this one, I was forced to hear it at least three times before I 'got' it well enough to decide that I really dug it. Even for For Alto (another Braxton album with the same format), I was able to decide that I really liked it on a first listen.

Braxton's playing here is so much more concentrated on the brain than on the heart; perhaps you would say it's void of that ill-defined 'soul' that people latch onto so much, but it comes across as very passionate either way. As a generalization, the longer the tracks are, the better they are. Braxton takes his sweet time to build up intensity and lets pressure die out quite often. The short interludes work wonderfully, too. It took a while, but I can safely say that I'm digging this more than For Alto. The last track (an ode to Philip Glass) is better than any Glass composition I've heard.

[Oh, by the way, it's a guy only playing a saxophone and he's improvising so if you hate free jazz and the idea of somebody's direct imagination being their only source of inspiration, don't bother with this one.]

For your litmus test, here's a video of Braxton doing his thing: I can't find a song from this album on YouTube, but I did find one off of For Alto which is the same idea (he plays saxophone on his own).

Any song off of Saxophone Improvisations Series F is likely better than this, though. Then again some people find the idea of a solo saxophone album laughable, so you never know.

12-23-2010, 01:34 PM	#6179 (permalink)
clutnuckle Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: -_-_-_-_~__~-~_-`_`-~_-`-~-~ Posts: 1,276	Anthony Braxton - Saxophone Improvisations Series F Usually, these days, a single listen usually tells me how soon again I need to hear this album. For this one, I was forced to hear it at least three times before I 'got' it well enough to decide that I really dug it. Even for For Alto (another Braxton album with the same format), I was able to decide that I really liked it on a first listen. Braxton's playing here is so much more concentrated on the brain than on the heart; perhaps you would say it's void of that ill-defined 'soul' that people latch onto so much, but it comes across as very passionate either way. As a generalization, the longer the tracks are, the better they are. Braxton takes his sweet time to build up intensity and lets pressure die out quite often. The short interludes work wonderfully, too. It took a while, but I can safely say that I'm digging this more than For Alto. The last track (an ode to Philip Glass) is better than any Glass composition I've heard. [Oh, by the way, it's a guy only playing a saxophone and he's improvising so if you hate free jazz and the idea of somebody's direct imagination being their only source of inspiration, don't bother with this one.] For your litmus test, here's a video of Braxton doing his thing: I can't find a song from this album on YouTube, but I did find one off of For Alto which is the same idea (he plays saxophone on his own). Any song off of Saxophone Improvisations Series F is likely better than this, though. Then again some people find the idea of a solo saxophone album laughable, so you never know.