Ron Wynn

Inside and outside jazz Anthony Braxton teams with fellow saxophonist Matt Bauder on 2+ 2 Compositions (482 Music). Braxton plays both E flat clarinet and F Saxophone, alternating between probing, sharp thrusts, sweeping lines, high and low registers effects and more vigorous statements. Both he and Bauder fully explore and utilize every aspect of their instruments, sometimes coaxing terse or strange sounds and cries from them. Percussionist Aaron Siegel is equally across the board in the textures and colors he creates behind them, while bassist Zach Wallace sometimes drops out and other times provides whatever bottom foundation or rhythmic structure is required. These pieces also don't follow conventional patterns of melodic development, but instead sort of unfold collectively with Braxton and Bauder establishing patterns one minute then moving into something else the next. This is improvisation in the truest sense because while Braxton supplies the requisite mathematical equations explaining their structure, when you hear them they certainly don't come together in any easily discerned pattern. As always, Braxton's music remains intriguing, sometimes mystifying, but always worth hearing.

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