Latest Delta review, this time from Greece.

http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200828.php#delta

Delta Saxophone Quartet seem to have discovered rather late the heritage of a band so diverse, so dynamic and prolific as The Soft Machine. Apparently also being characterised by perpetual shifts in style, philosophy and direction, they have started doing thought provoking covers (I'm using their MySpace words!) of minimalists Steve Reich and Philip Glass and ended up trying to introduce law and order in the music of a band whose career before Seven showed significant despise for order. In this effort they are also assisted by original Soft member bassist Hugh Hopper. The band consists of Graeme Blevins on soprano sax, Chris Caldwell on baritone sax, Tim Holmes on tenor and Pete Whyman on alto - you guessed it - sax. Four daring mature musicians about to engage in an endeavour of unmatched challenge. And you know what? Who dares wins.

Most of the material covered here is from the "not so early Soft Machine period" - Noisette and Third (both from 1970) are the most represented albums. If you remember or know about these albums, they consist in very lengthy tracks that are not really homogeneous and that mix witty and smart ideas with lots of background themes that do not really make it to the first league and, as one might expect from the era, contain a fair amount of psychedelia. What these guys did here is smart: they filtered this amalgam of useful and useless things twice: once by eliminating the really unnecessary experimentation and a second time by adding a more jazz-oriented dimension to the music. Does that mean that imagination gets suppressed? Not at all: they recreate the rich dynamics inherent in Soft Machine's music with different means: 4 saxophones that alternate in solo's and in song building. Pretty smart if you ask me and very, very convincing. In fact, after hearing this album countless times from the day I got it into my hands for review, I have developed a clear preference for THEIR approach to Soft's music, when comparing to the original - at least when we are talking about these early tracks.

Let me give you some concrete examples here: The chamber music feel that was hidden in Kings And Queens (out of Fourth) original version; I only discovered this side of the song after I heard DSQ's Kings & Queens 33 Years Later. The incredibly turbulent dynamics of Facelift that tend to get lost due to the prohibitive length of the original (thumbs up here for the incredible work of the alto sax...) emerge triumphant in DSQ's version. Another example: Outrageous Moon which integrates and summarises two songs summing up to more than 25 minutes of music into an almost 6 minute beauty, by smartly concatenating the names of the two original tracks (Ratledge's Out Bloody Rageous and Wyatt's Moon In June). Not only the most juicy ideas from the originals are preserved, but also the band shows how they can merge ideas originating from two competing composers. Tough stuff but so well done!

Concerning Mousetrap, even if it's a good piece of work, it makes me miss a little bit the drums that I find an indispensable part of the original song construction. At this point I really want to raise a complaint: why is Six not represented here? For me, Six stands for the period of the band where the experimentation and wealth of ideas of the past are brewed together with a more mature style and approach, producing a more funky/jazzy effect. Pity! Then, there are also some picks from Soft's more tidy and more fusion era: Floating World, and Aubade and The Tale Of Taliesin from Bundles and Softs, respectively (my favourite Soft Machine albums). How do DSQ score here? Well, the result this time is less impressive, since the original works do not lack in coherence; the re-workings sound extremely well played and honest, but this is exactly an example where the original has a beauty that the cover cannot match. Also, the Soft's tracks are haunted by the majestic guitar works of Holdsworth/Etheridge, but of course that's another story! Still, I can't help hallucinating on the idea of four saxophones trying to reconstruct Hazard Profile's frantic fusion guitar work! - Maybe an idea for a future project?

The Delta Saxophone Quartet have been engaged in an extremely hard task: to revisit music that is hard to describe, categorise or even recreate. The band Soft Machine Legacy have lately tried to do something of a kind, but according to me the approach of these brass-only guys yields even better results. This is an album that complements both i) Soft Machine's legacy (literally), ii) Soft Machine Legacy (the band). It is also an album that can be heard by fans of The Soft Machine - or not. Pure jazz fans that never knew the Softs or that considered them out of the jazz repertoire might also be convinced to give all those 70's great records a try. I know many people that dislike Soft Machine's free form improvisation and psychedelic influences. It is here that DSQ come in and offer a tidy, jazz-oriented version. However, I feel like stressing that even if I might essentially disagree with those that like the idea of getting to the point via 100 detours, that like a track of a nucleus of 7 minutes to be stretched to 17, I can still understand them if they say that this is a bit too clean. All in all, this is a record with an extraordinary flow, that one can enjoy from beginning to end and, for the vast majority of its moments, simply wonder from time to time: Do I know this tune from somewhere? That's something rare for cover albums, ain't it?

Conclusion: 8.5 out of 10

CHRISTOS AMPATZIS (http://www.dprp.net/credcon/index.php#christos)
posted by Chris at 7:25 PM

Check out the New Delta sax quartet Blog Spot, the first place to see all of the quartet's new reviews etc..
posted by Chris at 8:55 PM

Here's somthing that's been fun for the DSQ over the last five year's. MA students at Kingston have composed two minutes worth of music to go with this delightful animation 'Box Clever' . See Dan McCaughern's work on this link:
posted by Chris at 8:54 PM

Upbeat about Downbeat, see the Delta sax quartet's **** review here!
posted by Chris at 11:54 AM

News Flash

The next Delta Saxophone Quartet CD Uneasy Dreams, sponsored by Kingston University will be licensed by Music on the Edge and released on Trevor Taylor's FMR label, (which previously released Delta's Facing Death and Formosa cd's)

This sees the DSQ returning back from the world of experimental jazz/rock (its last release dedicated to you but you weren't listening (Moonjune) worked in this area) and now exploring the territory of Contemporary Classical music. This CD will feature works by the following composers:

Before The Road - Gerald Barry (sax quartet version***)(These eleven movements were written in preparation for my orchestral piece The Road (1997). The title refers to an image from childhood of sun with high wind on a remote road.

© Gerald Barry 2003
Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press )

Ghosts and Arias - Mike Searby (DSQ commission ***)

Selected Movements of Great Masters - Michael Finnissy (DSQ commission***)
(Spohr tugs at his forelock; Schubert brushes his teeth; C.P.E. Bach scratches his bottom!)

The 'great masters' are here caught off guard, wrongly interpreted, inappropriately harmonised and re-composed, anachronistically juxtaposed - they meet in conversation, go off to ruminate on their own or discuss with each other. Inadvertant physical actions, usually overlooked and ignored, are randomly inserted into the musical discourse. The piece reflects on everyday occurences - realism of sorts - rather than a portentous and inflated 'exceptional event'.

The musical source material is drawn from Paul Steinitz's One Hundred Tunes for Harmonization, the actions are from nursery-rhymes and the works of Shakespeare (a great literary master with both a sense of humour and healthy profanity). The title is stolen from a delightful volume of harmonium pieces edited by J S Anderson, Selected Movements of Great Masters. The work, commissioned by the Delta Saxophone Quartet and premièred on 30 November 1996, is dedicated to Richard Steinitz in thanks for his exceptionally generous support and championship at many Huddersfield Festivals.

© Michael Finnissy
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Electric Tango - Richard Barnard (DSQ commission ***)

On The Edge - Tim Ewers (DSQ commission ***)

Uneasy Dreams - Steve Goss (DSQ commission)

*** denotes world prem. recording

The CD is scheduled for an Autumn 2008 release.

Watch this space for details soon.
posted by Chris at 4:52 PM

What an amazing year! Delta sax quartet album is receiving rave reviews, SMB back in Milan in February 2008 and maybe New York in 2009.

Here's to the world of 2008 somehow helping the humans that live on it to find/celebrate, their qualities of difference rather than fight to try and all become the same!

This plate uploaded here was a present to the DSQ from the people of kee-lung, in Taiwan. Cultural exchanges really can help with this process, if only our governments could understand this too..

Happy New Year and thank you for visiting this blog.

Chris
posted by Chris at 11:18 PM

The DSQ are currently recording works by the UK composers Mike Searby (rhs) and Tim Ewers (lhs),both in house composers at Kingston. Here's a photo of DSQ too (Graeme Blevins, Tim Holmes, Chris Caldwell and Pete Whyman) taken earlier in November having completed the recording of Tim Ewers's 'On the edge', a journey through the land of quartertones!
posted by Chris at 9:46 PM

Delta Sax Album launch this Monday 10th at Kingston University, 18.00hrs GMT, cheese,wine + fab music. See you there!
Check out fab reviews at www.deltasax.com.
posted by Chris at 9:39 PM