Tenor rising, drums expanding!
As George Paul’s tenor sax erupted, after brief moments of silence, into bursts of noisy repeated phrases, provoking equally energetic responses from Chris Corsano’s drums, the aforementioned phrase came to my mind. A collective expanding universe of drums, various percussion objects and a tenor saxophone. Free jazz.
We haven’t seen Chris Corsano live in Athens for some years now, so for us Athenians it was a big event and a lot of people felt the same about this gig as me. The rapture of this duo –totally in the magnificent tradition of the sax-drums duos from the past- was immense, catching many of us off guard from the very end. Someone could comment that since there is no recording by this duo, they have forged their musical relationship the old-fashioned way. Just by playing live together. Their performance, which lasted for almost an hour, was divided into two sets. Not knowing what to expect, the two musicians allowed a big flow of energy through aggressive playing, filling the room with excitement, as I could see on many faces.
Trying to be objective when writing or reviewing is a difficult task by itself, becoming even more difficult, I believe, when it comes to the live experience. Their two sets where at times fragmentary, at times fully cohesive. They , in my eyes and ears at least, that they followed an invisible trajectory that involved pushing each other to go ahead, while listening attentively to what each one had to say. There were no actual solos, but, from time to time, room for both to play on their own. Phrases and gurgles from the tenor saxophone were intertwined with Corsano’s full use of his modified kit. Joyful noises, many of them, were followed by very short passages of silence. But mostly aggressive, passionate playing leading to what this music has always been about: transcendence and catharsis.
With a tenor sax that rose over the roof and a drum set that expanded into polyrhythmic territories…
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