Nate Wooley/Daniele Martini/Giovanni Di Domenico/Hugo Antunes/ Chris Corsano: Posh Scorch (Orre Records, 2013) **** ½

By Martin Schray

Orre Records’ third release is a live performance by Nate Wooley (trumpet and amplifier), Daniele Martini (tenor sax), Giovanni Di Domenico (Fender Rhodes, electronics), Hugo Antunes (bass) and Chris Corsano (drums) at Les Ateliers Claus in Brussels on May 27, 2012, the same place where Peter Brötzmann and Steve Noble have recorded their latest cooperation.

The most exciting aspect of this group is the clash of Wooley and Corsano, two of today’s most adventurous and interesting sound explorers (at least for me), with Giovanni Di Domenico’s blurred ethereal Fender Rhodes arpeggios. Di Domenico is a very versatile composer and musician, his trio album with Arve Henriksen and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and “Ghibli”, his duo with Alexandra Grimal, are excellent albums.

The first half of Posh Scorch’s A-side reminds of a crude bastard of early Pink Floyd, AMM, and the Miles Davis of the Get up with it era. Di Domenico’s electronics at the beginning are a precision weapon, punctuating the track like flickering flashes at night.

While Wooley’s trumpet floats through space like a distant echo of solar music with Martini’s drone-like sax as a constant counterpart, Di Domenico’s Fender Rhodes and Corsano’s extended drums try to give them even more flexibility. The psychedelic undercurrent allows all musicians to sink deeper into their music, where they can delve into a new and innovative world of atmosphere and texture before Di Domenico lets the whole thing die down, leaving Hugo Antunes alone for a short subtle solo which is then joined by Wooley – maybe the most intimate moment of the performance. The last part of Side A is pure, classic and wild free jazz in which Wooley and Martini can wrestle in front of a tight rhythm section.

Side B also starts very gloomy with a Corsano/Di Domenico duo where you can see what a spectacular drummer Corsano is. Then the band goes further into abstraction, constructing an intensely fragmented and ominous atmosphere that bring to mind the aforementioned psychedelic Miles Davis album, only that Corsano and Martini do their best to sabotage this impression with wild, free interspersions. The result is that the track is always growing and changing and defying expectations.

I came across this album by accident, my record dealer recommended it to me. So – thanks again, Ernst.
It is a real gem.

The album is available on vinyl, which comes with a download voucher including a video of the whole concert, for a very fair price.


You can buy instantjazz.com. or download it from Bandcamp.