Saxophonists Mette Henriette and George Winstone possess distinctive, daring voices, and each has a provocative new release.
Mette Henriette
Drifting (ECM Records)
A review
There’s something of nature in the organic sound of Mette Henriette’s saxophone, and her music doesn’t so much follow the rules of any particular genre as it does the contours of the natural world. Her new release, Drifting, seems inspired by vast landscapes—wind, snow, streams, sunlight, clouds—rendered with an almost stoic lyricism in collaboration with John Lindvall (piano) and Judith Hamann (cello). Indeed, on one track, “0º,” there is only the light scrape of bow on cello and breath through the saxophone, as if we are in a warm house listening to a passing storm. As spare, spacious, and transparent as her debut album, Mette Henriette (reviewed here), Drifting’s 15 musical epigrams, dense with meaning, offer a richly solitary experience.
George Winstone
Odysseus (indie)
A review
The title of George Winstone’s latest, Odysseus, came to him while listening to a playback of the recording. It struck him viscerally as “a mythical hero’s journey,” he’s said, and he’s spot on. (He’s had his own harrowing journey from “future star” to homelessness to accomplished artist.) If Winstone is Odysseus, then his companion, Ben Monder (guitar), is everyone else, from Circe and Cyclops to the wine dark sea and the suitors. Intuitively improvised—thank you, Carol Tristano, for that apt phrase—Odysseus takes us on a journey through hope, memory, longing, struggle, and of course, homecoming. Monder has turned his electric guitar into a prodigious and sometimes alarming orchestra, creating vivid environments below Winstone’s expressively melodic improvisations, and the two of them communicate with a remarkable immediacy. Winstone finds a modern connection to ancient musical material (check out “Part V”), and together, he and Monder navigate a daring journey safely home.
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© 2023 Mel Minter
Hi Mel,
Happy New Year.
I need to get the creative juices flowing for the coming year.
Neither of the above works struck a chord. maybe I need to give them closer listens.
Sorry they didn’t speak to you, but a closer listen might change your mind. I think they will reward only a close and committed listening. But even then, they might not be your cup of tea. De gustibus non disputandum est. In any event, I’m glad you gave them a listen.