by Eddie Myer, Jazz Views
Soprano sax specialist, patrician educator and author of several books on jazz theory and practice, veteran of Miles and Elvin Jones’ bands and well-respected bandleader and recording artist in his own right, Dave Liebman is an artist who doesn’t believe in standing still. This album is the latest in a decades-long project to “musically depict manifestations of the four natural elements”, and to this end Liebman has surrounded his fluid, biting-toned soprano with an array of electronic instruments and signal processors to create a kind of electro-free-fusion. His credentials as a major compositional force in the music are evident in the startlingly original, carefully wrought theme that’s stated in unison at the end of ‘Earth Theme’, which comes after a protracted free-time textural exploration with all manner of harmonisers and modulation effects being freely applied to sporano, keyboards, bass guitar and miscellaneous unidentifiable reeds alike.
Full review here.