Steve Baczkowski, Bill Nace

Aka: the shape of (free) jazz to come. Bill Nace on electric guitar and Steve Baczowski on bass saxophone bless us with two sides of furious, raw improvised music. Their motto is easy to recognize from the beginning: total freedom, with instruments on fire moving along as if in the middle of a power electronics assault. Just a few seconds of silence, and then a small, delicate whistle starts, soon accompanied by a sinister percussive sound that introduces a sax / guitar dialogue which is the core of the album and absolutely fantastic. The sound keeps growing as the tone of  the saxophone gets deeper and there is just enough time for another sonic wash before the piece ends. Wow. The second side begins with Baczkowski’s saxophone lines sounding almost like a metallic didgeridoo, while Nace treats his strings through a really accurate work of sliding and scraping  that eventually creates a spectral blues mood before collapsing into a wall of feedback. The two musicians can now explore the wide range of frequencies offered by their tools and there you have it: through saxophone solos, guitar explosions, and some moments of stasis, the intensity of Bill and Steve’s interplay can reach the sublime effect of two instruments mingling together into one unique sound. Their extraordinary ability in creating abstractions is blessed here by the sacred fire of alchemy.