Ron Caines, Martin Archer, Axis

This fifth AXIS recording once again brings in a different approach to the music. With the exception of the group’s first album, Les Oiseaux De Matisse, which was largely recorded live in the studio, subsequent albums (Dream Feathers, Port Of Saints, Blutopia) have been built from Ron upwards – Ron recording with a small core of players and then arranged for larger groups via subsequent overdubs. This time round, Ron requested that he respond to completed tracks as the last player to record – to which end Hervé Perez and myself created what is effectively an extended concerto for Ron’s saxophones, with his sound occupying centre stage throughout.

Practical Dreamers is a suite of seven pre-recorded electroacoustic structures composed by Martin Archer, with laptop responses created and performed by Hervé Perez – which together provide a live improvising environment for the other instrumentalists, who all responded together and in real time to what they heard.

Once in the studio for the final session, Ron was able to complete the sound world we had created without recourse to anything other than his own profound improvising skill.