Bill Dixon / Aaron Siegel / Ben Hall – Weight / Counterweight (2xLP)
£
27
$
36
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Description
Bill Dixon / Aaron Siegel / Ben Hall - "Weight - Counterweight" (Broken Research) BR041 - limited vinyl version From the grey, white, and red geometric design on the front and its inversion on the back cover, to the full-color self-portrait of Bill Dixon inside the gatefold, "Weight-Counterweight" is a beautiful object assembled from thick cardstock and 220 gram vinyl. Each improvisation occupies one side, leaving ample space before the run-out groove; this physical separation mirrors the amount of space within each piece, matching medium to content. The short walk to the turntable and back prepares the listener for the next side and allows for a brief pause in which the sounds seem to both settle in to one's mind and evaporate from the room.
To borrow Dixon's own term, the sounds on this double LP are "creative music" of the highest order. Although the individual instruments are identifiable: Dixon's delay-treated trumpet and Ben Hall and Aaron Siegel's extended drum kit and tuned percussion, these improvisers create a sonic microcosm that resists easy reference points. While Dixon's playing often occupies the foreground, the two percussionists are not reverential in their listening and responses. The pieces grow and shift through the collective input of the trio.
I'm not generally a fan of processed wind instruments, but Dixon's exacting control over both timbre and timing render the distinction between the processing and his initial attacks unimportant. At points, it seems that Dixon alters the length of the delayed signal in real time, and at other times, he uses the rigidity of the delay to construct tiers of sound. Even if these adjustments are mis-hearings on my part, they attest the deftness with which Dixon shifts the rhythms within his own playing.
When Hall and Siegel choose to move into the foreground, they do so with energy and precision. Rapid mallet strikes occupy the upper register while tom, bass, and sometimes tympani hits seem to buoy up the music from underneath. On side 2a, "Contrapposto," bowed and struck cymbals seem glisten and slice through the softer, aquatic trumpet, though each player moves too quickly for a single encapsulating phrase. Within the same track, Dixon's playing resembles throat singing while the bowed cymbal tones slide still higher into near sine waves. Siegel's vibraphone chords hang in the air above Hall's cymbal hisses and rounded rolls, creating transient harmonies with Dixon's trumpet.
This has been played, but is in excellent, excellent condition
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