Two very different jazz/sax albums: Bob Kindred playing so smooth, so soothing saxophone, the sound that washes over and around you and wraps you in a smoky-silken atmosphere, the sounds of night and nightclub dancing just before the band is ready to go home and all that's left are a few drunks and a lone couple smooching and the barman emptying the ashtrays and wiping up tears and spilt drinks. Bob Kindred is certainly a Treasure, but not Hidden any more; he has been compared and ranked alongside the greatest jazz sax players, and this recording will do nothing to detract from this reputation.
And then Breaths and Heartbeats;well jazz it might be, "free" jazz, sax it might be, (? "free" sax???), but I'm afraid it's just too clever for me, it goes in one ear and straight out the other without pausing for breath... I just don't know how to start to listen to it, and my ears don't understand how to hear it. I think I need some education....
"Each piece begins with a tutti percussion breath before the improvised heartbeat begins" says the press release. Hmmmm: I just hear a collection of disjointed, jangling, clashing sounds. It's not like a Bill Frisell improv., that's for sure.
Sorry, I think I'm going to have to study this one a little longer... Maybe after I've listened to Bob Kindred just once more... or twice... or a hundred more times!
