Michel Portal - !Dejarme Solo! (1991)

"With its conflation of modes and leaps into bitonality and even tritonality, the daring, experimental Dejarme Solo! stretches Michel Portal's ultra-modern inclinations even further into the avant-garde. Recorded in 1979, this album invites the active participation of the listener, who is challenged to complete the void normally occupied by conventional expectations. The opening track, "En El Campo", features Portal's jagged, angular solos over a slowly metamorphosing two-note rhythm that repeats obsessively. The displaced temporal flow continues in "Desert Sun", in which Portal's scorched lines serve as a conduit from mankind's past to an unresolved present. "African Ritual" perpetuates the hallucinatory spell through primitive figures and a raw, objective mood. At other times the soloist behaves in a downright raucous fashion, as if he is on a mission to liberate his instrument . Only in the final track, "Bat Sarrou", does Portal concede a sense of the familiar. Claude Ermelin's multi-layered engineering allows the instrumentalist to display his complete command of the saxophone family , several clarinets , and the bandoneon. The key is to expect the unexpected: Dejarme Solo! is an experimental journey with the exhilarating and disorienting unpredictability of life itself." ~ Kevin Mulhall



Michel Portal was born on 27 November 1935, in Bayonne, France. Portal is as comfortable playing a Mozart clarinet concerto as he is performing a Stockhausen intuitive piece, or scoring a film on bandoneon and playing free jazz on various reeds - he has always surprised. Francois Tusques, Sunny Murray, Joachim Kühn and John Surman are just some of the artists who have made use of his talents in a jazz context. Although accused by some of being over-clinical as a soloist, he has produced a number of remarkable recordings with editions of his ever-changing unit. Many leading French and Swiss players have passed through the ranks, while his Men's Land from 1987 featured Jack DeJohnette and Dave Liebman. He has won the French César Award for his soundtrack work on three occasions.

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Michel Portal plays:

Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrebass Clarinet, Tenora, Soprano, Sopranino, Bandoneon, Percussions.


1. En EL Campo (3:45)
2. Desert Sun (4:15)
3. African Ritual (6:38)
4. Give Me A Chance (4:02)
5. Buffone (3:16)
6. Tenoras (1:19)
7. Dejarme Solo! (2:26)
8. Bat Sarrou (3:09)

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Steve Lacy - Clinkers (1977)

"If anyone ever wonders what the hoopla was in the 1970s about Steve Lacy's solo performances, he or she needs look no further than this album. While it encompasses less than 45 minutes of recording time, and constitutes just half of a live concert (where is the other half?), Lacy is perfectly splendorous, with solos that rival his best on disc. The saxophonist is alone and his playing is terrific, with each piece a mini-masterpiece. "Trickles" opens the set, contrasting Lacy's excellent version of the same tune elsewhere with trombonist Roswell Rudd. "Duck" is an apt title, with the quacks and squawks reminiscent of the animal. "Micro Worlds" focuses on laser-like streams of sound distorted here, twisted there. The perfect intonation, symmetrical melodies, and warped interpretations lead to altered expectations, as Lacy winds his way across terrain uniquely his own. One of the few instrumentalists who can sustain a solo performance for seemingly indefinite periods, the saxophonist's cool and restrained yet radical style is fully displayed without a moment's lapse." ~ Steven Loewy, All Music Guide

Steve Lacy - Clinkers (1977) released in 2000 © Hat Hut Records
Edition of 3000 CD's

1. Trickles 10'05''
2. Duck 7'02''
3. Coastline 7'49''
4. Micro Worlds 7'15''
5. Clinkers 11'59''

total time: 44'10''

Recorded live June 9, 1977 by Hanspeter Ehrsam at Restaurant "Zer alte Schmitti", Basel/ Switzerland.

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The Hafler Trio - Fuck (1992)

"Fuck is the second part of a projected trilogy that begins with Masturbatorium, and for which the third part has not been released as of early 2001. While Masturbatorium used sounds generated by performance artist Annie Sprinkle in a sonic investigation of female sexuality, Fuck concentrates on male sexual energies, using sounds leading to the brink of male orgasm from Andrew McKenzie, in addition to various atmospheric frequencies and field recordings. As with the trilogy's first part, the liner notes go into some detail about the sonic origins and the overall purpose of the piece, its specific practical intents, and its relationship to investigations into sexual energy.

Unusually, McKenzie directs that the recording be played at maximum volume, and that the CD player be in strict accordance with left and right channel connections. With the correct playback configuration, the ominous low drone opening shakes the room, and when the various fast rhythmic layers are added in, the piece takes on an overwhelming aura seldom found in other Hafler Trio releases. A looped bass vocal alternates between the two channels in the second track, exercising the separation McKenzie mentions. Given the sexual intent of the piece, one might suppose that it would start slowly and build, but in fact the opposite is the case. The beginning is the loudest, densest, and fastest, with an overall tranquility and lightening as the piece progresses. Its unity of purpose makes it one of the better Hafler Trio releases, although the cover art and subject matter make it for mature listeners only".
Caleb Deupree, All Music Guide

"The first piece can be seen as an abrasive experience in deep-breathing oppressive terror-technonoise, somehow reminiscent of both Gerechtigkeits Liga and Porter Ricks; the second piece finds the "trio" in more familiar ground, reducing the scope of sonic assault to create a slow, bass-based progression from multilayered noise to total darkness". The Juju Unintelligible Reviews

Performed by A.M. McKenzie & Zbigniew Karkowski

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Steve Lacy - Live at Unity Temple (1998)

"One would think that listening to a soprano sax in a solo context might end up being monotonous, but in the hands of a master, you could rest assured that there would be variety in the tunes and in the nuance, inflection, and ambience within each tune. Also, this type of performance allowed you to ruminate on each note and its placement; in other words, you could really hear what was going on. Many times during a band concert, there are various reasons that you cannot hear exactly what the soloist is playing, making you strain to take in all that should be aurally obvious.

But this concert turned into an opportunity for meditation, something sorely missed in this high-decibel world. It was meditation on some glorious music and, as it turned out, words. Beginning with “Evidence,” Lacy segued into “Ask Me Now,” playing with a slightly Nino-Rota-like phrasing. After a few unidentified compositions, he began to recite a poem on the nature of the music, leading to what I believe was a Rota tune from Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. After a brief intermission, Lacy went over to the piano, raised the lid, and began to experiment with overtones from the strings as he blew the horn straight into the piano. Far from being discordant nonsense, his music achieved some remarkable harmonics. He finished the set with some more original music and then mingled with the crowd as they filed out. The concert demonstrated that you can indeed experience fully such creative music at Unity Temple". Rashaan Clark Morris, Jazz Institute of Chicago Reviews

1. Monk Medley
- Shuffle Boil
- Thelonious
- Evidence
- Pannonica
- Misterioso
- Skippy
2. The Crust
3. Art
4. Revenue
5. Absence
6. Deadline

"You have to sound sad first of all, then maybe later you can sound good". Steve Lacy

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