Lines Burnt in Light | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 2001 | |||
Recorded | October 11, 2001 | |||
Venue | St Michael and All Angels Church, Chiswick, London | |||
Genre | Free improvisation | |||
Length | 1:02:22 | |||
Label | Psi 01.01 | |||
Evan Parker chronology | ||||
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Lines Burnt in Light is a live solo soprano saxophone album by Evan Parker. It was recorded on October 11, 2001, at St Michael and All Angels Church, Chiswick, London, and was issued on CD later that year by Psi Records as the label's inaugural release. Track one was recorded prior to the audience's arrival, while the remaining two tracks were recorded in concert. The album is dedicated to the memory of recording engineer Michael Gerzon, and cover art was provided by Roger Ackling. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
All About Jazz | [6] |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [8] |
The editors of DownBeat included the album in their survey of the "Best CDs of the 2000s." [9]
In a review for AllMusic, François Couture wrote: "the mesmerizing, hypnotizing effect works great and the technique is simply stunning... Lines Burnt in Light stands as one of if not the best document illustrating the man's circular breathing/playing. Strongly recommended, especially to newcomers." [1]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings stated: "Parker fires off incredible streams of notes, but here he is able to use the church acoustic almost like a studio reverb, building layers of harmonics to almost unbelievable levels... no one... will leave the experience unmoved and unimpressed." [8]
LA Weekly's Tony Mostrom described the music as "a fully integrated, virtuosic horizontal line of intricate complexity on which fluttering motifs emerge, repeat at times and submerge back into the flux, recombining endlessly," and commented: "these tightly packed DNA coils of twittering duck calls and bird chirps... remind one of Heraclitus' famous river, the one you can’t step into twice." [10]
The editors of All About Jazz awarded the album a full five stars, and reviewer John Eyles called the music "simply some of the best Parker ever recorded," remarking: "Parker played with a combination of speed and sureness that truly seemed paranormal, surely using some part of his brain beyond rationality or consciousness. Indeed, it seemed that to engage rational thought would cause the whole thing to crash... Awesome, magnificent." [6] AAJ's Mark Corroto wrote: "Parker plies a relentless attack of musical lines. Returning and reworking each as if it were a chant or poem. This isn't pure power jazz as much as it is a persistent, seemingly perpetual line of thought. Each listen is cause for dreaming, day or night." [11] Another AAJ reviewer stated: "Lines Burnt in Light is pure insane genius... Parker insistently pursues a high-level spiritual energy... And he does not relent... this music provides express transportation to another world." [12]
Writing for One Final Note, Derek Taylor commented: "Parker's breath, regulated through moist receptacle of reed, creates a continuous funnel effect of braided multiphonic streams that slip through his horn's bell and are expunged in radiating gouts into the air. The sounds approximate a range of natural sonic phenomenon from bone-dry wind whistling through paint-chipped eaves, to the hungry colloquy of infant songbirds, to the manic twisting of an antique radio dial through a register of revolving frequencies." [13]
In an article for Dusted Magazine, John Eckhardt remarked: "Parker brings together many paradoxes. He's a mystic and a scientist; he's in control and lets go. His playing is sophisticated and archaic, intelligent and trance-inducing, traditional and experimental, and much more. It was very inspiring to hear that thsee kinds of complex and emergent dynamics can actually come from a single human being." [14]
Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Saxophone Solos is a solo soprano saxophone album by Evan Parker. Three of the tracks were recorded live on June 17, 1975, at the Unity Theatre in London, and the remaining music was recorded on September 9, 1975 at the FMP Studio in Berlin. The album was initially released on LP in 1976 by Incus Records, and was reissued on CD in 1995 by Chronoscope records with nine additional tracks bearing subtitles from Samuel Beckett, again on CD in 2009 by Psi Records, and again on LP in 2021 by Otoroku Records. The contents of the album, plus a previously-missing track from the studio session, were also included in a 1989 limited-edition box set compilation titled Collected Solos, issued by Cadillac Distribution.
The Snake Decides is a studio album by British jazz saxophonist Evan Parker. It was released in 1988 on Parker and Derek Bailey's Incus Records label, re-released on Parker's Psi label in 2003, and reissued again in remastered form with new liner notes by Brian Morton on the Otoroku label in 2018.
Barry John Guy is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music under Buxton Orr, and later taught there.
John Russell was an acoustic guitarist who worked in free improvisation beginning in the 1970s. He promoted concerts and appeared on more than 50 recordings.
Quintessence is a live album by the Spontaneous Music Ensemble featuring percussionist/cornetist John Stevens saxophonists Trevor Watts and Evan Parker, guitarist Derek Bailey, and bassist Kent Carter which was recorded in 1973 and released on the Emanem label. The album was first released in two parts on separate LPs entitles Eighty Five Minutes in 1986 then with additional material as two separate CDs entitled Quintessence in 1997 and finally as a single 2-CD set in 2007.
The Ayes Have It is an album by saxophonist Evan Parker. Tracks 1–4 were recorded in a London studio during December 1983, and feature Parker with bassist Paul Rogers, and, in a rare recorded appearance, percussionist Jamie Muir. The remaining track was recorded live at the Angel and Crown pub in London on August 1, 1991, and features Parker, Rogers, trombonist Wolter Wierbos, and percussionist Mark Sanders. The album was released by Emanem Records in 2001.
At the Vortex is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy, and drummer Paul Lytton. It was recorded on June 26, 1996, at The Vortex in London, and was released by Emanem Records in 1998.
Chicago 2002 is a live album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. It was recorded on April 26 and 27, 2002, at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, and was released later that year by Emanem Records. The album features an extended Rutherford solo followed by three tracks on which he is joined by saxophonists Lol Coxhill and Mats Gustafsson, trombonist Jeb Bishop, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, bassist Kent Kessler, and percussionist Kjell Nordeson.
Iskra³ is an album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. It was recorded on September 26, 2004, at Lawrence Electronic Operations in the Chilterns, England, and was released in 2005 by Psi Records. On the album, Rutherford is joined by computer musicians Robert Jarvis and Lawrence Casserley.
Psi Records is an independent record label that was founded by saxophonist Evan Parker, and that focuses on free improvisation.
Naan Tso is an album by the free improvisation ensemble known as Foxes Fox, featuring saxophonist Evan Parker, pianist Steve Beresford, double bassist John Edwards, and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. It was recorded on October 27, 2004, at Gateway Studios in London, and was released in 2005 by Psi Records. The album was recorded five years after the group's debut album, and roughly a year prior to the departure of Moholo-Moholo, who moved back to his native South Africa in September 2005 after years of exile in England.
'Smatter is an album by saxophonist Gerd Dudek. It was recorded on February 20, 1998, at Gateway Studios in London, and was issued in 2002 by Psi Records as the label's second release. On the album, Dudek is joined by guitarist John Parricelli, double bassist Chris Laurence, and drummer Tony Levin. The album features three compositions by Kenny Wheeler, including the title track, plus three jazz standards.
Omnivm is a live album by the electronic music duo FURT, consisting of Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer. Tracks 2 and 3 were recorded on March 9, 2005, at St Oswald's Church, Durham, England, while tracks 1 and 4 were recorded on April 25, 2006, at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast. The album is dedicated to composer Iannis Xenakis, and was released in 2006 by Psi Records.
Dead or Alive is an album by the electronic music duo FURT, consisting of Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer. Track one, "Mice," documents a studio performance recorded on June 27, 2004, at the Durham University electronic music studio in Durham, England, while the second track, "Sad Fantasy," is a recording of a live performance at Conway Hall, London, dating from May 6, 2002. The album was released in 2004 by Psi Records.
Hasselt is a live album by the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, recorded during the Open Circuit: iNTERACT 2010 festival, held at Kunstencentrum Belgie in Hasselt, Belgium. The first three tracks, recorded on May 21, 2010, feature sub-groups drawn from the Ensemble, while the final track, recorded on May 22, 2010, is an extended outing for the entire Ensemble. The album was released in 2012 by Psi Records.
Six of One is a live solo soprano saxophone album by Evan Parker. It was recorded on June 18, 1980, at St Jude-on-the-Hill in London, and was initially released on vinyl in 1982 by Incus Records. In 2002, it was reissued on CD by Parker's Psi label with an additional track from the same session, and in 2021, it was reissued on vinyl in remastered form but with the original six track format by Cafe Oto's Otoroku label.
From Saxophone & Trombone is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker and trombonist George Lewis. It was recorded on May 18, 1980, at the Art Workers' Guild in London, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by Incus Records. In 2002, it was reissued on CD by Parker's Psi label, and in 2023, it was reissued on vinyl in remastered form by Cafe Oto's Otoroku label.
The London Concert is a live album by guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Evan Parker. It was recorded on February 14, 1975, at Wigmore Hall in London, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by Incus Records. In 2005, it was reissued on CD by Parker's Psi label with additional tracks, and in 2018, it was reissued on vinyl in remastered form but with the original four track format by Cafe Oto's Otoroku label.
As the Wind is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker on which he is joined by percussionists Toma Gouband, playing lithophones, and Mark Nauseef, playing metallophones. It was recorded on September 22, 2012, at St Peters in Whitstable, England, and was issued on CD in 2016 by Psi Records as the label's final release.