Two area avant skronk provocateurs meet on a cold January night for a set of improvised noodling. Morris has been reviewed many times in this blog. He teaches music composition in Boston and organizes the excellent Improv Now series at Real Art Ways. He is also instrumental ( pun definitely intended) in playing with and wrangling for bookings at Firehouse 12. Gorry is a local scenester who helms NHIC ( New Haven Improvisors Collective) a loose group of likeminded noiseniks who gather at the bookstore to ply their trade. The evening was billed to have three groups, assuming these two would headline, I planned my entrance accordingly. Upon arrival, I appear mid set for Joe and Bob. It’s ok, it’s not like they were playing Free Bird where one could discern a beginning, a middle, and an end. The music is challenging, but in the close proximity of the book store environment, you could really get a feel for how the improv works. Morris squiggled with an array of effect pedals while Gorry squaggled sometimes resorting to his trusty knitting needle for percussive effect. There was one passage that sounded like Morris was strangling an alien from a 60s movie set. The two diverged then converged in service to a marching beat that seemed like the thread that held them together. I stuck around for the final group which highlighted local reed man and contra dance aficionado Paul Maguire. The group had piano, guitar, bass, and Paul. The three pieces had Paul on different honkers. First was a crusty looking alto sax that looked like it was exhumed from the East River along side of Albert Ayler. The second was a soprano sax, the “straight horn” as Steve Lacy used to call it. Finally, Paul pulled out a recorder, the simulskronk sounding like a fourth grade assembly, on acid. This community embraces anyone brave enough to play or listen to this music, which is a life lesson we all should heed.
