LOL COXHILL
SPECTRAL SOPRANO
Lol Coxhill - soprano & tenor saxophone, slide saxophone,
vocal with various personnel including Bruce Turner and Tony Coe.
Recorded 1954 - 1999.
 Double CD : EMANEM
4204
Crotchet |
 |
DISC 1
1. Autumn In New York
2. Bad Boy
3. Strictly Legal
4. Vermilion Sands
5. Not The North
6. Three Go To Letchworth
7. Embraceable You / Quasimodo
8. Union Dues
9. Turned Out Nice Again
10. Happy Birthday Bob Cobbing
11. I Thought About You
12. Aquaslide
13. Experiments With Temperature
14. Messin' With The Man
DISC 2
1. A Brief Introduction To Sax
2. Magic Buffalo
3. Uptown Top Ranking
4. Perdido
5. Out Of Nowhere
6. Brits Abroad
7. Tourism In Crisis
8. Verstehen Und Sprechen
9. Murder In The Air
10. Sweet Hawaiian Kisses
11. Victory Walk
12. C.A.K.
13. Resonance
14. Introduction To The Orchestra
"Spectral Soprano" is a real
curate's egg of a compilation. The note on the back cover describes
it as "solo and group improvisations 1954-1999, R&B, Jazz, electronics,
spontaneous music, an open rendition of an old play and the odd bit
of singing." This is basically a retrospective view over the career
to date of Lol Coxhill. On first listening I must admit to being quite
disappointed in this release . However, on repeated playing I have found
far more of interest here, although there are still quite a few tracks
I would find it difficult to recommend to the vast majority of Jazz
followers. Perhaps part of the reason for this is that many of the pieces
would, strictly speaking, fall into other categories such as electronic
music or musique concrete. I realise that music is often beyond category,
but for the purposes of this review, it would seem correct to approach
these pieces from a "Jazz" viewpoint.
Although now better known
as a soprano player, Coxhill was, in his early days, quite a capable
modern/mainstream tenor saxophonist a la Zoot Sims or Wardell Gray as
can be heard on the earliest tracks such as "Autumn In New York" and
"Out Of Nowhere". Another side of his tenor playing can be heard on
the R&B style track, "Bad Boy", which sounds like the local pop
group at the youth club with Coxhill doing a rather heavy handed King
Curtis impression.
"Strictly Legal " is much
more interesting, a solo soprano performance intended to evoke the atmosphere
of a street busker, which is a role that was filled by the artist in
London during the late 1960's. "Embraceable You/Quasimodo" and "I Thought
About You" serve to illustrate the more conventional side of Lol Coxhill,
featuring some fluent and controlled saxophone playing. The collaboration
with Tony Coe on clarinet ("Hawaiian Kisses ") is particularly enjoyable
and "Uptown Top Ranking " is an unusual take on Althea and Donna's No.1
hit.
Of the more obscure, less
"Jazzy " selections I find the instrumental numbers preferable to the
ones which feature more dialogue or singing . The exception to this
being the amusing "Introduction To Sax"- which gives an unfortunately
necessary lesson in spelling.
This disc is the musings
of a man who has very varied views to express and is willing to experiment
without regard to a constant commercial acceptance. It is well worth
repeated listening if only to discover how different music can be more
or less palatable depending on one's state of mind.
Dick Stafford.
CD Reviews
