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JANSMUSIC RECOMMENDED RECORDING

big steel drum: Barrie Webb/Ty Unwin
MPS  MPSCD012
big steel drum / african violet / second skin / big wheel

As you know, this website is all about recommending CDs I like. On first play, I wasn't convinced by this CD, but on the second go I began to wonder how on earth I could not have liked it.  Far more into the world of crossover than any of the previous CDs I have explored, this CD presents really what amounts to explorations of a soundworld. Barrie Webb and Ty Unwin are both the performers and composers of the works and they use, as well as the trombone and didgeridoo, a range of percussion instruments and sampled sounds.

The first track, big steel drum, whose title belies its content, is really a concerto for trombone, but accompanied by tape.  With jazzy rhythms a beat that drives you forward, this music really takes you on a journey. There's a lovely slow passage in the middle too.   The second work, African Violet, is my almost favourite work on this CD (see below): minimalist in style it has three movements, all linked together by melodic and rhythmic elements, and all are based on the idea of beginning simply and building to a climax before fading away. The first begins very simply, ethereally, and grows gradually while maintaining repetitive hypnotic elements, the second is really rhythmic and uses the bigger deeper drums, but its climax has much more energy, and is really joyful,  and the third takes us back round to the thematic material of the first.  It's really mesmerising to listen to.

My absolute favourite track on this CD is Second Skin, the only work on the CD written by Barrie Webb and it is quite simply a didgeridoo concerto. No Rolf Harris here, the effects that Barrie, who is playing, produces from the instrument are truly fantastic.  He makes it growl, purr, and produce weird and wonderful harmonic effects. After a 4 minute cadenza the playing becomes more rhythmic and percussion elements are introduced, but very slowly, so it goes on and on, very simply, very cleverly, until we lose the didgeridoo and the insistent clacking of the percussion takes over (rather like lots of morse code operators sitting in a row), and then the didgeridoo returns alone, more spooky, more ethereal, more primeval than ever. 

The final piece is again for trombone and tape - at the same time crashingly modern and beautifully melodic.  This is slightly more interesting than the first piece, in its clever use of instruments and harmonies, but also in its mix of styles and textures.  This feels like more of an experimental piece - and doesn't quite sit in any one genre. There are some lovely moments however - no matter what is going on below, the trombone simply soars above and links everything together.

If only for the didgeridoo writing you have to buy this CD - I promise you will not be disappointed.