(Free Jazz, Avant-Garde, Improvisation) (The) Rova Saxophone Quartet - A Short History - 2012, WEB, FLAC (tracks), lossless

As Rova enters its 35th season, the Berlin-based recording company Jazzwerkstatt is now releasing a new, quartet-only CD of original works by band members. Recorded in February, 2003 and August, 2011, the disc includes the long-awaited release of the Larry Ochs composition Certain Space, along with recent works by Steve Adams and Jon Raskin.
A Short History defines 3 key regions of Rova's musical domain. With The Blocks, Adams continues his fascination with the interplay of chiseled, harmonically dense rhythmic figuration, providing the quartet with a wealth of material to blow thickets of sound and build on the composition's DNA. To the Right of the Blue Wall is Jon Raskin's conceptual vehicle for open field improvisation, which relies heavily on Rova's creative application of its evolving vocabulary, and the layering of compositional elements with the quartet's proprietary memes. Ochs' Certain Space flows from the composer's propensity for epic narratives. The piece unfolds into a succession of 3 settings, each dedicated to, and inspired by, the influential composers Giacinto Scelsi, Cecil Taylor and Morton Feldman.
Inventively performed, exquisitely recorded, and handsomely packaged, this latest release is a milestone in Rova's recorded archive - further evidence that the quartet's 4th decade has been it most artistically rewarding.