(Free Jazz) [CD] Resonance Impeders (Briggan Krauss - Chris Dahlgren - Jay Rosen) - At All Costs Unknown - 2000, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Recorded at The Spirit Room, Rossie, NY, February 7 & 8, 2000.

Briggan Krauss is a New York based saxophonist, composer and sound artist who has been a strong presence in the New York creative music scene for the past fifteen years. He is a founding member of Sex Mob, has played on Grammy Award winning and nominated recordings and leads several of his own projects as well as collaborating with many other improvisers and composers in New York and around the world.
Jazz bassist and composer Chris Dahlgren was born in New York City in 1961; after adopting the cello at age seven, as a teen he moved to bass, later graduating from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati in addition to studying voice and composition under minimalist visionary La Monte Young. Honing his skills alongside artists including Joe Lovano, Charles Tolliver, Red Rodney and Herb Ellis, Dahlgren emerged as a key player in the downtown NYC scene, also touring as a member of the Cincinnati folk rock combo Over the Rhine; he made his solo debut in 1996 with Slow Commotion, followed a year later by Resonance Impeders. In 1998, he joined the Jazz Mandolin Project; the solo Best Intensions appeared in early 2000.
Jay Rosen was born in 1961 in Philadelphia. His family moved to Long Island, N.Y. in 1964. Jay's musical interest took shape from recorded music that was played around the house as well as two aunts and a brother that were all musicians. Musical vibrations affected Jay in deep, profound ways. Jay began music lessons at age eight on guitar and then piano. However, after seeing (and hearing) Tony Williams (with Sonny Rollins) at Carnegie Hall in 1971, Jay switched to the drums exclusively. Upon hearing Charlie Parker and John Coltrane at the age of 13, Jay decided to pursue jazz as a serious course of study. Jay has studied with Barry Altschul, Kenwood Dennard, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, and Joe Morello among others. Jay has been an active member of the New York jazz scene since 1990. Since then he has been deeply involved in the creative improvised and new music scenes in New York City and beyond.

The “Resonance Impeders” represents a modern jazz/improvisational troupe willing to seek out previously uncharted musical frontiers. Simply put, alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss, bassist Chris Dahlgren and drummer Jay Rosen are among the best and brightest of a genre that some are now referring to as the – “new music”. These chaps continue to reinvent the tried and true, as they respectively possess individual voices, which at times, distinguishes them from many of their peers. On the opener, “Say Then But The Two Gone”, Krauss exhibits his unique darkly hued tonalities amid fleeting lines, as the band pursues an abstract type Indian raga motif in conjunction with Western style scales and polyrhythmic back beats. Here, the saxophonist blows exuberant, high-octane choruses and prophetic statements. With “Ant Farming Cousin”, the musicians engage in emotive dialogue as Krauss’ buzz-saw attack contrasts Rosen’s playful utilization of bells, whistles and the traps, while Dahlgren perpetuates thick, rumbling notes. Hence, the band takes the listener on an unlikely voyage to some inexplicable, far away land. The band’s inventiveness continues on “All That Dies Gladly Dies” as they get down and dirty via a loosely implemented New Orleans shuffle groove marked by surrealistic qualities, thanks to Krauss’ darting and jabbing motifs and Dahlgren’s subdued yet effective employment of electronics. Basically, these musicians continue to surge past boundaries that often represent stumbling blocks for more than just a few. Overall, the music is intellectually stimulating yet affably entertaining! ~ glenn astarita, allaboutjazz.com
Not a pick-up band, the Impeders have recorded for CIMP once before. At All Costs Unknown, however, is a pick-up recording. A nearly 70-minute recording-and a long 70 at that-At All Costs suffers the kind of pitfalls that often trouble off-the-cuff and not terribly inspired free-improv studio dates approached with little (read: no) preparation. No pressing musical ideas stretch the longer tunes out to their considerable duration. Ambient passages (read: warm-ups in search of direction) and dead spots do-especially on "Say Then but the Two Gone" and "Ant Farming Cousin." Not to say that all the shorter cuts are especially tight either. And yes, all the tunes have dorky titles. Perhaps the player of highest profile among the three, alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss (Sex Mob, Wayne Horvitz's Pig Pen) spends most of the recording trading in textures. In his better moments, Krauss adds another layer of rhythm to what is already a rhythm-oriented group, almost like a perverse Maceo Parker. Much of the time, however, Krauss leans on repeated phrases or long bouts of clucking and burbling without generating much interest. The real reason to check out At All Costs is the rhythm section team of drummer Jay Rosen and bassist Chris Dahlgren. Dahlgren's subtly distorted bass and Rosen's inventive drumming drive this music and engineer its brighter moments. ~ aaron steinberg, jazztimes.com

Briggan Krauss - alto sax
Chris Dahlgren - bass
Jay Rosen - drums