Harvest Suite (saxophone, looping station) with Adam Page

The Harvest, is a co-composition between Australian saxophonist and composer Adam Page, and myself. It was premiered in Wellington New Zealand at Downstage Theatre in early 2011. Just before this Adam came to Wellington and we worked together, creating the work from scratch; coming up with a concept first (Adam was motivated to express dimensions of his relationship with his wife Georgia and their plans to come and eventually live in New Zealand). The movement titles reflect this (links on movement titles lead to audio on Youtube);

1. The Seed in the Wind

2. The Seed in the Storm

3. The Couple's Prelude

4. The Couple

5. The Couple's Trust

6. The Couple's Etude

7. The Seed Meets the Soil

8. The Weight of the Seedling

We recorded at the Surgery Studios with Lee Prebble and it subsequently released on Rattle Music. The album is comprised of two suites. The Harvest Suite features Adam on solo tenor saxophone played through looping pedals and effects, and Like Picking Fruit is a duet with James Brown on guitar. In Harvest Suite Adam demonstrates his virtuosity on the tenor saxophone, utilizing looping pedals and effects to create mesmerizing layers of sound. Both suites are a deft, and at times near-invisible blending of composition and improvisation, and together they produce an album of rare honesty.  "I spent our studio time in awe of James and Adam. Listening to them go into those remote unchartered territories during the recording of Like Picking Fruit was something I'll never forget. They'd come out of the studio with a look in their eyes like explorers returning from months in the wilderness. And what a unique piece it is, rich and ingenious, fearless and uncompromising, but mostly, phenomenally musical.

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If you'd like to buy the album on Bandcamp and support the artists and the label - here's the link: The Harvest on BandCamp

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Review

"[An] enticing album - Page and Brown an intuitive and natural pairing who offer delightful as much as difficult listening on Like Picking Fruit - is a rarity in the New Zealand context.  And, as with other albums on the Rattle Jazz imprint in recent years, it points to a direction which might not be "jazz" for many, but which works off improvisation and mutual understanding between the players and producer (and engineer Lee Prebble) in an exciting way." - Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz