American, New York-based prolific tenor sax player Ivo Perelman (and visual artist and jewelry designer) likes to explore the duo format with favorite musicians, gradually and over a long period of time, as his countless duo albums with pianist Matthew Shipp can testify. Perelman’s collaboration with fellow American, innovative trumpeter Nate Wooley began, typically, in a trio with Shipp (Philosopher’s Stone, Leo, 2017), and with his Strings project with violist Mat Maneri, which hosted Wooley on Strings 3 and Strings 4 (Leo, 2019; Shipp also played in Strings 4).
The Perelman-Wooley Polarity series is a natural extension of the Strings series. Polarity 4 is, obviously, the fourth chapter of this series, and like the previous chapters, it was recorded at Perrleman’s favorite studio, Park West Studios in Brooklyn, in January 2025. The four albums feature the artwork of Buning Ambulance’s I.A. Freeman. Perlman and Wooley continued collaborating in larger formats in the sextet album Seven Skies Orchestra and the quartet album A Modicum Of The Blues (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2023 and 2025).
Perelman and Wooley do not represent distinct sonic places on Polarity 4. The nine, untitled free-improvised pieces rely on the established affinity between these sonic explorers.. They focus on playful, often reflective, but mostly compassionate, lyrical, and openly emotional conversations. Perelman and Wooley dance gently and patiently around and over each other, using instant, concise, yet moving melodies and thoughtful counterpoints, while exhausting the full sonic palettes of the tenor sax and the trumpet. The opening piece features both of them overdubbing themselves for the first time and having an uplifting polyphonic talk. Perelman and Wooley employ extended breathing and percussive techniques only occasionally, explore delicate resonant sounds, and rely on their gift to re-invent themselves and inspire, and sometimes even provoke each other in every Polarity meeting.
Perelman collaborated for the first time with American master trombonist Ray Anderson (of the long-standing trio BassDromeBone, and a collaborator of Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Threadgill, David Murray, and Marty Ehrlich, to name a few) in a quartet with Joe Morris on double bass and drummer Reggie Nicholson (Molten Gold, Fundacja Słuchaj, 2023). Two months later, Perelman and Anderson recorded their debut duo album 12 Stages of Spritual Alchemy, at Parkwest Studios in December 2022.
Some of these spiritual stages are known as corresponding to psychological transformations like confession, illumination, education, and transformation, according to Jungian psychology. The twelve pieces may seek sonic transcendence, but most of all offer a meeting between two highly experienced and resourceful, curious, and restless improvisers, focusing on exploring the intuitive, uncharted common ground of the rare duo of tenor sax and trombone. Perlman and Anderson immediately established an alchemical interplay, and the album reflects deep, spontaneous conversations between two masters of the art of the moment, with great focus on breath and detail. These conversations swing seamlessly between the lyrical, emotional, and introspective to the tension-filled and totally free, where the brief arguments are settled quickly and peacefully. I guess that this album marks the beginning of a long musical friendship.
Eyal Hareuveni
Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Ray Anderson (trombone)
