Crying in Space brings together long-time comrades. American sax player (alto and tenor) Paul Flaherty and drummer Chris Corsano have been playing together since 2000 and recorded six duo albums. Danish alto sax player joined Flaherty and Corsano’s 2014 tour and recorded with them Star-Spangled Voltage (hot Cars Warp, 2016) and two duo albums with Corsano, the latest A View of the Moon (From the Sun) (Clean Feed, 2018). Flaherty, Corsano and fellow American double bass player Zach Rowden released recently As Far As Death (Family vineyard, 2022).

Crying in Space was recorded live at Firehouse 12 in New Haven in June 2019. The accumulated, shared experience of the four musicians in ad-hoc, free improvised settings contribute to the immediate, organic flow of the music and its constant shapeshifting through moods and feelings. The opening, 20-minute piece «The Hesitant Nature of Doubt (Shadow Chase)» hints about the inevitable essence of such meetings, and it swings between fragile, sparse and reflexive, openly emotional moods that cement the deep affinity between these like-minded musicians as well as their strong individual voices, and powerful, massive assaultive mode. Rasmusen and Flaherty keep feeding and completing each other’s ideas, while the propulsive rhythm section of Zach and Corsano (who did the cover artwork) pushes the dense commotion to its cathartic extremes.

The second piece with its cynical title «What to Expect When Faking Your Own Death» begins with a poetic, playful solo of Rasmussen and when the Flaherty, Rowden and Corsano join her the quartet dives into tight and intense, free jazz vibe but later returns to Rasmussen’s playful, melodic and talkative, bird calls-like ideas. This uplifting and joyful performance ends with the short «Industrial Sabotage Friday» which begins with powerful and cathartic attacks but ends with a beautiful, restrained melody.

Eyal Hareuveni

Mette Rasmussen (as, objects), Paul Flaherty (as, ts), Zach Rowden (b), Chris Corsano (dr, perc)