Marconi’s Drift expands British sax master Evan Parker and turntables and electronics player Matthew Wright’s electro-acoustic Trance Map project into its most ambitious form to date. The documented, live performance of Marconi’s Drift was streamed and networked on both sides of the Atlantic – seven musicians at The Hot Tin in Faversham, Kent and six musicians at Roulette in Brooklyn, recorded in December 2022.
Parker and Wright met in 2008 and out of their first studio sessions developed the sound lab Trance Map, first in a self-titled duo album (psi, 2011), later expanded this versatile project to include live events across Europe as Trance Map+ – as a quintet (Crepuscule In Nickelsdorf, Intakt, 2019), a trio (Grounded Abstraction, FMR, 2022) and a quartet (Etching The Ether, Intakt, 2023). The release of Marconi’s Drift coincides with Parker’s 80th birthday in 2024.
The thirteen musicians are experienced improvisers – American trumpeter Peter Evans, and British trombonist Robert Jarvis, cellist Hannah Marshall, electronics player Pat Thomas and clarinetist Alex Ward in Kent; pianist-keyboard player Sylvie Courvoisier, violist Mat Maneri, electronics players Ikue Mori and Sam Pluta, clarinetist and shakuhachi player Ned Rothenberg and pianist-keyboard-electronics player Craig Taborn, plus Parker on soprano sax and Wright on turntables, live sampling and processing. Parker played with all of them before in smaller groups.
Parker and Wright devised a simple scheme for this performance comprised of a sequence of combinations, mostly duos and trios, with the option to accompany and interject as impulse and the evolving context suggested. After the performance, in a long tasking process, Wright refined the subtle voices, captured on 24 tracks, removed any perception of spill from the two locations, and heightened the antiphonal rhetoric of the performance so almost all of the duos between Brooklyn and Faversham are panned left/right, and sometimes transformed the sound design over the length of a collective phrase. Parker’s relentlessly evolving saxophone lines are moved in and around the stereo field, sometimes appearing more central or slightly to the left.
The post-production process ended with the 55-minute title piece, that, surprisingly, flows organically with all its subtle and layered acoustic, processed and electronic sounds, and the varied extended breathing and bowing techniques and the assorted software and devices. The delicate, always clear dynamics enrich the elusive and suggestive sonic envelope, with great focus on every detail. It lets the music blossom, filling both spaces, with its secretive inner logic and imaginative colors, especially when the two ensembles play simultaneously towards the cathartic, moving conclusion. Brilliant set of spontaneous, free music that draws the listener deeper and deeper into its many wonders.
Eyal Hareuveni
Evan Parker (soprano saxophone), Matthew Wright (turntable, live sampling, processing), Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), Robert Jarvis (trombone), Hannah Marshall (cello), Pat Thomas (live electronics), Alex Ward (clarinet), Sylvie Courvoisier (piano, keyboards), Mat Maneri (viola), Ikue Mori (laptop live electronics), Sam Pluta (laptop live electronics), Ned Rothenberg (clarinet, bass clarinet, shakuhachi), Craig Taborn (piano, keyboard, live electronics)
