Mount Washington by Martin Blume

REIFY RE001 Mount Washington

Martin Blume/Jeremy Drake/Tucker Dulin/Wolfgang Fuchs/Chris Heenan/Anne LeBaron/Torsten Müller/Philipp Wachsmann

Martin Blume, percussion; Jeremy Drake, amplified acoustic guitar; Tucker Dulin, trombone; Wolfgang Fuchs, sopranino saxophone, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet; Chris Heenan, alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Anne LeBaron, harp; Torsten Müller, double bass; Philipp Wachsmann, violin, electronics

1 5:37
2 7:58
3 10:25
4 7:27
5 12:41
6 6:34
7 9:43

Recorded on 10 April 2003, in L.A. Mount Washington, CA.

Front cover artwork (reproduced above) High rise detail by Patrick Wilson; photograph by Gene Ogami; design by Liz Anderson.

Ken Waxman has included Mount Washington in his "best improvised music cds of 2004" list for Jazzworld:

"Although there are more wavering buzzes, expanding dissonant pitches, split tone squeals than mellow, legato tones on this CD, no one with an ear attuned to modern sounds should be frightened. Instead he or she can hear how an afternoon, one-time-only interaction in a Mount Washington, Calif. sunken living room could produce a new, memorable way to hear and perform non-idiomatic improvisation."
Ken Waxman, Jazzworld

"To call this octet a super-group of sorts would really be an understatement. Each of the individuals on "Mount Washington" has a history that is steeped deep in the world of new or improv music. The beauty about this recording is the understatements: its hushed tones and the overt lack of solos. The overall quiet and calm is stupefying. For those that love the climates favoured by Random Acoustics label - Spellings, Axon, Lines, Polwechsel - this is your lucky day. I love the way Martin Blume's percussion work is thinly layered: the barely audible cymbal work is especially stunning. There is very little audible rhythm here, and certainly no clearly visible beat structure emerges over the hour long discourse. To make up for this, the record makes great use of various string players guitarist Jeremy Drake, harpist Anne LeBaron, bassist Torsten Muller, and violinist Philipp Wachsmann. The duo passages of Wachsmann and LeBaron mark a high point on the record, as do Chris Heenan's understates bass clarinet work. Wolfgang Fuchs shines as his lush clarinet tones are in full swing. The music moves at a medium pace, never taking off to full speed, but never for a minute stalling in neutral. There are enough thrilling ideas here to keep our ears pinned to the speakers. It was really lucky for new music fans that this confluence of eight very different minds had the chance to get together one April morning in 2003."
Tom Sekowski, GAZ-ETA numer 26

Paris Transatlantic Magazine, May 2004
Massimo Ricci: Touching Extremes
Marco Carcasi: Kathodik
Rex Butters, allaboutjazz
Ken Waxman, jazzworld

German drummer and percussionist Martin Blume has been part of the improvising scene since 1983 and he has played with almost all the alpha dogs - especially in Europe: Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, Johannes and Conny Bauer, Phil Minton, John Butcher, Georg Graewe, Joëlle Leandré, Fred Van Hove - the names of his collaborators fill half an almanac of freely improvised music.

martinblume.de