The Antripodean Collective, "The Massacre of the Egos"

The Antripodean Collective is an ever-changing group of Australian improvisers that create music without the limitations and responsibilities of a bandleader. While the musicians in this incarnation had all previously played with each other in various groups, this was the first time that this particular quintet had played and improvised together. The title suggests that it was a grueling process, but the results were clearly worth it.

 

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Pianist Paul Grabowsky is probably the biggest name in the group, having played with such greats as Chet Baker and Art Farmer, but the other musicians-Scott Tinkler, Philip Rex, John Rodgers, and Ken Edie-come with their own impressive resumes. Even though most of these players come from a jazz background, the resulting music is as much influenced by classical music as jazz, an impression reinforced by the addition of a violinist.

The group strays quite a bit from the jazz idiom and seems instead to rely on instinct as its guiding force. Rather than playing riffs or motifs, the players attack their instruments to elicit new sounds from them. For example, the groaning trumpet on "Conference of the Baboons" sounds alternately like an elephant and a chair slowly scraping along the floor while the double bass throbs in sympathy. The title track is the most frenzied cut, the violin in particular becoming nearly violent in its expression. There's definitely some fat that could have been trimmed from this recording.

The first few songs sound like the group was merely warming up, and they're not really clicking until halfway through the third track. Even so, there's plenty of ferocious and innovative playing all over this album to erase any of its flaws.

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