Tony Woods Project: Wind Shadows (33 Records 33JAZZ195)
The alto clarinet is a tremendous instrument – closer to the saxophone than the usual clarinet but still woodier – and Tony Woods uses it on the opener, Driftwood. A lot of the song titles come from nature and the Woods instrumentalists have all the right sounds to evoke them.
In addition to alto clarinet, Woods plays saxophones and wood flutes, including a complex Chinese one called a hulusi, and he is joined by Mike Outram on electric guitar, Rob Millett on vibraphone, marimba and gongs, Andy Hamill on double bass and harmonica, and Milo Fell on drums and percussion.
They can be atmospheric, as on Driftwood or they can work up a head of steam, as on the bitter parts of Bitter Sweet (it also has gentler sweet bits – or are the contrasting tastes depicted the other way around, with bitter the quiet flute and harmonica parts and sweet the delirious excitement of the band going for it in controlled but increasing intensity?) Air starts with a virtuoso solo display on soprano saxophone.
There is a strong, skirling folk music feel not only in traditional The North Wind Doth Blow but also in Dilemma, and in the title track (Wind Shadows is inspired by shapes that form on the sea during sailboat racing), and the writing in general feeds as much off expressive non-specific “pure” music as it does off jazz. Woods is clearly a master saxophonist but always directs his technique towards expression and emotion and evocation, which is just as we like it.
If you have trouble finding this disc, try going to www.tonywoods.org
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