Courage with Robert Creeley - The Way Out is Via The Door
SKU
482-1011
John Mills (tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, keyboards), Steve Swallow (bass), Chris Massey (drums), Robert Creeley (voice).
"Courage is drummer Chris Massey, sax / reed player John Mills and bassist Steve Swallow. The Way Out is Via the Door is a beautifully realized recording of intimate, creative jazz conversations, placing all three voices as equals and allowing the lines created to weave together and apart at will, sometimes floating over cushions of sound-wash, and creating spontaneous tension-release statements. This is the classic grouping of saxophone-bass-drums from another angle, perhaps from inside the mirror looking out, augmented by John Mills' wonderful use of the bass clarinet and by drummer Chris Massey’s statement that the drums are a melodic instrument as well. And Steve Swallow, one of the featured voices, shows that he is the master of the melodic bass line. The addition of the wonderfully sensitive poet Robert Creeley, here, from a series of live tour performances, only adds to the charm of this recording."
"Music and poetry make uneasy bedfellows at the best of times but on this effort, from American "creative jazz" trio Courage, the stylised prose from Beat poet Creeley makes perfect sense... Creeley's cleverly (de)constructed narratives riff on the universal themes of love, loss and happiness, referencing William Blake and Samuel Beckett into the bargain. The result is an album of startling intimacy and one that avoids the po-faced 'Jazz Club' cul-de-sac. (4/5)" — Kieran Wyatt, Seven (UK)