This LP is a setting of words from ‘How It Is’ (1964) by Samuel Beckett, interspersed with instrumental passages. Extensive use of multi-tracking allows Bruce to produce eerie choral effects, and he controls his tone quality carefully, to conjure up the sombre, depressive and monotonous atmosphere of the Beckett novel.
There is an emphasis on decay, and even an element of sentimentality in the book, which are not reflected in the music; but this is possibly because the words chosen do not in themselves project these two facets.
It’s not clear to what extent the keyboard part is written: no matter, because it’s beautifully played, and extremely searching and imaginative (of course Carla’s playing has many of the advantages of Paul Bley’s style).
Cherry plays in two thematically related duets with Bley, and he also performs magnificently, without that hesitance and inaccuracy which he has sometimes shown with Ornette Coleman. The record is a major achievement.
Discography
Number Six: Parts 1-4; Number Twelve: Parts 1-4
Jack Bruce (vcl/b-gtr); Carla Bley (keyboards); Don Cherry (tpt). New York and London, 1973.
(Watt 2 £1.79)
