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Obliquity on CD

Originally released in 2007, Obliquity is a free jazz record, if you'll forgive the use of such a hoary, old-fashioned phrase. It's scorching, heads-down momentum, rhythm and drive, places it in direct line of descent from the fierce originators of the genre: Ayler, Sanders, Graves, and Frank Wright. It also swings. At times it dances. Obliquity is a free jazz record through the prism of the improvisational movement in Europe, though. This is no attempt at polite revivalism or looking back/up to the 1960s. Wilkinson/Edwards/Noble are producing new, vital music of and for now. John Edwards pins down the trio with precision and energy - his tremendous internal rhythm on display to full effect throughout. Alan Wilkinson is a ferocious improviser, probably best known for membership in the demon Hession/Wilkinson/Fell trio. Obliquity features full-spectrum Wilkinson: flat-out, take-no-prisoners saxophonication, squeals, coughs, sustained improvisational experimentation, and East London tribal chanting. Steve Noble is an upright drummer with a surgeon's accuracy, his crisp percussion work has accompanied dancers, funksters, poets and tuba players. But he's not played better than here: great power allied with grace, a subtle touch and solid time - the drumming drives the music on to real heights.