Vinny Golia: Intercommunications: Music For Woodwinds and Percussion

Multi-instrumentalist and visionary composer Vinny Golia plays all the instruments on Intercommunications: Music For Woodwinds and Percussion, and what an aggregation of horns and percussion devices he’s assembled for the project. The scrum of flutes, saxophones, piccolos, bass clarinet, basset horn and various ethnic reeds is shadowed by Himalayan singing bowls and various gongs as Golia concocts an indelibly unique soundscape. While I listened to the flow of the music, I began to wonder about Golia’s methodology. Did each track start with a solo horn performance, with more reeds added next? Or maybe he started with the gongs, and overdubbed the horns from there. However he put it together, the results are a brashly unpredictable riot of tone colors and unusual sonorities. Despite the overdub methodology, there’s a surprising feeling of spontaneity and serendipity throughout the proceedings. Particular favorites include the austere opener, Rongorongo - Opening For Richard Nuns, the eerily subdued The Taulas of Menorca, the meditative Xenoglossy, the occasion for an excitingly complex soprano sax solo, the brief and busy Dedicated to the Great Instrument Builders: Eva, Peter, and Benedict, which reminds me of Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant from a Nonesuch album with music from Bali. Intercommunications offers a fascinating dip into inventive musical mind of Vinny Golia, and is well worth an hour of your time.
pfMENTUM CD111/Ninewinds NWCD329; Vinny Golia (Maori bird call, C & G picc, alto fl, bass fl, basset horn, bcl, G mezzo & Bb ss, sop sax, Tibetan trumpets, gyaling, fujara, overtone flutes, Himalayan singing bowls, gongs) Valencia, CA, October 2016; Rongorongo - Opening For Richard Nuns/ Let Me Introduce Myself, I’m Norman Reed/ The Taulas of Menorca/ I...Have a Turtle Neck and Can Be Trusted/ Hessdalan Lights/ Nazca Lines/ Xenoglossy/ Dedicated to the Great Instrument Builders: Eva, Peter, and Benedict/ The Agropelter...(Bobo...How are You?...)/ Unexpected Incidents For Wenseslao Moquel; 55:22. www.pfmentum.com