Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman & James Emery, the acoustic guitarist and co-founder of the String Trio of New York, engage in a series of spirited dialogues on The Whisperers, as Perelman’s leaps and skitters of sound find their match in Emery’s fractured guitar lines. Perelman’s sudden jumps in pitch and his exploitation of the altissimo range of his tenor are on the left side of the stereo image. Emery’s unusual voicings, and an immaculate technique which allows him to switch rapidly between single-note runs and flurries of strummed chords, plus his own grab bag of extended techniques, are all on the right. Their excursions into sound, transparently recorded by Perelman’s usual engineer Jim Clouse, make for exquisitely involving headphone listening. The delirious high-wire act of track two, a high-velocity improvisation that’s full of blustery and excitable tenor and jagged bursts of guitar, grabbed me right away. Track ten, with its twisted and abstracted take on the blues, is a marvelous concoction. Track four is another of my favorites of this set, as a braying Perelman and a hard strumming Emery come together and apart and then together again in a genuinely audacious display of the improvisers’ art. This set came out in August 2023, and got lost in the shuffle. I’m glad I found it again; highly recommended.
Mahakala Music MAHA-065; Ivo Perelman (ts) James Emery (g); Brooklyn, NY, February 2022; Twelve untitled improvisations; 52:59. mahakalamusic.com
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