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Feature ArticleTrigger - All These Things ::


There is an instant rapport evident in the free improvisations of this NY trio. With the apparent quality of this group heavy in the bass register, this music was a gutsy freshness all its own. Nearly 3 years of regular Saturday morning rehearsals produces a sweet sensitivity in the musical examples of their sophisticated spontaneity. This CD is fun to listen to, and sometimes funny! It does remind me a little of the cartoon soundtracks that they were missing by rehearsing every Saturday morning. Smell of coffee, big smile, good stuff! Recommended.
The Improviser, Vol. X, 1993

Free improvisation with a difference. Take a look at the instrumentation. The preponderance of bass reed instruments create a music thats like a lumbering beast lurching forward in fits and starts. The approach is mostly conversational and it's obious these three have been playing together for some time. Their textual mesh is intricately woven and at time bassoon and cello or bassoon and bass clarinet will merge into one instrument. But their approach is tnot merely textural. "Something You Are" is a study in tense edgy rhythms. "Fugalities" deals with three interweaving lines that seem to expand and contract through glissandi played by the cello. Trigger have arrived at a very unique synthesis. The formula of three rarely heard instruments played by three very listening musicians opens up some new possibilities.
Roberto Iannapollo, Cadchee, December 1993

Trigger is comprised of some icons of the underground/improv scene. Paul Hoskin (cello & banjo), Fred Lonberg-Holm (contrabass, bass clarinet & e-flat clarinet), & Leslie Ross (bassoon, chinese shawms & musette). Those with "freedom" in their blood will SUCK this UP! Listeners who don't enjoy music (yes, it IS music, despite it's roving tendencies - ya'just have to LISTEN a little faster) that has some challenge will NOT care for this; but, (most) readers of THIS 'zine will (just) HAVE to have it! There are sections that remind me strongly of pieces I've heard LaDonna Smith do, though this seems to have more lower-end (i.e., bass) involved... assume that's due to the "Hoskin" factor. Any way you look at it (or listen to it), this merits a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those with curiosity in their blood.
Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation #27
Past Feature Article: If, Bwana / Al Margolis featured in UK's Wire Magazine
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