bar torque
| Format | CD |
| Country | UK |
| Recorded | 1992 |
| Issued | 2001 |
| Label | MoonJune Records |
| Cat no. | NJR 0001 |
| Playing time | 52:30 |
| Reviewer | Trond Gjellum |
| ELTON DEAN/MARK HEWINS bar torque |
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The sax player Elton Dean is a name which should ring some bells with anyone interested in British jazz and jazz-rock. For those with a larger interest in progressive rock, he is well known for his work with Soft Machine in the early seventies, and his sax playing on the classic Third is a landmark even today, thirty years later. Trough the years, he has also contributed in various constellations within the so-called Canterbury scene.
In 1992, he performed a few concerts together with the guitarist Mark Hewins, who also is an experienced musician within the Canterbury scene. They were both sufficiently happy with the result of these concerts to go for a CD release. The recordings on Bar Torque were done at London’s famous Jazz Café, and on the album, Dean plays saxes and Hewins plays MIDI guitar synthesizer and acoustic guitar.
The tracks are improvised and quite long, and the music is calm and attractive with few sharp edges. Technically, it is perfect, and nothing else is to be expected by such experienced musicians. Most of the time it sounds OK, and Hewins uses his MIDI guitar creatively, showing us that it is possible to make new timbres, and not just play organ and horn sounds. However, sometimes it is a bit too much messing around with cool sounds on the sound module. In the opening track, Bar Torque, it functions all right, but themes are stretched a bit too much to keep the excitement throughout. The two remaining and shorter tracks work better, especially the second song Sylvan, where Hewins lays down some dark, gloomy drones upon which Dean plays a fragile saxophone and Hewins himself indicates a theme using a discreet, bell-like sound. The third track, Evelyn Cave, on the other hand, is a lot more anonymous, with typical soft new-ageish synth guitar and a sad, clean saxophone.
All in all, a pleasant record, but for me to buy records, they need to be more than pleasant. For those of you who do not pitch your demands that high, I don’t see why Bar Torque shouldn’t be just the right thing.
© 2002 Tarkus Magazine