Ochs, Larry / Donald Robinson - A Civil Right CD
SKU
05- ESP DISK 5052CD
Larry Ochs – saxophones
Donald Robinson – drums
“Ochs is a founding member of the great ROVA Saxophone Quartet, one of the Bay Area's avant-garde treasures since 1978. Robinson -- "a percussive dervish", according to Coda -- was the drummer of choice for ROVA's revivification of John Coltrane's Ascension. The East Bay Express has said of the saxophonist's sound, "Ochs' full-bodied tenor is out of the John Coltrane/Albert Ayler 'free' tradition: forceful, passionate," while the Chicago Reader said about the drummer and his relationship with Ochs, "Robinson is neither flashy nor explosive, but his playing has heft and he covers lots of ground -- he can maintain a feeling of order while playing meter-less rhythms or transform the pulse of jagged post-bop until it's almost abstract. He's a good match for Ochs, and over the decades the two of them have developed a fine-tuned rapport." Although Ochs and Robinson have collaborated in various groups for more than 20 years -- including in the trio What We Live with bassist Lisle Ellis -- their duo is a recent phenomenon, having developed over the past couple of years. Ochs says, "Our playing together has evolved to a really special place, I think. We're definitely coming out of the tradition of horn-drum duos from John Coltrane and Rashied Ali to Wadada Leo Smith and Billy Higgins, but we've found our own space after a long stretch of shows together. Our set will include new, original material, with some high-energy playing and things that are more spatial, as well as some homages to more popular music. In a sparse setting like this, the music hits a listener right away -- nothing is obscured, everything is clear." Ochs and Robinson first performed together from 1991 to 1998 in The Glenn Spearman Double Trio. From 1994 to 2002, they worked in the trio What We Live. From 2000 until 2010 Robinson was part of the Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core featuring drummer Scott Amendola, as well as Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura from 2007 to 2010. Throughout all this time, Ochs and Robinson jammed and rehearsed in Robinson's studio, easily done as they live only 15 minutes apart. Thus it seemed inevitable that they would -- eventually -- create a special repertoire for this duo.”