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connect

by dgsz

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1.
How Do We Find the Time? 06:56
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2.
Connect Every Moment 04:17
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3.
I Stopped Checking for My Keys 07:00
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about

The “sound of surprise” may be the ethos of creative improvising musicians but that does not make rolling with the punches in the Covid-19 era, when the unexpected has become the expected, any easier or less stressful. The duo of DGSZ connects knowing wherever one goes the other will too, not following in footsteps but walking in step with the occasional foray onto a new path.

As for the tracks, their strength is in their relative brevity as enjoyment and engagement results from how the music itself, the artists’ interactions, and overall “feel” invites and enfolds the listener. There is a “roll the tape” ambiance to the music that is a little fuzzy like the beard on a man’s face either early in the morning or late at night.

Dan Gillian and Stan Zenkov have been playing together for about three years, but it had been about a year since they had seen each other. When the rehearsal for a larger ensemble (The Fabulous Roman Candles) fell through due to Covid, Dan and Stan who were already there, improvised, of course, and recorded this duo session. Composing all tracks spontaneously in real time as Dan recorded it at his practice space, the two were happy to see each other & play, but also weary and nervous given the state of the world. They reconnected by discussing music, aesthetics, ideas, and philosophy in between takes and it comes through on these three tracks.

Track 1, “How Do We Find the Time?” opens with SZ’s breathy, flinty alto tone slightly more full enveloping this cut. Gillian limbers up by spraying beats and rhythms all over his kit...and then they are off. SZ repeats phrases as DG’s sticks to dance atop cymbals before the sax circles back to the blues and some Ayleresque tone and phrasing. Gillian tends to the flowing rhythmic racket of Zenkov’s melding with a nice racket in the ESP style showing that this duo knows where the music comes from as well as where it can go.

“Connect Every Moment” comes next and is subtly diverse from the other two spontaneous compositions. Some sweet thunder from DG then SZ enters with a bluesy wail before peeling off lines until they snap away from the bell of his horn. DG sprinkles crisp tintinnabulation in front of, behind, alongside, and generally all around when and where he needs to propel SZ’s flights. It is the most “out” cut with its strident tone and clatter of cymbals connecting every moment.

The closer, “I Stopped Checking for My Keys'' is a bit of a conundrum for me; I can’t decide if this third track is diffuse or ineffable? Nevertheless, it strikes me as the most direct in purpose with some Blues connotations but also in the tune’s second half where the duo lock in and you can feel and see them taking off into that pale blue sky, flecked with pale pink clouds, that hung over Brooklyn the day they played and created. Thankfully, Dan hit record first.

DGSZ’s Connect illustrates how two can connect in such times and really any other when they have the right tools, in this case drums and alto sax, a rapport on and off the bandstand, and plenty of chops.

"Connect: DGSZ Roll the Tape" by Matthew Banash

credits

released May 7, 2021

Dan Gillian: drums
Stan Zenkov: alto saxophone

Recorded by Daniel Gillian.
Mixed and mastered by Sarah Pez.
All music spontaneously composed by DGSZ in April 2021.
Cover art created by DGSZ.

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a joyful echo sounds image

a joyful echo sounds Brooklyn, New York

A.J.E.S. is a label made to document the music of New York based clarinetist, saxophonist, improviser, composer, multi- instrumentalist, songwriter Stan Zenkov, and some of his collaborators.

Emphasis on improvised music, avant-garde, folk, punk, and experimental sounds. ... more

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