Look Both Ways

David Sherr, the leader of the Art Music Ensemble, likes to integrate improvisation in his works, something that has been previously done. But as a contemporary classical composer, he prefers for improvisation the idioms of jazz. Therefore, Look Both Ways is a disorienting record. Of the seven pieces included, three are by Luciano Berio. His "Sequenzas" are interesting atonal works, all convincingly delivered by Sherr on flute ("Sequenza I"), oboe ("Sequenza VII") and clarinet ("Sequenza IXa"). Sherr's "Sequenza VII/Palimpsest" is a lush accompaniment for Berio's piece. "Debussy Deb-You-Do" is derived from lines of the Sequenzas, although the second part gets some kind of a free jazz treatment (especially in the rhythm section). "Sax Lines and Audio Tape" and "In the Pocketa Pocketa" are rather traditional swing numbers, even though some clever compositional derivation has been used. Sherr uses a quartet of flute, viola, harp and vibraphone for the "classical" pieces and saxophone/clarinet, piano, bass and drums for the jazz numbers. One wishes both aspects of his work would be more integrated. ~ François Couture, Rovi