Steve Swell - Live at the Bowery Poetry Club

Ed Hazell, Signal To Noise

There is something Pollock-like in the energy and scale of Declaration of Interdependance. Recorded in january 2006, the performance is the second of only four gigs the orchestra has done – all at the Bowery Poetry Club. The
ensemble includes New York free jazz regulars like Rob Brown, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Filip Barnes, Dave Taylor, and Jackson Krall, as well as post-bop fellow traveler trombonist Dick Griffin. Everyone knows each other, so despite the lack of work, and the divergent styles represented in the band, the 17 member band marshals impressive power on a composition of heroic proportions. At over an hour in length, the epic musical canvas allows the soloist maximum freedom to steer the music in personal directions as well as ample opportunity to respond to Swell¹s melodies, backing riffs and orchestrations. The improvitations interweave and collide with Swell's writing to generate a complex skein of color and line. With music this democratic in spirit, it's unfair to single out particular soloists; everyone contributes equally to an overall performance that is cohesive and characterized by unstinting honesty and commitment all around. The piece takes on a life of its own, it surges and retreats, rise and falls with an independent will – a fine example of music that creates itself as it is played.