ISSUE Project Room : an open and versatile environment in which established and emerging artists conduct, exhibit and perform new and site-specific work
About ISSUE Project Room
andrewcsmith on 08/30/2010 at 02:23PM
Paul Flaherty, Chris Corsano, Okkyung Lee
Paul Flaherty ended a year-long sabbatical to play at ISSUE last May, and the free jazz saxophonist brought with him two long-time partners in the free-improv scene: Chris Corsano & Okkyung Lee.
The improvisation is guided by Flaherty’s energy and spirit, which is not to say that others do not have a voice. If anything, Flaherty is here in his element, and the challenge for the other two is bringing their dispirate ideas and experiences accumulated over their diverse careers into a performance style that Flaherty has been working in for some time. Corsano’s playing is forceful in both its noise and its silence, while Lee seems to be channeling the composers Xenakis or (more appropriately) Lachenmann, absorbing their instrumental techniques into her participation in collective improvisation.
The three musicians never seem to find—or even seek—a stable moment throughout their performance. Flaherty moves in turns fluttering and squeaking, letting off ecstatic steam, while Corsano explores repeated twitching drum hits in counterpoint to Flaherty, alternately supporting and exposing his playing. I’ve attached an excerpt of the performance here, but the entire thing is available on their album page.
