The saxophone and me, well, we have no relation. That instrument was not made
for me to listen to. So my hopes for some nice words on Matthew Burtner were
not high. His 'Metasaxophone Colossus' is a tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins,
in particular his 'Saxophone Colossus'. Burtner's saxophone is not just a saxophone,
it's an electro-acoustic instrument, using computer-generated sound, feedback
and somewhere in there the tenor saxophone. So my love of the saxophone is virtually
non-existent, what would I think of Burtner's CD? Pun intended, but it blew
me away. The saxophone is indeed there to be recognized, but there is so much
more happening, from the singing bowl like textures of the opening piece 'S-Morphe-S'
to the walls of feedback of the second piece (which graphic title is hard for
me to type) and the creepy dark textures of 'S-Trance-S'. The only piece which
is a direct tribute to Rollins is 'St Thomas Phase' which is a piece of drum
samples and layered saxophone sounds. It wasn't wrong to include that on the
CD, but I would perhaps choose a different spot on the CD. This CD came to me
as a real surprise and could appeal to more people disliking the saxophone,
but who are otherwise open-minded. (FdW)