JOHN STEVENS cornet, percussion, voice
NIGEL COOMBES violin
ROGER SMITH guitar
MAGGIE NICOLS voice (1, 3)
JON CORBETT trumpet (1, 3)
ALAN TOMLINSON trombone (1, 3)
PAUL RUTHERFORD euphonium (1), trombone (3)
LOL COXHILL soprano saxophone (1, 3)
TREVOR WATTS soprano saxophone (1, 3)
HOWARD RILEY piano (3)
1 - TRIANGLE - 23:57
2 - RECIPROCAL - 14:54
3 - A fragment of STATIC - 5:31
4 - NEWCASTLE 78A - 9:24
5 - NEWCASTLE 78B - 23:01
All analogue concert recordings:
1 - 3: London (Notre Dame Hall) by Gareth Jones
1981 May 8
4 - 5: Newcastle-upon-Tyne by Jolyon Laycock
1978 November 17
Total time 77:19
1 - 3 originally issued in 1982 as SFA LP 112
4 - 5 previously unissued
The SME changed radically in 1976 ending up with John Stevens playing with unamplified string players Nigel Coombes and Roger Smith. (Cellist Colin Wood was also on board for the first year or so.) This group was announced to the world by the release of the 1977 BIOSYSTEM. The end of the group was announced by their very last performance, a 1992 studio piece called Surfaces that appeared on a Konnex CD. The only other post-1976 SME release issued before Stevens’ untimely death in 1994 was SME + SMO IN CONCERT which is reissued on this CD.
Most of this LP was given over to a larger group, the SMO performing Triangle, one of Stevens’ didactic works that appeared in his SEARCH & REFLECT manual. The basic version of this piece is for three musicians seated in a triangle, listening and responding to the other two as a stereo pair, and using their own instrument somewhat unconsciously as a sound source for the other two to listen to. The extended version of this piece, heard here, has a triangle of triangles (nine musicians), in which one expands from listening to one’s own triangle to listening to the other two triangles, and thence on to a free group improvisation.
The other orchestra track is an extract from Static, a variant of Stevens’ earlier Sustained Piece. The trio can be heard by itself on Reciprocal making what must then have been some of the quietest music around.
AMore recordings of the trio were subsequently released in the later 1990s on HOT AND COLD HEROES and LOW PROFILE. When compiling these, I was strongly advised to consider a 1978 Newcastle concert. Both Coombes and Smith consider this concert to have been one of the best performances by the trio.
The drawback was that the only copy of this recording was a distorted cassette. An additional problem was that the performance was in an over resonant room. At the time, I decided that the recording was too bad to issue, even though the music was very fine. Since then, I have managed to clean up the sound considerably, so that it is now almost acceptable. The recording still leaves a lot to be desired, but that is the only way one can hear this magnificent music.
MARTIN DAVIDSON (2007)
"Given the quantity of SME music released by Emanem, cynics might be thinking that quality control must have slipped, that the barrel is being scraped. Miraculously, nothing could be further from the truth. Each new release adds to the body of work available, shedding further light on the exploits of John Stevens' multifaceted ensemble, and putting the whole into sharper perspective. TRIO & TRIANGLE is no exception, matching the high standard set by other recent SME releases.
The first three tracks here were recorded in 1981, and released on LP. Reciprocal focuses on the trio; the piece is fifteen minutes of intensely concentrated simultaneous improvisation, performed at very low volume. The intensity of the music means that the evident concentration of the players is matched by that required of the listener, but the music richly repays said listener's investment of time. For Triangle, Stevens' methodology for the piece was that 'the three musicians are seated in a triangle, each listening and responding to the other two as a stereo pair, and using their own instrument somewhat unconsciously as a sound piece for the other two to listen to.' The version of Triangle here extend the same method to a triangle of triangles, involving nine musicians (hence, SMO rather than SME). For a grouping of this size, the results are extraordinary, displaying none of the incoherent chatter that too often typifies such large improvising ensembles; instead, with no obvious leadership, the music ebbs & flows and swirls & eddies in an organic fashion, with rises and falls in pitch and volume occurring as naturally as breathing.
The two unreleased Newcastle tracks that have been added to the original LP again feature the trio. They, however, have been cleaned up surprisingly well and the sound quality is very acceptable. On the other hand, the music can only be described as stunningly good. All three players are in top form, both individually and collectively. In contrast to the preceding tracks, this music is far more dramatic and garrulous. Frequently egged on by Stevens, Coombes, in particular, repeatedly steals the limelight. All three players sound as if they are having a great time. More! "
JOHN EYLES - ALL ABOUT JAZZ 2008
"This new release contains 30 minutes of a previously unheard trio performance recorded in Newcastle in 1978 spread over two trackes, the first a snappy overture to the expansive inventions of the second. The newly acquired concentration on string texture heralded a fundamental shift in SME thinking. Smith's twig-snapping brittleness and Coombes's scrapping violin drones questioned the basis of the group's previous identity and focused on a new set of timbral concerns. The knock on effect on Stevens' kit playing was profound. His tightly strung snare drum was a well-heard response to the high register, taut provocations of his string section, and he pirouetted across his kit with the grace of Rudolf Nureyev, while keeping his Elvin Jones like intensity.
Also included is a reissue of the Spontaneous Music Orchestra 1981 Triangle session. The basic concept places the musicians in a triangle formation to encourage peripheral hearing and mess with conventional channels of communication. This enlarged version deploys a triangle of triangles, and the fascination lies in hearing an evolving continuum made up from a multitude of individual voices."
PHILIP CLARK - THE WIRE 2008
"Newcastle 78B communicates a loose rhythmic structure, where Coombes’ staccato phrasings, guitarist Roger Smith’s contrasting chord voicings and Stevens’ smack, dab percussion patterns spawn a loose, asymmetrical pulse. Here, the musicians take you on a bumpy and rather sinewy course, enamored with somber undertones and spiking crescendos, all topped off by Stevens’ howling trumpet lines. Sure enough, this 2008 release intimates a wide panorama of emotive group-based interaction, which in part, symbolises the historical relevance of the British free-improvisation genre."
GLENN ASTARITA - JAZZREVIEW.COM 2008
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