Nate Wooley “The Almond” CD (2011)

CD coverNate Wooley is primary known as a player of free improvisation with his chosen instrument being the trumpet.  For this 72 minute piece, Wooley switches gears radically in the creation of  this large form work.  He is still using the trumpet, but has layered up to ten recordings of non-extended and non-processed performances.  The liner notes included with the disc are quite brief leaving much of the particulars to the imagination.  However the Pogus web site reveals much more detail stating that is was “recorded in different mutes, tunings, with different microphones, and in different rooms,” as well as talking about the layering process.  The results are rich in tone beyond a pure electronic drone with a result that sounds more like an organ, with hints towards the end of the piece that sound like voice.  The obvious comparison is to the work of Phill Niblock although without the extent of microtonal variation.  In its place we hear a slow progression of layers intermix which if anything give the barest suggestion of Alvin Lucier’s explorations with beat tones.  Perhaps compositionally it comes closest to La Monte Young or Somei Satoh except that it lacks the pauses that appears in some of their works.

Pogus Productions – 21061-2

http://www.pogus.com/