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Angelica Sanchez / Chad Taylor: A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet

By John Sharpe
October 17, 2024
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Angelica Sanchez / Chad Taylor: A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet

Two of the leading lights on their instruments strike sparks in a series of impromptu duets on A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet. Pianist

Angelica Sanchez

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Angelica Sanchez has birthed a string of impressive releases, Nightmare Creatures (Pyroclastic, 2023) with her Nonet, and the twin keys extravaganza How To Turn The Moon (Pyroclastic, 2020) with

Marilyn Crispell

piano
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Marilyn Crispell, being particularly notable. Factor in appearances with luminaries such as trumpeter

Wadada Leo Smith

trumpet
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Wadada Leo Smith, flutist

Nicole Mitchell

flute
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Nicole Mitchell and saxophonist

Tony Malaby

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Tony Malaby and it amounts to considerable experience brought bear in this hook up with drummer

Chad Taylor

drums
b.1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Chad Taylor.

For his part, Taylor has become increasingly ubiquitous, recognized as one of the finest drummers of his generation, as evidenced by his tenure with saxophonist

James Brandon Lewis

saxophone, tenor
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">James Brandon Lewis, bassist

Eric Revis

bass
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Revis and late trumpeter

Jaimie Branch

trumpet
1983 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Jaimie Branch among many others. He convinces as a supreme technician, not only calling on a kaleidoscope of beats, but also painterly adding complementary shades and rhythms which make the canvas seem even more vivid, without ever doing the obvious. Consequently this studio session presents the perfect opportunity to appreciate the two players' many gifts, up close and personal.

Throughout the pair demonstrate that they are in it for the long haul. There is no unseemly dash for immediate impact. That much is clear from the annunciatory flourishes of the opening "Liminal," which later falls into a pleasingly near synchronous tumble. Both could join in lockstep if they wished, but why negate the tautness and whiff of danger the tension generates? Although none of her charts are featured, Sanchez approaches the date with a composerly sensitivity to both form and effect, ever willing to contribute structural elements, such as the repeated motif which unifies her sudden eruptions on the pulsating "Holding Space."

While drawing the map as they go, sometimes one or other creates a mood that is cultivated, as manifest in the baleful dark textures of "Tracers of Cosmic Space" miraculously assembled from tambourine shakes and swipes across the piano innards, the dense all elbows whirl of "Animistic," or the thumb piano driven patterns of the title cut. Elsewhere though their navigations yield wide ranging excursions. The standout "Myopic Seer" offers a case in point, evolving from tolling piano, via myriad reflections, a tattoo undergirding with spiky momentum, and high density keyboard spanning runs to a final drum rampage.

Programmed with theatrical attention to variation and flow, drama is never far away.

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Track Listing

Liminal; Animistic; Holding Presence in Time; Holding Space; Tracers of Cosmic Space; Myopic Seer; A Monster Is Just an Animal You Haven't Met Yet; Alluvial; Threadwork; All Alone Together.

Personnel

Angelica Sanchez

piano

Chad Taylor

drums

Album information

Title: A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Intakt Records

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