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Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet: Emergence

By Jerome Wilson
June 26, 2023
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Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet: Emergence

The

Alex Coke

woodwinds
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Alex Coke &

" data-original-title="" title="">Carl Michel Sextet expand their sound on this album, the follow-up to their debut, The Emissary, (Play On, 2022). Their unique instrumental blend of reeds, guitar, pedal steel, vibes, harp, and bass retains its ethereal charm while also pushing forward into fresh musical territory.

"Bagatelle II," by Ukrainian composer, Valentin Silvestrov, sounds like a medieval folk song. Its melody is laid out by Michel's guitar and Coke's flute while

Carolyn Trowbridge

vibraphone

" data-original-title="" title="">Carolyn Trowbridge's vibraphone and the other string players—harpist

Elaine Barber

harp

" data-original-title="" title="">Elaine Barber, pedal steel guitarist

Bob Hoffnar

guitar, steel

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Hoffnar and bassist

James Suter

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">James Suter—provide a lush surrounding. On "Mangled Tango" Coke's tenor saxophone plays a torrid tango melody over pedal steel, harp, and vibes. The group's most radical experiment comes in "4 Mobile Structures Dedicated to Alexander Calder." This is a four- part collage of semi-abstract sound fragments where the various instruments weave in and out of each other in dense, hallucinatory textures.

Often Alex Coke is at the center of these pieces. His reed playing gives focus and clarity to the gauzy beauty that the other players concoct. His flute peeks into curtains of strings and vibes on "Wait/Not Wait" and "Locust Grove" and his tenor saxophone breezes through a thick cushion of sound on

Paul Motian

drums
1931 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Motian's "Garden Of Eden" like a wind blowing through glass chimes. He also blows soulfully on

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane's "After The Rain" against a luxuriant harp and pedal steel swirl, while on "Presence" his trilling screams rise into

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler territory.

The sextet sounds more confident and relaxed on this album, as though they have really settled into each other's presence and coalesced into a powerful group. Their collective sound has evolved into a forest of far-ranging, dreamy music and they are becoming one of the more formidable units on the current music scene.

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Track Listing

After The Rain; Rolling...the wind picks up and the boats cast off for Troy;Bagatelle II; Mangled Tango;4 Mobile Structures Dedicated to Alexander Calder; Locust Grove; Again; Garden Of Eden; Wait/Not Wait; CME; Presence; POP!

Personnel

Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet

band / ensemble / orchestra

Alex Coke

woodwinds

Carl Michel

guitar

Bob Hoffnar

guitar, steel

Elaine Barber

harp

James Suter

bass

Carolyn Trowbridge

vibraphone

Additional Instrumentation

Alex Coke: flute.

Album information

Title: Emergence | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Play On

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Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet Concerts

Nov 6 Thu

ATX Music Series: The Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet

The Rosette
Austin, TX

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