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Ivo Perelman/Whit Dickey: Tenorhood

By Mark Corroto
June 6, 2015
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For this meditation session, we ask you not to think about the legends of the tenor saxophone. Just listen to the interplay between

Ivo Perelman

saxophone, tenor
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Ivo Perelman and drummer Whit Dickey. Press play, and ignore the track titles dedicated to

Hank Mobley

saxophone, tenor
1930 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Hank Mobley, Ben Webster,

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane,

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler, and

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins. Why? Because, the saxophonist did just that when he created Tenorhood, a totally improvised collection of pieces the pair recorded in 2014.

The Brazilian-born, New York resident has released music on a scale not seen since

David Murray

saxophone, tenor
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">David Murray's campaigns of the 1990s, producing more than 20 albums in the last four years. Dickey has been a part of five of the sessions.

As with all his later work, this music is improvised. A switch is flipped and the magic happens. With Tenorhood, he created these titles after playback— Perelman hearing the gestures and fragments of his tenor saxophone heroes within his own creations.

The pleasure here is finding those gestures in this music. The easiest to recognize is "For Ayler," a sound Perelman has conjured from his earliest days. Listen again to Soccer Land (Ibeji, 1994) and

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler's spirit is ever present in the wail and yowl of the master. Then there's "For Coltrane," and certainly no modern player has escaped feeling the weight of

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane's music in life. Perelman and Dickey exercise the music of Intersteller Space (Impulse!, 1967), Dickey is a dynamo here, but more importantly, he is as much an accompanist to Perelman as pianist

Matthew Shipp

piano
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Matthew Shipp. He can color his sound, support, or challenge the saxophonist. He is even given all of the title track to solo with mallets and cymbals. There is spirit here, and life. The beauty of

Ben Webster

saxophone, tenor
1909 - 1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Webster and the swing of

Hank Mobley

saxophone, tenor
1930 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Hank Mobley, both laid out in only barely recognizable signals. The pair end with

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins. Perelman works that upper altissimo register that both he and Rollins are famous four.

If you listen to Tenorhood with the openness of a meditator's mind, you are certain to hear all the spirits that inhabit the person that is Ivo Perelman.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

For Mobley; For Webster; For Coltrane; Tenorhood; For Ayler; For Rollins.

Personnel

Ivo Perelman/Whit Dickey

Ivo Perelman: tenor saxophone; Whit Dickey: drums.

Album information

Title: Tenorhood | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Leo Records

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