1 solo
Lol Coxhill sopranino saxophone
2-4 duo
Lol Coxhill soprano saxophone
Pat Thomas electronics, piano
5 solo
Lol Coxhill soprano saxophone
1+2 recorded 31 March 1991
onto cassette by Andy Isham
at the LMC Festival, October Gallery, London
3+4 recorded 01 December 1991
onto cassette by Andy Isham
at the Benefit for Terry Day, Red Rose, London
mastered by Olaf Rupp
5 recorded 9th September 1998
onto ADAT by Brendan O'Hare
at the 13th Note Glasgow
ADAT transfers by Jamie Grier
mixed and edited by Ewan Stefani
artwork by Marlis Scholz
"(...) Finally! Liam Stefani from scätter offers us these solos, and duets with pianist Pat Thomas, recorded in concert in 1991, plus the final solo in 1998. And it is always a great pleasure, especially when the consumer gives what he wants to acquire the album and that Lol Coxhill is an inimitable artist and an improvisational saxophonist as irresistible as he is irreducible. A style like no other where each note played is bent, stretched, warped, vocalized in an eminently personal way. A crazy, oblique lyricism, with a rain of glissandi and pecks evoking the cackling of a musician duck to the tips of nails, keys and beak !! With Pat Thomas on piano and electronics, he had found a creative sidekick. Together, they listened to each other intensely while allowing each other to wander and escape and then meet again for two moments with beautiful split-second accuracy. The duet with the electronics (track 3) is quite pleasing. The album is organized so that two solos of Lol opens and closes this collection surrounding the three duets for a total of 41 minutes and is well focused. Scätter had, in another life, produced "One Night in Glasgow" by the duo Coxhill-Thomas on CD and most recently "to Elsie" with double bassist Lindsay Cooper and live at the 13th Note Glasgow (Lol Coxhill + Pat Thomas + Bill Wells + Lindsay Cooper ). A label of relentlessness without concession !! Not content with being a singular pianist who escapes predictions, Pat Thomas has developed an original use of electronic means and sampling to the point where he appears in this agora of essential finds, the Richard Barrett, Paul Obermayer, Thomas Lehn, Richard Scott. He had participated in this mysterious Tony Oxley Quartet which included Derek Bailey, Matt Wand or Philip Wachsmann. That is to say ! Lol, my old friend, all of your friends and I will never tire of listening to you and listening to you again until the end of our days, your breath dissecting and thwarting this inextinguishable and wacky beguine for our greatest fascination. Without a doubt, you were sincerity and originality embodied. The coolest guy in the galaxy! I'm stopping because what more do you want to say !!"
[Jean-Michel van Schouwburg]
translated from the original French
credits
released March 5, 2021
thanks to Ulrike Coxhill-Scholz, Pat Thomas, Andy Isham
supported by 20 fans who also own “Duo (and Solos)”
Mike Osborne was a very special musician...I remember him as quietly intense and thoughtful and not a seeker of the limelight...I must have seen him play dozens of times in many small venues from ‘68 to ‘75 or so...I loved his playing...a high end technician but full of heart as well as head...I still listen to his music a lot on the original vinyl and i’m so pleased this gig has surfaced.
Hugh respect to Jazz In Britain for their whole initiative...you have made an old man very happy... John Cratchley
supported by 18 fans who also own “Duo (and Solos)”
Pianist Pat Thomas continues his recent resurgence with yet another release with [Ahmed]. A group named after bassist / oudist Ahmed Abdul-Malik, this is their first recorded offering since 2021’s Nights on Saturn (Communication).
https://avantmusicnews.com/2024/01/21/amn-reviews-ahmed-wood-blues-2024-astral-spirits/ Michael Borella