Andy Laster's Hydra 2000 Soft Shell

Andy Laster's Hydra ~ Soft Shell ~ 2000
Knitting Factory Records KFW-281.

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1 Soft Shell 6:28
2 Here I'll Stay / Go 9:38
3 Like Plankton 3:26
4 Horripilate 7:46
5 Floating 4:48
6 No. 16 3:31
7 South Shore Reform Experience, Part II 2:45
8 July Song 7:12
9 Tentacles 5:01
10 Hex 3:36
11 South Shore Reform Experience, Part VI 5:08

Andy Laster: alto saxophone
Drew Gress: double bass
Tom Rainey: drums
Herb Robertson: trumpet, cornet

Saxophonist/composer Andy Laster has sometimes been labeled as a chamber jazz musician, and it's often not difficult to see why. His compositions -- particularly for New and Used and Orange Then Blue -- can have a complexity akin to classical music, and Laster has been known to head in chamberesque directions with cellist Erik Friedlander both in his own Interpretations of Lessness and Friedlander's Topaz. Laster also sees value in understatement; possessing a warm and attractive tone on the alto, he generally steers clear of overblown multiphonics and other extended avant jazz techniques. But calling Laster a chamber jazz musician is too simplistic -- he avoids the austere ECM Eurojazz model and can play with swing, soul, groove, and grit. Soft Shell by Laster's Hydra quartet has all those qualities, and the CD's name relates not only to an overall aquatic theme, but also aptly summarizes Laster's musical balancing act. Ornette Coleman's classic quartet is an obvious touchstone, with some of the same emphasis on melody and a sonic architecture inviting comparison to Ornette's pianoless circa-1960 band... - Dave Lynch, AMG