Veryan Weston, Ingrid Laubrock, Hannah Marshall - Haste [Emanem]

Veryan Weston - piano
Ingrid Laubrock - soprano and tenor saxophones
Hannah Marshall - cello


Emanem 2012

Veryan Weston is one of the mainsays of british improvised scene, one of my biggest regrets of last year is that due to the sickness I've missed his concert in Alchemia playing with Trevor Watts, which is one of the most inspiring duets one could hope for. I've praised their cd "5 More Dialogues" as well as his improbable choir project "Different Tesselations" - Veryan Weston coerces wide artistic vision, openeness to dialogue with incredibly focus of in-the-monet creation. This trio is another example of that - a proof of consistency in quality of improvisation.

Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston - 5 More Dialogues [Emanem]

Trevor Watts - soprano & alto saxophones

Veryan Weston - piano

Emanem 2011

While words are essentially worthless when describing the music, they're sort of a necessary evil. A well-known fact which is a preface to some of the most witty, absolutelty excellent liner notes to this album, courtesy of Brian Morton - the co-author of "Penguin Guite to Jazz", that (attempt to) speak not only about the music but also about speaking about the music. "Wordplay and psychology go hand in hand", says Morton and he's certainly right.

Veryan Weston, Leo Svirsky, The Vociferous Choir - Different Tessellations [Emanem]

Different Tesselations
Veryan Weston - composer
Tesselations I
Leo Svirsky - piano
Tesselations II
The Vociferous Choir:
Anush Apoyan, Eris Ederer, Annette Giesriegl, Dorthea Jaburek, Sofija Knezevic, Siruan Kung, Franz Schmuck, Patrick Thurner, Veryan Weston

Emanem 2011

This release is something very uncommon. Veryan Weston is obviously a very accomplished improviser and piano player but here he presents two extended compositions, and he doesn't even play the piano in here as he invites another piano player to perfrom one ot those, while the other one is executed by an a'capella choir with Veryan among them. The Tessalations are both based on a progression of 52 pentatonic scales, with one note going up by one step with each progression. Sounds quite fascinating and, also, bit scary - as it could easily turn out to be an intellectual and overtly academic research more than a music work. So I have to admit I had my doubts when approaching this cd but they were quickly solved.

Tesselations I is performed by Leo Svirsky, a piano player with classical education and an impressive resume, only 21 (!) at the time of this performance, active also in the field of alternative music and improvisation. The extended performance relies heavily on fast arpeggios, repetitive lines that grow from the exploration of the scales. While Leo Svirsky becomes a co-composer of the piece it is quite difficult to say how much of the music is improvised and which parts are strictly written (or maybe there was just a sketchy outline of how to play the music) but does it really matter?