Album Details

• Artist: Boxdesserter
• Album: Two Revolutions
• Label: Edgetone
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2008-02-21

Recorded live in Detroit, "Two Revolutions is a short set of two improvisations that incorporate jazz (bop and free) with some minimalist drone and pulses. There is also a spoken word theme throughout, provided by Brad Duncan, about the Portuguese colonization of Africa. Mixing the political with the musical is always dicey, particularly within a jazz structure; Beats turned that idea into a cliché 50 years ago. Here, Duncan's words are organic, the music growing around and out of the thesis. The septet, lead by Hasan Abdur-Razzaq on reeds, Joel Peterson on double bass and Thollen McDonas on piano and "conduction," is focused throughout, delivering passion and subtlety. In keeping with the meditation on imperialism and its personal effects, the titles of the two tracks, "OneAtHome," "OneAbroad," suggest the inner and outer turmoil of oppression.

Again, it is the music that has to deliver, and "Two Revolutions" does. BoxDesserter creates a tapestry that is frantic yet grounded. The spoken word parts may at times distract from deep listening offered by the band, but, both having emerged from the other, ultimately satisfies and provides food for thought.

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