The Living Collection
American Dreams, 2023
9/10
Listen to The Living Collection
The Brooklyn improviser, composer, percussionist, and sound artist Lesley Mok creates a very distinct chamber listen, where David Leon’s alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute and alto flute, and Yuma Uesaka’s tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet and contraalto clarinet, plus many other artists, are on hand for the improvised affair.
“It Wants” opens the listen with a very unpredictable, cinematic quality that’s full of Mok’s well timed drums, Cory Smythe’s soft keys and Florian Herzog’s strategic bass plucking, and “Its Furious Place” follows with the hazy brass and Aliya Ultan’s precise cello playing that’s oddly dreamy.
Halfway through, “Floral And Full” showcases Joanna Mattrey’s atmospheric viola prowess amid the muffled horns, while “Full Of Its Fourth Wall” spotlights Mok’s inimitable drumming acrobatics that suit the low keys and Weston Olencki’s atypical electronica.
Deeper yet, “And Ramping-Up Now” offers a busy expressive album highlight of orchestral, avant-garde interaction, and “Quite A Spectacular Dust” exits with intimate versus hectic brass, ambient strings and powerful drumming.
An experience that embraces jazz and classical ideas in a very experimental fashion, Mok’s vision is one that can’t exactly be described, but can certainly be enjoyed for the adventurous ears.
Travels well with: Wolf Eyes- Dreams In Splattered Lines; Grandbrothers- Late Reflections