phil hargreaves
tenor sax, soprano sax, flute
recorded late Nov/early Dec in two five-hour sessions at Parr St studios, Liverpool. It's a fully pro studio, tho we were in the demo studio upstairs, which suited us well, cos we got to use some pretty good mikes and valve pre-amps, and the fact that it's only 16 track isn't much of an issue when you're going direct to stereo. The room was a bit dead accoustically, but we're seriously happy with the results.
Recording improvised music is a bit strange in a lot of ways, and there's a part of me that says in an ideal world i wouldn't do it for public consumption at all, tho of course there's a part of me that loves the idea. didn't we all grow up browsing thru racks of sleeves (size of sleeve dependent on age, i guess), and gradually broadening our mental universe thru stumbling on new recordings? recorded music is part of the warp and weft of modern life, and that teenage record collector in me is seriously chuffed that there's a sleeve with my name on it - but...but...it's a funny thing taking this music that we made of the moment and for the moment and translating it to the calm persistence of a digital medium. it'll probably outlive me, the product of those two autumn afternoons overlooking the garages (the studio seems to be the only thing on Parr St that doesn't offer MOT's and fix taxis, for some reason). they've turned into little concertos and symphonies now, those improvisations. i'm starting to recognise sections, and be able to hum bits, and somehow it doesn't feel right. it should be gone in the air by now, not cluttering up an accoustic space it was never conceived to fill, flaunting emotions long after the stimuli for them have disappeared. i feel like an old man on a park bench watching the world turn into something i no longer recognise while i nurse an impotent and unarticulated sense that i no longer approve of this thing i helped create.
phil hargreaves
jan 98