Ivo Perelman / Nate Wooley - Polarity

2022 CD release.

Press quotes:
“an absorbing and dynamic set of improvisations” — Jazziz
“the sound of people figuring out what they can do together” — The Wire
“articulate expressions of spontaneous communication” — DownBeat

Perelman, a saxophonist, painter and jewelry designer, is as committed to the art and craft of improvisation as anyone alive. Over a 30-year career, he has released more than 100 CDs, building creative relationships with players from all corners of the free music world. His intensity and devotion to spontaneous music-making is virtually without equal, and he has developed a unique and highly recognizable language on the horn, while always remaining open to hearing what his bandmates have to say.

Wooley is an open-eared and innovative improviser, composer, and all-around creative spirit who has worked extensively with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Ingrid Laubrock, Ken Vandermark, and many others, and has built up a vast and fascinating discography of his own, encompassing everything from solo work to recordings and performances with groups of all sizes.

This is the fifth encounter between Perelman and Wooley, but their first duo recording. They played together with pianist Matthew Shipp on Philosopher’s Stone and with bassist Brandon Lopez and drummer Gerald Cleaver on Octagon, both released in 2017, and reunited for Strings 3 with violist Mat Maneri and Strings 4 with Maneri and Shipp, from 2019.

The ten pieces on Polarity are intimate and beautiful, yet also rigorous and challenging. As Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg writes in the liner notes, “The rewards of their improvising method, their sensitivity and skills are offering us constant variations and extensions of forms, feelings and sounds…Their duo was not planned, but responded to an existential need to create beauty and surprise.”