CD review: Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon – Break A Vase 2021: Video, CD cover

After the album “Togetherness Music”, british pianist and composer Alexander Hawkins presents another musical panorama: An ensemble in which his trio with bassist Neil Charles and drummer Stephen Davis meets saxophonist and clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings, guitarist Otto Fischer, and drummer Richard Olátúndé baker.

For anybody who has followed Hawkins’ work since his emergence on the british improvised music scene in the mid 2000’s this is a fresh band full of familiar musicians with whom Hawkins has played in a wide variety of formations.

The new pieces that “break a vase” presents emerge from Hawkins’ own imagination, but they also capture the thrust of energy in collaborating with these outstanding musicians.

Tracks

1. The Perfect Sound Would Like to Be Unique 1:36
2. Stamped Down, or Shovelled 6:44
3. Sun Rugged Billions 4:29
4. Generous Souls 5:59
5. Faint Making Stones 6:05
6. Break a Vase 1:29
7. Chaplin in Slow Motion 6:21
8. Domingada Open Air 6:51
9. Stride Rhyme Gospel 6:30
10. Even the Birds Stop to Listen 3:25

Alexander Hawkins – grand piano, upright piano, sampler
Shabaka Hutchings – flute, soprano, tenor saxophone
Otto Fischer eectric – guitar
Neil Charles acoustic – bass guitar, double bass
Stephen Davis – drums
Richard Olátúndé Baker – talking drum, percussion