Collin Sherman - Liberties and Delights (2019)

"Liberties and Delights", the eleventh release by New York-based musician Collin Sherman, explores the boundaries between free improvisation and composition using saxophones, clarinets, electronics and noise.

Like his previous releases, Collin recorded "Liberties and Delights" by playing every part himself, overlaying the separate instruments in the studio. Woodwinds are featured on every track, with the one constant wind being the alto saxophone, Collin’s primary instrument. One focus across these pieces is how the approach to free improvisation changes when there is only one person creating and overlaying all the parts. The different pieces explore this by creating structures with varying levels of complexity – some fairly structured with clear melodies, others with almost no structure or built only on propulsive vamps – to allow a soloist to respond to a predictable change, or total freedom to create the emotional core of the piece form the ground up in real time. The results range from steady and measured, to wild and unhinged.

Free improvisation is a search for truth and transcendental beauty. Although that search may never end, through this music, hopefully, we may all come a little closer to knowing that truth which we seek.