I CARE IF YOU LISTEN: New Amsterdam Records and Le Poisson Rouge Celebrate 10th Anniversary
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN: New Amsterdam Records and Le Poisson Rouge Celebrate 10th Anniversary
BY LANA NORRIS
"Travis Laplante on tenor sax and drummer Gerald Cleaver were awe-inspiring, triumphant, and a touch of crazy. Each played mammoth solos. The set had one energetic silence, but its discrete sections unfolded as one arc of mastered frenzy. The piece reserved harmonic bass, tonal resolutions, and extended saxophone techniques for the very end including a brief flash of slipping between major and minor. Laplante played a marathon solo with circular breathing, pulsating register leaps. Eventually he sounded like a saxophone trio before landing on a single note for 45 seconds. The energy of the crowd built into applause and hollers before he exploded into extended technique that sounded like a swarm of bees."