Alto saxophonist and clarinetist
Mark Whitecage has been performing for over fifty years, starting at age six. Whitecage has played with such musicial luminaries as Marshall Allen, Anthony Braxton, Gunter Hampel, Jeanne Lee, Perry Robinson, Mario Pavone, William Parker and Joe McPhee. He currently performs solo and leads trio, quartet and quintet groups and has recorded frequently, most recently on the CIMP label.
In spite of recording fairly often, recently Whitecage became frustrated at the lack of support for improvised music from established record companies. In spring 2000, Whitecage revived his dormant Acoustics record label and released three new self-produced albums: quartet/trio, trio, and solo recordings. (The label's first release in 1990 was a Whitecage CD with a young Dave Douglas.)
Jay Rosen, a frequent partner and a leader in his own right, is the drummer on the first two discs. Rosen is a free drummer who shows the influence of Sunny Murray, keeping a pulse on the cymbals, while driving the other players with his propulsive, polyphonic percussion.
The first disc,
Moon Blue Boogie, is drawn from two performances. Fifty minutes of the disc is from Whitecage's quartet with the fiery Sabir Mateen and bassist Chris Dahlgren. The remaining twenty minutes are from a trio performance with cellist Tomas Ulrich. Moon Blue Boogie is the first modern recording of Mark Whitecage using electronics
(although the electronic elements are not overly prominent on album). The attention-grabbing improvisations show influences ranging from late Coltrane to Albert Ayler and perhaps even Sun Ra.
Fractured Standards & Fairy Tales
is performed by a trio with Dominic Duval. This performance, while still fairly free, shows more of an interest in song structures, even quoting from "Lush Life." (And I thought I heard some Charles Mingus and Albert Ayler quotes.) I sense some influence from Anthony Braxton and see some parallels with younger Chicago musician Ken Vandermark's DVK Trio.
Finally, Turning Point is a solo album of alto sax, clarinet and electronics, performed in real time. (You might be surprised to see Whitecage using electronics if you're only familiar with his more recent work, but he performed on Paul Bley and
Annette Peacock's Bley/Peacock Synthesizer Show way back in 1971.) Whitecage uses such devices as echo delay and tone alteration to change the timbre and feel of his playing. The longest piece is the twenty-six minute "Concerto for One" that builds up layers of sound under his playing. The piece uses a wider variety of sounds and a more complex development of ideas and is the highlight of the set.
Mark Whitecage doesn't simply use standard bop head/solo/head structures, but employs different strategies such as: alternating group playing with solo playing; performing duets in various combinations; and varying the dynamics of the piece from a whisper to a shout.
I'm glad he's been able to release this material and I hope to hear more of his music soon, whether on record labels large or small.
[These CDs are available from Acoustics, through New York City's Downtown Music Gallery and at concerts. (The photograph of the Mark Whitecage Trio above is by Rozanne Levine.)]
— Alan Lankin, 10 Oct 2000
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last update 11 October 2000