Evan Parker & Joëlle Léandre — Long Bright Summer

Long Bright Summer pairs up English avant-garde saxophonist Evan Parker with French double bassist Joëlle Léandre, for a eight track improv collab. The release largely flirts between the taut and the fiery.

This CD release appears on France’s Rogue Art- presented in their housestyle, sparse black ‘n’ red text and lined fold-out digipak. Inside with get a two-page write-up about the collaboration, the two players, and the other collabs they’ve done in the past.

The album is a live recording from August 2023, where the duo played as part of The Summer Festival of the Upper Calavon. The recording is well captured, with a good, even balance between each player's sound. The set lasts just shy of the fifty-five-minute mark- been broken up into eight tracks, each of which lasts between five and eight minutes.

We open with “LBS#1” here we find Léandres rapidly scrubbing ‘n’ sawing bass, being woven by  Parker’s darting ‘n’ light smarting sax. At points, both instruments hint at both formal harmony and rhythm- yet never fully getting there, remaining on a taut knife-edge throughout. As we get into the album/set, we come to “LBS#2” itmixes abstract, blunt bass thumbing/ cluttering, with baying to taunting horn flows. With later on, an almost wonky jaunting/ sadly baying quality comes into play.

In the set’s/albums' second half, we move from the manically oscillating sax reels meets bounding and darting double bass rounds ‘n’ darts of “LBS#6”. With the set/ album playing out with “LBS#9” is the only track  to feature Léandre gibbering/ chattering vocalising mixed with  the taut bass fumble & weaves of sax wail,

Long Bright Summer is a vibrantly volatile and rewardingly unpredictable improv ride. You can certainly hear these two have played together before, as there is real fluidity and flair present in their bonding.