The intriguingly-named Italian trio of McCorman comprises Stefano Calderano on electric and ‘prepared’ guitar, Francesco Panconesi on tenor and extended sax and Nicholas Remondino on ‘prepared’ bass drum and synth. All jazz musicians in their own right, the threesome came together just before the pandemic - gathering for creative residencies under the moniker Below-Fi then eventually McCorman. And now they’ve decided to commit to vinyl their sonically experimental and improvisational brand of jazz on A Page Is Turned | A Mountain Collapses | A Guy Leaves.  " />

 Produced by Giuseppe Ielasi, the album opens with ‘corrente’ and the listener is immediately treated to two luscious minutes of solo saxophone before the subdued introduction of Calderano’s guitar - playing the strings at the bridge of the instrument - and a barely perceptible background drum;  all of which drifts off into the ether before a jarring synth chord finale. This is a wonderful start and a taste of the diversity of sounds that the trio has to offer. ‘meccanismo.04’ dispenses with any semblance of melody in favour of a sonic exploration enveloped in synthetic sound and disturbing aural manipulations. And then the trio promptly switch tack again on ‘posarsi/ritrovarti’ – a delicate guitar sitting alongside the only vocal on the album, courtesy of Panconesi and reminiscent of Klaus Dinger’s vocal from Neu’s ‘Isi Wohl’ - offkey and pleading.

There are several pieces on A Page is Turned that are slow and ambient centered on an instrumental, pseudo-melodic hook. ‘respiro’ is one such track. The subtlest of sax motifs is backed by tremulous guitar and the lightest scraping of what appear to be drum brushes. ‘sfiorasi/perdesi’ follows an entwined sax and guitar melody as the cymbal takes centre stage. Tracks on this album fade to nothing as new ones begin, while shifting the aesthetic completely. It shouldn’t work, but it does as the random patterns contribute to an overall atmosphere of discomfort and absorption. ‘meccanismo.01’ and ‘meccanismo.02’ are evocative of the repetitive looping of the likes of jazzists Portico Quartet with the twisting melodic hook of the latter transforming it into one the most upbeat tracks on the album. ‘meccanismo-03’ on the other hand is much more aggressive with its discordant guitar and traditional jazz sax from Panconesi. And it works brilliantly - a coming together of free jazz with unforgiving sonic experimentation.

This trio are unequivocally fans of dividing their tracks into non-contiguous acts, which they proceed to pepper throughout the album in no particular order. This is the case for ‘filo rosso’ where the three acts are given over to each musician – ‘filo rosso I’ is exquisite, dramatic fingerpicking, while ‘filo rosso II’ is barely perceptible percussion merging into something tantamount to ethnic drumming rhythm patterns. ‘filo rosso III reprise’ is an incessant avant-jazz sax that electrifyingly stops and starts at will. The whole affair rounds off with ‘alba’ - fingerpicking that builds into a dramatic sax crescendo – a perfect ending to a wonderfully experimental and truly memorable listen. The album is available either digitally or on LP here.