Search - Briggan Krauss :: 300

The NYC alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss hits full stride on the largely improvised 300. Whether blasting toward the cosmos ("Toy Boat"), creeping with trance-like mysticism ("First Grain"), or engaging in eerie, sputtering self-dialogue ("Tarantula"), a sense of purpose, often of epic proportion, p pervades Krauss's sound. His mighty squall and staccato geometric designs on tunes like "The Hold" and "Some Woman's Strange Laugh" at times echo Anthony Braxton or John Zorn, but with an arguably deeper (and fresher) bag of improv hooks than that of the latter. Keyboardist Wayne Horvitz (Naked City, Zony Mash) and drummer Kenny Wollesen (Masada, Tom Waits) provide inventive compositional backbone, which spurs the collective effort beyond jazz concept into pure expressionism. --Sam Prestianni