Leader of the band Global Unity, Newsome here plays solo soprano saxophone, using the music of Thelonious Monk as a showcase for extended techniques. Newsome employs multiphonics-squeezing multiple notes from his horn simultaneously-fluid time, dynamic control and judicious use of space to shape a unique, highly abstract musical vocabulary. Freed from rhythmic structure and lightly embellished, Monk’s tunes are morphed into an individual statement at once familiar and alien, direct yet enigmatic.
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