High speed modernism prevails on the debut CD by a monstrous quartet featuring heavyweight performances, hurling the art of free jazz improvisation/jazz forward straight into the cosmos.

Part of the great appeal of improvised music and free jazz is having the potential opportunity and context to hear musicians push themselves as far as possible musically and/or technically. The volcanic New York City-based quartet of CHARITY CHAN (piano), PETER EVANS (trumpet), TOM BLANCARTE (bass) and WEASEL WALTER (drums) takes full advantage of this situation by pushing themselves to extremes.

Extremities of speed, articulation, interplay, dynamics, structure, timbre and counterpoint can be found in this release entitled Cryptocrystalline, recorded live to multitrack digital, in concert at Casa Del Popolo in Montreal, Quebec one night in January 2013.

The audio was mixed for maximum clarity and impact by Weasel Walter. The three lengthy tracks here represent the entire unedited performance from that evening. The music is action packed while remaining transparent. Furious energy is palpable at all times, but the density of the music often veers radically from pinprick to explosion from moment to moment.

The members of the group are very interested in expressing polyphony and counterpoint, eschewing imitation and the need to overtly signify to themselves or the audience that there is “listening” happening. This music is ALL listening, with every second bearing on the next.

The interplay is sophisticated and abstract, often reminiscent of modern classical composition at its most rigorous. Possible starting points of comparison for this quartet’s language might be artists like the Schlippenbach Trio or Gyorgy Ligeti’s more assaultive chamber compositions.

Cryptocrystalline is a unified statement incorporating the distinctive personal languages of these musicians