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Chris Dahlgren, Best Intentions (51:07); KOC CD-7877, 1999
Koch Jazz
740 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
Cyberhome: www.kochentertainment.com


Bassist Chris Dahlgren, an important voice on the New York downtown 
avant-garde scene, has exhibited a flair for unusual ensemble 
configurations on his previous releases. On Best Intentions, 
his third outing as a leader, percussionist Satoshi Takeishi's 
grooves and timbres give the music a rather exotic flavor; a 
conventional drum set would not have done the trick. Dahlgren's 
dual-alto frontline, comprised of Rob Brown and Peter Epstein, bears 
a passing resemblance to the Matt Wilson Quartet. Listeners 
unfamiliar with the individual styles of Brown and Epstein will have 
a hard time telling the two saxophonists apart.
	"The Gadfly" opens the album with an upbeat, harmonized 
melody set against dramatic percussion that sounds oddly similar to 
that heard on Björk's "Human Behavior." The following two tracks seem 
to join the first as a kind a mini-suite which grows progressively 
darker in mood. The slower, odd-metered bass lines of "The Wanderers" 
and "Triptych #2" recall Dave Holland, while "The Angels of 
Hartwell," a quasi-epic involving a succession of time feels and 
intense crescendos, culminates in a reggae groove reminiscent of 
Bonnie Raitt's "Have a Heart." An additional, uncredited instrument - 
perhaps a melodica - can be heard during this track. "Matson," the 
finale, is a plaintive sax melody juxtaposed with turbulent bowed 
bass and busy percussion, ending with an unusually gradual fadeout.
	Dahlgren's music is pathbreaking yet accessible, dissonant 
yet melodically rich. Although Best Intentions has its share 
of alto screeching and wailing, it is far from a typical downtown 
noise record. Noise there is, but it's employed sparingly as an 
emotional effect; it's not the whole show. And throughout, there's a 
familiar and even comforting sense of structure, even as Dahlgren and 
company conjure strange, new worlds.
~David R. Adler, 2/20/00

Tracks:
1. The Gadfly
2. The Hypnotist
3. The Wanderers
4. Fourth Avenue Passacaglia
5. Triptych #2
6. The Angels of Hartwell
7. Matson

Personnel:
Rob Brown, alto saxophone;
Chris Dahlgren, double bass;
Peter Epstein, alto and soprano saxophones;
Satoshi Takeishi,percussion

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