Composition 304

braxton I don't normally cover jazz, but, as Wikipedia rightly points out, defining Anthony Braxton as just a jazz musician is somewhat reductive. As a composer and musician, he focused his work on jazz (especially free jazz), but he also wrote for orchestra and even operas. As an instrumentalist, in addition to playing the piano, Braxton performed on the full range of saxophones, from sopranino to double bass, a wide variety of clarinets, and the flute.

I must also say that Braxton was one of the few jazz musicians who truly moved me when I heard them in concert (others include Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor, and Mingus). His constant in-and-out exploration of jazz, while also incorporating elements from other musical genres, including contemporary music, makes his music interesting and vital, even if his compositions can sometimes seem a bit predictable from a structural standpoint. I know he's also recently explored electroacoustics with the Diamond Curtain Wall Trio, where he uses the Super Collider sound synthesis and processing language, but I haven't heard anything with this group yet.

Here I present Composition 304 from 2002. It's a duo in which Braxton plays various saxophones and Taylor Ho Bynum plays cornet, trumpet, and trombone.

Formally, the piece alternates "composed" moments in which the two perform isorhythmic structures and improvised moments, sometimes even solo. Thus, the piece continually enters and exits improvisation, while the performers repeatedly change instruments and timbres. In accordance with the collage logic often used by Braxton, the piece also includes structures taken from other pieces by the same author. In this case, these are Compositions 91, 151, and 164, so the full title is Composition 304 (+ 91, 151, 164).

Anthony Braxton – Composition 304 (+ 91, 151, 164) (2002)
Anthony Braxton, saxophones
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet, trumpet, trombone, shell, mutes

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