This CD presents an improvised duo setting with guitarist Mark Hewins, a long time partner with a remarkable talent for atmospheric accompaniment. The music on this release focuses on the most lyrical dimension of Dean's saxophone playing, with melodic outbursts inspired by and buoyed upon Hewins' delicate, dreamy, harmonic foundation. The aural path treaded by this uncanny pair of musicians is playful, unpredictable, and thoroughly original. Abstract but not amorphous, "Bar Torque" is improvisation at its most touching and universal. This will appeal to fans of alternative rock/pop (Radiohead followers take special note), electronica, experimental and otherwise esoteric styles, and, of course, jazz and progressive rock.
"Bar Torque" is a uniquely captivating document of two musicians spontaneously exchanging ideas and emotions in a spirit of total generosity towards each other and the listener. A CD that will surprise and delight the many fans of Elton Dean as well as introduce them to Mark Hewins, an unjustly overlooked artist and catalyst on the British jazz and innovative music scene
