Gilad Atzmon and Alan Barnes - The Lowest Common Denominator – review

The Guardian 80

(Woodville)

This looks like an outlandish pairing, but if you ignore the usual misleading labels (Alan Barnes supposedly mainstream, Gilad Atzmon far-out), differences in style are trivial compared to the things they have in common. They are both phenomenal saxophonists, overflowing with inventive ideas and, equally important, the gift of communicating with an audience. When playing together, they make much comical play of being engaged in deadly conflict, but the spirited way they spark each other off in their improvisations tells a different story. And the mutual fun is catching. Even Barnes’s cod-mathematical album note is hilarious, claiming that the pair of them “like pi, are irrational and can go on and on towards infinity”.