Eugene Chadbourne's ongoing efforts to cast the banjo as an instrument of the world continues with Auspicious Fish, a set of duets with David Sait's guzheng. The banjo didn't actually meet with the East Asian strings on this set of three duo improvisations (augmented by two solos by Sait and one by Chadbourne), but communicated via post a la Derek Bailey and Han Bennink's postal duos - the banjo parts recorded in a Basque tavern, furthering his world-class aspirations.
The disc opens with a five-minute guzheng solo, which may have been a bit of a tactical error. Chadbourne and Sait are similar enough in their abstract pluckings that by the time the first duet commences with the 25-minute "Catalysts & Tourguides," the ears have already succumbed to Sait's harp-like sounds. Chadbourne isn't exactly buried in the mix, but with passive listening he seems that way. After his 10-minute solo on the third track, the banjo playing grows harder, pushier, giving a nice slow build to the record. But while the disc does build, it doesn't feel as if it's building toward anything - it never quite clicks. The genius of the Bailey / Bennink duets-by-mail was that the two had played together for so long that they knew how to work off each other even in absentia. Too much of Auspicious Fish feels tentative or disjointed. The "Vol. 1" of the title carries the promise of a second edition, during which perhaps the conversation will become more comfortable.
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Kurt Gottschalk 2009-02-04
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