''Natives and Aliens'' is an album by the members of the

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

Trio (saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras ...

, and drummer

Paul Lytton Paul Lytton (born 8 March 1947, London) is an English free jazz and free improvising percussionist. Lytton began on drums at age 16. He played jazz in London in the late 1960s while taking lessons on the tabla from P.R. Desai. In 1969 he began ...

), with guest pianist

Marilyn Crispell Marilyn Crispell (born March 30, 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrot ...

. It was recorded on May 24, 1996, at Gateway Studios in London, and was released in 1997 by

Leo Records Leo Records is a British record company and label which releases jazz from Russian, American, and British musicians. It concentrates on free jazz. Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin (also known under his broadcasting name Aleksei Le ...

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Stewart Mason wrote: "these 11 tracks are fluid, small-group improvisations that slot Crispell neatly into the practiced interplay of Parker's trio... The Evan Parker Trio, as always, play with the intuition and improvisatory grace that comes when skilled musicians are in tune with each other's idiosyncracies, giving ''Natives and Aliens'' a light -- almost swinging, in the old-school sense -- touch that's often missing in this brand of modern jazz." The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' awarded the album 3½ stars, and stated: "it's interesting to hear Parker, so long devoted to the microtonal devastation of Western harmony, woking in the context of an instrument with fixed pitches." They wrote that Crispell creates "huge, resonant chords which are difficult to analyse with any precision but into which the entire trio seems to be subsumed."

Track listing

# "Stag's Horn" – 9:52 # "Sumach" – 6:33 # "Rhus" – 8:05 # "Friends from Above" – 6:35 # "Hirta" – 4:23 # "Sippenaeken Visitation" – 8:22 # "And the Tints" – 3:54 # "A Deeper Red" – 1:46 # "In Velvet" – 2:37 # "Day of Small Truths" – 7:18 # "Natives and Aliens" – 10:23

Personnel

– soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone *

– double bass, piccolo bass *

– percussion *

– piano

References

{{Reflist 1997 albums Evan Parker albums Barry Guy albums Marilyn Crispell albums Leo Records albums