''The Aggregate'' is a live album by the

Rova Saxophone Quartet Rova Saxophone Quartet is an American, San Francisco-based saxophone quartet, formed in October 1977. The name "Rova" is an acronym formed from the last initials of the founding members: Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, and Bruce Ackley. Wh ...

and

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chica ...

recorded in California in 1986 and 1988 for the Sound Aspects label.Anthony Braxton discography
accessed January 31, 2017

Reception

The

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 ...

review by Brian Olewnick states "''The Aggregate'' is a challenging recording, more so than most by more jazz-oriented saxophone quartets, but very rewarding on its own terms and an important document in Braxton's work for woodwind ensembles". in the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

Mike Joyce wrote "If easy-listening music lies at one end of the pop spectrum, the edgy, probing and often discordant sounds Anthony Braxton and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet conjure up on "The Aggregate" can be found at the opposite extreme. In fact, lacking the jazz and blues-orientation of the

World Saxophone Quartet The World Saxophone Quartet is an American jazz ensemble founded in 1977, incorporating elements of free jazz, R&B, funk and South African jazz into their music. The original members were Julius Hemphill (alto and soprano saxophone, flute), ...

or the lightheartedness of, say, Washington's own Windmill Saxophone Quartet, the Braxton-ROVA collaboration will appeal primarily to listeners open to the more cerebral side of improvisation and composition".Joyce, M
Braxton, Quartet Roving Saxophones
Washington Post, April 20, 1990

Track listing

# "The Shopper" (Larry Ochs) – 11:16 # "The Aggregate" (Jon Raskin) – 11:34 # "Composition 129+" (Anthony Braxton) – 46:13 Originally edited to 27:28 on LP release Note *Recorded on August 22, 1986 at PreEchoes 2 in San Francisco, CA (track 2) and July 30, 1988 at Koncepts Cultural Gallery, Oakland, CA (tracks 1 & 3)

Personnel

–

contrabass saxophone The contrabass saxophone is the second-lowest-pitched extant member of the saxophone family proper. It is extremely large (twice the length of tubing of the baritone saxophone, with a bore twice as wide, standing 1.9 meters tall, or 6 feet 4 i ...

bass saxophone The bass saxophone is one of the lowest-pitched members of the saxophone family—larger and lower than the more common baritone saxophone. It was likely the first type of saxophone built by Adolphe Sax, as first observed by Berlioz in 1842. It ...

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

sopranino saxophone The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. An F sopranino (an octave above the F alto (also called mezzo-soprano) saxophone) w ...

*Bruce Ackley – soprano saxophone.

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

*Andrew Voigt – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone,

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

* Larry Ochs – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone *Jon Raskin – baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aggregate, The Anthony Braxton live albums Rova Saxophone Quartet live albums 1988 live albums