Weight/Counterweight is a double-LP album by trumpeter Bill Dixon and percussionists Aaron Siegel and Ben Hall. It was released in 2009 by Editions Brokenresearch in a limited edition of 500 copies, and was one of Dixon's final recordings before his death in 2010.[1][2]
| Weight/Counterweight | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by Bill Dixon, Aaron Siegel, and Ben Hall | |
| Released | 2009 |
| Genre | Free jazz |
| Label | Editions Brokenresearch br-041 |
| Additional cover image | |
 | |
Reception edit
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Free Jazz Collective |  [3] |
A reviewer for The Free Jazz Collective awarded the album a full 5 stars, calling it "fantastic," and commenting: "The music... is light as a breeze in its form, with sounds that sometimes barely create ripples in the silence, with zen-like punctuation and formless precision, yet full of substance and power... like a Japanese ink drawing, a few brush strokes are sufficient to evoke everything that needs to be said, a world by itself, creating an incredible memory imprint and listening experience.[3]
Paris Transatlantic's Dan Warburton wrote: "The pace is uniform and leisurely and the mood contemplative, but there's a sense of underlying tension and extreme concentration throughout... Vibraphones and glockenspiels, struck and bowed, envelop Dixon's velvety tones in a warm glow, but there's not the slightest hint of easy listening chillout here: when the music does explode... its power, its weight, is tremendous."[4]
Writing for Arthur, Byron Coley and Thurston Moore called the album "one of the high points of [Dixon's] recording career," and remarked: "the two percussionists provide gorgeous interaction for Dixon's processed trumpet tones, and the 2LP set slides into a very deep zone. Dixon was always a perfectionist, and he rarely played with such grace."[5]
Clifford Allen of Signal to Noise noted the "large, glacial areas with easy-breathing deliberateness" created by the percussionists, and commented: "Dixon says he 'always works orchestrally,' and Weight/Counterweight is powerful evidence of this."[6]
A writer for Still Single described the album as a "slab of pensive atmospheric jazz textures," and stated: "Probably the easiest step you'll be able to take in discovering a legend as of right now, so believers and newcomers are welcome to try this on. Subtlety is redefined. RIP Bill."[7]
Writing for Six Moons, Michael Lavorgna called the album "completely stunning," and remarked: "Dixon sounds at times like a Tibetan monk blowing some long-assed earth-shaking horn. At others more like some minimalist modernist who in a very silent way breathes echoed musical essence into spirit form... Primal, elemental, brutal, forceful, quiet, serene and all that (free) jazz."[8]
Track listing edit
Disc 1 edit
- Side A
- "Atelier: Corbu's Studio" – 13:59
- Side B
- "Hirado" – 12:23
Disc 2 edit
- Side A
- "Contrapposto" – 17:40
- Side B
- "The Red & the Black" – 17:05
Personnel edit
- Bill Dixon – trumpet
- Aaron Siegel – percussion
- Ben Hall – percussion
References edit
- ^ "Bill Dixon/Aaron Siegel/Ben Hall - Weight/Counterweight". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ "Bill Dixon / Aaron Siegel / Ben Hall: Weight / Counterweight". ArtistInfo. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ a b "Bill Dixon / Aaron Siegel / Ben Hall: Weight / Counterweight". The Free Jazz Collective. May 21, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ Warburton, Dan (May 2010). "Vinyl Solution". Paris Transatlantic. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ Coley, Byron; Moore, Thurston (October 17, 2010). "Tongue Top Ten". Arthur. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ Allen, Clifford (Summer 2010). "Signal to Noise". Signal to Noise. No. 58. p. 54.
- ^ "Bill Dixon/Aaron Siegel/Ben Hall – Weight/Counterweight 2xLP (Brokenresearch)". Still Single. September 22, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ Lavorgna, Michael. "2009 Personal Favorites". Six Moons. Retrieved January 29, 2023.