Barry Guy

"Lava is a wonderfully apt title for this duet between Liudas Mockunas on soprano, tenor and bass saxophones and Barry Guy on bass. The music was recorded live at Kaunas Artists House Concert Hall in Lithuania on the 2nd of April, 2011, and released in a limited edition run of 300 vinyl LP's. Lava is the appropriate name for this music as it flows slowly and inexorably forward. Guy is a rock solid bassist who is a stalwart on the avant jazz and classical scene in Europe, and his skills are well used here, both as a soloist and a collaborator. Mockunas is very interesting as well, moving through his different instruments and allowing the music of the moment take him as the landscape or terrain would dictate the flow of lava.

Although the title alludes to earth science, the titles of the improvisations reach for the cosmos beginning with the suite "Nebula 1-3" with its dreaming and haunting soundscape, the music adrift in the void before a short and wild ride through "Fumarole." They head farther out into the cosmos on the second side of the record, delving deep into a musical black hole with "Singularity" and "Event Horizon" before emerging with "Dark Matter." This was a fascinating and emotionally wrought album, with two excellent musicians creating in the moment and moving through space and time at will."-Tim Niland, Jazz and Blues Blogspot