George Haslam

Featuring: Howard Riley, Marcio Mattos, Paul Rutherford, Tony Marsh

1993 release ** Free improv quintet led by saxophonist George Haslam, who is joined by trombonist Paul Rutherford, pianist Howard Riley, bassist Marcio Mattos and drummer Tony Marsh, plus vocalist Liz Hodgson on two tracks. “George Hasam's Level Two has been in existence, with various personnel changes, since 1987. It plays improvised music, a form Haslam describes as located between Level One (the performance of compositions) and Level Three (completely abstract sonic textures). Of course even this degree of specificity could allow Level Two’s repertoire to include the bulk of what is known as jazz but Haslam's group, composed as it is of top-flight improvising musicians, actually concentrates on the freer end of the music embraced by the term.”