Stephane Furic Leibovici

The Twitter-Machine brings back the quartet of French bassist Stéphane Furic, today known as Stéphane Furic Leibovici, two years after Kishinev. The line-up is unchanged: Chris Cheek on tenor and soprano saxophones, Patrick Goraguer on piano and Jim Black on drums. The first album had been taped in Massachusetts; for this one the group recorded for Soul Note in Milan, and the result is a longer and more varied programme of eight pieces, from a miniature of just over two minutes to a piece of more than twelve.

The sessions took place on May 12, 13 and 14, 1992 at Barigozzi Studio in Milan, with Giancarlo Barigozzi engineering, Giovanni Bonandrini producing and Gennaro Carone mastering at PhonoComp. Cheek wrote the opener, Could You Be There?, and Black wrote The Moon Breatheed Twice, its title spelled that way on the sleeve. The third outside piece is Diamonds And Pearls, a song by Prince that the quartet stretches to almost nine minutes. Furic wrote the rest, among them Lord Jim, No Tango and Gorag' Rag, which at over twelve minutes is the longest track, before the short Harvest Song and the closing Gone Now. Furic's own path later moved away from this setting: after a phase centred on music for jazz and improvising musicians, he turned to atonal, rhythmically complex writing for chamber groups, chamber orchestra and solo instruments, and returned to Europe. Cheek remained a partner in later projects, including the trio Jugendstil with clarinettist Chris Speed.

This is the Soul Note CD, catalogue number 121225-2, first released in 1993.