I had only sort of heard of Jack Wright and had never heard of Alban Bailly before this album landed itself in my player. Wright is a prolific saxophonist, having produced over 40 recordings and worked with a wide array of free-jazz notables, from vitals such as William Parker and Toshi Makihara to near unknowns like, well, Alban Bailly, a guitarist hailing from France. On The Harmony of Contradictions, we are presented with a series of acoustic autoschediasms recorded in 2005 and 2006.
Many times, these types of pairings and sessions in the improv and free-jazz world wind up coming off as two separate artists — often two prolifically talented artists — floating around each other, each doing their own thing without ever really interacting. Here, however, Bailly and Wright really seem to have a synergy, working together at creating something positive. There is a real weaving of styles and sounds, sometimes to the point where it becomes difficult to identify which instrument is making which noise (an impressive feat for an acoustic saxophone and guitar). Wright, who has been conducting mad-scientist experiments with saxophone for years, brings out the most terrifyingly captivating sounds from his instrument, constantly posing deep challenges to Bailly’s Balkan and Arabic guitar infusions. Yet the most interesting pieces of this album aren't found in the points of stark contrast, but in the times when these two styles swirl together and create new channels for both of them to flow down.
One gets the sense that Bailly and Wright are not only playing here, but are actually at play, that they are legitimately having fun. The two performers obviously get deep satisfaction from building upon and working through each other’s strains of musical thought, and they do it with a grace and delicacy that is too often lost in all types of experimental music, where the mad shuffle to find the next sonic extreme no matter what the cost usually takes precedence. It is this joy and deep elegance that Bailly and Wright are able to inject into their music, while maintaining an awareness of the almost meditative innovation that lends itself very easily to any penetrating exploration of jazz, that makes The Harmony of Contradictions as good as it is. A redefinition of jazz it may not be, but a truly demanding inquiry into the nature of two very different instruments and styles it absolutely is.
More about: Jack Wright & Alban Bailly
