Solo-CD "Whispering Blue"
Gies opens with a circular-breathing piece composed on a bed of cyclic key-clicks above which long, trilling notes appear as if by magic. They appear, of course, when Gies increases air-pressure and turns the clicks into notes, but somehow the brain, which is used to hearing rhythms with melodic phrases superimposed over them, hears it that way instead. It's clever and cool and instantly appealing.
… The music, as the title suggests, is often very quiet and rather subtle. ... Gies gives the impression of being in full control deploying notes slowly and quietly into an enigmatic silence.
There are some technically astounding things on here - the things Gies can do with a trombone mouthpiece wedged into the neck of a tenor sax must be heard to be believed - but that's not really the point. Weird techniques may be the starting-point for some of these pieces but they certainly aren't the end they aim at. Gies creates music of real vividness, and that's what makes this CD extremely good.
by Richard Cochrane
TERMINE
