Marcus Strickland - Tenor and Soprano Saxophone
Ben Williams - Bass
E.J. Strickland - Drums
recorded live at Jazzbaltica Salzau, July 3, 2010
1. Scatterheart/Set Free (Björk/ Marcus Strickland)
2. Portrait of Tracy (Jaco Pastorius)
3. She's Alive (Outcast)
4. Prime (Marcus Strickland)
5. Surreal (Marcus Strickland)
Here is a 4 star review of Idiosyncrasies, the latest album by the Marcus Strickland Trio:
"There have been countless saxophone trio recordings since Sonny Rollins essentially pioneered the form on Way Out West. But upon slipping Marcus Strickland's latest take into the deck, the listener can't help but leapfrog over half a century's worth of refinements back to the 1957 original.
The two sessions share not only instrumentation but a similar sense of purpose: the lack of a chordal instrument means that the saxophonist is more firmly a strange freedom in this seeming limitation. Like Newk before him, Strickland has assembled a set of tunes with strong, direct melodis that inspire boundless reveries.
And though he doesn't don spurs and a 10-gallon hat to explore the terrain of country music, Strickland wanders just as far afield to find his material. The songs by Stevie Wonder and Outkast may not be particularly surprising given Strickland's recent funk-leaning experiments, but he also culls pieces by Malian singer Oumou Sangare, Argentinean-Swedish singer-songwriter José González and a Björk song from her role in Lars von Trier's film Dancer In The Dark.
Strickland's versions are in a sense more pop-oriented than the originals - in the best sense, of making a direct emotional connection. On Björk's "Scatterheart," in particular, he strips away the dramatics and the Icelandic singer's penchant for labyrinthine melodic filigrees and uncovers the soulful desperation buried within.
Strikingly, the leader's own originals are just as memorable, and tailor-made for his tightly attuned trio. That communication is so empathic between Strickland and his drummer, identical twin E.J., is a hardly surprising, but bassist Ben Williams is consitently an equal partner without the benefit of genetics. Throughout the album, the trio maintains a sound both sparse and rich, with a relaxed ease that allows for experimentation but without airiness ever feeling empty.
The threesome's effortless teamwork is embodied on "Rebirth," the leader's plangent ballad. Marcus' tenor is both keening and steely, E.J.'s brushwork a hushed whisper, while Williams provides am insistent but unintrusive throb. The combined effect is one of tenderness charged with an undercurrent of urgent passion, the blood pulsing in one's temple at a moment of quiet intimacy." - by Shaun Brady, DownbeatMagazine.
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