1:3:5:7 Improvised Duos

1:3:5:7 Improvised Duos is the latest release from composer and polymath Dominic Murcott on Nonclassical. Created over four brief recording sessions with four superb improvisers – trumpeter Laura Jurd, saxophonist Tom Challenger, pianist Hans Koller and violinist Joe Townsend – the music blends gamelan-esque percussion, jazz squawl and open-eared adventure, guided by Murcott's compositional sensibility.

It follows his piece The Harmonic Canon (also released on Nonclassical), which was written slowly and methodically over two years with the ultimate aim that it would consist of two movements, each exactly 21 minutes in length. This time, Murcott worked again with exact time limitations – each piece is either 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes or 7 minutes long – but with an improvisational approach. "The idea behind it was a simple question," says Dominic, "if we know exactly how long the section is going to be, will it influence the material in each? For example, is the first gesture of a 3' improvisation different to that of a 7' one? Each of the collaborators has a very particular style and I adapted to each by limiting the percussion I could use for each one. For intimacy I engineered the sessions myself so only two of us where ever in the studio at any given time."