| Some more great wooden-shoe swing.
Death Dance of Principles is a kind of oratorio based in postmodern jazz and late century European classical music. Featuring 12 instrumentalists — not the least of which are the composer on alto saxophone, Walter Weirbos on trombone, Eric Boeren on trumpet, and Wim Janssen on drums — as well as four sopranos, Termos has constructed a commentary on the end of time and non-fragmentary vacillation. From the serial overture to the languid post-bop of the title work, which showcases a wonderfully angular and swinging alto solo by the composer, to the Lalo Schifrin-esque noir of "Voorwarts," where the winds post a frontline to be replied to contrapuntally by brass and then accented harmonically by the reeds with a tempo worthy of the TV show Mannix, Termos is allocating space to the end of time as he sees it. There is humor at the end of time, and there is art after principles of all things — morals, aesthetics, economics, etc. — have gone to hell, but they are only reflections of their former selves in a mirror. The deep swinging anger that is barely contained in the horns and the pure annihilation present in the voices of the sopranos underscore this position with great vivid luster. But at the end of the day, as well as the end of the world, even in the worst of times when everything is bankrupt, someone has to make the best of it. With his Dubbel Express, Paul Termos does that, by staying on the fast jazz track into oblivion. |