Unquenchable Fire

They Say...

Review by François Couture, All Music Guide

Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening Band commissioned a piece from saxophonist Joe McPhee. He offered Unquenchable Fire, a 67-minute work in four movements (preceded by an introduction) scored for both the Deep Listening Band and his own quartet and based on Rachel Pollack's novel by the same title. In fact, Pollack is the extra player that makes the equation three plus four equals eight true. The author reads selected fragments from the novel that are used as springboards for the different sections of each movement. So the complete lineup is Oliveros (accordion), Stuart Dempster (trombone), David Gamper (keyboard, flutes, electronics), McPhee (sax, clarinet), Joe Giardullo (flutes, bass clarinet), Monica Wilson (cello), Karen Jurgens (drums), and Pollack on spoken word. McPhee's score takes the form of a structured improvisation with certain passages noted down. The feeling of a composition comes from the predefined dynamics and the strong sense of cohesion of the ensemble -- you wouldn't expect less from Oliveros' trio. The piece begins with a very high fluttering solo that could be from a piccolo but is most like McPhee's Casio digital horn. This serene, almost pastoral introduction contrasts sharply with the rather brutal beginning of Pollack's text. The piece evolves in slow bursts, taking respites every five minutes or so to make room for the text and then resuming its course with a different subgroup of players. Highlights include a trombone solo treated electronically in the "3rd Movement" and the beautiful soprano sax and cello duet in the first seconds of the "1st Movement." An immersive listen, Unquenchable Fire would have been more satisfying had the relationship between music and text been proven necessary.