Jon Mueller/Bhob Rainey/Jim Schoenecker - - -
(Crouton)
It's appropriate that this CD is untitled. Or, more accurately, that its title is a blank space, or at least, it seems to be a blank space. Much of the disc's music, like the nomenclature of the CD, is purposefully empty, or near-empty to the point of auditory mirage. Bhob Rainey has made a career of coaxing near silence from his saxophone, and here, with Milwaukee's Jon Mueller and Jim Schoenecker, subtle sounds continue to be the order of the day.
Comprised of two longer tracks sandwiched between thin, shorter slices of music, this CD find the musicians stretching the limits of their instruments, collapsing their sounds into minute phrasings and passing breezes. There are moments, that seem, in relation to the bulk of the disc, to be utterly bombastic, but one glance at the stereo's volume knob will put the volume of even these seemingly clamorous occasions into perspective. To fully hear Muller, Rainey, and Schoenecker's music, one must make use of both a high volume and high levels of concentration, as the sound of this CD can easily be washed away by passing traffic, distant, muffled conversation, or, currently, even the striking of keys on a computer keyboard. It wouldn't be entirely out of the question for the unknowing listener to suppose that much of the music is incidental, as Rainey's quiet expulsions on the saxophone take on a ghostly, almost transparent quality, Schonecker's synthesizer often produces little more than a gentle hum, and Mueller's percussion seems either totally random, or almost absent at first encounter. Mueller proves to be the trio's most patient player, restrained to a degree that would leave him inaudible in most improvising situations. Schoenecker's faint whines and undulations sometimes crowd the music more than seems fitting, but, in keeping in mind the situation he's in, his parts are far from obnoxious. None of the three players on this disc are deprived of room to stretch their sound, as the music allows for plenty of soloing, as it were.
At its best, this untitled CD is like an ambient field recording of an empty room, and the sounds that are made by the simple science at work in everyday life. Radiators, appliances, the sounds of settling structures, weather events muffled by walls and insulation; these are the sister sounds of this disc's music. Like the proverbial tree falling in an empty forest, would this music have made a sound were the microphones not set to record it? Only Mueller, Rainey, and Schoenecker know for sure.
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