Wayne Horvitz / Butch Morris / Robert Previte - Nine Below Zero

Sound Aspects Records - LP

Germany, 1986

 The record showcases an original, complex and very elegant blend of acoustic jazz and electronic elements, not quite in an ECM manner: there is something less radiant, too cerebral to the trio's music to exactly fit the Munich label. All the better, nine bellow zero stands out from the very large universe of mid-1980's jazz, standing at a rare crossroad, tightrope walking between eerie and sometimes rather harsh electronics and soothing, deep jazz soundscapes. A very carefully-built LP, the A-side culminating with the splendid late-night blues "If Only". A rare thing, announcing their devastating Todos Santos LP, released a couple of years later.  (VG+/VG+)