Windless Deserted Island
Windless Deserted Island: “a first inversion harmony, or a phrygian clausula tenorizans?”
Figure 1: “Windless Deserted Island” Motif
I see this improvisation very much as a study into the subtle sonority differences choosing inversions, root chords and such. I’ll try bite into the nitty-gritty details for once.
To preview the track (then go grab the album for “name your price” in Bandcamp!):
After the opening minor chord, we hear first inversion sonorities, or 36-chords if you will. This is contrasted in the 0:08 mark, with the harmony led by parallel 7th chords. In the 0:14 mark the melodic contour of the flourish draws an open 11th or perhaps a 13th chord without a third: to my ears, that omission is the most important detail in the flavor. The 0:20 mark starts with the beginning material, thus revealing a small-form period structure. The 0:28 mark, in contrast to the earlier material, closes the period in first inversion chord, with the bass taking the melodic motive. Notice how phrygian this moment sounds: one could interpret this as a tenorizans or tenor clausula, but perhaps not a cadence, since the moment is quite instabile. Afterwards the improvisation leans on the shift to the upper register. One could analyze further the harmonies occurring here, but in my opinion it suffices to say that previous material is assembled according to the taste of the improviser.
Here’s the recording session video of the piece: