As you can guess from the track lengths this is a very long form listen. And partly because of this you get both an overall panoramic view of what the three can do together and more significantly a platform for full free form expressivity. Some of Tippett’s best passages are when he plays ferociously quickly – and he remains an influence, especially in his more outlandishly experimental guises, on players like fellow Englishman improviser pianist Matthew Bourne with whom he worked late in his career. There are surprises, like the little folk melody that Tippett toys with on ‘Shield’ (that makes me think a bit of parts of his album The Nine Dances of Patrick O’Gonogon) and that Stabbins responds to well. The whole thing makes perfect sense and you are easily sucked in to its powerful spell. In a word, stimulating. Louis Moholo-Moholo died in June aged 85.
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