The trouble with the so-called avant-garde music is mainly that most of the experiences were already being made in the 60s and 70s. Blowing mindlessly and senselessly your saxophone it doesn’t surprise anybody anymore and plenty of others did it before not once. Well, McPhee is one of those old guys who were there in the 60s as well just like he’s exploring the borders of the free jazz relentless now days. So, McPhee is a true survival literally. Survival Unit III made of Joe McPhee – alto saxophone and pocket trumpet, Fred Lonberg-Holm – cello and electronics and Michael Zerang – drums are trying once again to rendering some order into the chaos, to make sense in a contorted world that sometimes seems senseless. It’s a hard job, difficult task and mysterious are the ways, isn’t it?Â
“Syncronicity” consist of four tracks, “Waiting for the other shoe to fall” have over 23 minutes, “Hndrx 9-18-70” over 13 minutes, “The why not” almost 10 minutes while “Hmm (for Maryanne Amacher)” is “only” over 7 minutes. It’s not an easy listening, McPhee’s searches are not like a walking in the park, but still, there’s interesting colors, shades and even some lights in these experiments.
