Kali Fasteau - Vivid (2001)

AllMusic Review by Paula Edelstein
Kali Fasteau presents 15 live recordings named for the aural suggestion of each work and its counterpart in the visual spectrum on Vivid, and the result is an excellent display of creativity and imagination that transcends boundaries and takes her listeners to another level of music aesthetics. The multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger plays a set filled with exciting techniques, including her simultaneous playing of the drums, soprano sax, and voice! Joined by such expressive masters as William Parker on contrabass; Joe McPhee on soprano sax and pocket trumpet; Hamid Drake on drum set, bindir, and voice; Sabir Mateen on alto sax, tenor saxe, and bamboo side flute; and Ron McBee on djembe and African percussion, the sextet exudes music's energies and colors -- whether seen, heard, or felt, within the mind's eye, ear, or touch associations. This concept, also explored and appreciated by such great artists as Avishai Cohen on Colors and the great musical educator Arnold Schoenberg, will definitely open your musical senses with its brightly colored synaesthesia. "Chartreuse," recorded live at Canada's Guelph Jazz Festival, is a six-minute piece designed with soprano sax, whirling tube, djembe, and percussion, and presents Fasteau's ambitious composition in a light that embraces this spectrum of tonalities by using intuitive approximation and subjective objectivization. Other colors explored and realized are a 12-minute version of "Sun Yellow," with Joe McPhee burning on pocket trumpet and soprano sax, and the mystical "Tamil Blue," on which Fasteau plays the nai and kaval flutes. This CD is a brilliant achievement, and for those interested in a creative display utilizing color associations with certain sounds or tonalities, Vivid is the perfect choice.