Stefan Jaworzyn & Alan Wilkinson - In A Sentimental Mood (1996)

Guitarist Stefan Jaworzyn and saxophonist Alan Wilkinson have no reservations about taking their improvisations right to the fence of left field and then ripping it down. From its awesome titles ("Drums of Passion (From an Olatunji Record)," "My Psychotic Valentine," and others too long to quote here...ok, here's one: "David Murray Dons a Cunning Alan Wilkinson Disguise and Blags His Way Onto a Bill at the Termite Club") to its edgy, slippery ostentatious jagged edges, this is one hell of an album. This is the saxophone and electric guitar playing at each other instead of too each other. Jaworzyn plays odd, striated chordal riffs, chomping down on them hard with very little sustain or reverb, and the instrument feels as much like a drum as it does a wash of strings. Wilkinson's alto and baritone playing comes in short pops and bursts, but are nearly constantly. He covers all three registers with confidence and a kind of lopsided intensity that makes the horn squeak more than it rings. But somehow it all works together, and fabulously, peeling the paint off the walls with humor, reckless curiosity, and wanton abandon.