Dembski: Sonotropism

As a free jazz player in the '60s and '70s, composer and guitarist Scott Fields discovered that playing completely free was a dead end. Without a foundation, Fields and his collaborators often had a hard time coming up with ideas and structuring their solos. Then, Fields discovered Stephen Dembski, a Wisconsin music professor who had developed a "post-serial organizational system." "It occurred to me," Fields recalls, "that the evolution of classical tonal organization also occurred in jazz on a compressed scale... The free-jazz people were influenced by post-tonal stuff and pure sound. Now I'm obsessed by composition and structure, so I find Dembski's musical ideas most helpful."

In general the music here is unique yet surprisingly accessible, often featuring long-lined solos. Fields improvises very well, sometimes displaying classical and flamenco influences, and his collaborators are seasoned veterans of the most exciting groups in the modern jazz scene.