DOMINIC DUVAL AND JASON KAO HWANG
The Experiment
Blue Jackel
5036-2

Sadness may be the command denominator in music. From bards to the blues to tears in beers with thousands of tribal drum groups, garage bands, choirs, and other assorted occupiers of public and private community gathering points thrown in for good measure, the pain that living brings has long driven music. Most laments say to the audience that we all share these experiences and that it is nothing to let ruin your life. Things will get better. Bassist Dominic Duval and violinist Jason Kao Hwang don't do that on The Experiment. They make music that is unsettling not comforting while asking listeners to go on a ride that might lead to some place that none of them have ever seen before. You don't know it is going to turn out and your fear that it will be a disaster but you can't turn away. You need to see where they are going. For much of the recording -which was done at a session on April 10 of last year- Duval crawls around his bass in a relatively slow and methodical fashion. At times he seems to imitate the sounds heard in day to day life like on "Caribbean Sunrise" where towards the end he sounds like a clock. Mostly though, Duval sounds simply like the wonderful bass player that he is by walking the line that divides rhythm from harmony and melody. Hwang often plays at a faster clip than Duval and his playing seems full of anguish. Much of it sounds like tears that sharp outbursts of desperation punctuate from time to time. When all of this comes together, the effect is that of Hwang sounding like a young person desperately needing advice and who gets get very true bits of wisdom wrapped in the opposite of empathy from an elder played by Duval. Hwang doesn't seem to respond to the advice very well and the two sound like they are arguing about some detail for much of The Experiment. In the process, the audience gets to go on this wild and unpredictable ride. Keep in mind that these are aural roles and not an actual description of the relationship between the two players. While Duval is perhaps better known due to work with legendary figures like Joe McPhee and Cecil Taylor, Hwang has been a force in the world of creative music since the 1970s and has played with Anthony Braxton, William Parker, and Reggie Workman amongst others. The songwriting credit is shared between the two on all 8 cuts so this is clearly a duo project. And some of the most striking moments come when the Duval and Hwang sound as if they are agreeing with one another. Both players can express just about any emotion with their instrument and they sometimes get very close to each other in sound. In those moments the unity of the two stands out as it is hard to tell who exactly is playing what. The appropriate adjective is not confusing, however. Rather it is beautiful.

Micah Holmquist

Track Listing: 1. Quest; 2. Messiaen - 'Speaking of Birds'; 3. Double Stop; 4. J.K.H.; 5. The Tower Falls; 6. Caribbean Sunrise; 7. Passing Through; 8. Black Swan - 'The Dance'

Personal: Dominic Duval, bass; Jason Kao Hwang, violin.