Toward the Margins is an album by British saxophonist and improvisor Evan Parker

Evan Parker

Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...

's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble recorded in 1996 and released on the ECM New Series label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Steve Loewy awarded the album 4 stars stating "Founded in 1992, Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble is a highly sophisticated grouping, which for this recording conceptually pairs three acoustic musicians with electronic tone manipulators... It is all fascinating stuff, and if it does not swing or fit into any easy definitions of "jazz," it takes the concept of improvisation to a new level. There is sometimes an aimlessness to it all that can be off-putting, but concentrated listening can produce wonderful rewards for the patient consumer".

Track listing

All compositions by Evan Parker except as indicated

1. "Toward the Margins" (Barry Guy, Evan Parker, Philipp Wachsmann) - 4:34
2. "Turbulent Mirror" - 5:54
3. "Field and Figure" (Guy, Parker) - 7:06
4. "The Regenerative Landscape (For AMM)" - 3:36
5. "Chain of Chance" (Marco Vecchi, Paul Lytton, Walter Prati) - 4:19
6. "Trahütten" (Parker, Wachsmann) - 6:20
7. "Shadow Without an Object: Engagement/Reversal/Displacement" (Guy, Parker, Vecchi, Lytton, Wachsmann, Prati) - 6:02
8. "Epanados" (Guy, Parker, Vecchi, Lytton, Wachsmann, Prati) - 4:29
9. "Born Cross-Eyed (Remembering Fuller)" (Lytton) - 2:52
10. "Philipp's Pavilion" (Parker, Wachsmann) - 7:33
11. "The Hundred Books (For Idries Shah)" - 4:09
12. "Contra-Dance" (Guy, Parker) - 3:38
    • Recorded at Gateway Studios in London, England in May 1996.

Personnel

• Evan Parker
  Evan Parker
  Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
  
   - soprano saxophone
  Soprano saxophone
  The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
  
  
• Barry Guy
  Barry Guy
  Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
  
   - double bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Paul Lytton
  Paul Lytton
  Paul Lytton is an English free jazz percussionist.Lytton began on drums at age 16. He played jazz in London in the late 1960s while taking lessons on the tabla from P.R. Desai. In 1969 he began experimenting with free improvisational music, working in a duo with saxophonist Evan Parker. After...
  
   - percussion, live-electronics
• Philipp Wachsmann - violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  , viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  , live electronics, sound processing
• Walter Prati - live electronics, sound processing
• Marco Vecchi - live electronics, sound processing