Lowest Common Denominator
Alan Barnes & Gilad Atzmon 
1. Fat Cat (Barnes)
2. Lowest Common Denominator (Atzmon)
3. Blip Blop (Atzmon)
4. Sweet Pea (Barnes)
5. Phonus Bolonus (Barnes)
6. Pro-State Solution (Atzmon)
7. Giladiator (Barnes)
8. Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain (Barnes)
 
Personnel
Alan Barnes alto/baritone saxes & clarinet 
Gilad Atzmon alto/soprano saxes & bass clarinet
Frank Harrison piano 
Yaron Stavi acoustic bass 
Chris Higginbottom drums 
Recorded at Fish Factory Studio, London 2016
 
Review
This looks like an outlandish pairing, but if you ignore the usual misleading labels (Alan Barnes supposedly mainstream, Gilad Atzmon far-out), differences in style are trivial compared to the things they have in common. They are both phenomenal saxophonists, overflowing with inventive ideas and, equally important, the gift of communicating with an audience. When playing together, they make much comical play of being engaged in deadly conflict, but the spirited way they spark each other off in their improvisations tells a different story. And the mutual fun is catching. Even Barnes’s cod-mathematical album note is hilarious, claiming that the pair of them “like pi, are irrational and can go on and on towards infinity”.
 
Barnes and Atzmon have been an item musically for a while now. Barnes tells me that he's getting a real kick from the combination, the two men both inspired to write special material for this line-up, essentially Barnes added to the usual Atzmon combo. Having seen them play head-to-head but impromptu at Swanage, it's interesting to see what they now make of their more formal liaison. Barnes opens ‘Fat Cat’ with his skittering baritone before Atzmon counters with fervent alto, Harrison's very lucid piano following over Higginbotham's drum accents, as they exit in ‘free’ fashion. Atzmon's title piece is statelier, elegiac almost, his ethereal soprano uppermost, the playing quite profound, interspersed by Stavi's solo passages. Gilad's back on alto for his zig-zag ‘Blip Blop’ theme, Higginbotham given a turn before the piece finds it way home. AB's ‘Sweet Pea’ is prettier, Atzmon's alto spiky as the two men noodle around the melody before they exchange clarinet thoughts on Atzmon's ‘Pro-State Solution’. Plenty here to suggest that this is a combination that has earned its place among the many other achievements that the co-principals already have to their names. Nothing overly competitive: just good playing on some decent original material with sidekicks who know their stuff, pianist Harrison always worth hearing.
Jazzwise