Search - The Space Between :: The Space Between with Barre Phillips

One of the more inventive collectives in improvisational music, The Space Between is comprised of Philip Gelb on shakuhachi, long time collaborator Dana Reason on piano, and legendary figure of the American avant garde art scene, composer and educator Pauline Oliveros, on her custom built just intonation accordion. On this date they are joined by veteran bassist Barre Phillips, whose is credited on over 100 albums, many for the German ECM label. These tracks were culled from a live recording of free improv before an audience at CNMAT in Berkeley, California, over two September evenings in 1998. This is a truly unusual instrumentation, yielding remarkable results. The ensemble uses timbre - rather than basic harmony and melodic ideas - as the main building block for composition and improvisation. This because they are working in different tuning systems: Pauline's accordion is tuned to just intonation, Dana's piano is in European tuning, and the shakuhachi is a notoriously difficult instrument to play "in tune" due to its construction and playing technique.