Wildflowers

Having been a listener, then a member of two of his groups; then a collaborator, and over the past few years a listener again, I find I can stand both inside and outside Brian's music.

Listening to Wildflowers from this composite position, I hear an array of elements which I know make up his particular sound art. Yet, because he allows none to become conspicuously prominent or laboured, we are given freedom to listen to the music. At no stage are we burdened with stylistic declarations or forced to contend with instrumental gymnastics.

On side A all of these elements are there to discover; on side B several are there to explore.

Perhaps the most important is Brian's continuing ability to create situations highly conducive to creative here-now music. Give in to Bob's solo on Mr. Speer, Brian's solo on Midnight Ghost and their spiralling duet on Sawade and you'll find three timeless movements offered as gifts for repeated taking.

After the composed narrative of the Stockrider, concluded poignantly by Nehama, Katya and Dure, the Ghost and Sawade are heightened experiences of totally in-the-present, spontaneous interaction.

This album is music liberated from any obligation to fashion or idiom. If you approach it with preconceptions about jazz for example, the predominant idiom of Brian's past, you'll be perplexed to say the least! To the contrary, it offers an experience which requires open-heartedness. It is a positive documentation that Brian Brown plays his own music out of his own environment and time, and that he invites/inspires his colleagues to do the same. The result is music-making energy, raw refusal to comply, lyrical romanticism, nervous discovery, delight, pathos, fast reflex responses and close interaction, as distinct from music reproduction which so often seems to be the recording industry's predominant interest.

This music is a personal synthesis of invention in the present and respect for past origins. It is a celebration of independence to be catalogued under “music for the love of music”.