Dennis Palmer was an American musician who participated in the Free Improvisation scene, starting in the 1980's era, a time that Disaster Amnesiac imagines to have been pretty challenging for its participants. Regardless of the adversity, players such as Palmer got on with their pursuits, and in the case of Dennis, started an influential improvising band in Shaking Ray Levis along with making professional connections with the likes of Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, and Col. Bruce Hampton. At the time of his unexpected passing in 2013, Palmer had been working with Public Eyesore Records on
White Wuff. Obviously the production stopped as his collaborators grieved for their loss, the loss of a person whose influence greatly affected them. A decade and change later, and the album has been completed and released by Public Eyesore, the label that describes Palmer as a friend and frequent collaborator. As
White Wuff has spun out of my speakers I have heard what sounds to me as two albums. Towards the start of its duration, it presents shorter pieces that dip in and out quite quickly, in the fashion of vignettes. The most compelling one of these for this listener has been
My Damey, a track that sounds as if Jethro Tull had been dosed with some potent Owlsey acid by the Grateful Dead crew at some island music festival in the late 1960's. Disaster Amnesiac means that in the most endearing of ways, and every time that the track has played it's been a stone crack up. Palmer's skill with the synthesizer is on full display within another shorter cut,
I Adore, the actual opener of
White Wuff, during which his surreal yet very human sound world is introduced. This music, while being quite experimental, always evinces a characteristic warmth, which makes it very accessible and even inviting. Not exactly an easy task within the Avant Garde. As to the second part of
White Wuff, the listener is treated to longer tracks in which Dennis, saxophone player Jessica Lure, banjo player Frank Pahl, drummer Bob Stagner, and vocalist Col. Bruce Hampton get into some seriously interactive group jams. It's within tracks such as
Chongo and
Evolvement that the real meat of the album is served. There is no way of knowing whether or not these jams are presented as they occurred in real time, or if overdubbing processes were utilized in their production, but, either way they feature top flight playing from all of their participants.
Chongo has consistently been an absolute mind blower track for Disaster Amnesiac: its blending of synth tones that evoke the older MIDI sounds with earthy, yet absolutely free, drumming and saxophone tones make it a real winner. I've played it dozens of times and it doesn't lose its freshness and hipness. And whoever is doing that shamanic chanting during
Evolvement....wow. They went deep into the psychic depths for that performance. Getting back to the bifurcated nature of
White Wuff, this structural aspect of the album makes it so that the listener is never fatigued. It's an album that flows impeccably, and whomever did the sequencing deserves a lot of credit for their thoughtful work. American primitive Folk painting images add to its appeal as a physical object. Pick up yours over at Public Eyesore and pay some homage to a musician that was taken away from his scene way too soon. Getting a bit choked up just pondering that.
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