Three Story Sandbox

JackMouse

Jack Mouse and Scott Robinson with Janice Borla
Tall Grass Records  (TG 8283)

2016

Scott Robinson – tenor saxophone, c melody saxophone, cornet & e-flat clarinet​
Jack Mouse – drums
Janice Borla – vocals

The art and essence of Improvisation is far more than just creating variations on a theme.  It is the core action of life itself, from the simplest concept of choosing another path when an obstacle arises, to the profound pursuits of existence at its most transcendent.  For drummer Jack Mouse, multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson and vocalist Janice Borla, Improvisation is the life force of their pursuit of brilliant artistry and the spinal cord of their message as eminent educators.  Together they have created a stunning new album on Tall Grass Records, Three Story Sandbox.

Jack explains this most interesting title. “A Sandbox is a ‘PlaySpace’ – devoted to the unfettered creativity of child play… a state of mind that is intuitive, exploratory, creative, improvisatory… And Janice, Scott and I each have our own stories to tell.”  

While Three Story Sandbox has a total sense of continuity in the “suite-like” sensibility that is the essence of all great albums (as opposed to a collection of tracks), the 7-part Sandbox Suite and the following nine pieces are all uniquely crafted to convey a mood, ambience and compelling atmosphere that makes each item a story unto itself, while playing its own part in the telling of the overall tale.Despite the total spontaneity and absolute freedom involved in making this music, it is powerfully structured, totally cohesive, richly musical, vividly virtuosic, and absolutely enjoyable on every level.  Three Story Sandbox is a masterpiece.

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Tracks

1. The Summons

2. The Forge

3. Conjurer

4. Across the Veld

5. Maelstrom

6. Pas de Deux

7. Blood Moon Rising

8. Slap Happy

9. Brushfyre

10. Anghiari

11. March to Castile

12. Snap and Twirl

13. Beam Me Up

14. Circe's Lament

15. Hand Blown

16. Scott Free

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John Lane, Percussive Notes
“Daring, expressive, and full of unbridled creativity… A combination of the most sophisticated and challenging art music (e.g., John Cage), combined with an exotic world music ambience, tied all together with the sensibilities of free jazz… Completely improvised throughout, the playing by Mouse, Robinson and Borla is brilliant all the way around and totally uninhibited.  It is very inspiring to see this kind of daring dedication in the pursuit of sophisticated improvised music.”


Grady Harp, Amazon
“This is improvisation at its best by a trio of communicators as well as gifted musicians… Imagination, collaboration and an infectious enthusiasm for creativity.  A brilliant album of freely-improvised music by three master jazz musicians.”