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Larry Stabbins & Mark Sanders — Cup & Ring
(Discus Music 191CD, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-09-02

Cup & Ring Cover art

Drop the needle on the first track — or any track for that matter — and the first thing one is bound to notice is the amazing percussion skills of Mark Sanders. He’s not just keeping a rhythm here, but instead unfolding all of the possibilities that can come from a drum kit, constantly riffing and spilling amazing fills galore, and that’s really no surprise, he’s played with just about every jazz musician in the UK from the 80s onward, and all of that experience comes to light here on Cup & Ring; he knows what to play, exactly when to play it, and when not to play or when to hold back and give his partner in this duo, saxophonist Larry Stabbins, a chance to capture some of the spotlight. Stabbins has had an amazingly long and fruitful career as well, going all the way back to the early 70s as a member of Centipede, and remained in Keith Tippett’s orbit for many years, as well as being an associate of Peter Brötzmann, Tony Oxley, Trevor Watts, and many others at various points along an astonishing timeline. Across eleven simply titled tracks (“Cup No. 1” etc. out to “Ring No. 6”) the duo seems to be composing in the moment, allowing one another the space needed to create a beautiful set of improvisations, never stepping on one another (and I’m sure engineer Jim Barr had a lot to do with that), where Stabbins plays concert flute, alto flute, alto sax, or bass clarinet — one woodwind instrument per track and no overdubbing — and all eleven tracks were recorded in a single day, pretty much in the order presented. As a duo, there remains plenty of expressive space without a lot of musicians vying for the same sonic space, and in the end that’s what makes Cup & Ring so enjoyable on every level. One could say something about this track or that, but when all is done and the music stops, one can look back on the album as a whole and understand that it was a consistent experience, sometimes a wild ride and other times a quiet celebration — every piece fits together perfectly.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Mark Sanders, Larry Stabbins

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/cup-ring-191cd-2025

 

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