»It’s Up to You« is a free sound art and performance project by sound artist and singer Limpe Fuchs, sculptor and sound artist Paul Fuchs, and pianist and recorder player Friedrich Gulda, who formed the Trio Anima at the time of the recordings in 1974. As musical guests they were able to enlist the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, the bassist Barre Phillips, the oud player Munis Bashir and percussionist Gerhard Herrmann, saxophonist Leszek Zadlo and the singer and percussionist Ursula Anders. The 14 pieces recorded during the sessions are as stylistically diverse as their respective strengths as an ensemble. There are solo improvisations as well as improvisations in duos, trios and quartets with different instrumentations. You can hear sound-painting and explorative recorder, percussion, horn and harp solos as well as playful and grooving quartet jazz improvisations, rhythmic-percussive trio recordings, meditative vocal parts, completely free-played and yet extremely atmospheric oriental-influenced pieces with full instrumentation, a rousing double bass and drum duo or trio sound experiments reminiscent of New Music. »It’s Up To You« offers such a varied and stylistically diverse musical programme over four sides that the album remains extremely gripping throughout and gets by completely without any filler material. It is also impressive that even after almost 40 years, this great free music album sounds completely timeless and is not in any way »dated«.
Milford Graves / Don Pullen
In Concert At Yale University
Superior Viaduct