Crossings by Veryan Weston, reviewed by Andy Hamilton in The Wire 437, July 2020

For Crossings, Veryan Weston forgoes piano for the M-Audio keystation, a cheap dummy keyboard or trigger system, with MIDI connection for controlling virtual instruments and recording software. So it has to be connected to a sound generator such as a synthesizer, computer or sampler – in this case, an old Yamaha TG300 sound module. Weston used it for a Henry Cow reunion in 2014, which called for sounds now regarded as retro.

I hadn't heard of this keyboard – though neither had Weston's old friend Steve Beresford when I asked him. “Most keyboard players don't know most keyboards. Why would you have a go on every single keyboard around? It would be mad”, he comments. The sounds that come from or through it aren't always tonally beautiful – for that quality, we have to look at Weston's partners, Hannah Marshall (cello) and Mark Sanders (drums). All of the tracks are incredibly propulsive – Sanders seems incapable of producing a less than stellar performance.

This is Weston's latest project of “rhythmic/pentatonic impro/compositions” as he calls them, that he's been developing over 30 years. Born in 1950, he is best known for partnerships with Phil Minton and Trevor Watts – his concern with polyrhythms and rhythmic modulation was apparent in recordings with Watt's Moiré Music. “Crossings refers to phrases and rhythms that cross, and often don't necessarily resolve,” says Weston, describing “the ongoing challenge of one hand doing something often different from the other”.

The pieces are generated from pentatonic scales. “Kalimba Setting” is a delightful imitation of the mbira or thumb-piano. “Kafka's Escape” is titled after a bureaucratic nightmare at the family centre where Weston's partner works. “Slow Blackwell” refers to a figure Ed Blackwell used in his solo on “T & T” from Ornette!, slowed down and turned into an isorhythm. An intriguing, idiosyncratic release from a highly inventive and innovative improviser-composer.