Sound on Survival

American saxophonist Marco Eneidi recently decamped for Austria, but departed in style, leaving a cluster of explosive recordings in his wake: a mighty duel with Peter Brötzmann, Live at Spruce Street Forum, and two lean, rapid-fire trio recordings by Sound on Survival — his trio with bassist Lisle Ellis and drummer Peter Valsamis. Live documents two stops from the trio’s American tour last spring, shortly before they went into the studio to record American Roadwork for CIMP. The Amherst concert is fast, dense and intensely rhythmic, with even Eneidi’s firecracker phrases working to establish the relentless groove. The Philadelphia concert starts off and ends in similarly furious territory, but its centre is a calm soundscape that makes use of Ellis’s squelchy-sounding electronics. It's a nice change of pace, to be sure, but the essence of this trio remains the burners, which will take the top of your head off.