Although Chris Speed is well known as a tenor saxist who has worked with Tim Berne in Bloodcount (starting in the early 1990's), Pachora (with Jim Black & Skuli Sverrison) and the Claudia Quintet, over time Mr. Speed has been doubling on clarinet for a long time as well. I don't think that Mr.
Speed has made a recording where he just plays clarinet until now and solo clarinet recordings are rather rare. For this disc Mr. Speed composed 6 of the nine tracks with diverse covers by Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Julius Hemphill and Paul Motian plus two covers from former bandmates: Hilmar Jensson (in Tyft) & Skuli S. (from Pachora).
The first thing I noticed about this disc is this: Mr. Speed has a wonderful, warm expressive tone on clarinet and this disc is superbly recorded, dry yet just right. The opening song is also the title track, "Light Line" and it is also a tour-de-force with Mr. Speed showing off his lush tone with layers of circular streams interwoven in a delightful tapestry. The piece sounds like a madrigal with several lines spinning at the same time. Since Mr. Speed is playing solo throughout this disc, he often takes the melody and then embellishes by weaving different lines around the central theme. Speed keeps each piece pretty short, mostly under 4 minutes each. Two highlights include "Miss Ann" by Eric Dolphy (from the first jazz record I ever bought in late 1972) and Julius Hemphill's "Rites" (from his classic
'Dogon A.D.' album). Each piece seems to tell a different story or at least set a different scene or vibe. What I find most interesting here is the way all of these songs fit together into a suite-like connection. Speed plays what sounds like an older classical piece called, "La Rosita Arribena", which brings this disc into another related world. I can't recall very many covers of John Coltrane's "Sun Ship" but we do get a spirited version on this disc.
The last piece is called, "It Should've Happened Long Ago" by Paul Motian.
The piece is rather solemn and a nice way to bring this mighty fine disc to an end.
