Larry Ochs: reeds
Scott Amendola: drums
Don Robinson: drums

All About Jazz; 2007-12
"...Known mostly for his work in the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, tenor and sopranino saxophonist Larry Ochs assembled Sax & Drumming Core in 2000, partnering his reeds with the drums of Scott Amendola and Donald Robinson, two other members of the Bay Area improvising community. Amendola has recently upped his profile in Nels Cline's unit, while Robinson was a longtime collaborator with saxophonist Glenn Spearman, including the Double Trio with Spearman and Ochs.
Up From Under, recorded on a European tour in 2004, is Core's second release, following The Neon Truth (Black Saint, 2002). The basic thrust behind the unit, according to Ochs, is as a vehicle for exploring the vocal tradition in African-American, Eastern European and Asian cultures, vis-a-vis the "cry" atop the drum choir. The title track employs a heavy, dual backbeat as Ochs digs in, panning his tenor voice in gutbucket honks and pulpit-shaking shouts. Rarely does a pair of drummers occupying a tight rhythmic space behave so complementarily, but Amendola and Robinson stir one another's pots with rounded sashays and devilish accents. Ochs enters in a brief and spare dialogue on sopranino with Robinson, exploring delicate patterns of tongue-speech before returning to raspy exhortation.
But as much fire and brimstone might come from the blues tradition, Sax & Drumming Core isn't all yawp. "Dragon Fly" is a dusky, pastoral piece, its lilting and wispy subtones intermingling with distant tub patterns. The clicks and pinched phrases of the higher horn are in full view on "X-10," well-matched by percussive seesaws. The glossolalia Ochs employs on tenor become delicate minutiae of cadence and tone in between salvos of hot infinity. Up From Under presents a nuanced set of improvisations from the vocal-drum tradition, a refining of the art which is as much forward glance as homage..."
[Clifford Allen]
www.allaboutjazz.com