Prism Mirror Lens, by Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief

Prism Mirror Lens

by Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$7 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
140 gram black vinyl in a resealable bag, because single-use plastics suck.

Includes unlimited streaming of Prism Mirror Lens via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 4 days

edition of 300

Purchasable with gift card

$20 USD or more
Limited Edition CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
In card sleeve with full art.

Includes unlimited streaming of Prism Mirror Lens via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

	1.	Light Green 11:57
	2.	Bright Blue 10:19
	3.	Cloudy Blue 14:44
	4.	Forest Green 06:34

about

Prism Mirror Lens is an exquisite example of what happens when two consummate group collaborators are given the space to establish their own language. Veteran Bay Area composer and reeds improviser Philip Greenlief has a gift for intense intimacy and exploring the saxophone’s sotto voce registers. The Baltimore-based Susan Alcorn has transformed her pedal-steel guitar into an orchestra capable of lyrical tapestries and pointillistic details. They both have ears sensitive enough to elevate any musical setting they’re dropped in, from ecstatic bluster to quiet tenderness. Together, they’ve created a startlingly poignant album that showcases free improvisation’s ability to arouse meditative deep listening.

That “deep listening” quality is no coincidence—Alcorn and Greenlief were both friends and admirers of the late composer/musical thinker Pauline Oliveros, and of her ethos. Impressed by Alcorn’s playing on recordings, Greenlief had contacted her out of the blue several years ago to ask if he could visit Baltimore, hang out, and play. The musical relationship they forged led to a few East Coast dates, and a West Coast tour, which culminated in a recording session in Long Beach, Calif., in May 2017.

Prism Mirror Lens’ four extended tracks deliver the emotional density of large abstract paintings. Alcorn answers Greenlief’s clusters of billowing sax notes with a flirtation of sustained twang in “Bright Blue,” a contrast that limns an expansive desert just before sunset. Greenlief’s quavering tones paint an inky night at the beginning of “Forest Green” that Alcorn dots with chime-like plucked notes.

The whole album suggests a cosmic narrative. The pair sound like they’re emerging from a primordial pool as lead-off track “Light Green” first ignites, Alcorn’s anxious strings clashing against Greenlief’s vibrating note runs before they establish a consoling calm.

Intelligently accessible and impishly serious, Prism Mirror Lens is one of those snapshots that documents two artists’ enthusiastic sui generis conversation.

credits

released November 29, 2019

Susan Alcorn - pedal steel guitar
Phillip Greenlief - tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet
Produced by Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief
Recorded at Big Ego Studio in Long Beach, California
Engineered by Devin O’Brien and Chris Schlarb
Mixed by Susan Alcorn
Mastered by A.F. Jones at Laminal Audio
Art direction by Frank Hamilton

license

about

Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief image

Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief Baltimore, Maryland

contact / help

Contact Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Susan Alcorn and Phillip Greenlief, you may also like:

Pedernal
by Susan Alcorn Quintet

supported by 25 fans who also own “Prism Mirror Lens”

This is serious music. And funny, too...and melancholic. Love the variety between beautiful melodies and improvised explorations! Guitar Noire
go to album
Sun Beans of Shimmering Light
by Wadada Leo Smith / Douglas R. Ewart / Mike Reed

supported by 21 fans who also own “Prism Mirror Lens”

Simply amazing to hear a new album with Wadada and Ewart!! ...And Reed rounds out this trio beautifully. Just gave it my first spin. Absolutely magical. jeffrey maurer
go to album
Pillars
by Tyshawn Sorey

supported by 19 fans who also own “Prism Mirror Lens”

Total mastery of patience, time, and drama create a constantly engaging journey that never gets tiresome or same-y: in fact the harder you listen the better it gets! Somehow Sorey et al. find a way to combine the deep listening and spontaneous interaction of the best jazz with the sense of every tone and sound being worth a universe of listening, which could be equally from Cage and Feldman or the accompaniment to an ancient ritual. The recording/engineering is absolutely perfect as well. Giles
go to album
Pith
by Tomas Fujiwara

featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 2, 2024
go to album
Circle of Madness
by Janek van Laak

Drummer, composer, and producer Janek van Laak creates free and flowing jazz that highlights bold vocals and instrumentation. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 19, 2024
go to album
A Call For All Demons (Sun Ra Suite)
by Myles Boisen Past-Present-Future

featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 29, 2022
go to album
Artlessly Falling
by Mary Halvorson's Code Girl

supported by 19 fans who also own “Prism Mirror Lens”

Mary Halvorson is a genius composer and guitarist who has developed her own musical language, and with Code Girl she has incorporated poetry into that language. Incredible compositions and lyricism (each track is a different kind of poem). Halvorson's playing is as great as usual, and all the other members of the band sound great. Robert Wyatt's singing in particular works extremely well in the tracks he's featured. Highly, highly recommend. rat
go to album