Now, this was a bit tougher going. In contrast to
PJ-and-Parish’s previous collaboration, Dance
Hall at Louse Point, A Woman … was
recorded in bits over a much longer period and doesn’t hang together anything
like so cohesively. If it has any unity, it’s that of two virtuoso performers
enjoying what they can do. And ‘enjoying’ is the keyword: this is a recording
that mangles styles, moods and expectations with anarchic glee. There’s a lot
on it which is comic, though it’s serious more often than the presentation
might lead you to think at first glance.
My memory is that I whipped through the album and then let
it rest for a long while before returning to it again, which was unfair. I can
now appreciate its cleverness and experimentation much more than I did. If
nothing else it acts as a tonic against any impression of the maestra as a pitilessly demanding and
downbeat artiste who can’t do anything but misery – as if we thought that
anyway.
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