David Borgo - Chance, Discovery and Design

Personnel: David Borgo (saxophones, alto flute, EWI, electronics, video) with Joe Bigham, William Brent, Mason Bretan, Rich Eakin, Karlheinz Essl, Tom Ferguson, Geoff Gartner, Gascia Ouzounian, Jonathon Piper, Jason Ponce, Jeff Sapin, Bert Turetzky, Cesar Villavicencio, John Walsh, Jr, Matt Wilson

Although we habitually oppose them, Chance, Discovery and Design are inextricably linked. Artists, in particular, learn to embrace serendipity while cultivating an inquisitive nature and developing the discipline to hone compelling moments out of an endless stream of complexity. Chance, Discovery and Design is at once both a highly personal work and the product of considerable local and distributed collaboration. The music flows from intimate saxophone and flute improvisations to exploratory large ensemble playing, all the while fusing electronic with acoustic sound sources and pairing human intentionality with computer interaction. The performances are set to visuals, at times mysterious and provocative, designed to enhance the music without ever overtaking it. Ultimately each selection was created through a certain synergy of unpredictable, exploratory and highly controlled gestures–through Chance, Discovery and Design.

More about David Borgo

Borgo has the history of the music down pat; his tunes offer a flavoring of post-bop structure, but he steers the bands unerringly into the current era through his gliding improvising style and tune construction.... He touches on the past, teases with the future, but mainly speaks in the present tense.
-Frank Rubolino, All About Jazz

Borgo's wild flight over the jouncing rhythm team is fresh and sometimes even dryly laconic... and the original melodies are knotty and memorable. Mr. Borgo and band are looking for a new combination of the elements of 'free' and 'hard bop'... worth a listen for anybody wanting to hear the beginnings of a new approach.
-Kenneth Egbert, Jazz Now

On soprano Borgo weaves delicate patterns across the music, while on other tracks he sets a classic big-hearted tenor sound in dialogue with avantgarde spikiness.
-Nate Doward, Coda

Well-worth checking out.
-Scott Yanow, All Music Guide