By Paul Acquaro
At the Moers festival last spring, woodwindist Lao Dan played a solo show in a hair salon. It was a small storefront in the town's shopping area and it was packed. Eager listeners were arrayed outside on the sidewalk, in the chairs and along the walls, making a bit of space for Dan in the middle of the narrow space. The free jazz musician from Szechuan, China has been slowly making an imprint on the Western free jazz scene over the past few years and last spring in Moers he had no trouble filling the space with his robust sound, whether playing the saxophone or various traditional flutes and woodwind instruments. His approach was one of being fully in - musically and physically, he moved through the small space with purpose and vigor, embodying the sound the he was making. The music on To Hit a Pressure Point, a solo recording from Dan out on the ever bold Relative Pitch label from New York, is a perfect encapsulation of this experience.
The 9 tracks on To Hit a Pressure Point have a flow, to listen to them is an experience, and one that is best done from start to end. Not to say that you cannot enjoy it if you pick a random spot, there is beauty and ruggedness, refinement and rawness at any entry point, but following the whole stream reveals the complete picture. In fact, it is possible to think of it as a stream, running down from a remote mountain top, the winter snow melt adding volume and force. It begins small, a narrow rivulet, and as it flows, it grows fuller and stronger. At times, Dan's physicality is audible, a grunt, a shout, are like rocks in the stream, forcing the water to bubble around them, creating new currents and waves. Other times it pools into tranquil pockets, calm and peaceful, for a moment, before continuing on.
Dan's sonic vocabulary belies a great deal of study, there are elements of classic free jazz as well as Chinese folk music, and something that also was a part of that solo Moers performance: punk. The movement, the sound, the fierce emotion behind his playing is captivating - not always easily accessible, not always easily digested, but like a rugged hike along a mountain stream, worth every mesmerizing moment.
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