For those unaware, hailed as America’s most intimate composer and improviser, multi-instrumentalist Ned Rothenberg has evolved a singular and deeply personal language on an array of woodwinds - primarily alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet and shakuhachi flute - over the course of four and a half decades of investigatory musicianship.

On his brand new album Looms & legends (due out September 5th,2025 via Pyroclastic Records), his first solo recording since 2012’s clarinet-focused World of Odd Harmonics, Rothenberg once again reveals himself to be a captivating storyteller and an unparalleled sonic architect.

Indeed the album hints in its title at the fundamental elements that make Rothenberg’s unaccompanied excursions so compelling: its deft, multi-hued weaving and the spellbinding eloquence of its unfolding narratives. “I think of those elements as the X and Y axes of my approach”, Rothenberg explains. “In my improvisations, there are the more melodic pieces that have a definite sense of starting at a certain place and taking you along a storyline. Then there are the loom pieces which present the listener a rich and atypical environment in which to weave their own subjective narrative”.

1. Dance Above
2. Denali
3. Resistance Anthem
4. How You Slice It
5. Plun Jah
6. Brief Tall Tale
7. Urgency
8. Flurry
9. Bounding Not Binding
10. Fra Gile
11. Inner Briation
12. Tender Hooks
13. BellKeyBell
14. ’Round Midnight

Rothenberg continues to craft his elegant improvisations from the rich vocabulary that he has honed over the past decades, showcasing them oh-so eloquently here on this new recording, which opens on the transportive fluctuations of Dance Above and then brings us the emotive Denali and the flourishing Resistance Anthem, and they are in turned backed by the stalking nature of How You Slice It, the free-flowing, coursing Plun Jah and the swirling and twirling Brief Tall Tale, before the impassioned Urgency is upon us.

Along next is the cautiously-imbibed Flurry and the gently-hued, quietly playful vibe of Bounding Not Binding, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the all-embracing Fra Gile, the rhythmically delightful Inner Briation, and then we get the languishing beauty of Tender Hooks, the album rounding out on the furtively sculpted BellKeyBell, coming to a close on an effortlessly humble ’Round Midnight.

Official Purchase Link

www.nedrothenberg.com