Jeffrey Morgan – Quasar-Mach

Recommended thematic avant-garde/free-jazz suite loosely based on the effects of time-travel. The album wavers between very sparse, brooding percussion based avant compositions reminiscent of the Gamelan Son of Lion LP on folkways and intense free jazz bridging on noise in parts. There is even a track that would sit well in the no-wave category. Definitely something you need to hear as words are difficult to describe what is going on. While many of the songs were composed in 1980/81 by Jeffrey Morgan, the album was released in 1983 on the tiny AuRoar label based in Washington in an edition of 600. AuRoar released only three other LPs but is still active in the Seattle Jazz scene today.

At first I didn’t appreciate the solo saxophone tracks featuring Jeffrey wailing relentlessly (you can hear him grasping for breath, an effect that further intensifies the listening). However, Jeff wrote to me in response to my questions “Actually, for me, Quasar-Mach is a conceptual mathematics equation: A Quasar travels at the speed of Light, plus the speed of sound that it must teminate, for me, meaning if you’re going faster than the speed of light, then you can reverse time, which is what the sax piece is like, as if it is being played backwards! It was, and sometimes still is one of my trademarks…”

If you can’t ride for solo saxophone madness then hopefully you’ll find the other compositions fitting. The breezy Egyptian sounding “Abstract Notions” or “Ambient Metal” (9 minutes) are my two favorites and worth the album alone.

Jeffrey can be reached via his website here. He currently resides in Germany and has made a successful living off music.

Listen: Quasar-Mach clips