submitted on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 06:05 in Jazz Niche by Mike_Longo 
This album is the third part of an astonishing trilogy, following A Doughnut In Both Hands (1975-1982) (Emanem, 1998) and A Doughnut In One Hand (FMP, 1998). With its title, Minton seems to have heeded the advice he gave as a track title on In Both Hands--"Too Many Doughnuts Make You Ill."
Minton himself notes that, "I would prefer to sing with other people and most of the time that's what I do, but it seems every ten years or so I need to sing a few songs on my own." The nature of these songs is as eccentric as the album titles. While there are obvious strands of continuity from those earlier albums, seemingly gone forever are the full-blooded vocal performances of 1975-1982, replaced by a far more exploratory, experimental approach to voice. The vocal improvisations here--ranging in length from twenty-four seconds to just under three minutes-- are songs only in the sense that they employ the human voice. The sole exception is "Vo Be Dayish," an improvisation on a transcription by Veryan Weston of an improvisation by Phil Minton, which verges on scat singing, albeit employing non-standard vocal technique...
Source: allaboutjazz
Author: John Eyles
