Dark Matter
Jim Denley is no common or garden flute player. His idea of a beautiful sound would probably make James Galway write another book (heaven forbid!). From the tiniest whispered whistle to the loudest shriek, his palette is extraordinary.
Carefully captured in true stereo, the recording places you inside Denley's head, as if you were making the sounds yourself. This is his first solo CD, and not his last. Experience the world of 'the other flute'.
The album is a solo free-improvisation programme for flute, alto saxophone, flax and percussion, ranging from the briefest gestures to long, exposed soliloquies.
Reviews
Jim Denley does far more than hold the attention just by making lots of different sounds (though the range of sounds he is able to coax from the instrument is astonishing in itself) or by prodigious displays of technique (though it is obvious he is a virtuoso) – he makes an intense and powerful artistic statement.
... Jim Denley's abstract improvising is limpid and refreshing ... The use of flute is definitive; the full gamut of available resources are constantly employed ... there is a welcomely austere approach to improvising ... In Denley's brave exposed soliloquies the limitations of improvisation are besieged; the results are of a rarified and special quality.
Artist
Jim Denley
Jim Denley's flute and saxophone improvisations range from the tiniest whispered whistle to the loudest shriek. He treats breath, flax and reed as raw material for austere, intense free sound.
Tracks
- Dark Matter Jim Denley 4:09
- Being... and other Logical Burps Jim Denley 6:53
- Ringing In the Empty Sky Jim Denley 4:40
- Physics and other Amputations of the Self, Goes to Town Jim Denley 13:18
- In Pitch Dark Jim Denley 4:31
- 1 :33
- 2 :40
- 3 1:56
- 4 :47
- 5 1:42
- Cargo Cultists Jim Denley 3:44
- Aestheticists of Not Knowing Jim Denley 5:40
- Southerly Busters, Polarising the Sky with Coal Dust Jim Denley 6:06
- Ringing the Bell, Warning the Horizon Jim Denley 3:25
- As the Intergalactic Flax Dag Jim Denley 3:21
- Mutters Darkly Jim Denley 5:22
The Mirror and the Slapstick Cadavers Jim Denley
Performers
- Jim Denley · flute, alto saxophone, flax, percussion
Contributors

Layout, Design
Belinda Webster
Belinda Webster is the founder of Tall Poppies Records and a leading Australian producer and recording engineer whose work has documented classical, contemporary and jazz performance across decades of catalogue releases.
Photography
Morman McBeath
Photography [Cover]
Peter Lyssiotis
Where to listen
Dark Matter is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Dark Matter is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- TP008
- Total playing time
- 66 minutes 47 seconds
- Producer
- Belinda Webster
Jim Denley - Recording Engineer
- Belinda Webster
- Editing Engineer
- Belinda Webster
- Credit
- Belinda Webster
Morman McBeath
Peter Lyssiotis - Release date
- 12 Sep 1992
- Label
- Tall Poppies
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 1992 Tall Poppies Records
- Category
- Improvisation
- Genres
- Jazz & Improvised, Experimental
- Barcode
- EAN 9399000000822
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