'Short and Sweet' is one of the few recordings made by composer and saxophonist Terry Jennings, one of the forgotten artists of early minimalism, and one of the most intriguing. Having played jazz with La Monte Young in the mid 50s, he went to on to compose, like Young, in a minimal vein, though his music is more varied in its development or non-development, more Fedlman-like in its harmonies, than Young's. Whereas Young's classic work tends to aim for grand statement, for kosmic drone aura, for total sensual and spiritual immersion, the impressions one gets, or I get, from Jennings' music, is of a quiet, dedicated activity with so little pretensions about its own work that it can just exist, as the most beautiful background tinkle, in the corner of a room, in the stillness of a quiet afternoon, contemplation as practice and process, as unswerving, unprepossessing commitment. (Jennings' delicate and un-imposingly beautiful piano pieces have been recorded by John Tilbury for Another Timbre on the album 'Lost Daylight', of which an excerpt can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZu1XIL97gE. In this vein, one might also cite Dennis John's extraordinary extended Piano Piece (recorded by Jennings, and largely transcribed from initial improvisations), which has been recorded by Kyle Gann, and is available online, though it awaits an official release.)
This recording finds Jennings as improvising instrumentalist, rather than composer, though the same attitudes and qualities brought to his composing apply here, his air-light soprano saxophone floating and keening with the kind of non-western note bends that so often find their way into Early Minimalism, floating almost into disappearance, introspectively sad or melancholy or serene all at once. Of the available recordings, this is the most substantial: the others are a duo in which he plays, in similar fashion, over Charlotte Moorman's cello drones, and a strange jam with Angus MacLise and John Cale entitled 'Terry's Cha Cha'. Jennings' late pieces, which I have not heard, are apparently neo-romantic in style.
