Iskra³
Iskra³ is an album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. It was recorded on September 26, 2004, at Lawrence Electronic Operations in the Chilterns, England, and was released in 2005 by Psi Records. On the album, Rutherford is joined by computer musicians Robert Jarvis and Lawrence Casserley. Reception In a review for AllMusic, François Couture wrote: "Computer, trombone and computer are locked in a complex three-way dance. Rutherford is left ample room to breathe and play. His signature tone provides the backbone of the whole album. Casserley and Jarvis explode, fragment and refract the trombone's input, and these digitalized ghost images trigger from Rutherford a kind of interaction that is strikingly different from his behavior with acoustic instrumentalists... Iskra3 may remain an oddity in Rutherford's discography, but it is more than a simple concession to the electro-acoustic improv trend of the mid-'00s." The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album a full 4 stars, calling it "a new stage in Rutherford's remarkable career." They commented: "These are immensely powerful pieces, still dominated by Rutherford's trombone-playing, but now in the context of a highly responsive background that gives the music mass and density as well as line and presence."