The long-standing improvisation outfit
CCMC recorded sparsely. A short tour of Quebec in May 1997 opened the door for a live album on the label Disques Victo. The CD
aCCoMpliCes culls excerpts from shows at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville and the Festival des Musiques de Création de Jonquière, along with a couple of performances in the trio's hometown Toronto in June 1996. At that time,
CCMC was founder
Michael Snow on piano and occasional Oberheim synthesizer, John Oswald on alto saxophone, and Paul Dutton on vocals and sound poetry. The five improvisations are segued together by short sound collages by Oswald, master of the plunderphonics technique. The music
CCMC plays is a free-form improv rooted in jazz. Snow often comes back to jazz and blues chord progressions during softer passages (like the intro of "Felon Y Va"). Oswald throws uninterrupted strings of fast notes, his contribution being the less interesting. Dutton, a vocal artist in the same vein as
Jaap Blonk, improvises gripping melodies, makes mouth noises, plays with phonems, and even throws in a few harmonica notes. The fact that
aCCoMpliCes collects the best portions of four different shows and was released on an important label (unlike
CCMC's previous albums, now impossible to find) makes it the group's best record so far. Strongly recommended, if only for the hilarious mockery-blues "Felon Y Va." ~ François Couture