Ants Can Count

Although trombonist Bruce Fowler and his many brothers all have a strong sense of humor, this set is actually fairly somber much of the time. Fowler utilizes different instrumentation on each of his originals and some of the pieces are almost completely written out, while a couple others are more freely improvised. The music falls between jazz and modern classical music, with a wide variety of intriguing tone colors and unusual combinations of instruments. For example, "Mountain Mist" and "Something Big" have four brass instruments, flute, drums, and percussion. Fowler overdubbed himself on a few trombones for "Ode to Stravinsky and the American Indians" and is heard all alone on "One Man One Bone." There are duets by Fowler with flute and French horn, a feature for a brass quartet on "Let's Hope," and a few numbers with more conventional instrumentations. This set would have been uplifted if it had utilized more of Fowler's wit, but what is here does hold one's interest.