photo by Stefano Giovannini
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photo by Stefano Giovannini
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"While buckleheaded fascists continue to try and stop the progressive roiling of the essential ecstatic impulse that lurks in us all, Flaherty and Corsano negate their every thrust w/ gorgeous parries of sheer emotional intellect." - Byron Coley
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Saxophonist Paul Flaherty and drummer Chris Corsano are musicians dedicated to the promise and purpose of free improvisation. Paul has released over 75 recordings since In the Midst of Chaos, his debut LP from 1978, while Chris first appeared on wax in 1997. They have played together for the past 20 years, touring all throughout the U.S. and Europe. Meanwhile, they've racked up over 20 full-lengths, starting with 2001's The Hated Music. The duo often expands into larger collaborations with some of the finest freedom thinkers around such as C. Spencer Yeh, Greg Kelley, Steve Baczkowski, Christina Carter, Heather Leigh, Joe McPhee, Thurston Moore, Bill Nace, Tony Conrad, and Jim O'Rourke. When pared down to just the two of them, the duo's high-energy telepathy becomes most evident. No matter the situation, Flaherty and Corsano seek to champion the cause of total free improvisation--an often misunderstood, underestimated, and sometimes even hated art form.
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - The Hated Music 2LP
Double LP reissue done in 2018 by the Feeding Tube label of the duo's first release, originally from 2001. New artwork by Gary Panter.2017 release on Bill Nace's Open
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Baczkowski/Corsano/Flaherty - The Dull Blade LP
Recorded at Firehouse 12 Studio in New Haven, CT in 2015. Released by Feeding Tube. Second trio record with the great sax player from Buffalo, Steve Baczkowski. Mixed by Corsano.
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Nace/Corsano/Flaherty - These LP
2017 release on Bill Nace's Open Mouth imprint. Recorded and mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato at Sonelab Studios.
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Rasmussen/Flaherty/Corsano - Star-Spangled Voltage LP
Recorded, mixed, and released by Corsano on his Hot Cars Warp label in 2016. Double sax and drums. This is a multi-track live recording that documents the first meeting of Mette Rasmussen and Paul Flaherty in 2014.
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - Low-Cost Space Flights LP
Live recording from 2013, released by Feeding Tube Records in '14. Simon Bosse cover art.
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Dredd Foole/Baczkowski/Corsano/Nace/Flaherty - Wrong Number LP
First (and only so far) meeting of this quintet with Dredd Foole on vocals. Recorded/mixed by Jim Matus. Released in 2014 on Bill Nace's Open Mouth label.
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Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh - "Revolving Door Assault" split 7in. with Oren Ambarchi/Matt Skitz Sanders
One live track by a trio with C. Spencer Yeh from London 2006. Recorded by Pete Coward. Other side is a duo of Ambarchi-Sanders. Released in 2010.
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Thurston Moore Quartet - The Roadhouse Session Vol. 1 CD
Same line up as Live At Tonic (Wally Shoup, Paul Flaherty, Thurston Moore & Chris Corsano). This is a studio recording from Sept. 2002, unintentionally aged for 5 years in the incapable hands of the drummer and then rescued from obscurity by Jim O'Rourke for Japanese Columbia.
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Shoup/Corsano/Flaherty - Blank Check LP
The Finnish half of the 2nd twin-release of the Tyyfus and Records labels. The first time around was the Flaherty-Corsano Last Eyes/Steel Sleet LPs. This time out it's recordings from a live set of the Wally Shoup, Corsano & Flaherty trio at Gallery 1412 in Seattle, WA in October 2005.
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Shoup/Corsano/Flaherty - Bounced Check LP
The Records half of the Blank/Bounced Check sister releases. Again, recorded Oct 2005 at Seattle's Gallery 1412. Shoup on alto, Corsano on drums, Flaherty on alto & tenor.
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Cold Bleak Heat - Simitu CD
Second Cold Bleak Heat (Flaherty/Corsano/Matt Heyner/Greg Kelley) release and the lucky number 13th full length release for Flaherty/Corsano. As with the first Cold Bleak Heat, on the Family Vineyard label.
mp3 of Pound Cake
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Dream/Aktion Unit - Blood Shadow Rampage CD
First release by the Dream/Aktion Unit. This line-up features Thurston Moore, Count Hejnowski, Heather Leigh Murray, Flaherty and Corsano. Recorded live at Le Weekend, May 2005. Artwork by the great Karen Constance.
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Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh - Slow Blind Avalanche LP
Vinyl only release, limited to 1000 copies with the first 200 on snow-white vinyl. Recorded at the same session as A Rock In The Snow (but totally different cuts than that CD). Artwork by C. Spencer Yeh. Liner notes by John Olson.
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Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh - A Rock In The Snow CD
Recorded in Hartford as part of the session with C. Spencer Yeh on violin and vocals that also birthed the Slow Blind Avalanche LP, both on Important Records. Artwork by Spencer, liners by John Olson.
mp3 clip of We Have To Check Your Equipment For Bombs
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - Full Bottle LP
Another live one from Louisville, this one from 2005. Fifth duo recording (third on vinyl) by Flaherty/Corsano. Artwork by Dennis Tyfus and released by his estimable Ultra Eczema label. Limited to 400 copies. There is a commercial for this record here, done by a couple of Belgium's finest thespians.
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - The Beloved Music CD
Recorded live in Louisville, KY in 2004 and released in '06 by Family Vineyard, with liner notes by David Keenan. "Like biting in to the skin of free-creature and having the swarm attack your feeble body." - John Olson.
mp3 clip of The Great Pine Tar Scandal
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - Steel Sleet LP
Issued by the Finnish label, Tyyfus, Steel Sleet is the all-tenor (minus a little bit of alto mouth-piece on one track) corollary to the Last Eyes LP.
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - Last Eyes LP
4 years after the The Hated Music, the Flaherty-Corsano Duo makes another appearance on record, this time a vinyl full length of all-alto & drums material. Released by Records in conjunction with it's tenor-heavy sister record, Steel Sleet on the Tyyfus label.
mp3
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Steve Baczkowski/Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty - The Dim Bulb CD
Baritone player Steve Baczkoski hails from Buffalo, rides his bike to gigs with his horn on his back (it's a baritone for Christ's sake!), and wails harder than most sax players either 1/2 or double his age or anywhere in between. This is a live recording of a this trio's first show, May 31st, 2003.
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Cold Bleak Heat - It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War CD
Flaherty, Corsano, Greg Kelley (trumpet - nmperign, Heathen Shame, BSC) and Matt Heyner (bass -TEST, No Neck Blues Band, Izitiitz). On Family Vineyard. Liner notes by Dredd Foole.
mp3 clips from It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War:
Raising The Dead (Freezer Fight)
The Blue Dabs Of Varicose Veins
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Wally Shoup/Paul Flaherty/Thurston Moore/Chris Corsano - Live at Tonic CD
On Leo Records. A live set recorded at Tonic in NYC on September 14th, 2002. Cover art by Wally Shoup.
mp3 clip: Live at Tonic
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Paul Flaherty/Greg Kelley/Chris Corsano - Sannyasi CD
The second offering from Flaherty & Corsano is a trio disc with Boston-based trumpeter Greg Kelley. Released in July, 2002, on Flaherty's new imprint Wet Paint, with Paul's artwork gracing the front cover.
mp3 clip from Wayless Way
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Flaherty/Corsano Duo - The Hated Music CD
This is the debut CD from the Paul Flaherty-Chris Corsano Duo, released by Ecstatic Yod, the combination of Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace & Byron Coley's Father Yod labels. With cover art by the great Gary Panter and liner notes by Byron "power kuk" Coley.
mp3 clips from The Hated Music:
Hat City Fire Truck
Tom Wilson's Dream
Rut One
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"Flaherty and his saxophones are a subterranean legend in the kingdoms of the north. Since the 'In the Midst of Chaos' LP was recorded, back in the mid '70s, Paul has been a persistent roar in the distance - pervading the aura of the region's improvisational underground, whilst eschewing its spotlights. Chris Corsano is one of the most immensely talented drummers to have emerged from the recent past. Those who have witnessed the giganticism of his formal leaps in the jaws of post-avant-garde power surging, have been left slack w/ the wonder & hilarity of it all." - Byron Coley
"If the duo situation is all about communication, then Flaherty and Corsano are clearly an ideal musical partnership." - Robert Iannapollo, Cadence Magazine
"The Hated Music is an absolute tour de force, superbly recorded and positively spitting fire from beginning to end. Taking its place in the canon of magnificent sax/drums collaborations starting with Coltrane's Interstellar Space and Frank Lowe's Duo Exchange (both with Rashied Ali on percussives), The Hated Music can stand its ground against these two classics without fear." - Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic/Signal To Noise
"It's the focused flashes of pure white light that'll keep you coming back, from the strangulated beauty of 'Incident At Powder Ridge' through the duo assault of 'Closing The Tea Party', Flaherty and Corsano make an infernal tag team." - David Keenan, The Wire on The Hated Music
"More than thirty years after the death of Albert Ayler, Flaherty and Corsano's music is the most compelling evidence I've heard in some time that music like this still needs to be played." Charlie Wilmoth, Dusted Magazine
More press quotes here.
photo by Stephanie Pollnac
2001 Amherst, Mass.
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