Music Review

Title: Alive

Musicians: Sax as Sax Can (Klaus Kreuzeder and Henry Sincigno) 

Publisher/Distributor: Trick Music, 1992/1999 

Available at:  http://trick-music.de

Reviewer: Steven E. Brown

      I first learned about Klaus Kreuzeder when I traveled to Germany in the mid-1990s.  Although, I had a chance to attend several festivals celebrating disability culture, I seemed to always just miss his performances.  But whenever I asked anyone about music and disability in Germany, Klaus Kreuzeder’s name always came up.  A few months ago a German friend arrived in Hawai‘i.  I had asked him if he could bring some music by people with disabilities.  He brought the compact disc of Alive.  
	This is the kind of music I would like if I had no clue who the musicians were.  It is scintillating jazz, with Kreuzeder playing soprano and alto saxophones and a sopranino, and Sincigno strumming acoustic guitars.  The amazing part of this combination is that Kreuzeder is a wheelchair-using polio survivor.  While many polios (as they call themselves) have difficulty breathing, Kreuzeder is wailing away on these instruments.  In fact, there is one particular song in which he holds a note for a long time—a minute or two.  It seemed every time that particular stretch of music played, my wife came in the room and felt blasted by the music.
	Kreuzeder, who left Sax as Sax Can for a solo career in the late 1990s also seems to have a disability consciousness.  This live recording was made in a variety of venues, including the 1996 Paralymics in Atlanta and Soweto, South Africa school for children with disabilities.  The music on this disc contains no lyrics.  It’s straight jazz, with homages to great composers like Dave Brubeck and Hoagy Carmichael with Take Five and Georgia on My Mind.  The remainder of the thirteen songs are original compositions.
	I highly recommend this music to anyone who likes jazz.  It will get your juices flowing.