During his years in San Francisco, New York saxman Salant played with everyone from the Residents to Romeo Void. On Saxaphone [sic] Demonstrations, he multi-tracks himself into full-throated majesty on “4 saxaphone demonstrations in the new wave” and “4 saxaphone ramifications of sex and love.” Original, inventive, bracing, alternately abrasive and beautiful — a magic blend of modernism and tradition that is really neither rock nor jazz nor any other typical horn genre.
Sax Talk is a full-length album with backing by a stack of notable Bay Area musicians. A bit more restrained, it’s nonetheless an engaging and excellent collection of instrumental excursions — some fairly beat-heavy for dancing — in a number of different styles. The title track, co-written with bassist Stephen Ashman, also appears on a 12-inch in two remixes, along with two versions of another LP track and “Heavenly Choir,” a mellifluous wall of sax.