Steele, Jan And Janet Sherbourne

***Jan Steele and Janet Sherbourne gained a reputation for being ambient musicians thanks to their appearance with John Cage on 1976’s Voices And Instruments from Brian Eno’s lofty Obscure series. But in a fascinating catalog spanning more than four decades, these English multi-instrumentalists’ variegated sonic sojourns have proved that label to be far too narrow. In the long-gestating, decades-spanning collection, Distant Saxophones, Steele and Sherbourne flaunt a nuanced vision that encompasses ECM-esque chamber jazz, minimalist modern composition, cinematic soundtracks, and an embryonic, contemplative precursor of postrock. 
 
Important players in the UK’s avant-garde music scene and avid ethnomusicology students since the early ‘70s, saxophonist/flutist/composer Steele and pianist/vocalist Sherbourne showed affinities for neo-classical, gamelan, jazz, experimental pop, the Cuban dance music charanga, and production music. It may be these artists’ very diversity that has sabotaged their ability to gain greater attention in the fickle music business.  
 
Distant Saxophones—many of whose tracks have been re-recorded and improved from their original incarnations—invites you to lean in and bask in an interiorized zone of revelations. These songs simultaneously freeze time and exist outside of it.  
Community Library’s anthology is offered in a single LP format with a tracklist more limited than the CD version; the LP’s digital download ticket provides the full music set.