Colin Stetson, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges

I distrust the saxophone as a solo instrument, if only because it’s such an important member of soul, R&B and jazz conversations that it seems a shame to let it blurt lonesomely. Colin Stetson’s got a relationship to the instrument that makes it seem more like a Terry Riley keyboard, and I’m fascinated. Recorded without overdubs but with an array of microphones, Stetson’s minimalist bleeps and bloops and tentative melodies echo, glide and bounce off the walls. Some sounds are fraught (the haunted “Home”), others are funky and fresh (the rollicking “Red Horse”). It all ends with the foghorn industrial “In Love and Justice,” which reminds of how little Stetson is working with here, and how much he’s capable of.