Jun-Y Ciao: soprano saxophone
Zhu Wenbo: clarinet

Recorded by Yan Jun at studio h in Beijing, August 16, 2023.
Mixed and mastered by Zhu Wenbo

In “Handle, Nail and Rubber Dinosaur”, Jun-Y Ciao plays soprano saxophone and Zhu Wenbo plays clarinet. Before recording there was very little pre-planning, the only decision was that they each play a few short passages.

They recorded a single take, during which there were some naturally occurring pauses and breaks – these make up the first 13 tracks of the album. After that they decided to make another recording with a more defined limitation: they maintain fixed fingerings, limiting the scope of the performance to breathing and embouchure.

Juxtaposing two co-occurring performances to produce a third sound form is an improvised music strategy that Jun-Y Ciao and Zhu Wenbo have been using for many years now, and the title of the album is a play on this theme. They contributed one word each, and the two words led to the third word: a handle fixed to a drawer with nails, inside the drawer a toy dinosaur was found.

Jun-Y Ciao 照骏园 is an artist and musician living in Shanghai. He is a member of MTDM 没腿的马 (duo with Yi Tao) and Free Music Collective of Shanghai, and founder of independent art institution “Where is the Zeitgeist?” - Editing Office.

Jun-Y Ciao has released two albums in Zoomin’ Night: a solo album “Four Live Recordings in 2016” and a trio album “KILL AS TIME” with Xu Cheng and MAI mai as the group C.F.G. (Conscious Feedback Group).

https://whereisthezeitgeisteditingoffice.bandcamp.com/music
https://fmcs.bandcamp.com/
https://zoominnight.bandcamp.com/album/four-live-recordings-in-2016
https://zoominnight.bandcamp.com/album/killed-as-time