ROVA SAXOPHONE QUARTET: SAXOPHONE DIPLOMACY (Lp, Hat Hut Records, Box 127, West Park, NY 12493) This is a two album live set documenting Rova's tour of Russia, Latvia, and Rumania. It is interesting to note that Rova and its music is considered 'safe' for an Eastern Bloc audience, whereas such music could never be safe for an average U.S. audience. one wonders, ultimately, which culture is more open.

Rova's sound owes as much to Schoenberg as it does to Charlie Parker, and the group blends these influences to create an extremely powerful music. A worthwhile avant-garde will not merely play with limits like the variables of a scientific formula -- a cold intellectual game -- but will be evocative of both emotion and intellect, will stimulate the intellect through the emotions and reminds us that there is such a thing as a fresh experience. And this album is an excellent example of what the avant-garde can do. SP

Typed by Cheryl Vega 6-11-95