Chicago Reader Review
JASON STEIN SOLO In Exchange for a Process + JASON STEIN’S LOCKSMITH ISIDORE Three Less Than Between
Leo Records 2009
Clean Feed Records 2009

As one of the few improvisers to play bass clarinet exclusively, Jason Stein has had to work extra hard—unlike most of his peers, who sometimes switch to a saxophone or some smaller species of clarinet, he has to accommodate the needs of different groups solely by wrangling with his rather unwieldy instrument. Like brilliant German bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, Stein has managed to extend the sound of the horn, giving it the full-bodied feel of a sax in certain contexts. Tonight he celebrates the release of two very different new recordings. In Exchange For A Process (Leo) is an arresting solo effort in which he isolates and enlarges upon specific aspects of his vocabulary, treating them to a kind of microscopic focus that renders the results almost completely abstract. Many of the pieces are clearly linear, but only a few develop melodically; many zero in on breath sounds or tensely knotted phrases that Stein pulls apart with methodical rigor. Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed) is the second album from Locksmith Isidore, his trio with drummer Mike Pride and bassist Jason Roebke; as the two of them flesh out Stein's strong tunes, which routinely dissolve the boundary between composition and improvisation, they do an excellent job switching from bristling swing to tangled outbursts of unmetered free jazz. It's especially rewarding to listen to the trio after the solo record: the different aspects of his technique that he showcases alone are the raw materials from which he shapes his spontaneous lines in the group.

-Peter Margasak, December 2009