Weight/Counterweight

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = The Free Jazz Collective

| rev1Score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.freejazzblog.org/2010/05/bill-dixon-aaron-siegel-ben-hall.html |title=Bill Dixon / Aaron Siegel / Ben Hall: Weight / Counterweight |date=May 21, 2010 |website=The Free Jazz Collective |access-date=January 29, 2023}}

}}

A reviewer for The Free Jazz Collective awarded the album a full 5 stars, calling it "fantastic," and commenting: "The music... is light as a breeze in its form, with sounds that sometimes barely create ripples in the silence, with zen-like punctuation and formless precision, yet full of substance and power... like a Japanese ink drawing, a few brush strokes are sufficient to evoke everything that needs to be said, a world by itself, creating an incredible memory imprint and listening experience.

Paris Transatlantic's Dan Warburton wrote: "The pace is uniform and leisurely and the mood contemplative, but there's a sense of underlying tension and extreme concentration throughout... Vibraphones and glockenspiels, struck and bowed, envelop Dixon's velvety tones in a warm glow, but there's not the slightest hint of easy listening chillout here: when the music does explode... its power, its weight, is tremendous."{{cite web |url=http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/monthly2010/05may_text.html |title=Vinyl Solution |first=Dan |last=Warburton |date=May 2010 |website=Paris Transatlantic |access-date=January 29, 2023}}

Writing for Arthur, Byron Coley and Thurston Moore called the album "one of the high points of [Dixon's] recording career," and remarked: "the two percussionists provide gorgeous interaction for Dixon's processed trumpet tones, and the 2LP set slides into a very deep zone. Dixon was always a perfectionist, and he rarely played with such grace."{{cite web |url=https://arthurmag.com/2010/10/17/tongue-top-ten-by-byron-coley-thurston-moore-2 |title=Tongue Top Ten |first1=Byron |last1=Coley |first2=Thurston |last2=Moore |website=Arthur |date=October 17, 2010 |access-date=January 29, 2023}}

Clifford Allen of Signal to Noise noted the "large, glacial areas with easy-breathing deliberateness" created by the percussionists, and commented: "Dixon says he 'always works orchestrally,' and Weight/Counterweight is powerful evidence of this."{{cite magazine |last=Allen |first=Clifford |date=Summer 2010|title=Signal to Noise |issue=58 |magazine=Signal to Noise |pages=54 |url=https://issuu.com/stnguy/docs/stn58_lores}}

A writer for Still Single described the album as a "slab of pensive atmospheric jazz textures," and stated: "Probably the easiest step you'll be able to take in discovering a legend as of right now, so believers and newcomers are welcome to try this on. Subtlety is redefined. RIP Bill."{{cite web |url=https://www.tumblr.com/still-single/1198182127/paul-cary-ghost-of-a-man-lp-stank-house |title=Bill Dixon/Aaron Siegel/Ben Hall – Weight/Counterweight 2xLP (Brokenresearch) |date=September 22, 2010 |website=Still Single |access-date=January 29, 2023}}

Writing for Six Moons, Michael Lavorgna called the album "completely stunning," and remarked: "Dixon sounds at times like a Tibetan monk blowing some long-assed earth-shaking horn. At others more like some minimalist modernist who in a very silent way breathes echoed musical essence into spirit form... Primal, elemental, brutal, forceful, quiet, serene and all that (free) jazz."{{cite web |url=https://6moons.com/audioreviews/bo09/michael.html |title=2009 Personal Favorites |first=Michael |last=Lavorgna |website=Six Moons |access-date=January 29, 2023}}

;Side A

1. "Atelier: Corbu's Studio" – 13:59

;Side B

1. "Hirado" – 12:23

;Side A

1. "Contrapposto" – 17:40

;Side B

1. "The Red & the Black" – 17:05

• Bill Dixon – trumpet
• Aaron Siegel – percussion
• Ben Hall – percussion

{{Reflist}}

Category:2009 albums

Category:Bill Dixon albums

Category:Free jazz albums