Release Date 7th August 2026
May Spring Last a Lifetime' is the first duo release from improvising tenor saxophonists Tom Challenger and Evan Parker. The album emerged after years of informal practice sessions; then, following two live performances, the duo recorded this session at Arco Barco in Ramsgate. The album is Evan Parker's fifth appearance on the False Walls label.
Extracts from the CD booklet conversation between Tom and Evan: Evan: "Duo is the simplest form of group playing. And so it's the simplest, the purest in a certain sense, and the most challenging. There's nowhere to hide, really. It's about the exchange. With two tenor saxophones, they have a shared language as instruments and I think we both have a relationship with the saxophone which is about: what does this thing do, what can it do? And then I've learned things from Tom that he has discovered: you can do this and can I approximate that? Can I incorporate that into my language or my relationship with the output of the instrument?"
Tom: "I mean, as much as there is just two of us and you can tell there's two of us, there are moments where there's no one [laughs], and then there's moments where there are four or five. This duo has challenged the way that I listen, or the way I don't listen sometimes. But there are these weird moments where there might be three perceivable, four perceivable things going on, you know, in terms of what you might call a voice."
20 page CD booklet includes a 4,000 word conversation between Tom and Evan.
Tom Challenger is a London-based saxophonist, composer, and educator known for his work in the British jazz and improvised music scenes. He leads several ensembles and has collaborated with a wide range of notable musicians and artists.
Evan Parker improvises on the tenor and soprano saxophone, and has performed live and recorded extensively across the UK and internationally. He has pioneered or substantially expanded an array of extended techniques for the saxophone.
